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Dunkelweisen Brew Day

In Garret Oliver’s The Brewmaster’s Table, Oliver raves about pairing hefeweisens with various German foods – pork in particular, but he also notes that weisens pair well with Mexican food, Indian food, Chinese food, breakfast, seafood, and lamb are all noted (pages 85 to 89). I’ve had one true dunkelweisen – at Hofbrauhaus in Newport, KY, many years ago. According to Untappd, I’ve had a few more – like Shiner Holiday Cheer – that doesn’t seem to fully fit the style (although I like the beer for other reasons). So I had been wanting to brew one.

The Recipe

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
5 gal 60 min 23.2 IBUs 19.2 SRM 1.058 1.013 5.8 %
Actuals 1.046 1.013 4.3 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Dunkles Weissbier 10 B 1.044 - 1.056 1.01 - 1.014 10 - 18 14 - 23 2.9 - 4.1 4.3 - 5.6 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Wheat - Red Malt (Briess) 5 lbs 44.44
Caramel Malt - 120L (Briess) 8 oz 4.44
Munich 10L (Briess) 1.5 lbs 13.33
Swaen©Ale 4 lbs 35.56
De-Bittered Black Malt (Dingemans) 4 oz 2.22

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Magnum 0.25 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 14
Tettnang, U.S. 4 oz 15 min Boil Leaf 2

Miscs

Name Amount Time Use Type
Lactic Acid 3.50 ml 60 min Mash Water Agent

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Weihenstephan Weizen (3068) Wyeast Labs 75% 64°F - 75°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 152°F 60 min

The Brewday

Graiiiiiins!

Temperature – nailed it! Well, after stirring in an extra gallon of hotter water.

5.49 is a little high, but not too bad.

Fermentation

This fermented in my basement around 64-68F. My initial taste, around a week after fermentation, it had a subtle banana ester and the floral flavor of a Märzen. Not bad!

One thing to consider when using Wyeast 3068 (the Weinenstephan strain) is you MUST use a blowoff! I had a decent amount of headspace and it still required a blowoff tube.

Blip, bloop, bloop goes the blowoff tube.

Log

2017-12-17: Brew day. Mash efficiency: 71%, Brewhouse efficiency: 63.2%

2017-12-24: SG at 1.012

2017-12-27: SG at 1.010