Nutty Dunkle

Hey all!

I brewed a partial mash dunkle recipe that came out delicious. When I switched over to all-grain I did the conversions (with a few adjustments) and came up with this:

9lbs Wheat Malt
.5lbs Crystal 40L
.5lbs Cara-pils/Dextrine
1/3lbs Carafa 1

Hopped with 1.5oz Hallertauer
Yeast: WLP300

Fermented in a controlled chamber at 68. I have also tried a few degrees higher and lower (I've brewed this with minor adjustments 5 times now)

This produces an overwhelming nutty taste and I don't know why.

I have tried splitting the Wheat in half and substituting with 4.5lbs Pale 6-Row (So 4.5lbs wheat and 4.5lbs 6-row)

What am I doing wrong? Any help/advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Wheat DME/LME is about half wheat, so the wheat/barley split is a good idea. I don't know about your nuttiness.

JD - Thanks for the feedback I'll make that change permanent.

All,

No bites since last night so I'll refine:

I do a 60 min mash at 152F (In a homemade cooler tun)and a boil at 60 min too. I then cool with a wort chiller (usually take about 20 min) and put into a bucket fermenter (it has my thermowell on it) for primary and a glass carboy for secondary. Then I force Carb at about 13-14 psi for a week or so. And drink. Voila! I have a nut brown ale with banana! It's OK (I'm drinking it right now) but it is definitely not a dunkelweiss.

What am I missing?

I just pitched Wy 3068 into my dunkel about 5 hours ago.

Grain bill was 6# white wheat (only wheat at my LHBS)
1# Munich
1# Vienna
1# 2 row
.5# carapils
.5# special B

1oz Hallertau @60m

I also spiced it and added some apple juice concentrate in primary as this is a Thanksgiving beer for family.

From what I read keeping the ferm temp lower at pitch helps bring out the clove, but if you're looking for that banana you want it a bit warmer. I'm curious to see how it turns out myself.

I wonder if it's the large amount of wheat that makes yours nutty?

Red wheat or white wheat? I'm assuming red, as white should not produce any nuttiness. The banana is from the yeast, and if your chamber is at 68F, and you aren't controlling for the actual wort temp, then it's probably hitting 73F or higher and creating Amyl Acetate. WLP300 will absolutely put off banana esters, especially at higher temps.

Well, sounds like maybe your wheat malt may be the culprit then?

If that's the case then i'm glad my LHBS only had white wheat, as i'm not looking for nutty flavor. I'm hoping for banana/clove/cinnamon and a little more malt than a hefe.

That 3.3% carafa 1 would be contributing flavour. It depends if you would describe that as nutty or not.

I make a Munich Dunkel with 3% pale chocolate malt which is paler than carafa 1 and that definately contributes a biscuity( maybe nutty) flavour to the beer.

I've done it with white and red. Same result. I'll try changing out the carafa 1 but what would I get the same color with? Thanks for all the replies I have some things to think about for my next rendition.

dlkb1240 said:

I've done it with white and red. Same result. I'll try changing out the carafa 1 but what would I get the same color with? Thanks for all the replies I have some things to think about for my next rendition.

Click to expand...

Is the carafa the 'special' dehusked one? There is a lot of flavour difference between the ordinary carafa which is very similar to roasted barley and good for stouts etc and the carafa special dehusked which is great for colour adjustment.

I make sure to deal with a retailer that knows the difference because some do'nt and for a Dunkel where I only want colour with almost no flavour added use 1.5% carafa special 2 ground to a fine powder and added to the mash for the last 10 minutes. This gives good red colour with minimal flavour and any flavour that is there early seems to fade within a couple of months.

If you can get your hands on some chocolate wheat, this is one of my favorite recipes. I'm not sure, but looking at yours, it looks like all wheat. I think 50/50 barley/wheat is better and more typical. I mix munich and 2-row for the barley.

5 gallon batch:

two-row 3lbs
munich 2lbs
wheat 5lbs
crystal 60L 0.25lbs
chocolate wheat 0.5lbs

An ounce of noble hops at 60min for ~20 IBU's, pitched with Wyeast 3068, fermed at 68F. Pure deliciousness.

I'm guessing it's due to all the wheat. Ever try chewing on some white wheat malt? Tastes a lot like grape nuts, definitely nutty.