Munich Dunkel

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.

That’s very cool. Great brewery.

What maltster was the Munich II? What litner rating?

I used pretty much the same recipe as Jeff.  I used Best Munich II which is about 10L.

Thanks! Can I get away with 34/70 yeast?

Yup to that, 99% best munich II, 1 % carafa III. Have one on right now tap now!

I use 34/70 quite a bit with them…

Last question. What kind of water profile? Brown balanced, malty, etc?

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.

Good point. Thanks

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.

Thanks for all of the help. It is a more simple style than I realized. I don’t think my LHBS has Best Malz but maybe I can get some Weyermann.

I use amber malty FYI.