Amber Waves of Grain.

Back in mid October Aaron and I brewed a Bavarian Dunkelweizen from extract. I neglected to post about it then because of my school work load. We bottled it and were able to serve it at my Graduation / Going away party right before X-mas. It went over well and was the favorite of all the home brews that we served (which included the Oak aged Barley Wine, Kitchen sink Pale Ale, and All-Grain Pumpkin Ale).


I found that it had a strong banana bread flavor and notes of vanilla typical for the variety of yeast we used (Wyeast – 3068 Weihenstephan). Full bodied and malty just like it should be. I found it just slightly bitter for the style. Looking back we should have either used less hops or boiled them for about 15 minutes less. It was the first time that we brewed a Dunkelweizen so lesson leaned. We didn’t quite reach the attenuation we were aiming for but I estimate the apparent attenuation was around 67%.

Here is the recipe:

Bavarian Dunkelweizen

15-B Dunkelweizen

Author: Jay

Date: 10/14/2010

Size: 5.0 gal

Attenuation: 66.7%

Original Gravity: 1.060 (1.044 - 1.056)
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Terminal Gravity: 1.020 (1.010 - 1.014)
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Color: 20.93 (14.0 - 23.0)
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Alcohol: 5.26% (4.3% - 5.6%)
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Bitterness: 18.7 (10.0 - 18.0)
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Ingredients:

6.0 lb CBW® Bavarian Wheat Powder (Dry Malt Extract)
0.5 lb Caramunich® TYPE I
0.25 lb Carafa Special® TYPE II
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt
1.0 oz Vanguard (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.0 ea WYeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen

Schedule:

Ambient Air: 55.0 °F
Source Water:  Poland Spring Bottled water 60.0 °F

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.12

Aaron has just informed me that he has just entered it in an AHA sanctioned competition, Amber Waves of Grain XV. The competition takes place on February 25th and 26th. I'm excited to be a part of this, unfortunately I won't be able to attend because the competition is back in Buffalo.

I'm not sure how well our brew will fair. The original and final gravity readings were both slightly high for the style. Regardless it will be cool to have some professional feed back. I'll post the results when I get them.

Cheers,
 - Jay