Looking for some good basic Dunkel recipes. I was thinking of doing a really malty, smooth brown ale but thought maybe a dunkel might get me more of what I am looking for. I have had a couple of tasty commercial examples lately which have piqued my interest.
I assume Munich base malt?
What do I use for color? Chocolate or Carafa malt maybe?
Would 34/70 be an acceptable yeast for the style?
I just made one after looking at the gold medal NHC winners that Jim posted. I used 99% Munich II and just enough carafa II for some color, which I capped onto the mash at sparge time. About 28 BU’s of Hallertau Mittelfruh, some at first wort hop and some at 10 minutes. I got a fresh slurry of Bavarian Lager 2206 from Cigar City since I was brewing with one of their brewers at my house.
I say go with what you’re after. I personally like a ‘brown balanced’ type profile - using all Munich is gonna give you a ton of malt character , even using the balanced profile. And the ‘malty’ would further accentuate the malt character.
I use Best Munich II with Carafa Special as others, but I use about a pound of Pils in a 3 gallon batch as enzyme insurance. I know many here have used all Munich II with no conversion issues, but I mash super thin so I like the insurance.