first wheat beer

[lindseyyy]

Gents,

I plan on doing a wheat beer tonight. Below is a list of ingredients i plan to use. I'd like some advise as to whether this will be OK or not. As its my first attempt at a wheat beer i am intentionally trying to keep it relatively simple. Any advice will be appreciated.

1x 1.7kg tin of Thomas Coopers wheat beer + packet yeast
1x 1kg of light dry malt
1/2kg brew enhancer 1
1/4kg honey
1x packet of 3724 Belgian Saison liquid yeast

Im looking forwards to your thoughts whether good or bad id like some feedback before i stuff this up.

Cheers and beers,

Lindsey.

 

[brianbrewed]

I would use a Wheat Beer Yeast instead of the Belgian Yeast.
As far as I know one of the main things that gives wheat beer its taste and cloudly look is the yeast.

 

[lindseyyy]

i was recommended this yeast by my LHBS

 

[brianbrewed]

I'd imagine using a Belgian Yeast would bring it closer to a Belgian style beer than a German Wheat Beer.
I haven't done a wheat beer yet but I'm planning on doing the Cooper's Recipe of the month;

http://www.coopers.com.au/#/diy-beer/beer-recipes/recipe-of-the-month/

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Its going to be a bit dry and spicy with that yeast but you could make it work, keep the temp down to the lower range point.
I would piss the honey right off , usually just dont work unless you know your honey and have experience using it.
Nev

 

[lindseyyy]

thanks,

would a little treacle be worth adding? say 100g to add the extra sweetness instead of the honey?

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

thanks,

would a little treacle be worth adding? say 100g to add the extra sweetness instead of the honey?

No either of those are not good. treacle the worse of the two.
Leave them out and it will work ok, like I said with that yeast it will be a bit dry and spicy, next time use a wheat beer specific yeast that produces the typical banana and clove like Mangrove Jacks M20 or the like.
Hope it works for you.
Nev

 

[peas_and_corn]

Consider using a can of liquid wheat malt instead of the dry malt extract. It will bring forwards the wheat flavours more.

 

[JasonP]

I would use a Wheat Beer Yeast instead of the Belgian Yeast.
As far as I know one of the main things that gives wheat beer its taste and cloudly look is the yeast.

The wheat gives it the cloudy appearance rather than yeast

 

[mckenry]

The wheat gives it the cloudy appearance rather than yeast

No. It's the yeast. You can make crystal clear wheat beers with other yeasts. A true wheat yeast will have some yeast remain in solution which clouds the appearance.

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

I can't comment on the extract components, but if you want a Hefeweizen you have the wrong yeast.

If you want a wheat heavy Belgian, go nuts.

 

[Dan Pratt]

if you use that Saison yeast that is the character of the beer you will be getting, keep that for your next batch of saison.

Use either M20 or WB06, direct pitch at 17c and let it raise up to 20c for the fermentation ( if you can control the temp ) if you cant then keep it under 20c.

 

[JasonP]

No. It's the yeast. You can make crystal clear wheat beers with other yeasts. A true wheat yeast will have some yeast remain in solution which clouds the appearance.

Krystal weizens are filtered to make clear. Proteins in wheat make them hazy.

 

[indica86]

I made a pale that was half wheat and it was not any more cloudy than all my other beers.
I made a wheat with wheat yeast and it was hazy as fook.

 

[Weizguy]

Krystal weizens are filtered to make clear. Proteins in wheat make them hazy.

It's actually the yeast that makes them cloudy, not suspended protein, but that will do a similar thing. (*Edit: but it's not the right way to achieve the effect - that why it's called hefewiezen. Hefe = yeast)

The object is to disturb the yeast in the bottom third, after pouring the top third into the weizen glass.

As for the recipe, a German-style wheat yeast will produce a proper German-style wheat ale. Similarly, if you want an American wheat beer, use an American ale, and so on for Belgian sytle wheat beer.

Not sure if the lhbs gave you what was available in stock or if they thought that the Saison yeast would be better at warmer temp, but the flavours will not be right.
Same for the other ingredients. Honey - no. Treacle - definitely no. The other bits - pretty much OK, but remember that the extract tins are designed to be used with sugar to reduce the overall body of the dextrinous wort in the can.

You will still make a (drinkable) beer, and then should seek further advice based on the flavours you acheive.

I experimented with worse ingredients in my earlier brew days, and learned a few lessons. Best tip that I can come up with is to never use a Eucalyptus honey in a beer, even a hoppy APA, but orange blossom honey goes well in a Witbier.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Definatly would not use treacle/molasis in a wheat beer.....wrong on all levels.

Leave them to Porters/Stouts/Schwartz beers..

 

[peas_and_corn]

It's actually the yeast that makes them cloudy, not suspended protein, but that will do a similar thing. (*Edit: but it's not the right way to achieve the effect - that why it's called hefewiezen. Hefe = yeast)

The object is to disturb the yeast in the bottom third, after pouring the top third into the weizen glass.

As for the recipe, a German-style wheat yeast will produce a proper German-style wheat ale. Similarly, if you want an American wheat beer, use an American ale, and so on for Belgian sytle wheat beer.

Not sure if the lhbs gave you what was available in stock or if they thought that the Saison yeast would be better at warmer temp, but the flavours will not be right.
Same for the other ingredients. Honey - no. Treacle - definitely no. The other bits - pretty much OK, but remember that the extract tins are designed to be used with sugar to reduce the overall body of the dextrinous wort in the can.

You will still make a (drinkable) beer, and then should seek further advice based on the flavours you acheive.

I experimented with worse ingredients in my earlier brew days, and learned a few lessons. Best tip that I can come up with is to never use a Eucalyptus honey in a beer, even a hoppy APA, but orange blossom honey goes well in a Witbier.

This.

Also I draw a distinction in how yeast cloudiness looks like compared to haze, they do look subtly different

 

[donmateo]

If you want to keep it simple, and perhaps you plan on doing further similar brews - I'd suggest leaving out the honey and packet yeast. This will simplify your base ingredients and allow you to more easily understand which of your ingredients are contributing to the flavours in your beer.