Spices in a dunkle?

[scottbrews]

Hi all,

I just started on my second kit this past weekend, a Dunkelweizen. Everything went perfect until the very last step, when I was inserting the air lock into my lid I accidentally pushed the little rubber ring through the lid and into the beer. Whoops.

I wrapped the airlock with sanitized plastic and from what I can tell (bubbles) it seems to be going just fine, however, I'm eager to get this guy into a secondary as soon as it's ready so I can fish that rubber out.

Two questions:

* I was thinking about diverting a gallon and doing something crazy with it, i.e. adding some fun spices or something. Does anyone have some good recipes or tips regarding spicing a dunkle? This is an extract recipe from a kit, however I brewed their IPA kit last time and it turned out damn fine. Here's their recipe: http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/New BB Recipes/1029 Dunkelweizen Recipe.pdf

* When folks are doing, say, 1 gallon into a secondary, what equipment do you use? Can you use a mason jar? Is there a lot of pressure generated during the secondary process (i.e., I have to worry about explosions?)

Thanks all for helping out a noob!

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

If fermentation is not entirely complete you will get additional pressure that a mason jar isn't designed to handle. For one gallon batches you would normally use a gallon jug or a five liter jug. The five liter jugs are the big wine jugs you see at the grocery store. I usually see gallon jugs of apple juice at some of the organic/high end grocery stores.

You could add pumpkin spice to create a pumpkin dunkelweizen.

 

[najel]

Just co clarify, for safety, you are still going to want to use an airlock on the small secondary, that way you would not have to worry about explosions anyway.

For spices, I could see maybe cinammon, I think that could be good in there. Holiday beer. Or maybe cloves?

 

[scottbrews]

Thanks for the clarification, I'll be sure to use an airlock. Do you know if a typical airlock (like the standard one in a kit) fits a five liter wine jug?

I like both those ideas! Thanks for the suggestions guys.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I use five liter jugs extensively. You just need to get a drilled stopper (or drill your own). The correct size for those carlo rossi jugs is a #6 stopper. If you are using a different jug you might want to just bring it to the shop and if they have the stoppers loose you can just try fitting them until you find the right size.

In the alternative, some people have had good luck asking local bakeries or the bakeries in the grocery stores if they have any empty icing buckets they are throwing out. They are usually one or two gallon food grade buckets. You would just need to drill a hole in the lid and buy a rubber grommet at the homebrew shop and fit it in the hole. Then it will take a standard airlock.

 

[scottbrews]

Awesome! I'll pick up a carlo rossi jug, that sounds like the quickest / easiest solution.

 

[scottbrews]

ooh, another question. I've seen tips on this forum, especially for vanilla, to let them sit in vodka; other fruits people just sanitize and throw in the secondary. are there guidelines per spice for how best to add these things to the secondary?

 

[TopherM]

Depending on if you temp controlled this one, and if you kept it on the lower end or higher end of the yeast's temperature tolerance, the beer is already going to have cloves and/or banana phenol flavors from the yeast.

IMO, the star of the show in a Hefeweizen or a Dunkelweizen SHOULD be these desireable yeast off-flavors. The best Dunkel I've ever had was one that had a very strong banana phenol aftertaste.

So I personally would leave it alone and not add anything. If you do want to add, I think you need to determine whether this one has more clove character or more banana character, then plan your addition to compliment that character, not just start throwing stuff in there.

 

[scottbrews]

Good point, TopherM. I'm not really sure how this batch will come out; definitely did not temp control this one, just put it in my basement which seemed to work out fine for the previous IPA.

I'll still have 4 gallons of the non-spiced dunkel, I guess since I'm just getting started (and esp because I'm eager to do a partial or all-grain dunkel soon) I'm curious to experiment with different spices and see how they affect the brew.

But it's a good point you make. I guess maybe a good approach would be to take a sample before the secondary and see where the flavor is? Would that be a good idea?

 

[ludomonster]

I second brewing the kit as is. Once you know how it tastes, you can modify the recipe for the next go around.