Putting the Dunkel in Weizen

I've got a Franziskaner clone in the primary, but last night I finally found a Franziskaner Dunkel to try, and now I've got to make one of those. How would I modify my recipe (extract plus grain) to turn a hefe-weisse into a dunkel-weisse? TIA

Add dark malt.

Thanks man, I knew you'd come thru for me.

Would there be any specific kinds and amounts of dark malts, or do I just grab a few slack handfuls of anything dark and toss 'er in?

I'd say boil about .25 to .5 lb of dark DME in 1 gal water for 15 mins. Cool.

How long has the batch been in the primary?

1-3 days? Still having very active activity in the airlock? Pitch it in.

3-7 days? Slow activity in the airlock? Pitch it in and swirl the yeast off of the bottom. Don't stir. Don't put any foreign objects into your brew. Just spin your primary on the ground like a top a bit. Check activity tomorrow.

Get back to me.

Boy did I mistate the question...I didn't mean put the dunkel in this weizen, I meant how do I modify my weizen recipe to make it a dunkel...Next Time.

Your idea looks good tho...i'd give it a try if I wasn't a big chicken when it comes to experimentation.

Check out some dunkle recipes and it'll probably be close to what I said.

I go on travel tomorrow and my son-in-law has most of my books, but I recommend getting the Clone Brews book. I've made several from there and have been pleased every time.

You need to read another one of my posts where I state that every batch is an experiment.

homebrewer_99 said:

I recommend getting the Clone Brews book. I've made several from there and have been pleased every time.

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Yeah, I've got both books, but they only have one dunkel each. Clone Brews has the Edelweiss which uses 6 oz of 65L German dark crystal, 4 oz Belgian Cara-Vienne, and 2 oz Gambrinus honey malt. Beer Captured has the Hacker Pschorr, which uses 8 oz German Munich malt, 7 oz Belgian Cara-Munich, and 1 oz British Chocolate Malt. Got any idea which will get me closer to the Franziskaner?

homebrewer_99 said:

You need to read another one of my posts where I state that every batch is an experiment.

Click to expand...

Some day I hope to get there, but right now I'm just happy to not screw up too bad.

Can't say for sure...I'm sipping on a Paulaner HW right now. A tad sweet, but I like sweet HWs.

I got this off the net somewhere:

"This is a great recipe for Hefe from Scott Smith, now in California - this was truly lovely, and went well even from the keg:

Paulaner Clone

Belgian Pale Ale Malt - 4oz
Wheat DME - 6#
Hallertau - 1oz, 60 min
Wyeast Pitchable Barvarian Wheat #3056

Mash the tiny bit of grains for 20 minutes in a half gallon of 150F water, sparge with more to desired level in your brewpot... removing grains. Rest is pretty much same as usual. I found yeast choice to be key - along with cool fermentation.

To Scott's recipe I'll add the tip that I was given - with a Hefe, ferment in the primary, then rack to a bottling bucket and bottle. Don't rack to a secondary, as the yeast's the key. Note the lack of hops in the above recipe. All you need is the bittering - no flavor or aroma."

And this:

"This partial mash got me really close to Franziskaner. I was pretty shocked tasting them side-by-side. It was a long secondary for a hefe, but I think that added to the flavor profile.

Andy's Bavarian Weizen

4 lbs Weizen DME
2 lbs Wheat Malt
2 lbs Pilsner Malt
4 oz Torrified Wheat
3 oz Biscuit Malt
2 oz Malto Dextrin powder

Mash at 152 for 90 minutes

45 minute boil

3.8 HBU Hallertau for 45 minutes
1/4 oz Hallertau for 2 minutes

Wyeast 3333

Ferment at 66-68F for 22 days, no secondary

SRM: 6.2
IBU: 13.6"

I might even give that one a try myself!

Tschuss!