Your production quality has improved so much, Steve, it is as professional as it gets!!! For those who do not have the ability to do step mash with controller, mash at 154, wrap a blanket over the pot and let it rest overnight. As it cools down it will hit all enzymatic step conversions, no problem. The Carafa III I usually steep in cold water overnight, then add the "tea" to the wort. Congrats on yet another successful brew day.
That sounds like a great idea, but if you hit the higher temperature first do you denature the enzymes? I’m interested because I’ve overshot my mash in once or twice and I thought that reduced my over ferment ability of the beer - it ended up sweet. As I mentioned, I’m interested because of I use gas burner and don’t have the exact temperature control of the electric breweries.
@@johnsikking4891 You will not fully denature the enzymes until you reach over 170F. But you are correct, if you overshoot and mash for only 1-2hrs you will end up with a sweet beer. HOWEVER, if you rest the mash overnight and allow the temp to slowly creep down, you will hit all enzymatic conversions. Keep in mind though, this will create a very fermentable and eventually dry beer, i.e. the final gravity will be low and the ABV will end up high.
Went to Germany for work training, had a different beer every day, more like 3 or 4... Then on last night we went to a restaurant, was an old cellar 400 or 500 years old. They had König Ludwig Dunkel on tap - absolutely the most delicious beer I've had in my life!
Dude, I laughed pretty hard at the beer name. I think traditional dark lagers are upper tier beers…definitely my favorites. I enjoy the brew work you do so please keep it up.
Great job. As a relatively new father myself I can understand how brewing time can get pushed to the side with all of the responsibilities that come with a new kid. As usual thanks for the recipe and all the pointers. Keep up the good work!
Munich Dunkel is on my top three beer style to brew, depending on the time of year, it is my favorite. My recipe is similar to yours. I add two percent Carafa Special III, and I add a mix of Melanoidin and Carahell. My favorite yeast for it is WLP835 German Lager X.
@@TheApartmentBrewer It is my go to yeast strain for all Lagers. Every time White Labs has it on sale, I buy a years supply of it. If you want to try some for a video - let me know.
Ahh, I love Dunkel! I've only used 34/70 for lagers pressure fermented. We have moved so, I'm planning my new brew space to include a lager fermentation chamber! I'm sure will be finding a new favorite lager yeast soon. Great looking brew!
Hi steve! Great video. The roast character while incorrect accoridng to the bjcp guidelines, is actually my favorite way to brew it. Barke munich is killer in this style. Its all I use Swap out the carafa special 3 for chocolate wheat/midnight wheat to get the color with even less roast.
I too have learned Carafa III is no joke lol. I tried to brew a "slightly darker" Oktoberfest when my local brew store was out of Carafa I with a much smaller amount and it turned out well within style of a Dunkel, but way darker than I expected with just 0.5 lb. I can't imagine brewing let alone filming with a baby. Wives don't get enough credit haha. I got into home brew well after my kids were all grown as adults. Hang in there, the kids grow and before you know it, you'll miss those days of when they were young. Very nice job Steve - Cheers!
Looks and sounds delicious Steve. I totally agree that time and patience is best for lagers. My own german pilsner has been in the brewfridge on the yeast for a month, due to be packaged this week. It will then lager for an additional month at least.
This is very funny to see come out today because I literally pitched yeast on a Munich dunkel style beer yesterday. I'm trying to make a negra Modelo clone, which describes itself as a Munich style dunkel. I elected to skip fiddling with how much rice to add and use my Homebrew shop's recipe, pitching wlp 940 as my yeast. Maybe next time I'll give this a swing with the 940 and see how it turns out!
WLP940 is awesome. Pretty much my favorite yeast for anything that isn't explicitly "German" or "Czech" in flavor, but in general is amazing in dark lagers. Use it in a great American Dark Lager.
I brewed on this week with pretty much the same grain bill only I added a little wheat malt. Only .5 lb just to lame the malt down a bit. Great job Steve.
Love this style so much. I’ve started spunding my lagers for the last 8-10 gravity points, too, and I think you get a creamier texture that works really well in dark beers like this. And you save on CO2!
