New all grain brewer question about recipe with Munich malt base?

[Math_thomas]

So I sore a youtube clip on how to turn my boiler into a mash tun and thought I'd have a go. (Biab type set up)
There is a really good deal on a on line brewing suppliers that I use. £10 for 4kg of crushed grain and 100g of hops.
So I go it. I ordered 3.5 kg of Munich malt and 0.5 kg of chocolate malt. Manly because who dose't like chocolate and Munich malt sounds nice lol. When reading into recipes I have realised that even though Munich malt is classed as a base malt it is very really used on its own as a base. usually only 50% of a base in a brew.
I order 100g of Admiral hops
Any advise?
Should I wait and order more grain?
Go with what I got?
Add some House ingredients like oats to bulk out?
I've been told that crushed grain will go off so want to use it ASAP. I was hoping to make a 20l batch.
Pleas help any one!

 

[Mirilis]

Munich malt is fine as a base malt.. it has enough enzyme power to convert itself.. just do your normal 60 minute mash.. you can check conversion by the iodine test.

If you read about the style Munich Dunkel (it is almost entirely munich malt)... I just made one the other day using 12.2 lbs Munich malt and 6 oz of Blackprinz malt.. then just some German noble hops at 60 and 20 minutes and ferment with SafLager W34/70.. it worked just fine.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

If this is your first mash, I'd add a bit of 6 row just to get your diastatic power up a tad so your not as close to the 30L / lb (but like above it should convert on its own). Other than that, it sounds great, I have plans to do an ESB with munich soon.

 

[Math_thomas]

Thanks so much for your input.
I'll take that on bored and try and get some.

 

[madscientist451]

Your Admiral Hops will be good in an English Style Ale.
The Munich malt can be used as a base malt, but its not recommended
for that purpose because you need enzymes in your base malt to convert the starches in your specialty grains (like your chocolate malt) into fermentable sugars.
To make things more complicated there are many types of Munich malt, from light to dark. The dark Munich has been kilned longer and has less enzymes available than the light Munich.
My advice would be that since you are a beginning brewer, look for recipes that have been used by someone else, then buy your ingredients. But here's a recipe I found that would use your munich and chocolate malt (some of what you have, not all of it)
its in lbs, not metric, so you'll have to do the math to figure how much to use and convert the liquid measurements, plus you'll need a few more ingredients, but your hops will be good with this recipe.

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/04/munich-porter.html

Put your leftover grains in a sealed container, keep in a cool place and they'll be good for a while, but try to use as soon as possible.

 

[byrone]

Munich malt can be used for 100% of the grist bill as it is a base malt. Using a high amount(80%+) is a very common practice in German brewing(Munich Dunkels, Bocks and Alts). You absolutley could use what you have but it all depends on the style/flavour you're looking for. I've never used Admiral hops so I couldn't tell you if it would be a good choice but thats the beauty of homebrewing, you can experiment. You could make an interesting porter. Worst case senario you will get beer at the end of it. Experimentation is half the fun with homebrewing.

Cheers

 

[kombat]

Holy crap, did you really need to post the same thread 4 times?

 

[Math_thomas]

Holy crap, did you really need to post the same thread 4 times?

I'm so sorry my iPhone was crashing and I thought it did't post. I'm new to the forum. It won't happen again 😳

 

[Pappers_]

I've used Munich as the base malt for a few beers - I made a stout with Munich as the only base malt and it turned out nicely. Go for it!

 

[Math_thomas]

Munich malt can be used for 100% of the grist bill as it is a base malt. Using a high amount(80%+) is a very common practice in German brewing(Munich Dunkels, Bocks and Alts). You absolutley could use what you have but it all depends on the style/flavour you're looking for. I've never used Admiral hops so I couldn't tell you if it would be a good choice but thats the beauty of homebrewing, you can experiment. You could make an interesting porter. Worst case senario you will get beer at the end of it. Experimentation is half the fun with homebrewing.



Cheers

Thank you I'll try and get some this weekend.
Really appreciate the input.

 

[solbes]

Dunkels sometimes use 100% Munich Base. If you have an oz or two of Carafa or RB, you could throw that in in the last 5 minutes of the mash for color. Chocolate could also be used I suppose, but in a small amount for a Dunkel.

 

[Pappers_]

Didn't notice the duplicates when I first responded, merged the threads into one and deleted the duplicates in the new thread. Don't worry about it, as moderating around HBT goes, this was minor. Cheers and good luck with your Munich beer!

 

[Math_thomas]

Thank you all so much.
My plan from here is to try and get some more malt by Saturday. Then use what I've got to do a brew. Probably cut back on the chocolate malt a bit so I have a lighter beer. I'll let you know how it goes
Again thank you all and sorry about the 4 posts.

