Planning Dunkelweizen

ChicoBrewer

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Last year I nailed down my process with an APA and now that is my House APA. I am also working out an Imperial Stout which is in the fermenter right now. This year I want to get a good German beer in my rotation. One that isn't overly complicated - so I'm thinking a Dunkelweizen might be a good choice. I looked around and copied several from various internet sites. Some have a large number of specialty malts but I am looking for something simple and traditional. Here is a base recipe I am working on.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/754468/house-dunkelweizen-1

I got it from Beer and Brewing web site

https://beerandbrewing.com/make-your-best-dunkelweizen/

I changed the base malt amounts a bit to try to get to an OG of ~1.053

Anyone here have experience with a Dunkelweizen that could lend me some tips? Most all of the examples I have seen go for a 90 minute boil and are somewhere in the 1.053 OG ballpark.

What should my mash temp look like (I batch sparge in a 10 gallon igloo).

Also, does anyone have experience with the WB-06? Fermentation temp? I am leaning more toward clove than banana but I want it balanced with the malt and not a clove/banana bomb . . .
 
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I brewed a dunkel a few months back. Looking at our recipes they are virtually the same by the stats. My OG was 1.053 with 14IBU with a similar list of 4 grains. I just did a standard 60 min boil. Can't comment on WB-06, I used WLP300 and ended up accidentally fermenting in the mid 70's instead of mid 60's as I meant to (long story). I expected I'd have a banana bomb on my hands but actually turned out okay.

Overall I can't say it was my favorite brew but as I had never actually tasted a dunkel before brewing it I'm not exactly sure if it was the style or this particular recipe that I'm not fond of. My brewing friends ended up liking it more than I did and 1 who had brewed a dunkel a few times said he thought it fit the style. If I do brew it again I'll actually change my base malts to be closer to what you have in your recipe and keep my fermentation temp lower.

Good luck!
 
I brewed a dunkel a few months back. Looking at our recipes they are virtually the same by the stats. My OG was 1.053 with 14IBU with a similar list of 4 grains. I just did a standard 60 min boil. Can't comment on WB-06, I used WLP300 and ended up accidentally fermenting in the mid 70's instead of mid 60's as I meant to (long story). I expected I'd have a banana bomb on my hands but actually turned out okay.

Overall I can't say it was my favorite brew but as I had never actually tasted a dunkel before brewing it I'm not exactly sure if it was the style or this particular recipe that I'm not fond of. My brewing friends ended up liking it more than I did and 1 who had brewed a dunkel a few times said he thought it fit the style. If I do brew it again I'll actually change my base malts to be closer to what you have in your recipe and keep my fermentation temp lower.

Good luck!
Thanks for the reply. I think I'll go ahead and brew it. Might change the yeast to one of the weihenstephan wheat yeasts. Now I just need room in my fermentation chamber :)
 
Hey Chico, I need to do a Dunkelweizen this summer. Been studying a little. With about 50% wheat it will need rice hulls or mash in a bag or both. Interested in what you come up with. :)
 
Hey Chico, I need to do a Dunkelweizen this summer. . :)

Recently been brushing up on german by checking out german home brew site hobbybrauer.de, and came across a thread where someone asked for advice on a weizen recipe and after telling him his recipe was sound every person who responded said, not a good time to brew weizen beers in summer months. I found this amusing since most hobby brewers in US look at weizen as a summer brew only.
Don't mean this as a criticism on anyone, just made me grin the complete opposite viewpoints on the same beer.

Reminds me of how many times I had to tell my friends, when I first came back , NO, not all germans drink warm beer, and then it is only a wintertime thing. :))
 
Recently been brushing up on german by checking out german home brew site hobbybrauer.de, and came across a thread where someone asked for advice on a weizen recipe and after telling him his recipe was sound every person who responded said, not a good time to brew weizen beers in summer months. I found this amusing since most hobby brewers in US look at weizen as a summer brew only.
Don't mean this as a criticism on anyone, just made me grin the complete opposite viewpoints on the same beer.