Great video as always! Steve It is very informative. Coming from a father of 2 who has limited time to brew as well. I appreciate your time spent in this And it's refreshing to know, I'm not the only one that's not trying to cut corners but time is a factor. I overnight mash as well It's challenging trying to produce an Ale or lager Formulate the recipe And squeeze it all in without impacting Quality of the beer. It's funny how quickly your life changes after becoming a dad. It takes a real brewer to step back and say OK, what did I just create?How does this fit in the style or profile of the beer?I was attempting to create. With that being said I've never brewed a Dunkel... But i've made several Schwarzbier!!! Definitely one of my favorite Beers to make especially when it's still a little cool outside. [Trending towards warmer weather] Those darker lagers remind me Of the six months TDY To Spangdahlem Air Base in German. I remember those days with fondness As my education for lager's dark and light grew exponentially. Many days after work i spent exploring the Rheinland-Palatinateat area in Germany Different breweries in the area including Bitburger!!
Glad you enjoyed the video! Being a new dad has definitely required a lot of adaptation, but thankfully I'm still able to brew, just not as frequently as before. German lagers hold a special place in my heart and I really hope to do some beer tourism there some day!
Best brewtuber out there! Love your videos, Steve. Your videos are what got me into brewing beer and I will be forever grateful for the knowledge (and entertainment) you've provided me. I really appreciate the fact that you've responded to my questions in other other videos. Truly a grade-A UA-camr.
Did you find your Sausage? Great video! I have been following your since August last year when I got into Home brewing. I'm still doing extract at the moment but I am hoping to expand my equipment selection in the near future. Cheers from NZ!
seem very good, ive always been a ale brewer only , but this winter i decided to try lager so i made 2 batch of pilsner, my first one want so great so i decided to go bizare on the second one, i replaced half the grain with raw wheat,,,it turned out good! crazy foam
@@TheApartmentBrewer i used urquell dry yeast. i was surprised how much more sweet in the forefront the wheat made the beer but finish still break clean and dry...i know that a great brewer like you would never try my hooch monstrosity but it turned out better than i expected
Great work, as always. Wish my kettles could be setup to run overnight mashes. My current process takes way too long and mashing overnight would save me at least a couple hours on primary brew day.
You can still do it as a single temperature and allow it to fall overnight. You might get a little extra attenuation but you could compensate with a higher mash-in temp.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Yea, what I've done in the past when I have done overnight mashes is to take it all the way through mash-out so the enzymes are denatured and it preserves the body. Then I'd wrap the kettle in blankets for the night and pick up with draining the grains the next day. Worked well for me.
I ran into a pinch and couldn't get the correct yeast for my dunkel. Subbed it out for white labs WLP 833 German bock. Damn did it turn out good. Probably blurred the style guidelines but no problem.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Yes it does. I also throw my hops directly into the boil and in the last ten minutes I put the output of my pump into a large hop spider to filter the wort. Clears up the beer nicely.
I want to find a recipe similar to warsteiner dunkel. I used to be able to buy it in my county here in the states. Now the stores only sell warsteiner premium
Hi Steve~ Thanks for the video and recipe. I plan to brew this beer from your recipe making the adjustment to the amount of Carafa suggested. I have a question however. I plugged this recipe into Brewers Friend and selected Wyeast 2206 using 2 packs as you did and Brewers Friend says I need 394 billion cells which of course would require a starter. I noticed in your video no starter was used. Using only 2 packs with no starter would have been 194 billion cells shy of what's needed. Can you comment on this please? Thanks Steve!
Talk to me about programming the overnight step mash. Why mash out at 170 (stopping g enzymes) and then let it go back to 150 to hold for the night? Is there something g wrong with holding it at 170 all night is the something wrong with putting off the mash out till later, so instead hold g the 158 for a long hold? I’ve been playing g with this too, not sure what works best for me.
Didn't want to risk extracting tannins by holding it too hot for too long. Mashout wasn't truly necessary but it does put a hard stop on enzymatic conversion, so you get a bit more control that way
I’m drinking a Dunkle right now that is a very similar recipe. I made it with Carafa III which made it come out too dark also. I’ve debated whether to go with a lighter touch of carafa III or go with Carafa II. Dunkle are great beers that are rarely brewed in a brewery. It’s not an IPA.
Don't think I need carapils in a dark style like this. Didn't want to add any caramel malt at all, otherwise the munich bready flavor could have gotten overpowered.
