Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale

I am thinking about brewing a dunkelweizen soon and I am trying to decide what yeast strain to use. What yeast do you like for this style (and why)? Has anyone here tried Wyeast Weihenstephan Weizen 3068?

I have made a dunkelweizen twice in the past few years.  My brewing log indicates that both times I used Wyeast's Bavarian Wheat Blend strain (3638).  The Wyeast site lists this description "Top cropping hefeweizen yeast with complex flavor and aroma. Balance of banana and bubble gum esters with lichi and apple/plum esters and clove."  I have enjoyed the way these batches came out, and it is one of my favorite wheat beer styles of all time.  However, I certainly have not used any other strains, so I can't offer you any comparisons.

Jamil's book recommends White Labs WLP300 - Wefeweizen Ale, and the strain you were interested in for brewing a dunkelweizen.

I hope that helps.

FWIW - the 3068 is great for ciders, so if you use that, you could reuse the yeast cake for a cider when your dunkel is done

3068 is THE yeast to use for hefeweizens.  Basically, a dunkelweizen is just a darker more maltier version, so I would think this yeast should be perfect for the style.  The trick with this yeast (and all of the german wheat yeast) is to get the fermentation temperatures right.  For 3068, I think the best temps is to pitch low (62F) and let rise up to 68F. Check my temps over on the Brewing Network, but I think this is right. If you go hotter, it will spew out big banana and bubble gum. It's a very well-balanced hefe yeast though. Also, make sure you get it from a source of Wyeast that has reasonable turnover so you get a fresh pack, like Northern Brewer or William's.

I'm just here to echo Spidey's thoughts.

Normal ale fermentation temperatures with those hefe yeasts will make your batch Bubblicious.  Which is bad.

This might be the perfect time of year to take advantage of the falling temperatures for a batch.

Thanks for all the input. Temps in the back room of my basement are staying around 65(+/-2) degrees right now, so in another three weeks when I have a carboy free I think it will be time to brew this one. Here is the recipe I'm currently planning on using. Let me know if you think it is off the mark in some way.

Partial Mash Dunkelweizen
3 1/2 lbs Wheat LME (40/60)
2 lbs Munich Malt
2 lbs Dark Wheat Malt
1/2 lb Chocolate Wheat Malt
1/2 oz Tettnang (60 min)
1/4 oz Tettnang (15 min)
1/4 oz Tettnang (5 min)
Wyeast 3068