Narziss' advice on Dunkel

[Techbrau]

He seems to describe both dunkel and doppelbock in this section as weaker and stronger versions of the same beer.

OG: 12.8 to 13.8 plato for dunkel, 18 to 20 plato for doppelbock
Bitterness: 18 to 25 for dunkel, 22 to 30 for doppelbock
Color: 50 to 80 EBC

Water: He says traditionally water with up to 10 dH residual alkalinity was used, but soft, low alkalinity water is actually better for the malt flavors.

Grist:
70% to 90% Munich malt. You have the option of using entirely light Munich malt (15 EBC), or a blend of light Munich and dark Munich (25 EBC) at a ratio of 7:3 (light:dark). If you choose to use entirely light Munich malt, you can add 3-5% dark caramalt. You can use some carafa for color, but rarely more than 1%. He says that higher protein Munich malt (11.5%) is advantageous but not required. The rest is pilsner or pale malt.

Mash: Thickness of 1 kilograms : 2.7-3 liters. A full triple decoction is most traditional and still widely used, but so is a double decoction: dough in at 35C, immediately apply direct heat up to 55C. Steps at 65C and 77C.

Final attenuation should be 75% to 78%.

[Bryan R]

ooooooh interesting!

[Techbrau]

Unfortunately he doesn't give many hopping guidelines in this section but it could be that there is more information elsewhere in the book. He says that Bavarian dunkel is usually not very hop forward so I assume you can get away with just bittering hops, but he says that schwarzbier can sometimes be quite hoppy. He has some additional tips for schwarzbier which I'll look at later.