For my most recent dunkel I tried using some local craft munich malts and did a double decoction. Those craft munichs were 11 and 14 SRM and the decoction with those produced a ton of caramel flavor. Definitely not to style. So I added cold steeped coffee and vanilla and called it a caramel macchiato lager lol
Hi Steve, I’m brewing your Munich Dunkel but do not have RO water. If I purchase/use distilled water, should I make any adjustments to the water salts you recommended? Thank you!
@ Steve, thank you for your reply to my question, very much appreciated! And thank you for all your videos, they are so well done and extremely informative, really helpful. Brewing your stout soon and putting it in a newly built keezer with a Nitrogen tap! Thanks again for everything!
I don't like the roasted taste of the dark beers, so avoiding that I developed my own Munich Dunkel recipe with Munich Dark, Melanoidin and CaraMunich III, which resulted in 18 SRM and 5.6 ABV. Mind you that I'm still a noob tiny scale home brewer, who learned how to brew from UA-cam, and I think this is my VERY best brew that I have made so far! Cheers 🍻
An interesting recipe, although I would prefer to replace the Weyermann Carafa Spezial III malt with Weyermann Spezial W. Steve, how long has your beer been maturing?
@@TheApartmentBrewer Steve, may your beer always be great, and may you have everything you need to implement your plans at hand. I'm watching your channel with interest)))
Fantastic video! As a fellow father to a two month old daughter, congratulations and best of luck with the long nights! Did you end up sending this beer in to be judged? Would love to see the professional feedback!
@@TheApartmentBrewer I never fully understood, why so many people in the US using liquid yeast. Dry yeast is so much easier to handle, cheaper and so much longer to store.
I think it has to do with easy availability of fresh liquid yeast since most of these labs are in the US. Plus there's definitely a larger variety of strains available. That being said dry yeast has many advantages over liquid which you identified. As long as you know what you're doing the differences are minimal unless you need very specific strains.
Your production quality has improved so much, Steve, it is as professional as it gets!!! For those who do not have the ability to do step mash with controller, mash at 154, wrap a blanket over the pot and let it rest overnight. As it cools down it will hit all enzymatic step conversions, no problem. The Carafa III I usually steep in cold water overnight, then add the "tea" to the wort. Congrats on yet another successful brew day.
That sounds like a great idea, but if you hit the higher temperature first do you denature the enzymes? I’m interested because I’ve overshot my mash in once or twice and I thought that reduced my over ferment ability of the beer - it ended up sweet.
As I mentioned, I’m interested because of I use gas burner and don’t have the exact temperature control of the electric breweries.
@@johnsikking4891 You will not fully denature the enzymes until you reach over 170F. But you are correct, if you overshoot and mash for only 1-2hrs you will end up with a sweet beer. HOWEVER, if you rest the mash overnight and allow the temp to slowly creep down, you will hit all enzymatic conversions. Keep in mind though, this will create a very fermentable and eventually dry beer, i.e. the final gravity will be low and the ABV will end up high.
Glad you appreciate the improvements! Its been a long road but I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere with the filming!
Went to Germany for work training, had a different beer every day, more like 3 or 4... Then on last night we went to a restaurant, was an old cellar 400 or 500 years old. They had König Ludwig Dunkel on tap - absolutely the most delicious beer I've had in my life!
That sounds like an awesome experience!
Yep, my absolute favourite, I've been chasing that flavour ever since!
I like the camera upgrade. 16:50 the wide shot is perfect with the background music.
Glad you enjoy the 20mm lens! It is definitely one of the better investments I've made recently!
Thanks!
Thank you so much!!
Dude, I laughed pretty hard at the beer name. I think traditional dark lagers are upper tier beers…definitely my favorites. I enjoy the brew work you do so please keep it up.
Love that you revamped a classic. Great video, as always!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great job. As a relatively new father myself I can understand how brewing time can get pushed to the side with all of the responsibilities that come with a new kid. As usual thanks for the recipe and all the pointers. Keep up the good work!
Munich Dunkel is on my top three beer style to brew, depending on the time of year, it is my favorite. My recipe is similar to yours. I add two percent Carafa Special III, and I add a mix of Melanoidin and Carahell. My favorite yeast for it is WLP835 German Lager X.
