Thoughts on this recipe. Dunkel Weizen.

[Pale Man]

Hey fellow brewers. Throw your thoughts, criticisms at this DW recipe. I really love the style and put this up with no real idea of what malts go in.

It may not be traditional grain wise, but i love the taste of Gladfield so i'm sticking with it.

I'm figuring my Gladfield Hefe tasted delicious, so why not darken it up with some dark chocolate malt,  to create a Dunkel, or is that too sensible? 

Gravitys are high, i cant get around it.

 

 

Edited January 1, 2021 by Pale Man

[Pezzza]

Hey there PM - think from an earlier bit of discussion - I believe that the below - Dark Munich Malt - is the key Malz for the Dunkel Weizen...  @Aussiekraut AK put me onto the supplier - was wondering where you would find such a thing haha !?  ; )

I have made some nice beers with Chocolate Malt...  and it could be worth a try... my small amount of research seems to indicate that the Dunkel comes from Dark Munich Malt...

A traditional dunkelweizen would be 50 to 70% wheat malt, 30 to 50% dark Munich malt and a small amount of mid-color caramel malt. By German law, at least 50% of the grist must be malted wheat. The Munich malt adds a rich, grainy, bready malt character and the caramel malt adds a gentle note of caramel sweetness.

So am sorta thinking that although Chocolate might be ok - whether you get the similar effect to Dark Munich + small amount Caramel.... could not say sorry : |

You can only try and see how it turns out - reckon it will be a lecker brew anyway : )

[Hairy]

7 hours ago, Pale Man said:

Hey fellow brewers. Throw your thoughts, criticisms at this DW recipe. I really love the style and put this up with no real idea of what malts go in.

It may not be traditional grain wise, but i love the taste of Gladfield so i'm sticking with it.

I'm figuring my Gladfield Hefe tasted delicious, so why not darken it up with some dark chocolate malt,  to create a Dunkel, or is that too sensible? 

Gravitys are high, i cant get around it.

I think it looks ok PM. There are many ways to skin a cat but a skinless cat won’t enhance your beer. Anyway, there also many ways to make a tasty dunkelweizen.

You could drop the grain amount a little to reduce your OG if you like but your FG is quite high. What is your mash profile? You may need to mash a little lower. I like to do a step mash for wheat beers and include a beta glucan rest, it helps with the sparge.

What yeast are you using?

[Pale Man]

23 hours ago, Hairy said:

I think it looks ok PM. There are many ways to skin a cat but a skinless cat won’t enhance your beer. Anyway, there also many ways to make a tasty dunkelweizen.

You could drop the grain amount a little to reduce your OG if you like but your FG is quite high. What is your mash profile? You may need to mash a little lower. I like to do a step mash for wheat beers and include a beta glucan rest, it helps with the sparge.

What yeast are you using?

I have to pay for postage if i go the dark Munich malt, and i'd rather support my local, so i'll give it a crack with Chocolate, its obviously for colour.

Using Lallemand German hefe yeast @Hairy   

As for gravitys could i drop the grain bill a bit and put some dextrose in to get my 5.3% ?

[Hairy]

7 minutes ago, Pale Man said:

I have to pay for postage if i go the dark Munich malt, and i'd rather support my local, so i'll give it a crack with Chocolate, its obviously for colour.

Using Lallemand German hefe yeast @Hairy   

As for gravitys could i drop the grain bill a bit and put some dextrose in to get my 5.3% ?

Your issue is more FG. It’s unlikely that your grain bill with a mash at say, 66°C will finish at 1017. You should check your fermentation profile in Brewfather.

[Pale Man]

15 minutes ago, Hairy said:

Your issue is more FG. It’s unlikely that your grain bill with a mash at say, 66°C will finish at 1017. You should check your fermentation profile in Brewfather.

Ok i'll go again and check everything out. I have put my efficiency a tad low, being a beginner and mashing wheat.

So if i up my efficiency a bit? Ive entered into Brew Father a 65degree mash. It gets a bit complicated but i'm up for anything.

 

[Hairy]

Just now, Pale Man said:

Ok i'll go again and check everything out. I have put my efficiency a tad low, being a beginner and mashing wheat.

So if i up my efficiency a bit? Ive entered into Brew Father a 65degree mash. It gets a bit complicated but i'm up for anything.

 

Efficiency will affect your OG but shouldn’t significantly affect FG.

You only have a small amount if specialty malt; it’s mainly wheat and Munich I. Mashing at 65°C should create a fairly fermentable wort and get lower than 1017.

Just run with your recipe and see what you get. It’s the best way to experiment and your beer will be fine.

[Pezzza]

1 hour ago, Pale Man said:

I have to pay for postage if i go the dark Munich malt, and i'd rather support my local, so i'll give it a crack with Chocolate, its obviously for colour.

Mate I think you will make a nice beer @Pale Man

And please note that I am usually more of the 'brewing free spirit" than those chasing BJCP guideline type stuff.... make up recipes meself with others as a guide pretty much...

But the one beer I would like to make similar to commercial Bavarian stuff - is a true HW... probably normal helles HW not Dunkel... and I do not believe I am there yet.

 

With respect to Dunkelweizen I reckon that you will not achieve a Bavarian Dunkel Weizen just with Choc Malt - as Dark Munich and Caramalt will throw a different malt profile - and you will end up with a different beer to a recipe that goes with the more uniform approach closer to commercial I guess.

Munich is different to standard pale malts... and Dark Munich will have its own input... as will the Caramel stuff.

 

I have done plenty dark beers and experimented with Choc and it is great - no doubt you will end up with a lecker Bier....  I think it will be very tasty.

But I would be surprised if it is that similar to commercial Dunkel Weizen.... cos otherwise wouldna the Bavarians just be using plain old malt and throwing in a bit of dark stuff for colour themselves rather than fafffffing about getting special Dunkel Munich Malt and a little Caramalt?

Just a thought - hopefully not creating too much controversy here as I am in general in favour of the "Brewing Free Spirit" approach!

 

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Graubart

[Pale Man]

23 hours ago, Graubart said:

Mate I think you will make a nice beer @Pale Man

And please note that I am usually more of the 'brewing free spirit" than those chasing BJCP guideline type stuff.... make up recipes meself with others as a guide pretty much...

But the one beer I would like to make similar to commercial Bavarian stuff - is a true HW... probably normal helles HW not Dunkel... and I do not believe I am there yet.

 

With respect to Dunkelweizen I reckon that you will not achieve a Bavarian Dunkel Weizen just with Choc Malt - as Dark Munich and Caramalt will throw a different malt profile - and you will end up with a different beer to a recipe that goes with the more uniform approach closer to commercial I guess.

Munich is different to standard pale malts... and Dark Munich will have its own input... as will the Caramel stuff.

 

I have done plenty dark beers and experimented with Choc and it is great - no doubt you will end up with a lecker Bier....  I think it will be very tasty.

But I would be surprised if it is that similar to commercial Dunkel Weizen.... cos otherwise wouldna the Bavarians just be using plain old malt and throwing in a bit of dark stuff for colour themselves rather than fafffffing about getting special Dunkel Munich Malt and a little Caramalt?

Just a thought - hopefully not creating too much controversy here as I am in general in favour of the "Brewing Free Spirit" approach!

 

 

I'm hearing ya BB. I know exactly where youre coming from. I love your last line and i'll go with that this time around.