 

[Math_thomas]

Just an up date. I went to my local brew shop yesterday. They don't stock grain usually but they had 6 kg of larger malt (2row) that they ordered for another customer but let them down. It's should of been £16 but it was 4 days past its best before date so the let me have it for £5. I picked up 100g cascade hopes because they smelt grate.
I had a think what I could do and decided to do two batches. One 23L and the Other 18l I brewed them both last night and they are in primary fermentation ( back in my comfort zone. ) fermentation has been a bit slow to start but I'm not to worried at the moment. Think both brews will be to bitter and to hoppy but Only time will tell.
I added the hops that I used in the fist brew to the second brew for bitterness. Adding all of them was probably a mistake. Looking back on it I should of only used the last two hop addictions in the fist brew and added them to the seconded brew.
Here are the two brews I did.



Batch Name:experiment bree
Brewed By:matthew thomas
Style:Specialty Beer
Batch Size:23.00 L
Boil Time:60 min
Initial Boil Volume:30.0 L
Mash Method:All Grain
Brew Date:1/24/15

Calculated & Measured Statistics
Calculated O.G.1.049 (60% Efficiency)
Calculated F.G.1.012 (72% Yeast Attenuation)
Measured O.G.1.042 (52% Actual Efficiency)
Measured F.G.0.000 (0% Actual Attenuation)
ABV4.0%
IBU113.5
SRM18.2°L
Color

Malt Bill
Malt Name Weight
2-Row Malt - 3.00 kg
Munich Malt - 3.00 kg
Chocolate Malt - 0.20 kg

Mash Rest Profile
RestTemperatureTimeTypeDetails
Saccharification (Medium Body)67°C60 minInitial StrikeMash-in with 16.4 L of water at 75°C
BIAB - Remove grain from mash and begin boil.

Hop Bill
Hop NameTime AddedWeightAA%Type
Admiral60 min40.00 g14.8%Leaf Hop
Admiral30 min20.00 g14.8%Leaf Hop
Admiral15 min20.00 g14.8%Leaf Hop
Cascade (U.S.)15 min20.00 g5.8%Leaf Hop
Cascade (U.S.)3 min40.00 g5.8%Leaf Hop

Yeast Details
Yeast StrainQuantityAttenuationFlocculation
Muntons Ale Yeast72Low

And the other


Batch Name:black beer
Brewed By:matthew thomas
Style:Schwarzbier (Black Beer)
Batch Size:18.00 L
Boil Time:60 min
Initial Boil Volume:21.7 L
Mash Method:All Grain
Brew Date:1/24/15


Calculated & Measured Statistics
Calculated O.G.1.043 (65% Efficiency)
Calculated F.G.1.012 (72% Yeast Attenuation)
Measured O.G.1.044 (67% Actual Efficiency)
Measured F.G.0.000 (0% Actual Attenuation)
ABV4.2%
IBU159.5
SRM26.7°L
Color

Malt Bill
Malt NameWeightPPGSRMType
2-Row Malt - 1.75°L3.00 kg1.0381.80 Mashed Grain
Munich Malt0.50 kg1.0379.00Mashed Grain
Chocolate Malt - 450°L0.30 kg1.034450.00 Mashed Grain

Mash Rest Profile
RestTemperatureTimeTypeDetails
Saccharification (Medium Body)67°C60 minInitial StrikeMash-in with 9.9 L of water at 75°C
BIAB - Remove grain from mash and begin boil.

Hop Bill
Hop NameTime AddedWeightAA%Type
Cascade (U.S.)60 min60.00 g5.8%Leaf Hop
Admiral60 min30.00 g14.8%Leaf Hop
Admiral30 min30.00 g14.8%Leaf Hop
Cascade (U.S.)5 min40.00 g5.8%Leaf Hop

Yeast Details
Yeast StrainQuantityAttenuationFlocculation
Coopers Ale Yeast

Next time I'm going to use less hops and less chocolate malt.
Any feed back would be good.

 

[Math_thomas]

So just keged both beers after primary fermentation. Using a king keg ( plastic pressure barrel). Both beers are about 4% abv but both beers are extremely bitter. I can drink them but if any one know how to reduce the bitterness I'm all ears? After some research I have seen that it will reduce and mellow in time. But not to the extent that I need.
Also some thing strange happened to my keggerator/ fermentor fridge temperature control unit its change form degrease c to degrease f over night. The strangest thing is the control unit should not have this function and I can't change it back. It was set at 18c and when I woke my beer was frozen. It was only 3-4 days into fermentation but it was already at 1.010 fg. When priming I added a spoon full of the yeast from the bottom of the beer that did't freeze to the beer that did Just in case that all the yeast died when frozen. Hope this was enough.
Going to post a topic on the equipment forum to see if any one knows what's happened to my unit

 

[solbes]

Umm, if your recipes are correct you had 113 IBU in a 4% for brew 1. And 159.5 IBU in a 4.2% for brew 2. Thats going to be very bitter.

With a light grain bill, I would have shot for something in the 18-25 IBU range for an easy drinking beer, and 30-40 if you wanted something hoppy.

It will take forever to fade back (likely 9+ months). As you named them though, they are experimental beers. So you can adjust for the next ones. Those hopping rates are more inline with an imperial IPA, but they have the malt backbone to balance the bitterness.