Dunkelweizen

Description:

I just made a dunkelweizen this weekend. I would say, from reading Warner’s book, that the best way to add color is with dark munich malt. I don’t think (from memory) that he used crystal or chocolate malt in any of his recipes. Since I could not find any dark munich malt, however, I “cheated” with crystal and chocolate malt.

Ingredients:

• 5 lbs wheat malt
• 3 lbs light munich
• 1.25 lbs Briess 2-row
• 8 oz light crystal (20L)
• 2 oz medium crystal (40L)
• 2 oz chocolate malt (400L)
• 1 ounce Hallertauer hops (4.9% alpha, boil)
• wheat yeast (Wyeast Bavarian wheat or Yeast Labs W51)

Procedure:

This, along with a 90-minute boil, gave me the medium-amber color I was looking for. Time will tell if the crystal and chocolate will give the beer an undesirable harshness. I think you’d want a fairly soft finish in any weizen. I’ve tried this year’s SA Summer Wheat (Dunkelweizen) and I think it’s too harsh, as well as under-carbonated. The color’s right, though.