# Hoppy wheat beer, which hops?



## SBOB (2/11/15)

So planning on making a wheat beer in this weekend with something along the lines of this (http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2012/06/hoppy-summer-wheat.html) with a 50/50 mix of pilsner/wheat malt 

Undecided on hops and hoping to use what I have. Anyone got any tips on a suitable hops from whats in my freezer

Galaxy (>200g)
Centennial (>300g)
Citra (~150g)
Simcoe (<100g)


Any tips would be great. Thinking Citra/Galaxy combo but any tips or recipe links would be great.


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## butisitart (2/11/15)

check running forum on 'tips for improving wheat beer'.
i suggested late floral hops etc but got run down for it, cos wheat doesn't have ipa style late hop hits in it.
so my last brew used 2/3 santium (tettnang, hallertau substitute) and 1/3 galaxy on a 90 min boil.
end ibu was 10.3, within the range of 8 - 15 ibu beersmith guide on weissbier.
just tasted my first last night, and tastes like it's going to be a good one.


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## Weizguy (2/11/15)

Late hop can be a noble German hop, but also any American noble if you insist. Perhaps even an NZ dual purpose hop like Southern Cross is worth a try.

I'm certainly keen to try SC, and will probably bring a sample along to a HUB meeting to get some feedback.


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## seamad (2/11/15)

if you are using US05 as in the linked recipe, then citra/galaxy would be pretty tasty. Certainly wouldn't use those hops with a german wheat beer yeast.
Prefer 1272 myself over 05.


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## SBOB (2/11/15)

Based on what's in the fridge it will be either be wyeast 1056 (American ale) or wyeast 1450 (dennys)


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## Danscraftbeer (2/11/15)

The Simcoe, Galaxy and Citra I have used on their own for both early to late and dry hop and have made excellent Beers. I don't think I've tried Centennial. I must. 
I'm actually Making a Christmas Hop Bomb IPA thing. This time I made a mongrel mix of 4 hops to add 15min and flame out. Maybe consider mixing them all together and averaging the Alpha Acids. Anything goes. B)


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## Weizguy (3/11/15)

Sorry, I didn't note (and neither did you) that this is an American-style wheat beer.
It was late and I did not check your link until this morning, so I assumed a hoppy wheat brewed with German yeast.

This revelation is a game-changer.I have brewed some very nice Yank wheat beers, and if beer styles are not inhibitive, you go for it. This style can certainly stand the IPA hopping treatment.

I recall the James Squire wheat beer of years gone by, with it's German-style yeast (WLP300, iirc) and fruity late hopping. Was a great beer and I'd certainly pay to be able to buy it again.

I will suggest that Galaxy and Topaz were overpowering together in the last one that I brewed. Now hop along...


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## Blind Dog (3/11/15)

if you want citrus, then centennial or citra (or combo) would work well. id be aiming for about 70% of the bitterness to come from late additions. I won't fit any style guidelines, but a hoppy wheat is a great summer beer (albeit mine tend more to 4% ABV or thereabouts rather than the 5.8% in the linked recipe)


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## Barge (3/11/15)

How many IBUs for a "hoppy wheat"? Considering 8-15 is standard, can you push it as high as 30?

I'm guessing how long is a piece of string could be the answer. I'm keen to do some wheat beers this summer and don't mind a bit of citrusy hop action but would want to keep it sessionable.

Edit: I realise the recipe in the link sits at 38 but I'm not sure of the effect of using hop extract. i.e. Does it provided a smoother, less perceptible bitterness?


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## Dave70 (3/11/15)

Done a few bittered with NB and sweetened with late Centennial and / or Amarillo. One of my favorite hot weather beers. I found about 30 IBU was good.
Pays not to go to heavy on the late additions with all those floral and citrisy flavors going on and a fairly spineless malt bill and neutral yeast. Not hard to wind up with a keg full of Tang.


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## takai (3/11/15)

Anyone done a lacto sour mash on the same? Im considering doing one with Lacto. P. to pH3.6 in mash, 30-35IBU of the 3-Cs and WLP320


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## Spohaw (3/11/15)

I've done a American wheat with simcoe for bittering and heavy galaxy additions at flame out and it's delicious 

I use us-05 for my American wheats and I like the ibu's around 35 so that's what I do (no chill)

I like adding a bit of crystal malts to it too , not too much but , 70gm 120 and 100gm if crystal 40 for a 21ltr batch 
I also chuck in 350-500gm of unmalted wheat as well 

American wheat is my favourite type of beer , easy drinking heavy hopped beer 

Mmmmmmm


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## Weizguy (3/11/15)

Barge said:


> How many IBUs for a "hoppy wheat"? Considering 8-15 is standard, can you push it as high as 30?
> 
> I'm guessing how long is a piece of string could be the answer. I'm keen to do some wheat beers this summer and don't mind a bit of citrusy hop action but would want to keep it sessionable.
> 
> Edit: I realise the recipe in the link sits at 38 but I'm not sure of the effect of using hop extract. i.e. Does it provided a smoother, less perceptible bitterness?


