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Styles · Munich Dunkel

Beer style · BJCP 2021 8A

Munich Dunkel

Dark European Lager

Published ranges These are the ranges the BJCP 2021 guidelines publish for this style.

Original gravity
1.048–1.056
Final gravity
1.010–1.016
Bitterness
18–28 IBU
Color
14–28 SRM (28–55 EBC)
Alcohol
4.5–5.6 % ABV

What it is

Munich's dark everyday lager: deep brown, full of bread crust, toast and a hint of chocolate from Munich malt, finishing smooth and clean. Both roast bitterness and caramel sweetness are out of place. The target is rich malt complexity that never turns heavy.

Flavor

What a Munich Dunkel should taste like, on the three wheels the studio scores every recipe against. The shaded ring is the style’s range on each axis, from 0 at the center to 5 at the edge.

Hops

Room for herbal or spice.

Malt

Bready/biscuit and toasty, with room for grainy, sweet/honey, caramel, chocolate or coffee/roast.

Fermentation

Clean, with room for sulfur.

Hops that suit it

The traditional choice

What Munich Dunkel has classically been brewed with.

Also right on character

Varieties whose loudest notes all sit on this style’s hop wheel, best fit first. How much to use is the recipe’s question; these are the ones that taste right.

Yeasts that suit it

Strains the lab made for beers like this one, whose fermentation character sits inside the style’s wheel. A strain sold by several labs is listed once; its page names the others.

And 20 more yeasts whose character fits. These are the 24 that fit best.

Style numbers, names and vital statistics are from the BJCP 2021 Beer Style Guidelines, where you will find the official descriptions. The descriptions and flavor wheels here are Beerwright’s own. Beerwright is not affiliated with or endorsed by the BJCP.