Dunkelweizen recipe question

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rpolzin25

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Brand new to brewing and I really want to brew a dunkelweizen. My local homebrew store doesn't sell a dunkelweizen kit so I thought why not try to come up with a recipe based on ingredients they carry. Feel free to critique away as I have only done one batch of beer thus far (an English Mild Ale extract kit about a week into bottle conditioning). Still debating on whether I am brave enough to brew a batch of my own creation rather than buying a kit after only making one batch of homebrew. So on to the recipe I was considering:

Boil size: 3 gallons

Batch size: 5 gallons

Steeping Grains (plan 20 to 30 minutes at about 150 F)
- 8 oz briess chocolate Malt
- 4 oz Gambrinus honey malt
- 4 oz briess caramel malt 20L

Extract:
3.3 lbs Munich LME (Briess)
3 lbs bavarian wheat DME (Briess)

Hops:
1 oz Hallertau (US) pellet - AA: 4.3% - 60 minute boil

Yeast:
Danstar Munich Dry Yeast

Expected results per recipe calculator
OG: 1.051
FG: 1.013
ABV: 4.98 %
IBU: 12.01
SRM: 20.1

The recipe calculator says it matches the style but I figured I would throw this out there to see what other more experienced brewers think about this. Am I way off or should this be a tasty beer? Also, should I expect to need a secondary fermentation or would just a 2 week primary likely be ok. Any help is much appreciated.
 
I'm no expert by any means but I wonder if the honey and caramel are really necessary. I also wonder if the chocolate malt would add some unwanted flavors. My dunkel recipe is just 6lb wheat LME ( split the additions), 1lb wheat DME (late addition), then a quarter to a half pound of Carafa III. The an ounce of Tettnanger, a quarter added at 60' and the other 3/4 at 10'. I get a nice wheat beer with good color but none of the burnt roasty flavors you'd maybe expect from a darker beer.
 
unless you're wanting a porterweizen, I'd stay away from the chocolate malt.
IMHO you don't need the crystal malts either.
I just brewed a pm dunkelweizen last month & thought it turned out well.
the extract version would be like...

6 lbs wheat lme, 1/2 @ flameout
1 lb Munich dme
.5 lb carawheat
.25 lb midnight wheat
I used 1 oz tettnang but hallertau is fine
dry yeast will work in a pinch but wyeast 3068 is much better in my opinion
 
Appreciate the responses. I am really not worried about the chocalate adding unwanted flavors as I have seen multiple recipes from reputable sources using chocolate malt for steeping grains. I did actually discuss w/ northern brewer on my recipe and was receiving some decent feedback. Changes that were thought to being made would be to cut back the chocolate to 6 oz and increase the the honey malt to 6 oz (i do want to use the honey malt). I am definitely switching to Wyeast 3068. I wanted to use Tettnang for the hops and will if my local shop gets them stock before I brew otherwise I will be using hallertau. I might just brew this one, see how it turns out and then alter from there.

I did wonder about reducing the munich LME and increasing the wheat DME to get above 50% wheat per German purity law but as long as it tastes good I don't care...lol
 
Brewers best kit comes with 8 oz chocolate and 8 oz Munich malt as the steep grains. 2 cans briess Bavarian wheat lme 1 lb maltodextrine and either Willamette or hersbrucker added at beginning of boil and hallertau at 20 mins left half oz each. I've used their kit a few times with good results.
 
As an update to what I am deciding to do as I have ordered the supplies today. I decided to download the beersmith app to make my recipes. I am going w/ the following recipe:

Boil size: 3 gallons

Batch size: 5 gallons

Steeping Grains (plan 20 to 30 minutes at about 150 F)
- 6 oz briess Midnight Wheat Malt
- 6 oz Gambrinus honey malt
- 8 oz Best Malz Munich Malt

Extract:
6 lbs bavarian wheat DME (Briess)

Hops:
1 oz Hallertau (US) pellet - AA: 4.3% - 60 minute boil

Yeast:
Wyeast 3068

Expected results per recipe calculator
OG: 1.049
FG: 1.012
ABV: 4.98 %
IBU: 11.2
SRM: 19.8

I am debating on splitting the extract into 2 additions (one at the begging of the boil and one with 10 minutes left in the boil). I currently have a 4 gallon pot so I have to do smaller boils but will soon be getting a larger pot (8 or 10) so I can do full boils. According to the calculator splitting up the DME would give more IBUs similar to what it shows me if I were to do a full boil instead of a partial. Looking for feedback on that part if anyone has any. I plan on brewing on Thanksgiving w/ my father to show him how to homebrew. Thanks
 
Yes, in general you will get better results by adding the bulk of the extract at flame out. It will have less of a "cooked extract" or "extract-y" taste to it.
 
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