Very nice! I bet the Andechs strain would be fantastic for this
@@TheApartmentBrewer It is my go to yeast strain for all Lagers. Every time White Labs has it on sale, I buy a years supply of it. If you want to try some for a video - let me know.
Man. That production quality from the tasting is something else. Audio is A+ and the clarity is amazing. Great job!
Awesome!! I'm really glad it's coming through that way!
I always run to ales at the bar but your brewing and descriptions of your lagers make me want to grab a stein and drink one. Great work.
YASSS! 🎉 I’ve been waiting for someone to drop a new video on this!!
Ahh, I love Dunkel! I've only used 34/70 for lagers pressure fermented. We have moved so, I'm planning my new brew space to include a lager fermentation chamber! I'm sure will be finding a new favorite lager yeast soon. Great looking brew!
Hi steve! Great video. The roast character while incorrect accoridng to the bjcp guidelines, is actually my favorite way to brew it. Barke munich is killer in this style. Its all I use
Swap out the carafa special 3 for chocolate wheat/midnight wheat to get the color with even less roast.
Was looking forward to this one! Another brilliant video mate! One of my favourite styles too!
Glad you enjoyed the video!
I too have learned Carafa III is no joke lol. I tried to brew a "slightly darker" Oktoberfest when my local brew store was out of Carafa I with a much smaller amount and it turned out well within style of a Dunkel, but way darker than I expected with just 0.5 lb. I can't imagine brewing let alone filming with a baby. Wives don't get enough credit haha. I got into home brew well after my kids were all grown as adults. Hang in there, the kids grow and before you know it, you'll miss those days of when they were young. Very nice job Steve - Cheers!
Agreed! I couldn't do this without her patiently watching the kiddo for a few hours! Cheers!
Congratulations on the baby ❤ 🍻
Looks and sounds delicious Steve. I totally agree that time and patience is best for lagers. My own german pilsner has been in the brewfridge on the yeast for a month, due to be packaged this week. It will then lager for an additional month at least.
Time is your friend with these beers! It really is a magical ingredient
This is very funny to see come out today because I literally pitched yeast on a Munich dunkel style beer yesterday.
I'm trying to make a negra Modelo clone, which describes itself as a Munich style dunkel. I elected to skip fiddling with how much rice to add and use my Homebrew shop's recipe, pitching wlp 940 as my yeast.
Maybe next time I'll give this a swing with the 940 and see how it turns out!
WLP940 is awesome. Pretty much my favorite yeast for anything that isn't explicitly "German" or "Czech" in flavor, but in general is amazing in dark lagers. Use it in a great American Dark Lager.
That is one area where there is a lot of style overlap, toss a little flaked corn in the recipe and you've got a nice dark Mexican lager!
I will 100% make this beer soon Steve. Thank you for another great brew video!
Awesome, I hope you enjoy it!
I brewed on this week with pretty much the same grain bill only I added a little wheat malt. Only .5 lb just to lame the malt down a bit. Great job Steve.
Hope it turns out great for you!
Love this style so much. I’ve started spunding my lagers for the last 8-10 gravity points, too, and I think you get a creamier texture that works really well in dark beers like this. And you save on CO2!
Haha, nice name for a beer😂 i am german, and i love your accent👌🏼😅🍻 our german munich dunkel is a little bit brighter in colour. Cheers🍻
Haha accents are not my forte but its still fun. I have some German heritage so I enjoy trying to sneak some Deutsch in there
Great video, need to make this. Love the name 🤣. I'm going to the supermarket and buying a dark lager . Cheers from Munich
Great video as always! Steve
It is very informative.
Coming from a father of 2 who has limited time to brew as well.
I appreciate your time spent in this And it's refreshing to know, I'm not the only one that's not trying to cut corners but time is a factor. I overnight mash as well It's challenging trying to produce an Ale or lager Formulate the recipe And squeeze it all in without impacting Quality of the beer.
It's funny how quickly your life changes after becoming a dad.
It takes a real brewer to step back and say OK, what did I just create?How does this fit in the style or profile of the beer?I was attempting to create. With that being said
I've never brewed a Dunkel... But i've made several Schwarzbier!!!
