Munich Malt whiskey

[kmmuellr]

Anyone with experience with a 100% Munich malt whiskey? A friend has a boat load of grain at his brewery that won't be used, and I'm thinking a 100% Munich beer is excellent, what would a whiskey turn out like?

I've got a 60gal barrel fermenter and keg pot still that I'll use. Figure strip and spirit run.

Any experience with a 100% Munich?

Yeast preference?

Thanks!
Kevin

[Ben]

I've wondered the same. Post results when you complete it

[BoilerMaker]

The rogue brewery in Oregon (https://www.rogue.com/spirits) uses Munich malt in beers and a few whiskeys. The closest to what you're after is their Oregon Single Malt, which I believe is 100% munich. The other two are American single malts: Dead Guy Whiskey and the Rolling Thunder Stouted whiskey. Based on the mash bills I assume that means 51+% 2 row and the remainder munich and crystal 15. They won a few awards. But also if you search for reviews you'll find some that aren't too good either. Don't know if that helps; if you have the malt take a shot and see what you come up with.

[Toxxyc]

Go for it. In my experience working with more flavoured malts than just regular pale malt or distiller's malt really produces great whiskies. I typically use CaraMunich malts in my whisky (not the same as Munich malt), and also have a bag of CaraHell here I still have to try in a whisky. It brings out much nicer flavours and aromas, even in the new make. Last whisky I made was done with quite a bit of CaraMunich I in the mash, and the resulting wash was a dark brown. After fermentation it smelled like a freshly opened bucket of honey, just before it went into the still. Produced a pretty decent new make.

[8Ball]

Go for it. In my experience working with more flavoured malts than just regular pale malt or distiller's malt really produces great whiskies. I typically use CaraMunich malts in my whisky (not the same as Munich malt), and also have a bag of CaraHell here I still have to try in a whisky. It brings out much nicer flavours and aromas, even in the new make. Last whisky I made was done with quite a bit of CaraMunich I in the mash, and the resulting wash was a dark brown. After fermentation it smelled like a freshly opened bucket of honey, just before it went into the still. Produced a pretty decent new make.

I use CaraMunich as 1.5% of the grain bill in my all malt whiskey and it brings a subtle richness to the profile.

[Toxxyc]

I used 30% CaraMunich I in my last whisky. The richness wasn't all that subtle

[8Ball]

I used 30% CaraMunich I in my last whisky. The richness wasn't all that subtle

Ha! I guess not. Damn, 30%. That is dessert, isn’t it?

[Demy]

I think you will get a good product and ... I think you are very lucky!

[kmmuellr]

I think you will get a good product and ... I think you are very lucky!

Cool! And yes, I am very lucky! Its amazing how contract brewers sometimes have jobs cancelled after ingredients are purchased, and these ingredients will get pitched or used by employees or their friends!

K

[Toxxyc]

I used 30% CaraMunich I in my last whisky. The richness wasn't all that subtle

Ha! I guess not. Damn, 30%. That is dessert, isn’t it?

It was good on the nose, but I haven't sampled it myself. Keeping in mind it's mostly aroma, I'm hoping it'll help the harshness hide faster behind the caramel aroma, but even at 30% it was more subtle than I expected, mostly because I think I expected too much.

[kmmuellr]

I just picked up a full sack of Munich from my buddy. Now I just need to find the time to mash and ferment it; along w/ the 3 gallons of molasses I bought, and the ~45lbs of corn I have. And working around my wife's breast cancer mastectomy recovery.

Patience and I'll get back w/ an update in by mid-January....

K

[EricTheRed]

I've used a 6kg pale malt and 3kg heavily roasted dark malt.
Smelled fantastic and produced a rich flavoured drink.
Used the backseat 3 more times for sugarheads. All came out nicely.
If you got it, use it.

[kmmuellr]

My wife is healing up from her double mastectomy, so I'm finally getting around to throwing this Munich malt whiskey together. I mashed in this morning, 48.5lbs of Munich w/ 24 gal of water; mashed at 148F. 14.3 brix, so 1.060-ish starting gravity. I'll be using US-05 yeast that I've got from a beer that I just finished fermenting. I'll be adding that as soon as I cool it down. I'll probably add some Bean-O as well to get a more fermentable mash.

My buddy is giving me 3 or 4 more bags on Wednesday, so I'll ferment this and then do a quick strip and get another batch going. I've got a couple of beers to brew as well, including a special request for my son who is a marine and coming home on leave for Independence Day!

Fingers crossed that this comes out good!

K

[The Baker]

All the best to Mrs. kmmuellr.

Geoff

[kmmuellr]

Based on this linked thread, I mashed in another 20lbs w/ 10 gal of water. Finished at 1.060 like it should have, and I'm chilling now and will add to my fermenter. Previous ferment was at 1.003 last night, and the grain cap is still up right now and sitting at 62 deg F. I expect this additional wort will take off quickly!

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=87072

@Geoff, The Baker: Thanks! She's doing great, and had a post-op appt w/ her doctor yesterday who is pleased.

K

[Ben]

Sounds like you've got some good repeatability going. I'm interested in your notes from the spirit run.

[kmmuellr]

Sounds like you've got some good repeatability going. I'm interested in your notes from the spirit run.

I've been an all-grain homebrewer since 1997, and my mash-tun is controlled by a PID that I built. Repeatability in my mash is something that I can do! Note taking from my spirit run (actually providing flavor descriptions)? That's something I've never excelled at!! I'll try though.

