Weizened Doonkle
Brewed: 10/6/2013 Kegged: 10/19/2013
I have a co-worker who has asked me a few times "have you ever brewed a Dunkelweizen". He apparently was stationed in Germany years ago and really got to love the style. He isn't able to find very many here in the United States, and that makes him a little sad.I always tell him: "No, but it is on my list of styles to brew". But when I started my quest to have brewed at least one beer in every BJCP beer category, I knew a Dunkelweizen would be my Category 15 style. See BJCP Goal on my blog for more information on that crazy idea.
Like my co-worker, I do not see very many Dunkelweizens, so I don't really have anything to base my perception of the beer, other than what I have heard and read.
From the style guidelines: A Dunkelweizen is "a moderately dark, spicy, fruity, malty, refreshing wheat-based ale. Reflecting the best yeast and wheat character of a hefeweizen blended with the malty richness of a Munich dunkel."
For the recipe (like usual), I started with Jamil's recipe in Brewing Classic Styles, but modified it to suite my taste and the ingredients I have available to me.
Originally, the recipe used a classic Hefeweizen yeast, WLP300 or whatever the corresponding Wyeast product is. But when I was at the home-brew shop, all the German yeasts were out of stock. They did have WLP320, the American Hefeweizen Ale yeast. While I knew that was not really what I was going for, I decided it was good enough.
The beer turned out very good, but it does not have that classic Weizen banana and clove spiciness. It is really more Dunkle than Weizen. But, that is ok. Some day I'll probably brew this again. Maybe next time I'll split the batch half WLP300 and half WLP320.
In the meantime, I am enjoying drinking this beer.
To ready more about Weizened Doonkle on my blog, see http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Weizened%20Doonkle.
| Weizened Doonkle --- Batch 1 |
| Style | Dunkelweizen | Batch Size | 5.50 gal | |||
| Type | All Grain | Boil Size | 7.76 gal | |||
| Brewhouse Efficiency | 75.00 | Boil Time | 90 minutes |
Recipe Characteristics
| Recipe Gravity | 1.050 SG | Estimated FG | 1.012 SG | ||||
| Recipe Bitterness | 19.8 IBUs (Rager) | Alcohol by Volume | 5.0 % | ||||
| BU : GU | 0.332 | ||||||
| Recipe Color | 16.0 SRM |
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| Measured OG: | 1.052 | Measured FG: | 1.014 | ||||
| ADF: | 73% | Measured ABV: | 5.0% |
Ingredients
| Amt | Name | Type | # | %/IBU |
| 4 lbs 8.0 oz | Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) | Grain | 1 | 45.3 % |
| 2 lbs 12.0 oz | Munich Malt (4.0 SRM) | Grain | 2 | 27.7 % |
| 1 lbs 12.0 oz | Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) | Grain | 3 | 17.6 % |
| 6.0 oz | Caramunich Malt (55.0 SRM) | Grain | 4 | 3.8 % |
| 6.0 oz | Special B Malt (140.0 SRM) | Grain | 5 | 3.8 % |
| 3.0 oz | Midnight Wheat Malt (550.0 SRM) | Grain | 6 | 1.9 % |
| 1.000 oz | Hallertauer [4.60 %] - First Wort 90.0 min | Hop | 7 | 16.8 IBUs |
| 1.0 pkg | American Hefeweizen Ale (White Labs #WLP320) [35.49 ml] | Yeast | 8 | - |
Mash Profile
| Name | Description | Step Temperature | Step Time |
| Mash In | Add 12.42 qt of water at 163.7 F | 152.0 F | 60 min |
Batch sparge with 2 steps (1.97gal, 3.88gal) of 168.0 F water Recipe Notes
Brewing Record
| Brew Date: | 10/6/2013 | Strike Temp: | 168 | |||
| Mash Temps: | 154 to 152 | |||||
| Pre-boil OG | 1.045 (1.041 SG) | Pre-boil Vol | 7.5 (7.76 gal) | |||
| Actual Mash Efficiency | 91 | Pitch Temp | 64 | |||
| Fermentation | ||||||
| Day 1: | ||||||
| Day 2: | ||||||
| Day 3: | ||||||
Brewing Notes
10/4/2013 Bought ingredients today. Had to go with a lighter Munich. The LHBS's Special B is also closer to 140 SRM. Plus, they didn't have WY3068 or White Lab's equivalent. I ended up grabbing WLP320 American HefeWeizen Ale Yeast, which may be a bit low on the esters for a traditional Dunkleweizen, but is likely something I will end up liking better.
10/15/2013 Fermentation seems to be pretty much over. Hope of keg this weekend.
10/19/2013 Kegged this morning. 1.014 FG, making this a 5% ABV beer. Really tastes more <a href="http://blog.ericshepard.com/2013/10/more-dookle-than-weizen.html">Dunkle than Weizen</a>, but I am ok with that. Also put in 6 12oz bottles with the old-school Mr. Beer carbonation method (3/4 tsp sugar into each bottle).
10/23/2013 Poured a real yeasty sample. The flow is a tiny little trickle. The sample tasted ... well ... yeasty. Then I poured a 2nd, which came out a beautiful brown color. And this sample tasted AWESOME. No weizen phenols <i>maybe</i> a bit of banana fruit, but not enough that I would pick it out if not looking for it. I do love this beer flavor. I might have to rack out of this keg so that more than a trickle comes out, but I am really happy with how this turned out.
10/27/2013 Transferred from original keg to new keg. Had lots of foaming issues. The original keg was only about half full. I guess I've been drinking a lot of this.
12/20/2013 Pretty sure I gave away the last of these today. Some I'll have to Brew it again with a more authentic weizen yeast.
10/4/2013 Bought ingredients today. Had to go with a lighter Munich. The LHBS's Special B is also closer to 140 SRM. Plus, they didn't have WY3068 or White Lab's equivalent. I ended up grabbing WLP320 American HefeWeizen Ale Yeast, which may be a bit low on the esters for a traditional Dunkleweizen, but is likely something I will end up liking better.
10/15/2013 Fermentation seems to be pretty much over. Hope of keg this weekend.
10/19/2013 Kegged this morning. 1.014 FG, making this a 5% ABV beer. Really tastes more <a href="http://blog.ericshepard.com/2013/10/more-dookle-than-weizen.html">Dunkle than Weizen</a>, but I am ok with that. Also put in 6 12oz bottles with the old-school Mr. Beer carbonation method (3/4 tsp sugar into each bottle).
10/23/2013 Poured a real yeasty sample. The flow is a tiny little trickle. The sample tasted ... well ... yeasty. Then I poured a 2nd, which came out a beautiful brown color. And this sample tasted AWESOME. No weizen phenols <i>maybe</i> a bit of banana fruit, but not enough that I would pick it out if not looking for it. I do love this beer flavor. I might have to rack out of this keg so that more than a trickle comes out, but I am really happy with how this turned out.
10/27/2013 Transferred from original keg to new keg. Had lots of foaming issues. The original keg was only about half full. I guess I've been drinking a lot of this.
12/20/2013 Pretty sure I gave away the last of these today. Some I'll have to Brew it again with a more authentic weizen yeast.