Munich 5L: In the Brewhouse

Malteurop Malting Company (MMC) prides itself on striving to produce high quality, innovative malts that offer brewers a variety of uses. Our unique approach allows our brewing partners to utilize those malts in a diverse array of styles. Munich 5L is a perfect example, putting a new spin on a traditional malt.

Being Munich’s lighter sibling, Munich 5L offers brewers a highly kilned malt that imparts rich malty character with a slightly bready or nutty flavor without introducing too much color. The kilning process that keeps the color low, also retains a higher enzyme package than most Munich malts, allowing for its use at up to 100 percent of the grain bill.

A traditional, slightly darker Munich is the perfect addition to medium to dark, more full-bodied beers. Munich 5L plays a more subtle role imparting less color and a more subtle flavor. Still, it packs a base malt’s diastatic punch, making it extremely flexible in the brewhouse.

MMC’s brewing partners have welcomed Munich 5L with open arms, using it in several creative ways with tremendous results. From traditional use to incremental improvement, Munich 5L is a versatile tool in the brewhouse.

Munich’s Dark(er) History

Munich was one of the first (relatively) darker, drum-kilned malts. This is thanks in large part to the creation of British engineer Daniel Wheeler, who invented a revolving drum kiln.

Up until the early 1800s, grains were malted via a floor malting process heated by wood, coal, or coke. The heat was hard to control, which often resulted in unintentionally scorched and smoky malts.

When German Gabriel Sedlmayr II learned of Wheeler’s invention, he employed this new way of kilning at the Spaten Brewery in Munich, Germany. This led to the creation of the Munich malt and the development of the Märzen Oktoberfest beer. There is an entire history devoted to what is and what is not currently an Oktoberfestbier, but we’re not here to debate that.

Regardless of its history, Märzen has become a popular fall style across America, as well as in its home country of Germany, showcasing Munich’s rich, sweet malt character.

Munich 5L was created because brewers wanted to employ much of the grain character and slightly bready, nutty flavor of Munich malt, but with less sweetness and less color.

Munich 5L Technical Specifications

Moisture: 4.5 maximum

Fine Grind Extract, Dry Basis: 80.0 minimum

Color (Lovibond): 3.5 to 6.5

Color (SRM): 4.0 to 8.0

Diastatic Power: 90 minimum

Alpha-Amylase: 40 minimum

Total Protein: 12.5 maximum

Munich Technical Specifications

Moisture: 3.5 to 4.5

Fine Grind Extract, Drys Basis: 80.0 minimum

Color (Lovibond): 6.5 to 9.4

Color (SRM): 8.0 to 12.0

Diastatic Power: 90 to 150

Alpha-Amylase: 35 to 50

Total Protein: 11.0 to 12.0

Using Munich 5L in the Brewhouse

Influencing Traditions (Festbier / Helles)

Munich 5L has a substantial amount of diastatic power, so it can be used as 100 percent of the base malt, though most brewers won’t use it as the sole base malt.

Alex Doering, head brewer at the award-winning brewpub The Freehouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota, immediately put Munich 5L to work in his Festbier. More akin to the modern example of Oktoberfest’s official Festbier than a traditional Märzen, he used 28% Munich 5L in the grist to complement the 55% Bavarian Pilsner.

“The flavors I wanted really came out in the beer. Toasted, bready malt characters were present and spot on and the body of the beer was also great,” said Doering, describing his use of Munich 5L to impart the malt character and flavors that he wanted in his Festbier.

Likewise, award-winning Rachael Hudson, head brewer at Pilot Brewing in Charlotte, North Carolina, used 30% Munich 5L in her Helles Munich Lager. The Layover to Hanover was a collaboration brewed in conjunction with the U.S. arm of Germany’s Gilde Brewing, whose European history dates back hundreds of years.

The Munich 5L imparted a “light toast character,” which was what she was looking for. Hudson wanted to impart a deeper grainy malt character without getting too sweet or the color getting too dark. Layover to Hanover turned out to be such a big hit with customers, she brewed it multiple times.

IPA with a Backbone

Let’s face it, most IPAs aren’t regarded for their malt character. This is the stage where the spotlight shines on the hops dancing across our tongues. Malt, however, plays a critical role. At one time, it was simply to add sweetness to balance hoppy bitterness, but as IPAs have developed, so has the role of malt in them.

Brewers now are often looking to avoid the cloying sweetness that some malts impart. instead looking to bolster the backbone of their IPAs with the grainy, malty character that doesn’t trip up the hops.

That’s why Matt Cisz, lead brewer at Third Space Brewing in Milwaukee, used Munich 5L as 15% of the grist in their One in Four IPA collaboration beer recipe. One in Four IPA was created to raise awareness surrounding domestic violence and is freely shared with other breweries.

“The goal in using Munich 5L was to create a more approachable IPA that would appeal to a broader audience with its malty qualities,” said Matt.

“The Munich 5L has a really nice bready and slightly sweet profile that gives extra depth and body to the beer. Sometimes IPAs can be too hop forward and this malt really helped keep this beer balanced.”

That’s something that Rachael at Pilot sees as a key benefit to Munich 5L when developing IPAs.

“I like West Coast IPAs, but the really caramel malt backbone IPAs are not my favorite. I like when it’s more hop showcase, a little bit more dry. But sometimes in doing that, the beer can get a little more watery or lighter bodied than you want,” she said.

“So if you wanted to stick more to the all-malt side and get some body, Munich 5L can kind of boost it up.”

Munich 5L’s Versatility

As a newer addition to the Malteurop line-up, Munich 5L is just getting started. But there are many avenues left to explore. It is inspiring our brewer partners for new ways to utilize Munich 5L in the brewhouse.

“It gives more character to the beer, keeping it from feeling too light, if you will,” said Rachael, seeing it as useful in a wide range of styles from Kolsch to IPA to stout. “The Munich 5L is a good way to start introducing malt character into your recipe without going too high on a certain flavor note.”

It has also inspired Matt and his team at Third Space to see where they can take Munich 5L in the future.

“With it being slightly lighter in color and flavor, it gives you the ability and flexibility to use it more frequently in your recipe development,” he said.

“It has made us think about incorporating this malt into more products, whether that be for color, body, or flavor. It truly is a pretty versatile malt and I look forward to experimenting with it further.”