Definitely one of my favorite Beers to make especially when it's still a little cool outside. [Trending towards warmer weather]
Those darker lagers remind me Of the six months TDY To Spangdahlem Air Base in German.
I remember those days with fondness As my education for lager's dark and light grew exponentially.
Many days after work i spent exploring the Rheinland-Palatinateat area in Germany Different breweries in the area including Bitburger!!
Glad you enjoyed the video! Being a new dad has definitely required a lot of adaptation, but thankfully I'm still able to brew, just not as frequently as before. German lagers hold a special place in my heart and I really hope to do some beer tourism there some day!
Best brewtuber out there! Love your videos, Steve. Your videos are what got me into brewing beer and I will be forever grateful for the knowledge (and entertainment) you've provided me. I really appreciate the fact that you've responded to my questions in other other videos. Truly a grade-A UA-camr.
I appreciate the kind words! I'm glad I got you into the hobby and can keep you inspired!
Did you find your Sausage? Great video! I have been following your since August last year when I got into Home brewing. I'm still doing extract at the moment but I am hoping to expand my equipment selection in the near future. Cheers from NZ!
Haha I am from Munich and it looks great. The title is great too
seem very good, ive always been a ale brewer only , but this winter i decided to try lager so i made 2 batch of pilsner, my first one want so great so i decided to go bizare on the second one, i replaced half the grain with raw wheat,,,it turned out good! crazy foam
They are really fantastic beers to make, some of my favorites to brew!
@@TheApartmentBrewer i used urquell dry yeast. i was surprised how much more sweet in the forefront the wheat made the beer but finish still break clean and dry...i know that a great brewer like you would never try my hooch monstrosity but it turned out better than i expected
Great pronunciation, now we all need to work on Schwartz! Awesome video as always
Imperial Harvest is phenomenal for a dunkel as is cellar science German as a very very cost effective dry yeast
Great options!
Thanks for the great content!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great work, as always. Wish my kettles could be setup to run overnight mashes. My current process takes way too long and mashing overnight would save me at least a couple hours on primary brew day.
You can still do it as a single temperature and allow it to fall overnight. You might get a little extra attenuation but you could compensate with a higher mash-in temp.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Yea, what I've done in the past when I have done overnight mashes is to take it all the way through mash-out so the enzymes are denatured and it preserves the body. Then I'd wrap the kettle in blankets for the night and pick up with draining the grains the next day. Worked well for me.
Great video Steve! How can we properly lager without the chilling equipment? I would love a glycol set up but just cant justify it yet
The easiest way to get the lagering phase in is to lager in the keg or the bottles/cans. This will have the same effect.
Martin did a brulosophy episode about gradual cold crash for better head retention.
I ran into a pinch and couldn't get the correct yeast for my dunkel. Subbed it out for white labs WLP 833 German bock. Damn did it turn out good. Probably blurred the style guidelines but no problem.
I use one pound of Lyles Black Treacle in my Dunkel recipe(10 gallons) and everyone loves it.
Interesting, does it ferment very dry?
@@TheApartmentBrewer Yes it does. I also throw my hops directly into the boil and in the last ten minutes I put the output of my pump into a large hop spider to filter the wort. Clears up the beer nicely.
I want to find a recipe similar to warsteiner dunkel. I used to be able to buy it in my county here in the states. Now the stores only sell warsteiner premium
That is a great beer! Definitely less dark and a little lighter on the palate than my dunkel here.
Hi Steve~ Thanks for the video and recipe. I plan to brew this beer from your recipe making the adjustment to the amount of Carafa suggested. I have a question however. I plugged this recipe into Brewers Friend and selected Wyeast 2206 using 2 packs as you did and Brewers Friend says I need 394 billion cells which of course would require a starter. I noticed in your video no starter was used. Using only 2 packs with no starter would have been 194 billion cells shy of what's needed. Can you comment on this please? Thanks Steve!
Use a starter if you want to, but you should be fine.
Talk to me about programming the overnight step mash. Why mash out at 170 (stopping g enzymes) and then let it go back to 150 to hold for the night? Is there something g wrong with holding it at 170 all night is the something wrong with putting off the mash out till later, so instead hold g the 158 for a long hold?
I’ve been playing g with this too, not sure what works best for me.
