Dont Put Dark Munich in an IPA!

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alcibiades

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Put just 5 oz of Gambrinus Dark Munich in my 10 gallon batch of usually light IPA, figuring it would be like a pound of regular munich. It has a totally different flavor, and dominates with sickly sweetness. ruined 10 gallons of my favorite IPA recipe.
 
5 oz for 10 gallons and it's too sweet? What else did you put in this recipe? And what were your mash temps?
 
Huh. You have over 700 posts and you are actually posting this? I would figure you would have some clue about brewing by now.
 
5 oz for 10 gallons and it's too sweet? What else did you put in this recipe? And what were your mash temps?

i mash low, around 150.

grain bill is mostly pilsner malt, some 2 row, crystal 10, and usually a pound or two of munich. OG at 1.075

combination of citra and amarillo, for 80 or so IBU

I've made this recipe a bunch of times, this is the first time I'm getting this weird malty flavor. I was surprised that 5 oz could do that as well, but It must be the dark munich.
 
You're talking a difference of like 10L, and less than 1/2 normal for maybe 2% of the total grist? And you're positive this is the Munich's fault? hmmm.
 
I'm with the others. Dark munich is a base grain after all. 5oz is nothing in a 10 gallon batch. Isn't that like 1-2% of your grist?

Something else probably. Even if the grain was mislabeled or something I don't know how you could pick out a flavor to cause such a strong adverse reaction to something that makes up 1-2% of the grist.
 
Regardless, I wouldn't write it off just yet. Just keg/bottle it and put it away and forget about it for a while. Then you'll find it again down the road and give it another try. Time may help round out the flavors you don't like.
 
Wow- you guys are harsh! I'm glad I never confessed any of my ingredient mistakes to you guys!

I agree that some things can really stand out, and I am willing to bet that the "regular" combination that included crystal malt was not as good when dark Munich was subbed, even at 2% or so of the grain bill.

I use amber malt in my DFH clone- about 6 ounces in a 5 gallon batch. That's 3% of the grain bill, and that's discernable. I use no crystal or other malts in there, and I wouldn't use more amber malt than that.

IPAs shouldn't be malty rich/sweet, but they should have enough of a malt backbone to stand up to the hops. Anything that ruins that balance can make an IPA seem "off".
 
Put just 5 oz of Gambrinus Dark Munich in my 10 gallon batch of usually light IPA, figuring it would be like a pound of regular munich. It has a totally different flavor, and dominates with sickly sweetness. ruined 10 gallons of my favorite IPA recipe.

Taste it again. Seriously, I thought I hated one of my beers too and that it was 'too sweet' - I waited 1-2 weeks and tried it again and it was fine.

Ruined is such a strong term for beer :)
 
I use amber malt in my DFH clone- about 6 ounces in a 5 gallon batch. That's 3% of the grain bill, and that's discernable. I use no crystal or other malts in there, and I wouldn't use more amber malt than that.

IPAs shouldn't be malty rich/sweet, but they should have enough of a malt backbone to stand up to the hops. Anything that ruins that balance can make an IPA seem "off".

You think IPA's shouldn't be malty rich/sweet and you cloned DFH? I find their IPA's cloyingly sweet.
 
i added 1/4lb of C120 to an ESB and it was a completely different beer.

was it the 20L Briess Dark munich or a german 12L-ish dark munich?

DFH 60 minute is not cloying.
 
IPAs shouldn't be malty rich/sweet, but they should have enough of a malt backbone to stand up to the hops. Anything that ruins that balance can make an IPA seem "off".

Spoken like a true judge :D

<---- Loves big malty IPA's....
 
What was the recipe? What was the OG & FG of this batch vs all your others? Were the other batches identical in every single way except for this switch?

It could be the problem of switching from 2lbs of munich to 5oz could make the malt taste not strong enough to stand up to too much crystal malt. Or your mash was 2 degrees higher and FG was higher than previous batches.

Also want to add that in my experience hoppy beers work best as either very dry with minimal malt flavors, or with a good deal of malt flavor and not dry. When I have tried to have both very malty and very dry and hoppy the flavors tend to taste washed out, but maybe its just been my experience.
 
Gambrinus has a 30(ish)L Dark Munich. From the sound of your post it sounds a lot of like aromatic malt where a little goes a long way.

Skyler try the 60 minute, it's the only balanced one of the minute IPAs I've liked it.
 
60 min, 90 min, 120 min - they all taste like candy juice to me. Then again, I am in California, so I really can't speak for the freshness of any DFH I've had.
 
I use melanoidin in my IPAs, which to me comes off as the dark Munich version of carapils. 20-25L, body, head retention and malty balance.

Then again, it's also my sub for crystal which doesn't come near my IPAs. Mine are always dry with only enough malt to balance the bitterness and let the hop flavor shine.
 
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