This is my third attempt at the Munich Dunkel Style (read about the first and second). This is one of my favorite styles of beer - I really love the bready malt character in these as well as the great drinkability.
Like with my last 2 attempts I will be executing a decoction step mash for this beer. With this procedure you pull grain from the mash, boil it, and then add it back to the main mash. This provides a controlled way to raise the temperature of the mash through the conversion range. Additionally the boil is thought to create some of the color and malty flavor elements in the beer. This could probably be achieved with specialty malts but the process is kind of fun and it worked well last time so I'll do it again.
Like with my last beer I'll be using only Munich Malt. I'm going to make 10.5 gal this time to fill 2 kegs with beer (the second 5 gal will have an extended lager time while I drink the first so it will be interesting to see if that changes the character at all). The last beer came in at over 6% ABV as my efficiency was better than expected and it attenuated a higher percentage than I'd hoped. I intend to bring this beer in at 5% ABV.
I'll be using low AA Tettnanger hops like last time and will try to bitter to about 22 IBU. This style is balanced towards the malt so the hops are largely in the background offering just a slight bit of bitterness to offset any sweetness.
I'll be using Wyeast's Munich Later strain (my first attempt with it). This will be started at 50 F. It supposed to be supportive of malt forward beer. I look forward to reporting on the results.
Recipe Details:
- Grain:
- 20 lbs Munich
- 4 oz Acid Malt
- Hops:
- 3 oz Tettnanger (Pellet, 3.9% AA) at 60 min
- Yeast:
- Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager Yeast
- Water:
- 16 gal spring water
- 2 tsp CaCl
- 1 tsp Irish Moss at 15 min
- Batch Size:
- 12 (Target 10.5 gal)
- Mash:
- Triple Decoction:
- See Brewing Notes
- Boil:
- 60 min
- Fermentation Temperature:
- 50 F for primary
- 65 F for Diacetyl Cleanup
- 35 F for Lagering
- Primary Duration:
- 4 weeks
- Secondary Duration:
- 4 weeks (second fermenter will get as much time as it takes to kill the first keg)
- OG:
- 1.052 (Target 1.050)
- Efficiency:
- 85% (Target 71%)
- FG:
- 1.017 (Target 1.012)
- Apparent Attenuation:
- 66% (Target 75%)
- ABV:
- 4.6% (Target 5%)
- 12/30/22 - Prepared a yeast starter and set this up on a stir plate to propagate over night
- 12/31/22 - Brew Day - 11:00 AM to 4:30 PM - Including setup and cleanup
- Brought 13 gal of spring water to 160 F
- Milled the grain and added CaCl to it so I would forget
- Moved 7 gal of strike water to the mash tun. Added the grain. Stirred well to eliminate dough balls. Let this sit for 15 min. Temperature settled at 146 F
- Moved 14 quarts of the mash (getting mostly grain and leaving behind most of the liquid) to a separate pot for the first decoction. Heated this up to the high 150s and let it sit for 15 min. Then brought this to a boil for 10 min
- Added the first decoction back to the main mash. The temperature had fallen to 143 F. This raised it up to 153 F. Let this sit for 15 min
- Moved 10 quarts of the mash to a separate pot for the second decoction. Boiled this for 10 min.
- Added the second decoction back to the main mash. The temperature was still 153 F. This raised it up to 156 F. Let this sit for 15 more minutes.
- Heated 8 gal of sparge water to 180 F
- Moved 10 quarts of the mash to the separate pot for the third decoction. Boiled this for 10 min
- Added the third decoction back to the main mash. The temperature had fallen to 153 F . Let this sit a final 10 min. The mash fell to 151 F over this period.
- Fly sparged until 12.5 gal of wort were collected. Started heating the wort after 4 gal were collected and had it at a boil shortly after sparging was complete
- Added the hops shortly after the hot break cleared
- Boiled for 60 min
- Added the Irish Moss at 15 min
- Added the wort chiller at 5 min to sanitize
- Chilled the beer down to 60 F
- Transferred the beer into 2 fermenters. Let the beer fall a foot to aerate.
- Moved the fermenters into my chest freezer and chilled them down to 50 F. Pitched the yeast onto the beer at this stage
- Collected 9.5 gal of beer. Measured the gravity as 1.066. This is an 85% efficiency when I only planned for 71% (highest efficiency I've ever gotten. I'm going to top up the beers to 12 gal which should lower the gravity to about 1.052
- 2/11/23 - Time got away from me a bit. I'm letting the beer rise up to the 60s for a diacetyl rest for a few days.
- 2/25/23 - Chilled the beer down to 35 F for lagering
- 3/25/23 - Added gelatin to help clear the beer
- 4/22/23 - Transferred the first fermenter into the keg. Measured the gravity as 1.017
- 7/16/23 - Kicked the first keg and added the second fermenter of beer
- 7/29/23 - Tasting Notes - I really love the Munich Dunkel style. I think this is a pretty good one. The flavors are nice and it has a good bit of complexity. It is also very drinkable and refreshing to have on tap here during the summer months
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