American wheat/rye style typical range is 15-30 IBU. Above that you lose balance (read guzzle-ability) and it becomes a wheat/rye pale ale.

For yeast, I have recently been trying W1010 and it accentuates clean, malty characters as well as the hops. Then you can pitch an Alt or Kölsch on that yeast cake and drop the temp to 13-15° C. Also great Summer drinking...


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## Spohaw (3/11/15)

Les the Weizguy said:


> American wheat/rye style typical range is 15-30 IBU. Above that you lose balance (read guzzle-ability) and it becomes a wheat/rye pale ale....


I pretty much treat it like an apa but with wheat as the main malt 

Last one I made was 42bu/50gu and despite my ph being too low the smashability of this beer was great ..... Was one of my best so far .... Normal people might have said it lacked the malt bill to balance the hops but for my tastes it was decent , could have been better with a higher ph water and maybe some minerals additions which is what I'll try for my next one I brew 

Mashed at 66 and ended up 1.010

I used eldorado lemondrop galaxy and cascade for that one


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## mofox1 (3/11/15)

SBOB said:


> So planning on making a wheat beer in this weekend with something along the lines of this (http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2012/06/hoppy-summer-wheat.html) with a 50/50 mix of pilsner/wheat malt


Have you tried the Stone & Wood Pacific Ale? Fookin delicious to my barbarian palate.

Something like 60/40 Pilsner/wheat or maybe 65/35, with perhaps a touch of medium crystal.

You could use centennial for bittering (10 IBU) and then loads of late galaxy bringing the IBU up to around 25ish. Dry hop galaxy at your discretion. My last batch similar to this used 50g Cascade & 50g Galaxy as the dry hop - massive fresh citrus & passionfruit hit. :icon_drool2:


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## earle (3/11/15)

The James Squires one mentioned above was the Mad Brewers Hoppy Hefe - good recipe can be found here http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/62533-mad-brewers-hoppy-hefe/page-7#entry932002

Its definitely good stuff.


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## technobabble66 (3/11/15)

mofox1 said:


> Have you tried the Stone & Wood Pacific Ale? Fookin delicious to my barbarian palate.
> 
> Something like 60/40 Pilsner/wheat or maybe 65/35, with perhaps a touch of medium crystal...
> :icon_drool2:


fWIW, I believe it's 60/40 Ale malt/wheat malt. No crystal. 
I've done an attempted clone a year or so ago with a few add-ins, including some crystal. Not a great effect. Because of too many things going on its hard to know which did what, but I'd just suggest skipping the crystal unless you're fairly sure it'll do what you want in a wheat beer. 
Having said that, my latest attempt at the SWPA has 100g carapils in it, but I don't really rate that as a proper crystal (in terms of flavour impact). 

Wrt the hops, for a U.S. Style wheaty I'd throw lots in late, in fact probably just use late additions. Maybe simcoe at 20mins, then citra + galaxy (+ more simcoe maybe) at flameout, to whatever ibu's seem right (maybe ~20). 

Or use them all at 20mins and 0mins: Wheat AIPA!!


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## Spohaw (3/11/15)

Or at ten mins to make a ten minute Apia mmmmmm


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## seamad (3/11/15)

With the Pacific Ale go half raw wheat/half malted wheat.


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## btrots87 (3/11/15)

I made one with galaxy and summer hops all added from 20 min or less to about 25 IBU. Was pretty good. Fermented with cooper's yeast at about 20C.

I know you don't have any summer but maybe small amounts of citra or centennial instead?


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## mofox1 (3/11/15)

technobabble66 said:


> fWIW, I believe it's 60/40 Ale malt/wheat malt. No crystal.


Cheers 'babs.

I'm still recovering from the apparent addiction to putting crystal in everything... doing a dry stout today - no crystal in sight!


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## SBOB (3/11/15)

thanks for the tips people
At work at the moment so will try and extract the handy tips later tonight


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## Dan Pratt (3/11/15)

Tonight I'm kegging my Hopfen Weisse aka hoppy wheat beer. 

