dunkelweizen biab

45 minute sacch rest with sous vide at 153f. mash thickness was whatever BIAB calculator said it was.

Then 20 minute decoction mash which was quite thick, around 1qt/lb, a little thinner than oatmeal, just enough to not see the bottom of the pot when I stirred. Pulled about 3 gallons total for the decoction and added 1/4 tsp gypsum.

I let the rest of the mash cool during the decoction, then carefully added the decoction back to achieve another sacch rest at 153f for 30 min.

Cranked the burner for mashout around 180f, then pulled the bag.

I usually get around 69% efficiency for BIAB, however with the decoction mash and vigorous bag squeezings (#gainz!) efficiency was around 76-78%, and I ended up with about 6 gallons of 1.07 wort, still throwing some pretty sweet grain onto the compost pile for our urban deer herd to fatten themselves upon.

I chilled the wort to about 63f in 20min. with copper coil and paint stirrer/drill motor mounted to sawhorse. I split the wort into 2 carboys and pitched one smack pack of Wyeast Weihenstephan, no starter, the idea being to stress the yeast for more banana and clove flavor.

It being Syracuse in January, I had to wrap a heater band around the carboys to keep it at about 62f for primary fermentation. Even though I underpitched on purpose, the primary was a little more subdued than I had expected; I have pitched Wyeast 3068 to 1.080 wort with no starter and had it blow the stopper across the room. The krausen fell in by about day 5. Final gravity ended up being 1.014, indicating that the 3068 had been up to the task as expected, although tasting sample while still in the carboys revealed some serious sulfurous funkiness. I left it in the primary for a total of two weeks then kegged it up. Carbed it up to what felt like around 3 volumes of CO2 (broken gauge). It took about a week for the flavors to come together in the cold of my garage.

Boy, am I happy with this beer. Of note, I had forgotten to pitch the aroma hops, meaning that IBUS were more like 12. I didn't miss the hops at all. The special B and munich had more than enough backbone to balance the thick body and sweet maltiness, and the tartness of the wheat shone through nicely, giving a fruity yet drinkable character. There ended up being more clove than banana, as expected with the fermentation temp. Nice bready, cakey aroma with thick head, although the head didn't last as long as it probably should have. Reminded me of a more drinkable version of the first dubbel that Ommegang made when they opened in the 90s.
Glad that I documented this recipe so I can repeat it!