[denny]

Yes, you can do that.  Personally, I find Sinamar much easier to use, though.

[tomsawyer]

Where are you getting sinemar Denny?

[denny]

Where are you getting sinemar Denny?

At my LHBS.

[lonnie mac]

Wow, this whole thread has really inspired me! Like Denny, a guess in about 12-13 years and over 300 batches you would think I have brewed an Alt at some point! Nope. Never...

I'll be brewing up Kai's recipe this weekend.

[corkybstewart]

Where are you getting sinemar Denny?

At my LHBS.

Must be nice-my closest LHBS is 200 miles away and they had never heard of lambics or sour beers, the possibility of them having Sinemar is laughable.

[richardt]

http://www.rebelbrewer.com/shoppingcart/products/Sinamar-Coloring-Agent-%252d-4-oz..html
Here you go.

[majorvices]

Another general alt question.  Why do so many recipes use a combination of pils and munich malt, when a light munich is only 6-7L anyway?  Is all munich too overpowering in terms of the flavor?  I was going to try that Al K recipe but found I was out of Aromatic.

They use the pils malt "for the enzymes" according to a recipe I have seen from a German Brewmaster a few years back. Some may argue whether or not this is necessary. But I would recommend never arguing with a German Brewmaster. 

Also, I mispoke about my grain bill earlier. That was an old recipe. My grain bill for my alt is Vienna, Munich, pilsner, cara munich and a touch of carafa special. And I prefer the carafa special to the sinmar, personally.

[hopfenundmalz]

Yes, you can do that.  Personally, I find Sinamar much easier to use, though.

Easy but not cheap!  Does easy trump cheap (I am kidding here Denny)?

Wait a minute. Hey, this is about 1/2 of what I paid for the stuff at the LHBS.  Not too bad for 4 oz.
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=sinamar

[lonnie mac]

Ah, just finished the longest brew day of my life! Looks like it will be a perfect brew too using Kai's Alt recipe. I hadn't realized how slow a 100% Munich base malt mash would take to convert but Scotty, it's all she's got now... Dang you Kai! My arms are friggin worn out! The color is spot on to your recipe. It's happily fermenting away now...

[denny]

Ya know, I keep hearing about how difficult and/or slow it is for a 100% Munich grist to convert, yet I've done it may times (using both domestic and continental Munich) and haven't experience it myself.  What am I doing wrong? 

[tomsawyer]

Ya know, I keep hearing about how difficult and/or slow it is for a 100% Munich grist to convert, yet I've done it may times (using both domestic and continental Munich) and haven't experience it myself.  What am I doing wrong? 

You using the traditional chicha mash method?

[johnf]

Ya know, I keep hearing about how difficult and/or slow it is for a 100% Munich grist to convert, yet I've done it may times (using both domestic and continental Munich) and haven't experience it myself.  What am I doing wrong? 

Could be a brand thing. Weyermann Munich I, for example, seems to convert easily at 100%. Also could be that your water happens to give a pH close to the optimum for alpha amalyse. I know you are an advocate of a fine crush for batch sparging, that could allow the enzymes to get into solution and active sooner.

Kai has used more Munich malts than me (I aways use the two Weyermann ones and I always use a bit of pilsner with Weyermann II) and he has complained about problems getting some of them to convert, so I think it is primarily brand/type.

[corkybstewart]

I brewed my dopple alt this weekend with 15 pounds of Munich, 10 pounds Pilsner, 6 oz's of carafa special and 1 pound of Caravienne for a 10 gallon batch.  I was really surprised how dark it turned out.  My son gave me a couple of bottles of Uerige sticke dopple alt and it's very dark too, so maybe I'm not too far off.

[denny]

Could be a brand thing. Weyermann Munich I, for example, seems to convert easily at 100%. Also could be that your water happens to give a pH close to the optimum for alpha amalyse. I know you are an advocate of a fine crush for batch sparging, that could allow the enzymes to get into solution and active sooner.

Kai has used more Munich malts than me (I aways use the two Weyermann ones and I always use a bit of pilsner with Weyermann II) and he has complained about problems getting some of them to convert, so I think it is primarily brand/type.

Good points on water and crush.  I've used Great Western, Weyermann II, Best II and a couple other continental dark Munichs I can't think of at the moment.  Never had a problem wiht any of them.

[Thirsty_Monk]

I have a similar experience with Munich II 100% mashes as Denny but I step mash.