Reminds me of how many times I had to tell my friends, when I first came back , NO, not all germans drink warm beer, and then it is only a wintertime thing. :))
I need a wisen for a club competition. Thought it was due first of August but turns out it’s due first of May. I just want to brew one time, so probably in March.
 
@rabeb25 I have been creating the recipes in your post. I batch sparge. I suppose I could do the step mash with boiling water additions. I'm curious about your opinion regarding how important the step mashing is. I'm not sure if I would have enough water left after the rest to do the alpha and beta steps. Maybe a 60 minute boil . . .

Capture.JPG
 
If you want it authentic it has to be step mashed. The 114 rest is a major role player in this along with the other steps for fermentability and extract.

I can’t help you with additions as I have never done any.
 
If you want it authentic it has to be step mashed. The 114 rest is a major role player in this along with the other steps for fermentability and extract.

I can’t help you with additions as I have never done any.
Thanks a bunch - I'll figure out how to get there. I did it once with a NB kit heff :)

Scott
 
@rabeb25 I have been creating the recipes in your post. I batch sparge. I suppose I could do the step mash with boiling water additions. I'm curious about your opinion regarding how important the step mashing is. I'm not sure if I would have enough water left after the rest to do the alpha and beta steps. Maybe a 60 minute boil . . .

View attachment 4759
As a hefe brewer I would shorten your first rest (ferulic rest at 114) the longer this rest the stronger the clove will be in your beer. I generally keep this rest around 15-20min.
Some experts(?) skip the 114 step now and mash in at around 131 for 10 min and then go to 148 for 20-30 min( this rest affects attenuation) and 158-60 for final rest before mash out.

I start with a very thick mash in at around 0.9qt/1lbs. If you are using infusion this is the schedule I use, if this helps.

My suggestion would be ..Mash in with 1/1 water/grist (around 10 qts) and then should take about 6 qts to reach next rest

Step Target Temp (F) Infusion Needed Quarts / Pound
1.

114F / .
10.00 Quarts @ 123.8 (F) /
ratio 1.00:1

2.
145F .

6.4 Quarts @ boiling /
ratio 1.64:1
3.
160F .

5.6 Quarts @ boiling /
ratio2.20:1

Option 2 with no ferulic rest.
Mash Guidelines
Amount Description Type Temp Time
9 qt Strike water 141F Mash In Temperature 131 F 10 min
4 qt Maltose Infusion 148 F 20 min
4 qt Sach Infusion 158 F 60 min
4 qt Mash Out 3.5 gal to kettle before adding sparge water Infusion 168 F 10 min
2.75 gal Sparge 170 F 30 min
 
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The length of rest I recommended is directly related to the yeast, pitch rate and fermentation temp I suggested. The balance act as it were.
 
I have got so much awesome advise here its going to take me a while to work it. Right now the theme seems to be "mash schedule shapes flavor" along with grain bill of course. So I have to focus on one thing and I'm going to focus on mash schedule right now. So I took Medarius advise and changed the mash ratio to 1:1 and ran through the water requirements for a 4 step mash and they look pretty reasonable. Here is the recipe.

I don't know exactly how I will measure "Total Mash: 5.949999999999999 gal" but what do I know. I took chemistry and learned about SigFigs in the eighties and computer science was my major. We had to take that into account when writing programs in Pascal even assembly. I think Fortran did it for us but that was a long time ago. I have people to do that for me now
 
. Here is the recipe.

I don't know exactly how I will measure "Total Mash: 5.949999999999999 gal" but what do I know. I took chemistry and learned about SigFigs in the eighties and computer science was my major. We had to take that into account when writing programs in Pascal even assembly. I think Fortran did it for us but that was a long time ago. I have people to do that for me now

Pascal & Fortran.. I remember those classes. Recipe looks good , please update us when its finished , Im curious to know how it turns out.
 

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