Didn't want to risk extracting tannins by holding it too hot for too long. Mashout wasn't truly necessary but it does put a hard stop on enzymatic conversion, so you get a bit more control that way
I’m drinking a Dunkle right now that is a very similar recipe. I made it with Carafa III which made it come out too dark also. I’ve debated whether to go with a lighter touch of carafa III or go with Carafa II. Dunkle are great beers that are rarely brewed in a brewery. It’s not an IPA.
I think a lighter hand with the same carafa III is fine. These beers are hidden gems!
Mines in the fermenter. Love me a Dunkel.
Excellent!
Looks great Steve. How come you didn’t add any carapils? I will actually probably use your recipe when I make mine in the future.
Don't think I need carapils in a dark style like this. Didn't want to add any caramel malt at all, otherwise the munich bready flavor could have gotten overpowered.
Oh ok, that makes sense.
For my most recent dunkel I tried using some local craft munich malts and did a double decoction. Those craft munichs were 11 and 14 SRM and the decoction with those produced a ton of caramel flavor. Definitely not to style. So I added cold steeped coffee and vanilla and called it a caramel macchiato lager lol
A decoction is such a great step to incorporate here, but it can definitely get carried away with the richer malts.
Hi Steve, I’m brewing your Munich Dunkel but do not have RO water. If I purchase/use distilled water, should I make any adjustments to the water salts you recommended? Thank you!
That would work pretty much the exact same way. You may have a few ppm less of each mineral but that will not impact the beer in a noticeable way
@ Steve, thank you for your reply to my question, very much appreciated! And thank you for all your videos, they are so well done and extremely informative, really helpful.
Brewing your stout soon and putting it in a newly built keezer with a Nitrogen tap! Thanks again for everything!
@TopShelfDiver glad I can help and I'm really pleased you like the channel!
What would you recommend as a mash profile if using a normal step mash, i.e. not overnight?
The same step mash profile would work just as well if not holding the final rest overnight. Just don't drop back down to 150 after mashout.
I have some Mexican lager yeast. Would that be a pretty good yeast for this?
It probably would work just fine
Awesome!!!!!
😎👍🏻👍🏻🍺🍺🍺🍺
Cheers!
I don't like the roasted taste of the dark beers, so avoiding that I developed my own Munich Dunkel recipe with Munich Dark, Melanoidin and CaraMunich III, which resulted in 18 SRM and 5.6 ABV. Mind you that I'm still a noob tiny scale home brewer, who learned how to brew from UA-cam, and I think this is my VERY best brew that I have made so far! Cheers 🍻
Great work!
Opinion on the taps with the flow control...are they worth the extra money?
Nope. I haven't adjusted them in a long time, and didn't find it useful
@@TheApartmentBrewer I did not expect that reply..hahaha!
An interesting recipe, although I would prefer to replace the Weyermann Carafa Spezial III malt with Weyermann Spezial W. Steve, how long has your beer been maturing?
I don't have access to that malt unfortunately. The beer was lagering for a month
@@TheApartmentBrewer Steve, may your beer always be great, and may you have everything you need to implement your plans at hand. I'm watching your channel with interest)))
You didn't do a diacetyl rest for this one? I read on Wyeast web site it's recommended with this strain but your outcome proves otherwise apparently?
I think he gave it an extra week in the fermenter after it reached it FG to clean up the yeast off flavors.
I also helped myself out by adding some ALDC at yeast pitch
Fantastic video! As a fellow father to a two month old daughter, congratulations and best of luck with the long nights! Did you end up sending this beer in to be judged? Would love to see the professional feedback!
It will be going out later this year to NHC, along with a bunch of other beers I recently made.
So… which is your favorite… the Munich Dunkle or the Czech Dark Lager?
Still love the Czech Dark Lager the most!
Where is my sausage? nice.
34/70
Is my workhorse.
Great yeast!
@@TheApartmentBrewer I never fully understood, why so many people in the US using liquid yeast. Dry yeast is so much easier to handle, cheaper and so much longer to store.
I think it has to do with easy availability of fresh liquid yeast since most of these labs are in the US. Plus there's definitely a larger variety of strains available. That being said dry yeast has many advantages over liquid which you identified. As long as you know what you're doing the differences are minimal unless you need very specific strains.
(Hairy Duck Lips)