Dunkles Weissbier Dunkelweizen

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Brewsmith

Home brewing moogerfooger
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
7,172
Reaction score
2,383
Location
Torrance, CA
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
White Labs 351
Yeast Starter
Yes
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.5
Original Gravity
1.054
Final Gravity
1.012
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
15
Color
14
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14 Days @ 68
This recipe is basically Jamil's recipe from Brewing Classic Styles, scaled down to 5.5 gallons instead of 6 with a higher efficiency for my system, and using a slightly different yeast that I use for my regular Hefeweizen. Tasting at kegging is absolutely fantastic. Malty, with some rich character from the Munich, Crystal and Special B, Just balanced with bitterness and easy drinking. Clean, but with the classic Hefeweizen esters. Another great recipe from the book.

Dunkelweizen


A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------
15-B German Wheat and Rye Beer, Dunkelweizen
Min OG: 1.044 Max OG: 1.056
Min IBU: 10 Max IBU: 18
Min Clr: 14 Max Clr: 23 Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50
Total Grain (Lbs): 10.93
Anticipated OG: 1.054 Plato: 13.37
Anticipated SRM: 14.1
Anticipated IBU: 15.5
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Formulas Used
-------------
Brewhouse Efficiency and Predicted Gravity based on Method #1, Potential Used.
Final Gravity Calculation Based on Points.
Hard Value of Sucrose applied. Value for recipe: 46.2100 ppppg
Yield Type used in Gravity Prediction: Fine Grind Dry Basis.
Color Formula Used: Morey
Hop IBU Formula Used: Rager

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
15.6 1.70 lbs. Pilsener Germany 1.038 2
53.5 5.85 lbs. Wheat Malt America 1.038 2
23.3 2.55 lbs. Munich Malt(light) America 1.033 10
3.2 0.35 lbs. Special B Malt Belgian 1.030 120
3.2 0.35 lbs. Crystal 40L America 1.034 40
1.1 0.125 lbs. Carafa Special Germany 1.030 400
Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 oz. Hallertau Hersbrucker Whole 3.90 15.5 60 min.

Yeast
-----
White Labs WLP351 Bavarian Weizen

Mash Schedule
-------------
Mash Type: Single Step
Grain Lbs: 10.93
Water Qts: 14.00 - Before Additional Infusions
Water Gal: 3.50 - Before Additional Infusions
Qts Water Per Lbs Grain: 1.28 - Before Additional Infusions
Saccharification Rest Temp : 152 Time: 60
Mash-out Rest Temp : 168 Time: 15
Sparge Temp : 170 Time: 45
Total Mash Volume Gal: 4.37 - Dough-In Infusion Only
All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit.
 
It turned out great. I scored a 38/37 at the Los Angeles County Fair with it. The WLP 300 yeast would probably be a better choice as far as yeast. Everybody keeps missing the banana, which the 351 does not produce much of. The recipe is great. Malty, rich, and still has the hefeweizen fruityness and phenolics. Give it a try.
 
just brewed this up yesterday. . .I did a 10 gallon batch and am fermenting 5 gallons with Wyeast 3068 and 5 gallons with Wyeast 3333. I will try to remember to post again in about 6 weeks (after fermentation and bottle conditioning) to update how they turned out. The gravity sample tasted great and I am looking forward to the finished product, thanks for the recipe BrewSmith!!

-pava
 
well, I guess I forgot to post when I was going to, but was just looking through old posts and realized I never responded. All I can say is that both batches (wyeast 3333 & 3068) turned out great!! I would definitely recommend this recipe to anyone that enjoys a good dunkel!! Just finished up my last bottle about a couple of weeks ago (approximately 4 months after brewing) and I think this brew just kept getting better and better during the 4 months or so that it lasted. Great recipe Brewsmith. . .thanks for sharing!!
 
Was looking to brew this but can't find the carafa special. Does anyone know what a substitute for the Carafa Special would be? Does Northern Brewer have a known substitue? I was going to stop by there after work. This is what I have found on their site: (notice no "special")

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/catalogsearch/result/?q=carafa&x=28&y=15
What you found is the Carafa Special. It is the dehusked version. The regular Carafa has a husk and is basically like Chocolate malt.

Edit - I recently rebrewed this beer using WLP-300 and it came out absolutely fantastic. I fermented cool, around 64° F. The esters and phenols are there, without being overpowering. Malty, with some Munich character, but still light and refreshing.
 
Have 5 gallons of this in the fermentor now. Was dead on with my OG reading. I gotta say, the hydro tasted great.Used the 3068 Wyeast.

I think this is going to be a good one!
 
so Beersmith, what does your kegging schedule look like for this. When did you start drinking this? After 3 weeks? 2 in primary + 1 in keg? What did you carb this up to? I thought I read somewhere these should have a bit more carbonation.
 
