Dunkelweizen Rauch extract recipe - partial mash-ish

[Kclaus]

Disclaimer - never done a dunkel before...or a rauchbier. Also never done partial mash (only steeping grains) So let's combine three new things and wing it! Had something similar at a beer fest recently. This is what I've come up with:

3.3 lb Wheat LME
1.1 lb Dark DME
2.2 lb Munich malt (light)
1.54 lb smoked malt
.88 lb Crystal 60L
.66 lb Crystal 120L

2 oz Saaz 60 min boil

Safbrew WB-06

FYI: Weird measurements because I'm buying from a supplier that sells metric quantities. And using both 60L and 120L because I have some 60L leftover that I want to use up.

So my primary questions:

1. Am I using enough Munich (partial mash)?
2. Is it a reasonable quantity of smoked malt to give a mild smoky flavor (not overpowering)?
3. Can I mini-mash the Munich, smoked malt and Crystal together? Or should I do it in different stages? My understanding is that I need to mash the Munich to get conversion, but the other malts don't need the extra time. Will the extra time cause any problems?
4. The calculator I'm using (Brewtoad) has a pretty high OG (1.061) for my "partial mash" recipe, but I'm assuming poor efficiency for my single pot method. Is this reasonable, or should I cut back on sugar somewhere?
5. Is the yeast OK? It's what's available in Japan.

Thanks!
Kevin

 

[Kclaus]

any feedback, please?

 

[saltymirv]

any feedback, please?

I recently made a rauch-saison and a rauchbier with dark DME so let me weigh in a little bit. Your "vital" stats look good, ie the ABV/IBU etc.

Do you know what malts are in the dark DME?? They differ company to company. If its by Breiss, which is what I used, it contains about 50% munich and 13% caramel 60. So you will want to back down on those two in your mash. Either way you have too much caramel. You're at 16% in the mash plus whatever the DME is adding. I'd keep it at 10% max, so maybe leave the 60L and cut the 120?

1. Yes, the rauchmalt actually has more enzymes than the munich, so its more necessary for the mash than the munich, which can just barely convert itself.

2. I don't think you have enough smoked malt, assuming you're using the Weyermann version. I used 29% Weyermann smoked malt in my saison and it was subtle, very mild. Sometimes you have to let the beer warm to taste it. In a beer like a dunkel, with lots of yeast flavor and caramel I think it will cover up the smoked malt very easily. For my rauchbier I used 50% rauchmalt and 50% dark DME by weight. If you convert that out to an all grain recipe its about 36% rauchmalt (DME is concentrated). Its tasting pretty good so far but I think the smoke could go up.

3. Yes, mash them all together. You can mash for 60 minutes if you want, but you may be done after 30 since you aren't using that much grain. If you have a hydrometer/refractometer that's easy enough to test. I would mash this low (like 145-149F) since you're using a fair amount of extract

4. I got 1.061 as well in beer smith. Its a few points high for the guidelines on a dunkel but who cares? You may end up a little low on efficiency anyway so I'd just go for it and see what happens

5. The yeast is fine, although the liquid hefe yeasts are a little better IMO


Here is what I would do:

3.3 lb Wheat LME
1.1 lb Dark DME
.88 lb C-60L
4 lb Smoked Malt

This puts you at 1.059 OG, 14 SRM. Trust me on the smoke malt, I know it looks like a lot but if you're using the Weyermann version its a very mild malt. If you convert that extract recipe to all grain, it is 35% smoked malt, which is right there at the subtle/mild level. Some people use up to 75% or higher in rauchbiers

 

[Kclaus]

Awesome! Very thorough! Thank you!