Wheat Beers

Arabian Nights Dunkelweizen

 5   lbs  Wheat malt (german)
 4   lbs  Pale ale malt (belgian)
 1   lb   Munich Malt
 4   oz   Caramunich Malt (72L)
 1.5 oz   Chocolate Malt
 1   oz   EKG (4.7% AA) 90 min
 .5  oz   Saaz (3.5% AA) 45 min
 .5  oz   Saaz (3.5% AA) 15 min
          WYeast Weinstephan yeast
          Irish Moss

 Single infusion mash.  Mashed in 10.75 qts at 168F.  Temp settled at
~152F.  Mashed for 1.5 hrs.  Recirculated 2 qts to get clear wort.
First runnings were approx 1.080.  Sparged to collect approx 7 gal in
three vessels.  Initially planned on a decoction mash but got lazy
after grinding grain.

 Boiled two kettles for approx 1.5 hrs., adding wort from third as
evaporation allowed.  Got a good hot break once, but further additions
of extra wort just increased cloudiness; will have to fine this one
heavily.  Hops were added as per the above schedule, except the second
addition was boiled for only 30 minutes.  Should have had protein rest
~122F?

 Chilled and transferred 5.5 - 6.0 gal to fermenter.  Total time, from
grinding to pitching, 7 hrs.

Source: Rich Lenihan (rlenihan@marcam.com), HBD Issue #1441, 6/4/94. I would say, from reading Warner's book, that the best way to add color is with dark munich malt. I don't think (from memory) that he used crystal or chocolate malt in any of his recipes. Since I could not find any dark munich malt, however, I "cheated" with crystal and chocolate malt.

Ingredients:

Procedure:

This, along with a 90-minute boil, gave me the medium-amber color I was looking for. Time will tell if the crystal and chocolate will give the beer an undesirable harshness. I think you'd want a fairly soft finish in any weizen. I've tried this year's SA Summer Wheat (Dunkelweizen) and I think it's too harsh, as well as under-carbonated. The color's right, though.