I’ve been thinking about Munich Malt lately. John did a Munich Malt profile on it back in 2008 and I wanted to dig in and bring it up to the surface again.
Last year I attempted my first Oktoberfest and went with an approximate 50/50 split of Munich to Base Pilsner malt; fairly traditional for the style. (Of course I had a few other specialty malts in there but that’s besides the point. Recipe) My general experience though is using Munich as a specialty grain of sorts not a base malt. I have only added it in the <10% range of the beers I have brewed with it. I have always looked at it as a way to add a touch more grainy/malty punch to a recipe where the other malts are a little thin.
There has been some debate in the Homebrewing Forum world about how much Munich malt is needed at a minimum to get any flavor. Some people say that anything less than 15% isn’t doing anything that you can taste. I am not sure about that as I seem to be pretty sensitive to Munich’s flavor profile. That O’fest I made actually didn’t taste right on my palate (and that was before it went bad with a slimey infection). I have always wondered since if it was because of the 50%ish Munich malt in there that I didn’t like.
Being a “day-in and day-out experimentalist” in my professional life I devised the following path to figureing out 1. What does Munich Malt really taste like and 2. How much is too much for my palate and lastly 3. At what point does its flavor contribution drop below noticable levels?
I propose to make a batch of 100% Munich wort hopped with a 60min Magnum addition. Lets say 40IBUs and 1.050OG. In parrallel, I would make a 100% Pilsner wort hopped the same way and same gravity. Then I’d blend the two worts together to make the following rations (Munich/Pilsner): 100/0, 50/50, 30/70, 10/90, 5/95, 0/100. I suppose this would be an interesting study in Pilsner malt too.
The real trick here is the fermentation. My first thought was to make each blend using wort in 1 gallon jugs, then ferment them each with measured yeast. But then I need to hope each one ferments the same and I have to maintain the temp of like 6 or more jugs. While that is its own challenge, I like the idea of each fermenting as a blend. Because that’s how a beer would be made normally.
However it would probably be easier to pitch appropriate yeast amounts into two 5 gallon batches (100% Munich, 100% Pilsner) and then blend them at bottling time, or even at tasting time…. I wonder if that really reflects the final beer’s flavor though. Thinking about ease and likelyhood of actually doing this experiment… blending at tasting makes more sense. (It also prevents me from having to do two worts in the same day) Any thoughts?
Munich… It elludes me currently, but not for long.
BREW ON!
Paul
Munich malt is a vague description, I’ve used Munich malts that are 5 lovibond and at other times Munich that’s 30 lovibond. There is a huge difference. American? European? very different stuff, and don’t forget about “Munich type” malts like aromatic, honey, Vienna, and melanoidin malt.
I don’t mean to discourage you in your experimenting, just keep an eye on the lovibond and maltster of the Munich your using.
Lauren
I agree with Mike. My favorite beer takes 2lbs Munich in a 22lb malt bill for 10 gallons, the Munich give it color true, but also gives it a rich but not heavy maltiness. I made this beer with Vienna 1 time because they where out of Munich, and I did notice the difference, there just wasn’t that depth of malt taste that I was used to even with the same yeast.
I think if it’s a beer your not familiar with you wouldn’t know, but if it’s one of your old stand by’s, you definately notice Munichs presence, and absence.
Chris
I just tasted my latest brew that reflected Laren’s recipe. I too used 2 lbs. Munich type 1 along with 22 lbs. Canada Malt, 1 lb. crystal 10 and a pound of Carapils. The best brew I have ever made. I do think that the Munich malt gave it that nice, slight breadiness that I have been missing for years. I wish I had of been using Munich malt all along. BTW, the % of Munich malt was 7.7.