Malt & Grain

What malt goes into a Dunkel? Barley that's kilned at a higher temperature after germination — dried and roasted in the oven. This produces the color and the notes of bread crust and caramel that pale malt simply doesn't have.

Weltenburger's Barock Dunkel lives off this roasted malt. Weltenburg describes its ingredients as regional, with the barley sourced from the surrounding area. Kelheim's tourism board notes that brewing barley, wheat, and spelt all grow in the Bavarian Jura nearby.

With wheat beer, the wheat takes center stage. Typically at least half the malt bill is wheat malt — a common industry convention rather than a legal requirement. Wheat has no husk and is high in protein, which is where the haze, the rich foam, and the full body all come from.

Visit the brewery in Kelheim and you'll see Schneider Weisse's wheat beer on one side and Kloster Weltenburg's Dunkel on the other — yet both start from the same principle: malt determines color and flavor, not yeast. That protein content makes brewing more demanding, since the mash turns thicker and lautering — separating the wort from the spent grain — takes patience. The rest of the malt bill in wheat beer is barley malt, roasted for the dark versions.

For Bock the rule is: more malt in the same amount of water yields more original gravity — more dissolved sugar in the wort — and thus more alcohol. Under German beer regulations, a beer may only be called a Bockbier if the original gravity is at least 16 degrees Plato.