K

[kmmuellr]

Well, this project is slow, but moving forward. My friend gave me another bag (not 3-4 as expected), so I've got two bags of Munich malt.

First bit of it went into a beer for a competition. The rest of bag one went as stated above.

I pulled something like 25 gal of beer to strip over two runs. Each run collected 3 gal. Unfortunately the first one experienced a scorched element, so I'm keeping them separate.

My son (US Marine) is coming in town this weekend, so I've brewed a beer for him, and the second bag of Munich is waiting for me. I've got two more summer beers to make, and I'll then mash the second bag of Munich and get the still running again.

Until next time....

K

[kmmuellr]

44 gal of water and 88lbs of Munich malt mashed yesterday and fermenting strong when I woke up in the morning. This was supposed to be done last week, but I had a mess-up and dry-fired my element and fried it. Got a new one Friday, and rewired everything and got the time to run Sunday.

Lesson learned: My wort chiller is WOEFULLY undersized for that much thermal mass!! It works well for 5-8 gallons, but nearly 50gal w/ grain is slow to cool!

I hope to start stripping on 9 or 10 August, and these strippings will join the 6 gal of strippings from the last ferment for a spirit run.

Fingers crossed that it all comes together!

K

Oh, some reached out about my wife. Thank you! She's doing great and now I've got some time to get back into the brewery/distillery before the next/last surgery! New boobs!

[bitter]

Good luck! I bet this is going to be really tasty!

B

[Stonecutter]

I love me some good German beer. Looking forward to your results. Hope you and your Son had a good time while he was in town. Much respect to the Marines. Keep us posted Brother

[kmmuellr]

OK, so its been a long time coming with this project, but I'm finally getting around to working on this some more.

I ended up with about 17 gal of stripped low wines at 30% abv. Since I run in a keg still, I'm breaking this up into two spirit runs, and am currently running and believe I'm strongly into hearts right now at 85% (started in fores and heads at 90%.)

The low wines smell like hell. When I was siphoning into my still last night, behind the nasty smell of tails was a chocolaty sweetness that I've got fingers crossed will come out in the final spirit. I'm also tasting it in the hearts (although my wife just tried and her reaction was not favorable!)

I'll likely do the second spirit run next week, as I'll be travelling Thurs-Sun. I'll let these jars air out while I'm travelling, and probably run the second spirit run Monday or Tuesday. Then I've got to strip 35 gal of blackstrap rum that's in my fermenter!

K

[kmmuellr]

the first spirit run is done and aired out. I started picking and choosing last night, but not done yet.

Deep tails were easy. If they had oil floating on top, they went into the feints jar!

The last jar that I saved was 50% abv which is considerably lower than I usually go. My pot still column starts dripping on a spirit run at about 88-90%, and I usually start keeping around 82-84%. I had my 17yo daughter smell that 50% jar and she said flowery. I had her sip, and she couldn't figure it out, but when I said chocolate her eyes lit up. She couldn't place that flavor in booze, but totally agreed that its like powdered cocoa. She said, "I said flowery because I couldn't come up w/ anything else, but when you said chocolate it hit!"

The big question mark is how to age it, or if I should bottle white and use it to flavor my bourbon and other whiskeys. hmmm....

I'm stripping some rum that's been finished in my garage for about 2 weeks while I'm at work (remote work is awesome!) I saw a fruit fly flying around, so figured I'd better strip it before something bad happens. The second Munich spirit run will likely not be until next week.

K

[tombombadil]

Interesting that it came out a little chocolatey.
Maybe I should try using Munich malt instead of 6 row next time I make a chocolate Bourbon.

[kmmuellr]

Interesting that it came out a little chocolatey.
Maybe I should try using Munich malt instead of 6 row next time I make a chocolate Bourbon.

I've still not finished this experiment. After letting the jars from my first spirit run air and combining them, I realized that I put in to much tails. There was a lingering flavor that I didn't care for. I dumped that spirit into my kettle w/ the other low wines. Its all sitting in my still ready for me to run another spirit run. I guess it'll be a 2.5 run?

I'm seriously considering putting a portion of Munich in my next bourbon based on this experiment.

K

[Metalking00]

Ive been making a bourbon using Vienna malt, which i understand is kinda similar to munich. Its very good.

[kmmuellr]

Well, I'm not sure when I finally finished this, but I ended up with 2.5gal at 80% in a carboy. The rest just smelled like tails to me. Even what I kept has a weird smell to it that I can't place, along w/ the chocolate.

I've not done anything with it until just this past Monday when I proofed some down to 60% and added 17.5g of toasted and charred oak to 600ml and an equal amount of raw cherry to the same amount. Its already picking up beautiful color, but I haven't tried a drink yet.

I'll keep updating this thread as it goes along.

My initial thoughts are to keep the % of Munich malt down in a whiskey.

K

[Ben]

I've been using 10L at 30% in bourbon, I really like it. Mid palate and finish remind me of Speyside. It does take some oak time to come around though. It also has that distinct malt funk/slight sourness.

Oak it and forget about it for 6 months, see what you think then... seems silly to use malt whiskey as a base for flavored spirits.

[kmmuellr]

The other day I tried the oaked and cherried munich whiskey. The chocolate is definitely present, more so w/ the oak vs cherry. Of three of us who tried it, 2 liked the oak better. I think I might blend w/ a whiskey and put into a barrel to rest.

K