Comparing my Homebrew to commercial - Dunkels

[nonamekevin]

Hello all,

Recently brewed a Dunkelweizen from a morebeer kit and thought it would be fun to compare to commercially available Dunkels. I'm very much a beginner, so I thought it would be fun to try and improve my tasting/brewing abilities. First up:

Hofbräu Dunkel on the left, homebrew on the right.

Color/Clarity
First observation was the difference in color. Homebrew is darker, hazy, brown. Hofbräu is dark amber, clear with no haze, slight twinge of orange.

Head
I tried pouring from the keg fairly aggressive and came up with what you see here. Very thin, dissappeared shortly after taking the picture. Hofbräu still has nice head retention, nice visible bubbles coming up from the bottom of the glass. I have had my keg at 15psi for about a week, up from 10psi for about 2 weeks during cold conditioning.

Nose
Hofbräu has a distinctly sweet smell, pumpkin puree like almost. Homebrew...more of a molasse like smell, very faint.

Taste
Homebrew is a little...not sure how to describe it...hits of banana, hints of molasse, feintest hint or chocolate, a little "burny". Not a bunch of distinguishing notes. The Hofbräu, malts front and center. Sweeter, hints of pumpkin, hints of orange.

Mouthfeel
Homebrew is thin, nothing much more. Hofbräu has more of a pallette coating feel.

Ive got two more Dunkels to compare to the homebrew dunkelweizen over the next few days. I appreciate any feedback on how I can better do these tastings and comparisons.

 

[madscientist451]

All grain of extract kit?

 

[nonamekevin]

All grain of extract kit?

I did an extract kit. Haven't tried any all grain recipes yet.

 

[Joshua Hughes]

A Dunkel and Dunkelweizen are different beers. The commercial one is a dunkel lager. Dunkelweizen is a wheat beer

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Dunkelweizen should have a nice fluffy head… was this kit exclusively extract or did I you have mini mash grains?

 

[camonick]

Homebrew is darker, hazy, brown. Hofbräu is dark amber, clear with no haze,

Homebrew is a little...not sure how to describe it...hits of banana, hints of molasse, feintest hint or chocolate, a little "burny". Not a bunch of distinguishing notes. The Hofbräu, malts front and center. Sweeter, hints of pumpkin, hints of orange.

Like @Joshua Hughes mentions above, you’re not comparing apples to apples. Those are two very different styles of beer. Your tasting notes are accurate for both styles, but can’t be compared side by side for similarities.

 

[Oleson M.D.]

I did an extract kit. Haven't tried any all grain recipes yet.

Not going to get into an extract vs all grain debate, but in my brewing history, my beer did not really taste like beer until we made the upgrade to all grain brewing.
Nothing against extract as there are many folks who make great beers with this method.

 

[madscientist451]

Quit using kits, get a BIAB bag and some grain and start making small batches. More beer sells grain in 10lb amounts (pre-milled if you want) and so do other vendors at a lower price. If you want to keep it simple, you could go with all Munich malt. Get a small scale for about $20 and you'll be all grain brewing as soon as you can measure the grain and heat the water. You'll recover your "investment" in just a few batches. If you can brew tea with a teabag you can all grain brew with BIAB (famous quote from someone here on HBT)....So look up some recipes and get started and you'll find you can make a homebrew Dunkel almost as good or better than commercial examples. Note that Munich Dunkel is a lager and if you have a chilly basement, fermentng lagers cool is a good practice, however, there are many workarounds and there's a warm fermented lager thread here on HBT.
Here's a recipe to get started, but there are many more:
https://homebrewacademy.com/munich-dunkel-recipe/

 

[nonamekevin]

A Dunkel and Dunkelweizen are different beers. The commercial one is a dunkel lager. Dunkelweizen is a wheat beer

Like @Joshua Hughes mentions above, you’re not comparing apples to apples. Those are two very different styles of beer. Your tasting notes are accurate for both styles, but can’t be compared side by side for similarities.

I thought about this while in the store, but there weren't any dunkelweizens available. After I finish the Dunkels, maybe I'll switch to some hefeweizen and see if I can see where each one contributes to the homebrew.

Dunkelweizen should have a nice fluffy head… was this kit exclusively extract or did I you have mini mash grains?

No mini mash, simply steep specialty grains, pour in DME, boil and cool.

 

[camonick]

Quit using kits, get a BIAB bag and some grain and start making small batches. More beer sells grain in 10lb amounts (pre-milled if you want) and so do other vendors at a lower price. If you want to keep it simple, you could go with all Munich malt. Get a small scale for about $20 and you'll be all grain brewing as soon as you can measure the grain and heat the water. You'll recover your "investment" in just a few batches. If you can brew tea with a teabag you can all grain brew with BIAB (famous quote from someone here on HBT)....So look up some recipes and get started and you'll find you can make a homebrew Dunkel almost as good or better than commercial examples. Note that Munich Dunkel is a lager and if you have a chilly basement, fermentng lagers cool is a good practice, however, there are many workarounds and there's a warm fermented lager thread here on HBT.
Here's a recipe to get started, but there are many more:
https://homebrewacademy.com/munich-dunkel-recipe/

That’s a good article. I agree that Dunkels are often overlooked. It is one of my favorite styles. I am drinking my homebrew version right now.

 

[lmaa]

I like your photo. Have you visited Hofbräuhaus?