AG Hoegaarden Clone

[Topher]

Im so brewing this! A good fresh belgiun wheat is almost as good as a fresh good Bavarian wheat!

 

[RelaxedBrewer]

I can recommend adding a Beta-Gluecanase rest at 40C to stop the unmated wheat and oat making glue. I found I can just use flour for the wheat when adding this rest.

Love a good Wit beer and so does the misses, so it is a regular at my house.

 

[Topher]

Ok. Last time i tried a low temp rest with a weizen I made some crap that caked the element in my urn. It was .5cm thick and black and the burnt taste ruined the beer.
I now only mash in at higher temps. Any solition?

 

[Brewman_]

Hi Topher,
If your brewing in an urn with exposed element, a couple of things you could try..

A stainless strainer bowl that fits over the element. Or if you use a bag partially elevate the bag.

This is the beer I want to do for Bitter and Twisted, well the second one after the hop hog clone.

 

[beercus]

I made a clone back in Nov last year. I posted it here then (see page 1)

It was not great at the start. I have just recently chilled a couple of bottles and it has aged magnificently. A year in the bottle and now it is smooth with just enough spice, great carb and perfect head....

I'm glad now i chucked it in the cupboard and forgot about it, as this will go down very well in the hot weather and the Missus is a fan too.

"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet."

Beercus

 

[seamad]

Ok. Last time i tried a low temp rest with a weizen I made some crap that caked the element in my urn. It was .5cm thick and black and the burnt taste ruined the beer.
I now only mash in at higher temps. Any solition?

When I BIABed in a crown concealed element urn I made a long handled scrubbing brush, before starting the boil depower and give the element a good scrub to remove the soft stuff before it burns on, may pay to repeat just when you get to the boil. Made a wit on Monday, have left my RIMS tube to soak in PBW as element has a lot of black on it, just checked it this morning and 80% fallen off, just recharged it to finish off.
You'll get lower eff with raw wheat as well, I've found running the wheat through the mill 3X helps, plus doughing in @ 40 and ramping up to sacc temp over an hour helps.

 

[seehuusen]

Mhb, i totally agree with the over complication done by many a home brewer and especially the addition of too much of everything.

Im a massive fan of Hoegaarden, since before i got into hoppy craft beers, this has held the number 1 spot of beers for me for a long long time. Trust me, the recipe will be thoroughly scrutinized

I like your simplified recipe, probably closer to what would be done on a commercial scale.
The chamomile addition I've read about as traditional on multiple occasions and is only there to create that little extra, which you can't put your finger on, but adds another dimension (note its a very small addition). Im happy to hear that you dont add any.

Looking at your recipe, Im glad i choose to do a stepped mash for this one, it did seem necessary for the amount of adjuncts FYI, my colour and haze is spot on.

Cheers,
Martin

 

[MHB]

The book "Brew Classic European Beers at Home" is co-authored by Graham Wheeler and Rodger Protz, both of then are well enough known in the industry to get very good access to breweries - and good quality information from the brewers to.
I find the recipes reliable and very close to the original, given that they were written when the list of ingredients available to home brewers was a bit scant, so sometimes a bit of juggling is in order.
Most commercial beers (outside the US anyway) tend to be very simple, the classic being Budejovice (the real Budweiser) 1 malt 1 hop 1 hop addition and a shed load of good brewing. I aspire to being able to brew that well!
Mark

 

[seamad]

Was going to top crop the first batch I pitched on Friday with Forbidden Fruit. After 24 hours had a nice krausen, thought I'd leave it another 24 hours...went down this morning and nothing on top, checked gravity and it's down from 1050 to 1014, bloody Belgian yeasts.

 

[pist]

Mhb, i totally agree with the over complication done by many a home brewer and especially the addition of too much of everything.

Im a massive fan of Hoegaarden, since before i got into hoppy craft beers, this has held the number 1 spot of beers for me for a long long time. Trust me, the recipe will be thoroughly scrutinized

I like your simplified recipe, probably closer to what would be done on a commercial scale.
The chamomile addition I've read about as traditional on multiple occasions and is only there to create that little extra, which you can't put your finger on, but adds another dimension (note its a very small addition). Im happy to hear that you dont add any.

Looking at your recipe, Im glad i choose to do a stepped mash for this one, it did seem necessary for the amount of adjuncts FYI, my colour and haze is spot on.

Cheers,
Martin

The step mashing is non negotiable. First and last one i did, i did a single step infusion mash, mostly out of laziness. Turned out horrible. Hardly any body, tasted watery. Next time ill be step mashing

 

[seehuusen]

I figured the same from the ingredients, that's why I did the step mash. Thanks for confirming that :beerbang:

The step mashing is non negotiable. First and last one i did, i did a single step infusion mash, mostly out of laziness. Turned out horrible. Hardly any body, tasted watery. Next time ill be step mashing

The wort has dropped 20 points already, and is tasting amazing IMO.
You know, when you drink the entire gravity sample and go, yum h34r:

 

[MHB]

And people laugh at me for using a 250mL measuring cylinder, it has to be that big to hold the thermometer and the hydrometer ... right?

 

[pajs]

Made one of these last night. Good smells this morning when pitching the yeast, but it so wanted to stick and burn in the pot as I ramped up for the step mashing. First time I've had to scrub out my BIAB pot before the start of the boil. My first Belgian wheat beer, so keen to see how it turns out.

 

[Doctormcbrewdle]

I'm curious, has anyone tried a 'wheat' beer with plain pilsner base malt, wit yeast and same ibu? I'm strongly considering trying this for my next batch instead of the wheat additions but everything else to tradition. I searched around for answers but couldn't find a definite to what wheat malt really tastes like and if it differs that much from pale barley malt.

I've made one belgian before which was a pre packaged kit which used 70% wheat malt and 30% pale. It's actually the only ag batch I've tipped before it tasted so weak. Like water almost. Is this the wheat? Seems far too much concentration looking around at other recipes

 

[Matplat]

An all barley grist with a weizen yeast is called a Dampfbier.... have a google of that.

 

[breakbeer]

This recipe is delicious, I make it often & have a keg of it right now.
I've also done it with WLP300 Hefeweizen yeast

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/beer-recipe-of-the-week-hoegaarden-white/

 

[Doctormcbrewdle]

You've twisted my arm. I'm a lover of fine Hoegaarden and won't spend time and effort on a halfass brew. Thing is, I don't have flaked wheat and can't get it for under $28 freight for 1kg.. I see a local organic shop has raw wheat though, can I mill and mash that instead!?

 

[breakbeer]

You've twisted my arm. I'm a lover of fine Hoegaarden and won't spend time and effort on a halfass brew. Thing is, I don't have flaked wheat and can't get it for under $28 freight for 1kg.. I see a local organic shop has raw wheat though, can I mill and mash that instead!?

To be honest, I just used what I had in hand which was Wheat Malt

I used Target (FWH) instead of Nugget, added .25kg of acidulated malt & this for the dried orange peel..

 

[Doctormcbrewdle]

Thanks for sharing man.

I ended up buying the raw wheat grain and have done a little reading. People say they either cereal mash (no thanks) step mash (mmmm. Pass) or just add it to a standard mash with at least 50% malted barley which apparently provides ability to convert the wheat and most get great conversion

Come to think about it more though, think I'll do the step mash, just in case. It's only another hour in the tun