Dry Lake Dunkel 5-Gallon Beer Making Ingredient kit

Dry Lake Dunkel — 5 Gallon Kit

Just southwest of Flagstaff, nestled in the San Francisco Volcanic Field, sits a 40-plus-acre volcanic crater that holds one of Coconino County’s quieter secrets. The maar — a broad, low-relief crater formed by volcanic eruption — occasionally fills with shallow water during heavy winter snowmelts or summer monsoon rains. Most of the year it sits dry, a wide meadow of clay and grass that gives no hint of what it once was. The Grand Canyon Trust recognized its value and worked to preserve it as protected public land.

A place that holds more than it shows. A fitting name for a beer that does the same.

Dunkelweizen is Hefeweizen’s darker, more complex cousin — same distinctive banana and clove character from the traditional German wheat beer yeast, but with richer malt flavor and depth from specialty grains and a blend of wheat and barley malt extract. The result is a beer that’s more substantial than a Hefeweizen without losing any of its character. Brown in color, medium in body, low in bitterness — quietly interesting from start to finish.

This is one of two kits where we use a traditional German wheat beer yeast rather than Kveik. The banana and clove character that defines both Hefeweizen and Dunkelweizen comes entirely from the yeast — it’s not something you can replicate with a substitute. Fermentation temperature influences the flavor balance, with warmer temperatures bringing out more banana character and cooler temperatures emphasizing clove.

The Dry Malt Difference
Our kits are made exclusively with dry malt extract. It’s more expensive than liquid malt extract but it doesn’t darken or pick up off flavors with age and temperature the way liquid extract does. Fresher ingredients, truer flavors — that’s why we’ve always used it and always will.

Color: Brown
Body: Medium
Bitterness: Low
Hop Aroma and Flavor: Low
Alcohol: 5.1% ABV
IBU: 15

Kit includes: Dry malt extract blend, specialty grains, hops, dry yeast, muslin grain bag, priming sugar, bottle caps and step-by-step instructions.

To brew this kit you’ll need: A 5-gallon or larger brew pot, a 6.5-gallon or larger fermenter with airlock, siphoning and bottling equipment, and about 53 clean bottles. A kitchen scale is helpful too.