Brewing a dunkel

[thebeerroom]

Any tips on brewing a dunkel beer?

 

[skunkfunk]

Yes. Advice is much the same as for other styles.

That said, is this a dunkelweissen or a munich dunkel we're talking? Makes a big difference in the instructions which one we're talking about.

 

[thebeerroom]

Munich.

 

[skunkfunk]

Biggest thing is temperature control. Are you familiar with what's required to brew a lager?

 

[thebeerroom]

Kind of, I know I need cooler temperatures, but I'm in South Texas so it's 45 degrees one day and 70 the next. I've been brewing ales cause they don't require as cool of temps. So I don't really have the set up for lagers.

 

[skunkfunk]

Then my advice is don't brew a munich dunkel until you have a fermentation chamber or some means of accurately controlling temperature, which can be as simple as keeping it in a bath tub with water and putting in the correct amount of ice throughout the day. You need to ferment with the beer temp, not the ambient temp, around 50F depending on the yeast you use. This goes on for a while. Then you bring it up into the 60's for a diacetyl rest, and then you lager it for a while around 39F or so.

Check out this reddit thread, brewing good lager in less time http://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/1q1qwu/

 

[BigFloyd]

Then my advice is don't brew a munich dunkel until you have a fermentation chamber or some means of accurately controlling temperature, which can be as simple as keeping it in a bath tub with water and putting in the correct amount of ice throughout the day. You need to ferment with the beer temp, not the ambient temp, around 50F depending on the yeast you use. This goes on for a while. Then you bring it up into the 60's for a diacetyl rest, and then you lager it for a while around 39F or so.

Check out this reddit thread, brewing good lager in less time http://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/1q1qwu/

This^^^^^^. If you're going to do lagers in Texas, a fermentation chamber (fridge or freezer with an STC-1000 or similar controller) is the most useful piece of brew gear you can own.

You'll also want to be able to chill the wort to about 45*F and aerate/oxygenate it well before pitching yeast if using liquid. This can be done by getting it as cool as you can with hose water through the chiller and then either 1) running ice water into the chiller with a pump or 2) putting the wort in the fermenter and placing it in the fermenter fridge to chill to the right temp before pitching.

Lagers require LOTS of yeast. Twice as much as a comparable gravity ale. That means big starters if using liquid yeast or multiple packs of dry yeast.

 

[thebeerroom]

Damn, looks like I need to spend some more money before I'm ready to brew a lager

 

[BigFloyd]

Damn, looks like I need to spend some more money before I'm ready to brew a lager

At least you're asiing the right questions and figuring that out before attempting one.

There are plenty of threads on HBT where the person hasn't taken the time to find out the particulars, is half-way through fermenting their lager too hot and then posts, "am I doing this right?"

 

[skunkfunk]

At least you're asiing the right questions and figuring that out before attempting one.

There are plenty of threads on HBT where the person hasn't taken the time to find out the particulars, is half-way through fermenting their lager too hot and then posts, "am I doing this right?"

Yeah, well, some of us learn best by screwing it all up!

 

[thebeerroom]

Lol, yeah want to have all the right equipment to brew this successfully as well as make the process easier.