the best of ® MUNICH DUNKEL Please note all file contents are Copyright © 2019 Battenkill Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This file is for the buyer’s personal use only. It’s unlawful to share or distribute this file to others in any way including e-mailing it, posting it online, or sharing printed copies with others. BY GORDON STRONG MUNICH DUNKEL unich dunkel is kind of like sion mash, but the rest was basically the dark mild of Germany — it what I had described. He has since just doesn’t get the respect it gone pro and still makes this beer at M deserves. Overshadowed by the Fifth Street Brewpub in Dayton, newer styles and flashier ingredients, it Ohio. He calls it “Funnel” because of remains a solid everyday drinking beer. me; apparently, I had texted “dunkel” Munich dunkel captures Enjoyable with food and not demand- to him but my phone autocorrected it ing on the palate, this beer is perhaps to “funnel” and he thought it was hi- historical Bavarian a throwback to simpler times when a larious. Thank you Siri. good tasting beer (and maybe a pret- The Beer Judge Certification Pro- brewing in a glass: zel) was all you needed. gram (BJCP) groups dunkel and schwar- I think about Munich dunkel along zbier in Category 8, dark Munich malt, decoction with the other beers of Bavaria: The European lager, with dunkel being normal-strength helles, dunkel, and style 8A. mashing, and clean, schwarzbier, and the stronger Märzen, festbier, and bocks. The standard- HISTORY smooth lager character. strength beers are all malty, with the Bavarian lagers developed due to helles being pale, the dunkel dark some regulatory and technological (darker than amber), and the schwar- influences in medieval times. The zbier dark and roasty. The helles and Reinheitsgebot of 1516 was a beer MUNICH DUNKEL BY THE NUMBERS dunkel have a malty balance, while the purity law, but also was designed to schwarzbier can be more bitter (but keep wheat out of beer. Summer brew- OG: ............1.048–1.056 not burnt). None of these are as strong ing was outlawed in 1553, which led FG: .............1.010–1.016 (or as malty) as a bock or other fest- to cool weather brewing and storage SRM: ................14–28 type beers. methods that favored the selection of IBU: .................18–28 Munich dunkel captures historical lager yeast and brewing methods. Beer Bavarian brewing in a glass: Munich in Bavaria was dark by necessity until ABV: ..............4.5–5.6% malt, decoction mashing, and clean, the early 1800s due to how malt was smooth lager character. A fellow kilned. So a regional preference for homebrewer, Darren Link, once asked these types of beers was established me for tips on brewing this style. I in Bavaria, although similar beers were told him to use dark Munich malt, a made in Czech lands. decoction mash, noble hops for bit- Munich malt was developed after tering at about 20 IBU, clean German improvements in kilning in the 1820s lager yeast, and maybe a little Carafa® made it possible to have richer malts Special to adjust the color. Jump for- without a smoky taste. Gabriel Sedl- ward about a year when I was judg- mayr was able to take advantage of ing the best-of-show round at a local this malt at the Spaten brewery in homebrew competition. Found in that Munich, developing the first modern line-up was a spot-on Munich dunkel, dunkel in the 1830s. This led to what which turned out to be Darren’s beer. Michael Jackson called the heyday of I asked him for the recipe, to which he dark lager in Bavaria from roughly the laughed and said I had told him every- 1840s to 1890s. thing he needed to know. The style persisted and never went I still asked Darren for his recipe away, but it remains somewhat of a since I wanted to know what tweaks he regional specialty. Good commercial had given it. He used a touch of mela- examples can be found from Ayinger, Photo by Charles A. Parker/Images Plus Parker/Images A. Charles by Photo noidin malt since he did a single infu- Spaten, König Ludwig, Ettaler, Hacker- 1 Best of Brew Your Own Magazine © Battenkill Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved (prime and bottle condition, or keg TIPS FOR SUCCESS: MUNICH DUNKEL and force carbonate). Don’t skimp on two important (5 gallons/19 L, all-grain) aspects with this style of beer: Ap- OG = 1.049 FG = 1.012 propriate yeast pitching and a proper IBU = 21 SRM = 20 MUNICH DUNKEL lagering phase. ABV = 4.9% (5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains) INGREDIENTS OG = 1.049 FG = 1.012 10 lbs. (4.5 kg) Weyermann dark IBU = 21 SRM = 20 Munich malt (9 °L) ABV = 4.9% 4 oz. (113 g) melanoidin malt 4 oz. (113 g) Weyermann Carafa® II INGREDIENTS Special malt 6.6 lbs. (3 kg) Munich liquid malt 5.5 AAU Tettnanger hops (60 min.) extract (1.25 oz/28 g at 4.4% alpha acid) 4 oz. (113 g) melanoidin malt White Labs WLP833 (German Bock 4 oz. (113 g) Weyermann Carafa® II Lager), Wyeast 2487 (Hella Bock Special malt Lager) or Mangrove Jack’s M76 5.5 AAU Tettnanger hops (60 min.) (Bavarian Lager) yeast (1.25 oz/28 g at 4.4% alpha acid) 3 ⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming) White Labs WLP833 (German Bock Lager), Wyeast 2487 (Hella Bock STEP BY STEP Lager) or Mangrove Jack’s M76 This recipe uses reverse osmosis (Bavarian Lager) yeast 3 (RO) water. Adjust all brewing water ⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming) to a pH of 5.5 using phosphoric acid. Add 1 tsp. of calcium chloride to STEP BY STEP the mash. Start with 6 gallons (23 L) of water Step mash: Mash in Munich malt in the brew kettle; heat to 158 °F at 131 °F (55 °C) and rest for 10 (70 °C). Steep the Carafa® and minutes. Increase to 146 °F (63 °C) melanoidin malts for 30 minutes, using direct heat or hot-water infu- then remove. sion and hold for 40 minutes. Turn off the heat. Add the liquid Increase to 158 °F (70 °C) using di- malt extract and stir thoroughly to rect heat or hot-water infusion and dissolve completely. You do not want hold for 30 minutes. Add Carafa® to feel liquid extract at the bottom and melanoidin malts on to the top of the kettle when stirring with your of the mash and raise to 168 °F spoon. Turn the heat back on and (76 °C), then hold for 15 minutes bring to a boil. while recirculating the wort. Fly Boil the wort for 60 minutes, sparge with 170 °F (77 °C) water, adding remaining hops at the times collecting 6.5 gallons (25 L) of wort. indicated. A kettle fining can be Boil the wort for 90 minutes, added but a proper lagering should adding hops at the times indicated sufficiently clear the beer. in the recipe. A kettle fining can be Chill the wort to 50 °F (10 °C), added but a proper lagering should pitch the yeast, and ferment at this sufficiently clear the beer. temperature until complete. Lager Chill the wort to 50 °F (10 °C), the beer at 32 °F (0 °C) for six weeks. pitch the yeast, and ferment at this Rack and package the beer, or rack temperature until complete. Lager and clarify the beer, if desired, with the beer at 32 °F (0 °C) for six finings before packaging (prime and weeks. Rack and package the beer, bottle condition, or keg and force or rack and clarify the beer, if de- carbonate). sired, with finings before packaging 2 Best of Brew Your Own Magazine © Battenkill Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved Pschorr, Hofbräu, and Weltenberger. has the balance of a Munich helles, but conversion of starches in the mash. American examples from Chuckanut with a much richer malt flavor. It is not Using specialty malts to add color, Brewing, Von Trapp Brewing, Harpoon as strong, rich, or full-bodied as a bock. malty sweetness, and flavor are tricky Brewery, The Olde Mecklenburg It should not have the roasted flavors since they never really give the same Brewery, and Penn Brewery are all of a schwarzbier; deep toasted malt is combination of flavor, body, and charac- quite good. fine, but anything that gets roasty does ter as developing them naturally from this style a disservice. A Munich dunkel Munich malts. Using color malts that SENSORY PROFILE has less hops than its cousin, the Czech impart too much of a roasted flavor are Munich dunkel is a malty beer that dark lager, with a cleaner German especially problematic. Color adjust- features a deep, complex, rich Munich profile and slightly richer malt flavor. ment using de-husked malts such as malt flavor. There are bready-toasty The toasted malt flavors are deeper in Carafa® Special are fine, but it’s better flavors that often seem like toasted character than a Märzen. to have a paler version of the beer than breadcrusts. Yet the beer isn’t sugary one with the wrong flavors. sweet. You simply couldn’t drink these BREWING INGREDIENTS AND Traditional German hops are used, beers a liter at a time if they were. The such as Hallertauer, Tettnanger, or bitterness is on the low side so that the METHODS Spalt, but since the beer doesn’t have malt is emphasized, but the residual Munich malt plays a major role in this much of a hop character, this isn’t criti- sugar is not high.