Need advice bottle/batch priming my dunkel

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by phideltashaggy, Nov 8, 2016.

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  1. phideltashaggy

    phideltashaggy Initiate (0) Jul 3, 2010 Tennessee

    Hi all,

    I just began fermenting my dunkelweiss last night (my basement smells like banana bread, I love homebrewing)

    I am still a few weeks away from bottling, but I haven't made a beer in two years and I could use some advice.

    The beer, so far, isn't as dark as I was hoping, so I'm considering using some dark or amber DME as a batch primer. I would like to get some extra color and a creamier head from using DME, but I haven't actually used anything besides table sugar before.


    Thoughts? Advice? Premonitions of doom?
     
    #1 phideltashaggy, Nov 8, 2016
  2. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    DME is called for as priming sugar on a regular basis in recipes, so go ahead and do it. Using a priming calculator will tell you how much to use. Here's a link to Northern Brewer's calculator. https://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/ By doing it, it just becomes a question whether the DME will darken the beer to the level that you'd like.
     
    #2 PapaGoose03, Nov 8, 2016
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  3. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    If you have any extra RB or chocolate grain laying around you could steep a few cups of water overnight. Add this to your batch after boiling it for sanitation. I wouldn't be afraid to go with a few drops of blue or green food coloring. I bet it would work better than you think.
     
    #3 inchrisin, Nov 8, 2016
    GormBrewhouse and scottakelly like this.
  4. phideltashaggy

    phideltashaggy Initiate (0) Jul 3, 2010 Tennessee


    Ok. Any advice on using dark vs. light DME? I can look up the fermentability and amounts myself, but are there any particular pros and cons with using a darker extract?
     
    #4 phideltashaggy, Nov 8, 2016
  5. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    I think that I've only used DME twice when a recipe called for it for priming sugar, and I'm pretty sure that both times it was a light DME that was specified, although the reason could have been because I was probably brewing a light-colored beer. (I don't brew many dark beers.) However, I've never read anything that fermentability of DME differs from light to dark. Maybe someone else has other knowledge about it and can chiime in with more info. Anyone?
     
    #5 PapaGoose03, Nov 8, 2016
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