As a follow-up to “Make Your Best Munich Dunkel”, Josh Weikert shared this recipe for his favorite beer that tastes like fresh bread dipped in molten toffee with a dry finish.
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 70%
OG: 1.045
FG: 1.011
IBU: 24
SRM: 25
ABV: 4.5%
MALT/GRAIN BILL
9 lb (4.1 kg) Munich (9L)
0.5 lb (227 g) Victory
0.5 lb (227 g) Carafa II
HOPS SCHEDULE
0.5 oz (14 g) Nugget [12% AA] at 60 minutes
0.5 oz (14 g) Tettnang [5% AA] at 5 minutes
YEAST
Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager)
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mix with 3.1 gal (11.8 l) of 164°F (73°C) strike water to reach a mash temperature of 152°F (67°C). Hold this temperature for 60 minutes. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear. Sparge the grains with 4 gal (15.1 l) and top up as necessary to obtain 6 gal (23 l) of wort. Boil for 60 minutes, following the hops schedule.
After the boil, chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 50°F (10°C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast.
Ferment at 50°F (10°C) until primary fermentation completes, then let the temperature rise to 60°F (16°C) for a diacetyl rest. Crash the beer to 35°F (2°C) for 48 hours, and bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2 volumes.
TIPS FOR SUCCESS
Take your time in fermentation—there’s not much in the flavor that will hide fermentation faults, so go low and slow and finish off with a reasonable diacetyl rest (3−4 days at 60°F/16°C), and you should be in good shape!