Thought I’d have a play with this one. It started off as my standard Weißbier recipe, then I added some CaraMunich and Carafa Special to increase the colour to get a dunkel-style wheat beer. A bit of searching suggested the colour should be 30-60 EBC, so I aimed for 45 EBC. It looked a bit paler than I expected when I sparged, but we’ll see what it’s like after fermentation is over. Bramling Cross steeped at 80C for 20 mins to see if I can get a bit of blackcurrent in it. I didn’t have enough CaraMunich, so I added normal Munich and increased the Carafa Special.
- Length: 15 litres
- Yeast: Safbrew WB-06
- OG 12.4Bx = 1.048
- FG 5.4Bx = 1.005
- ABV 5.7%
Recipe:
| Fermentable | Colour | lb: oz | Grams | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheat Malt | 3.5 EBC | 4 lbs. 6.5 oz | 2000 grams | 48.3% |
| Lager Malt | 2.5 EBC | 3 lbs. 6.6 oz | 1550 grams | 37.4% |
| Oat Husks | 0 EBC | 0 lbs. 8.8 oz | 250 grams | 6% |
| Munich Malt | 20 EBC | 0 lbs. 7.0 oz | 200 grams | 4.8% |
| Carafa Special Type I | 900 EBC | 0 lbs. 2.8 oz | 81 grams | 2% |
| Cara Munich Type I | 90 EBC | 0 lbs. 2.1 oz | 60 grams | 1.5% |
| Hop Variety | Type | Alpha | Time | lb: oz | grams | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tettnang | Whole | 4.2 % | 90 mins | 0 lbs. 0.3 oz | 8 grams | 32.4% |
| Perle | Whole | 9.6 % | 90 mins | 0 lbs. 0.2 oz | 5 grams | 46.2% |
| Tettnang | Whole | 4.2 % | 45 mins | 0 lbs. 0.1 oz | 4 grams | 13.9% |
| Irish Moss | Whole | 0 % | 15 mins | 0 lbs. 0.0 oz | 0 grams | 0% |
| Tettnang | Whole | 4.2 % | 15 mins | 0 lbs. 0.1 oz | 4 grams | 7.5% |
| Bramling Cross | Whole | 7.0 % | 0 mins | 0 lbs. 1.1 oz | 30 grams | 0% |
| Final Volume: | 15 | Litres |
| Original Gravity: | 1.055 | |
| Final Gravity: | 1.013 | |
| Alcohol Content: | 5.4% | ABV |
| Total Liquor: | 23.6 | Litres |
| Mash Liquor: | 10.4 | Litres |
| Mash Efficiency: | 70 | % |
| Bitterness: | 16 | EBU |
| Colour: | 43 | EBC |
Comments:
A lower efficiency than I hoped for, only ended up at 1.048. No idea why…
2011-08-15: Forgot to pitch the yeast last night as it was taking ages to drop to 12C. Sprinkled the packet on the no-longer-foamy wort this morning.
2011-08-24: Another very efficient fermentation! Down to 5.4Bx = 1.005, so that’s 5.7% ABV. Maybe I’m mashing a little cool every time – I do keep getting rather low FG readings. Will drop the ATC down to 1C to crash cool tomorrow, and hopefully get it bottled some time this weekend.
2011-08-29: After racking into the bottling bucket I had only 12.5 litres, so a bit less than I was aiming for! Bottled 23 x large bottles.
2011-09-08: Had my first bottle – it’s carbonated by now – there’s noticeable flavour from the dark grains, but with less of the burnt bitterness that my wife dislikes in most dark beers, but the predominant flavour is banana from the yeast. Interesting, and quite pleasant.
