So, I've been planning on brewing a dunkelweizen for some time now, and have been toying with the idea of making it a smoked dunkelweizen. Never made a rauchbier before, but figured I'd tweak my existing dunkelweizen recipe and add 2 lbs Weyermann smoked malt. Anyone had any experiences with this malt before? Am I using enough? I don't want it to be a smoke bomb, just some subtle smokiness. Here are the recipe specs: Smoked Dunkelweizen 5.5 gallon batch Grain Bill 5 lbs. Weyermann Dark Wheat malt 3.5 lbs. German Pilsner malt 2 lbs. Weyermann Smoked Malt 1 lbs. German Dark Munich malt 0.5 lbs. Weyermann Caramunich II 0.25 lbs. Briess Caramel 120 Mash Temp – 152F for 60 min Sparge – 168-170F for 10 min 60 minute boil 1.25 oz German Tettnang at 60 min Ferment with Danstar Munich - German Wheat Beer Any advice would be much appreciated!
No experience with Dunkelweizens but have used Weyermann Smoked Malt several times. If my math is correct you propose a 16% addition which I believe will meet your goals. My Rauchbiers have 40-50% and are seriously smoked, the subtleness you're after should be achieved in the mid-teens. Again, no experience with German wheats, but you have caramel addition at the 6% level. Is this normal?
Not sure, ha. Figured I'd throw it in there, but I'm getting the grains today so thanks for the tip. Good to know that 2 lbs should do the trick for some smoke flavor in the final beer.
I have homebrewed three batches of a Northern English Brown Ale that I have used some Weyermann Smoked Malt: · Batch 1 had 1 lb. of Smoked Malt and there was little smokiness in that batch · Batch 2 had 2 lbs. of Smoked Malt and the smoke flavor was subtle but noticeable · Batch 3 had 3 lbs. of Smoked Malt and the smoke flavor was noticeable but just right in the beer style for my palate I would think that 2-3 lbs. would be very nice in your Dunkelweizen. Please report back what your final decision was and how it worked in your beer. Good luck!! Cheers!
I will let you know! Thanks man. Just got back from the HBS. Ended up throwing in a .5 lb of Oak Smoked Wheat as well, so a total of 2.5 lbs smoked malt should work nicely.
I recently did a Smoked Foreign Extra Stout with 14% approx 2lbs of Weyermann smoked malt. For me the smokiness was pronounced, i.e. it smelt and tasted like smoked bacon or smoked turkey. The beer turned out great it was in no way subtle re smokiness. Thinking about doing a Back IIPA with some subtle smokiness and will use 0.25 lbs. In my limited experiece 2 lbs will dominate your beer. I suggest you at least halve it.
I think this probably comes down to your personal tastes. As a benchmark, I believe Schlenkerla uses 100% smoke malt in their ur-bock and it's quite smoky, but not too much for my taste. I've personally brewed with 50% smoked malt and it was not subtle, but I enjoyed it. I would say based on experience that 16% will not overpower the wheat or yeast flavors in your beer. Best way to find out is try and try again with other ratios, and see what you prefer. There is no right answer.
Thanks. I love a good rauchbier, so I'm not afraid of the smoke. Plus, the crushed grains are already in a big bag so there's no turning back now! Yea, I personally think Schlenkerla are the masters when it comes to smoking beers. If that's what they use, then I have no problem throwing in 2.5 lbs of smoked malt. I can't see the flavor being bad either way – if it's subtle, then so be it. If it's very smokey, fine by me as well
“If it's very smokey…” There is basically zero chance of that. You would need to get to something like >50% of your grain bill being smoked malt for the beer to approach a description of “very smokey”, Cheers!
