Need recipe advice/input

I'm building a dunkelweizen recipe around the theme of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9AD (essentially the Germans slaughtering the Romans) and keeping that in mind I wanted this to be very dark and smoky with some peat in as well. This is where I'm at now but I was wondering if anyone with experience with these malts had any advice on the quantities, and/or whether or not this will even work. I've had Rauch-Wheat beers before so I'm guessing this will be okay.

og 1.048

fg 1.012

ibu 14.6

srm 22.72

abv 4.72


Weyermann Dark Wheat
5 lbs, 0 oz

Briess Smoked Malt
2 lbs, 5 oz

Gambrinus Dark Munich
1 lbs, 5 oz

Weyermann Caramel Wheat
1 lbs, 0 oz

Weyermann Chocolate Wheat
0 lbs, 3 oz

Simpsons Peated Malt
0 lbs, 2 oz

Tettnang, German Pellets
1 oz @ 60 mins

Tettnang, German Pellets
.5 oz @ 30 mins

Tettnang, German Pellets
.5 oz @ 1 mins

Wyeast Labs Weihenstephan Weizen
1 ea

I'm not sure about the recipe or those specific malts, but I love the idea of a battle inspiring a brew!

Grizzlybrew said:

I'm not sure about the recipe or those specific malts, but I love the idea of a battle inspiring a brew!

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Thanks. Maybe if this one works out I'll do a whole series.

It would be good if you used malted wheat, not cara wheat. That will be one sweet syrupy beer.

Conroe said:

It would be good if you used malted wheat, not cara wheat. That will be one sweet syrupy beer.

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Really? It's described as being good for dunkelweizens here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Caramel_wheat_malt

Should I just use a different base wheat malt?


edit -- okay I get it now. Changing the base.

It not a base malt, it's crystal malt. 10% or so is alright. Also that dark Munich is very dark. I've not used it, but it's only recommended up to 30% of the grain bill.

Conroe said:

It not a base malt, it's crystal malt. 10% or so is alright. Also that dark Munich is very dark. I've not used it, but it's only recommended up to 30% of the grain bill.

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Thanks for the clarification.

Other than the fact that it would be very dark even for a dunkelweizen (which is what I'm going for with this) would there be any other perhaps negative aspect?

I could bump the dark wheat malt up to 5 lbs and drop the Munich dark malt to 2 lbs 5 oz.

I just worry about the flavor. You might consider trading something with higher DP. The Briess smoked malt has a DP 140. 2oz of it will not add much flavor and as the recipe is it could take a long time to convert.
Here is what Briess recommends,
• 5-10% Noticeable smoke character in lighter styles such as Scottish Ales and Oktoberfests
• 10-20% Pronounced smoke character in lighter styles like Scottish Ales and Oktoberfests
• 30-60% Noticeable to pronounced smoke character in darker styles like Stouts and Porters
• Briess Smoked Malt delivers intense smoked flavor. We recommend limiting usage to 60% of the grist.

I think you should lower the dark Munich 1-2 pounds and use the smoked malt in it's place. You'll get the smoke flavor you want and it should convert in 60 minutes.

Conroe said:

I just worry about the flavor. You might consider trading something with higher DP. The Briess smoked malt has a DP 140. 2oz of it will not add much flavor and as the recipe is it could take a long time to convert.
Here is what Briess recommends,
• 5-10% Noticeable smoke character in lighter styles such as Scottish Ales and Oktoberfests
• 10-20% Pronounced smoke character in lighter styles like Scottish Ales and Oktoberfests
• 30-60% Noticeable to pronounced smoke character in darker styles like Stouts and Porters
• Briess Smoked Malt delivers intense smoked flavor. We recommend limiting usage to 60% of the grist.

I think you should lower the dark Munich 1-2 pounds and use the smoked malt in it's place. You'll get the smoke flavor you want and it should convert in 60 minutes.

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Thanks for the advice.

Ok, I'm giving this a whirl today using the AG stove top method as described by DeathBrewer.

So far so good.


The only things are:

1. I had to trade out a couple of ingredients since my LHBS didn't have every exact piece to the puzzle.

2. I'm leaving out the 30 and 1 minute hop additions. I don't think it's going to need it and the hops might clash too much with the smoke flavor/aroma.

I'll post more when I get this into the fermentor.

Currently bubbling away. The smells are pretty nasty. No blow off tube since it's 5.25 in a 6.5 carboy.

Well, the hydrometer sample is tasting about where I want it to be, although 1.004 is much lower than I was shooting for and consequently the body is a bit light. Well, I'll try attempt #2 in a couple months..

Ok, I just kegged this since the FG is stationary at 1.004. The rauch flavor and aroma are definitely there but the mouthfeel is too thin for what I was trying to accomplish. I figure if I add some pilsner malt and up the mash temp then the beer should get a higher OG and a thicker body. When this carbs up I'm going to have a buddy who loves smoked beers come over and try this but I think he'll say the same things.

You could add malto dextrin to the keg to thicken the body.

Conroe said:

You could add malto dextrin to the keg to thicken the body.

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Thanks, Conroe. That's a good idea.

Well, I carbed it up pretty well and this is not a bad beer by any means. The banana from the yeast doesn't clash nearly as badly with the smoke flavor as I originally had thought. In fact, it's quite nice and has the effect of thickening the mouthfeel up considerably. It's still too thin for me there but it has potential. I skipped the malto-dextrin this time only because I wanted to see how this iteration would turn out and so far I'm liking it. Smoked beers definitely will never be session-worthy (or appropriate) but I am impressed so far with this batch.