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You Can Do It! Dunkel Recipe

Here’s a simple and tasty recipe when you’re ready to try your hand at lagers.

Taylor Caron Jan 19, 2016 - 3 min read

You Can Do It! Dunkel Recipe Primary Image

Once you’ve decided how you’re going to maintain the ideal fermentation temperature (see “Homebrewing Lagers: Chilling Out”), you can avail yourself of one of the most delightful beer styles known to man. Authentic German malts give this dark amber lager a restrained nutty roast character with a long, dry finish. The spicy Perle hops blend well with the bready Bavarian yeast character, making it perfect for quaffing.

ALL-GRAIN

Batch size: 5 gallons
Brewhouse efficiency: 75%
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.012
IBUs: 26
ABV: 5.4%

MALT/GRAIN BILL

7 lb (3.2 kg) Munich malt 15°L
2 lb (970 g) Pilsner malt
12 oz (340 g) Melanoidin malt
4 oz (113 g) Carafa Special III malt

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HOPS SCHEDULE

0.75 oz Perle (21.3 g) at 60 minutes
0.25 oz (7.1 g) Perle at 5 minutes

DIRECTIONS

Mash at 152°F (67°C) for 60 minutes. Boil for 75 minutes.

Chill to 48°F (9°C) and pitch the yeast. Set your temperature controller to 50°F (10°C) with a 2°F (1°C) swing and ferment for 12 days. Then let the temperature free rise to 64°F (18°C) for the next 3 days, then drop the temperature 5°F (3°C) every day until you reach 35°F (2°C). Transfer to a secondary carboy or soda keg, and lager at 35–38°F (2–3°C) for 3 weeks. Package in bottles or kegs and enjoy when conditioned!

YEAST

Option 1: 3 vials White Labs WLP838 Southern German Lager Yeast
Option 2: 3 smack-packs Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager
(or the equivalent slurry from a starter)

EXTRACT VARIATION

Steep the Melanoidin and Carafa Special III malts at 160°F (71°C) for 30 minutes. Replace the base malts with 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) of Briess Munich liquid malt extract (LME). Increase the bittering hops 20 percent or so if you’re doing a partial boil in a 5-gallon pot.

Learn to create crisp, cold-conditioned lagers at home with CB&B’s _Introduction to Lagering _online class. Sign up today!

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