I have a batch of this fermenting right now, well, as close as I could get given the restrictions on malt at the local homebrew shop.

It looked, tasted and smelled awsome going into the fermenter and I can't wait to taste it.

Any thoughts on bottling? This is my first wheat beer. I am going to go with the standard 5 oz of bottling sugar, but I'm curious as to when it should be bottled.

Most of my beers will spend two to four weeks in the primary/secondary. I take hydrometer readings at several points along the way, and I'm not at all worried about bottling before the end of fermentation. Mostly I guess I'm asking as to whether it needs an extended secondary. Clarity isn't important in a Dunkelweiss, in fact, most I've drunk are downright cloudy so should I just bottle as soon as fermentation is over? Will it benefit from time in the secondary? Should I give the yeast time to clean up or will this defeat the purpose? I've controlled the temperature very well on this beer and I can already detect very subtle banana and clove smells and flavors but not overpowering. Will these go away with an extended primary/secondary or get overpowering if I let the temp come up to 68-70 after fermentation has stopped?

My current plan is to let this ferment to completion, give it an extra week in the fermenter and then bottle it young. It will end up tasting great regardless I'm sure, but this beer tasted so awsome coming out of the mash that I want to give it every opportunity to achieve greatness.

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

NYCHomebrewer
 
i would bottle it as soon as fermention is complete. As I understand it, weiss beers are normally drunk when they are younger. Plus, i think the yeast are to be consumed in this type of beer. If you put it in a secondary, i think you would lose some of the yeast.

Mine has been in the primary for 2 weeks. Tonight I am going to keg it and let it age further if needed.

I fermented at 68 and have a good bananna aroma. This is really a great recipe.
 
With my German wheat beers, they are good fresh, but I find I don't like the taste of all that yeast still in suspension, or at least the ton that is still in there after primary is complete. For mine, I give it about 10 days in the fermenter to make sure it's done, and then I keg. It's carbed after a week, but I find that after a couple weeks in the fridge the bulk of the yeast drops out and the beer is much cleaner and smoother (and less yeast farty).:D
 
Brewsmith,
I brewed this recipe on Monday and it's actively fermenting with WLP300 yeast. My OG ended up at 1.063 but this is because outside boiling boiled off an extra 1/2 gallon and I'm down to 4.75 into the fermenter. Instead of adding water to reach the volume I just left it alone. Also, I used Liberty hops as a substitution.

Samples looked and tasted good, perhaps a bit sweet but good. The 300 yeast smells like freshly baked banana bread. Can't wait to try this.
 
This was really a wild one for me. I had crazy amounts of bannana in aroma and a good amount in taste early on. Then it just completely disappeared after kegging. Now I get more clove, but it just seems like the bananna is gone now. I fermented at 68 (Wyeast 3068) for several weeks. I'm interested to see how yours turns out.
 
This was really a wild one for me. I had crazy amounts of bannana in aroma and a good amount in taste early on. Then it just completely disappeared after kegging. Now I get more clove, but it just seems like the bananna is gone now. I fermented at 68 (Wyeast 3068) for several weeks. I'm interested to see how yours turns out.

I've noticed this with the bottled bottles of Hefe I brewed with the wlp300. However, they have only been carbing for about 10 days now. Will give it a few weeks more before pulling another sample.

I'm going to cold crash the Dunkel for one day next weekend, then bottle after bringing it back up to room temp.
 
I had a minor blowout in the primary about three days in from the super active fermentation (at 62 degrees no less!). I then transferred to the secondary about a week later. The SG was at 1.020 when I transferred and the beer tasted awsome. There were detectable clove and banana smells and tastes but they were far from overpowering, nicely balanced. I've been letting it ferment at room temp for the last two weeks which is about 66 degrees right now and its still just percolating away. You can look in and see a constant but slow stream of tiny bubbles (Yo Don Ho!) and about every 10 minutes or so the airlock burbles.

I've never actually had a beer still fermenting this actively at the three week mark but I'm trying to be extremely patient. I might take a SG reading tonight just to gauge how close I am to my target FG. There can't be that many fermentable sugars left! But then again, this is the first time I really controlled the temp on the front end too.

If all works out as planned then this batch has all the makings of an award winner. I'll keep you posted.

NYCHomebrewer
 
I'm going to cold crash the Dunkel for one day next weekend, then bottle after bringing it back up to room temp.


I'm surprised you are going to cold crash this. My thought is you want those yeast to stay in suspension so that they can be consumed.

I think this may have been part of my problem. When I put her in the kegerator, the temp was a bit low so i think it effectively cold crashed.
 
Although I haven't tried to cold crash with a Dunkel before, from what I have read you most certainly can do it successfully. This guy did a 7 day cold crash (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f70/erdinger-dunkelweisen-clone-146651/) for an Edinger Dunkel clone.

