Munich Dunkel recipe

Anybody have a good recipe or some advice for making a Munich Dunkel extract recipe?

How about this one? Just replace the Pilsner with 4-4.5lbs of Pils (or extra light) extract and steep the other grains. Also increase the bittering hops by 15-20%.

http://www.brew365.com/style_munich_dunkel.php

Again, I don't really have any experience at all with this style, but I am intrigued...I think a Vienna lager will be on tap pretty soon.

I wouldn't brew a dunkel with Pilsner or light extract. The base malt for a dunkel is Munic malt. If you use Pilsner and try to get the color only with specialty grains, you will get a roasty flavor, which I find out of place in almost any German beer style.

Munic malt can be replaced with Amber malt extract. Add a little (0.5 lb) Cara Munic II (dark crystal), some Carafa Special (dehusked roasted malt). Aim for about 12-13*P and hop to about 25 IBU with one bittering addition of German hops.

If you want to do a mini mash, add 1-2 lb of dark Munic malt. Ferment with a German lager yeast. This should give you a nice Dunkel. I still have my first one lagering, but I feel that I'm pretty close to the style with this one.

Kai

what do you guys think of this recipe? I combined what I had read and came up with this.

6 lbs Munich Malt extract
3 lbs Amber DME
1/2 caramunich
1/4 crystal
1/4 chocolate

1 oz Herbrucker (60)
1/2 oz Hersbrucker (30)
1/2 oz Hersbrucker (10)

Wyeast bavarian lager

One more question? Can someone walk me through making a yeast starter for this?

I'd cut the chocolate to only 2oz. More will give you to much roasted flavor.

Kai

will it still be good and dark if I cut the chocalate? Should I consider adding some black patent in addition or instead of an ingredient to ensure a deep brown color while retaining a malty taste?

Unlike stouts and porters most dark german beers don't take their color from lots of roasted malts like black patent and chocolate. One very bad example of a Dark Munich that comes to mind is Harpoon's interpretation of the style. This beer is way to bitter and roasty for a German beer.

This is also why Weyermann makes dehusked roasted malt called Carafa Special. Removing the husks lowers the bitterness that you get from the roasted malt while it still gives you the color. That's also why I suggested to use a munich malt extract rather than a light ME.

Did you have a chance to taste German examples of the style yet? I know that they are rather hard to find.

Kai

That Dehusked Carafa malt is really good. Not roastiness and lots of color. I second the Kaiser's recommendation.

I sampled quite a few versions several years ago when I was in Bavaria. Unfortunately my knowledge of beer was not as developed then so I couldn't tell you what I liked about them, I just liked them. One in particular that was very good was from a brewery in regensburg. Let me do some research and I will come up with the name. Would you suggest using that dehusked malt in place of chocolate?

Thurn and Taxis

mjm76 said:

Would you suggest using that dehusked malt in place of chocolate?

Click to expand...

Yes, if you can get it.

Kai

Here's one from Northern Brewer

Specialty Grains
1 lbs. Dingemans Caramunich

Fermentables
6 lbs. Munich Malt Syrup
1 lbs. Amber Dry Malt Extract

Boil Additions
1 oz. Hallertau (60 min)
1 oz. Hallertau (15 min)

Yeast
Wyeast #2206 Bavarian Lager Yeast


Like we talked about earlier, you could always try a kit like this first, or come up with your own recipe based on these.

Here's another one I had based on several others I've seen:

6.5 lbs plain dark German made LME
1 lb crystal/caramel malt
1 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker Hops (1 hour)
1/4 oz Hallertauer Hops (15 minutes)
1/4 oz Hallertauer (1 minute)
Yeast: Bavarian Lager yeast

I'm sorry Thurn und Taxis was the rye beer. The dunkel was at Kneitinger (sp.)

brewing today:
This is the recipe I decided on:

7lbs amber extract
.5 lb caramunich
.5 lb carafa II
4 oz. carapils

1.25oz northern brewer (60)
1 oz hersbrucker (10)

saflager dry yeast S-23 (wanted to use whitelabs bavarian lager but LHBS was out of stock)

we'll see how it turns out

How did this brew ever turn out? I too had a very delicious at a Greek restaurant in either Regensberg or Parsberg while I was stationed at Hohenfels Barracks. I really wish that I remember what it was exactly though...