I used mangroves Bavarian at 18c which ripped through in about 3days, probably due to the 63c mash. I used Citra @60mins and 5mins to get 15ibu (12/3). I dry hopped for 3days before cold crashing today. 

Dry hops were 14g each of Citra, Amarillo and Equinox.

Don't get me started on American Wheat beers.......fkn love them!


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## SBOB (3/11/15)

Les the Weizguy said:


> Sorry, I didn't note (and neither did you) that this is an American-style wheat beer.


oversight on my behalf.. 
now we know its american, the hops fit


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## SBOB (3/11/15)

thanks again everyone for the tips

looks like I'm not lacking for hop ideas and late additions seem to be winning so will likely use up some galaxy and centennial as its been sitting in the freezer the longest





mofox1 said:


> You could use centennial for bittering (10 IBU) and then loads of late galaxy bringing the IBU up to around 25ish. Dry hop galaxy at your discretion. My last batch similar to this used 50g Cascade & 50g Galaxy as the dry hop - massive fresh citrus & passionfruit hit. :icon_drool2:


so based on that, this might be the winning combo


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## takai (3/11/15)

No-one trying for a sour?


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## Spohaw (3/11/15)

Simcoe instead of centennial IMO 

Big fan of simcoe as a bittering hop 

Mind you I avoid centennial like the plague because of that founders IPA .... Might taste good out of the tap but at my local bottleo it's rank


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## Danwood (3/11/15)

takai said:


> Anyone done a lacto sour mash on the same? Im considering doing one with Lacto. P. to pH3.6 in mash, 30-35IBU of the 3-Cs and WLP320





takai said:


> No-one trying for a sour?


Don't take it the wrong way, Takai, it's just that it's probably too much of a departure from the OPs post.

Maybe someone will PM you if they have advice, or have a look for some sour mash threads.

Cheers


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## takai (3/11/15)

Danwood said:


> Don't take it the wrong way, Takai, it's just that it's probably too much of a departure from the OPs post.
> 
> Maybe someone will PM you if they have advice, or have a look for some sour mash threads.
> 
> Cheers


Fair enough. Just suggesting somethign that would likely go well with the new world interpretation.


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## Danscraftbeer (3/11/15)

Ahh the sound of future brew concoctions. B)


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## SBOB (3/11/15)

takai said:


> Fair enough. Just suggesting somethign that would likely go well with the new world interpretation.


I'm not adventurous enough for sour's


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## Dan Dan (3/11/15)

Les the Weizguy said:


> Sorry, I didn't note (and neither did you) that this is an American-style wheat beer.
> It was late and I did not check your link until this morning, so I assumed a hoppy wheat brewed with German yeast.
> 
> This revelation is a game-changer.I have brewed some very nice Yank wheat beers, and if beer styles are not inhibitive, you go for it. This style can certainly stand the IPA hopping treatment.
> ...



Are you referring to the Mad Brewers Hoppy Hefe? Such an awesome beer


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## Dan Dan (3/11/15)

earle said:


> The James Squires one mentioned above was the Mad Brewers Hoppy Hefe - good recipe can be found here http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/62533-mad-brewers-hoppy-hefe/page-7#entry932002
> 
> Its definitely good stuff.




Oh boy oh boy oh boy!!


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## earle (4/11/15)

Dan Dan said:


> Oh boy oh boy oh boy!!


I put my version of this in this years SE Qld Xmas in July case swap. Good stuff http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/87077-se-qld-xmas-in-july-2015-tasting-thread/page-2#entry1298807


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## Samuel Adams (5/11/15)

Spohaw said:


> Simcoe instead of centennial IMO
> 
> Big fan of simcoe as a bittering hop
> 
> Mind you I avoid centennial like the plague because of that founders IPA .... Might taste good out of the tap but at my local bottleo it's rank


I love centennial and was pretty disappointed with the Founders IPA but I put it down to the bittering.
IMO centennial is a brilliant flavour / aroma hop but a bad bittering hop.


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## Spohaw (5/11/15)

Sounds like galaxy , not much chop as a bittering hop but flavour/aroma it's great 

I'll grab a 50gm pack of it to give it a chance


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## SBOB (5/11/15)

Spohaw said:


> Simcoe instead of centennial IMO
> 
> Big fan of simcoe as a bittering hop


Noted. Thanks for the tip


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## Weizguy (5/11/15)

Dan Dan said:


> Are you referring to the Mad Brewers Hoppy Hefe? Such an awesome beer


Not at all. I was a ltd release from Squire's, called Colonial Wheat Beer
Linky


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