Three weeks in primary and an overnight cold crash should give it all the clarifying I need. I put my Hefe in secondary for about a week and I think it's too clear.
 
I would never intentionally do it. It is an abomination to hefeweizens. Then again the same recipe called for an american wheat yeast so if you are not shooting for an authentic style it may just suit your tastes.
 
After a week of bottle conditioning and carbonation this beer is looking to be one of my best if not the best of my brews. Will check back in another two weeks but I like it!
 
OK this is it. Next months Reformation Brewery brew night we will be brewing this! And I'm looking forward to it. More maybe even some pics after brew night 5/21!
 
I am trying this recipe this weekend. My local brew shop has Hallertau hops but not the Hallertau Hersbrucker. I am assuming this will be a safe substitution but would feel more confident with verification from a more experienced brewer! Thanks

...also cant wait to double the batch size and make 10 gallons of it. Love dunkelweizen!
 
I brewed this last weekend, fermenting with WB06 (never tried this yeast before, but the LBHS was out of the liquid yeasts I wanted for this). This is actually the first time I've brewed a wheat beer (not generally a huge fan of the wheat beer styles but enjoy dunkel).
I'll post my results. Oh, I haven't bottled a batch in years, so I'm not looking forward to that step...
 
I've got mine on gas and we will try it tomorrow. I will update with a picture too.
 
any updates? I'm thinking of inserting this into my brew schedule about a month before our big oktoberfest party...
 
I brewed this about a month ago. I used 1 oz Black Patent instead of Carafa Special and Wyeast Wheinstephaner for the yeast. It turned out pretty good. A very smooth Dunkel.
 
I'm just working this up for a 2.5 gallon batch (I ferment in Mr. Beer kegs for space reasons), and am wondering if the Wyeast 3068 will work, and if so, should I use half the pouch? While reading the 3068 notes, it says that too much can cause sulfur and too much attenuation. I don't generally use Wyeast, so I don't have a lot of experience. But I go to Germany a lot, Munich and north of Frankfurt, so I love the Dunkel and Weissen that's all over. I'm trying to get there, and will try this recipe as well as a few others until I find the one I really like. Thoughts?
 
I'm just working this up for a 2.5 gallon batch (I ferment in Mr. Beer kegs for space reasons), and am wondering if the Wyeast 3068 will work, and if so, should I use half the pouch? While reading the 3068 notes, it says that too much can cause sulfur and too much attenuation. I don't generally use Wyeast, so I don't have a lot of experience. But I go to Germany a lot, Munich and north of Frankfurt, so I love the Dunkel and Weissen that's all over. I'm trying to get there, and will try this recipe as well as a few others until I find the one I really like. Thoughts?

I think you will be ok using the entire pack. This is still one of the best recipes I have brewed.
 
I understand that this is a single infusion recipe, but was concerned about the "before additional infusions" part - is that just the standard layout of the Promash report?
Basically, what Im asking is : is it a single infusion of 3.5 gal to the grist to get it to 152 for an hour, and then a mash out to 168? Since I'm using a igloo picnic cooler I would have to add hot water to get the mash out temp - is this OK?
Thanks!
 
Planning to brew this up this weekend, but would like to darken it a bit, within guidelines. Maybe closer to 20-22 SRM. What would you recommend I change to accomplish that? Use a darker crystal? Crystal 60 maybe? Or would that impact the flavor too much? Any tips would be appreciated! I could probably figure this out at home by playing with Beersmith, but it's in my head now and I'm stuck at work. Help!

[edit: playing around with an SRM calculator online; looks like changing to crystal 60 would have minimal impact. Increasing the Carafa Special (III?) to 0.25 lbs. gets me in the ballpark, but is that going to have a big impact on taste or texture?]
 
I am putting this into Beersmith now and plan to brew in the next week or so. I have a Danstar Munich dry yeast that I am going to use.
 
Brewed this on Saturday was a little low on my OG, I forgot to buy some pilsner malt from the good lhbs while I was there so I ran to the other one that sells more pot growing supplies than beer making and there crush really sucks. Didn't notice it till I was long gone oh well, used Pearle hops since I have lbs of them and the wlp300 yeast. Trying to keep my ferm temps down around 62 to avoid to much of the banana flavor. thanks for the recipe.
 
Question about decoction and this recipe:
OK - this is just what we've been looking for. My friend requested a dunkelweizen and we're gonna brew it up ..
My question is if I wanted to do a simple decoction at the end to raise to mash-out temp,
how much should we pull out to raise to a boil and then stir back into the mash to raise to 168?
Thanks for a great recipe - I'll post how it comes out.
Stewart
 
Good recipe--did two batches in December & one last weekend--just started on the first keg a couple days ago tastes great-won't last long--used Mt. Hood in the last batch should taste pretty good--if you haven't tried this give it a chance you won't be disappointed
 

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