I Want To Brew A Wheat Beer

[Stuwort]

Hi people, this will be my second beer (plus a ginger beer). I want to make a wheat beer, as I quite like the one brewed at Occy's brewery in Abbey, WA for a session beer.

The recipe I am proposing is:

1 x TC wheat beer kit
0.8kg Wheat dry malt
0.1kg Maltodextrin
0.35 kg honey (wescobee jar)
W34/70 yeast
Dry hop with 12g Saaz hops at day three of fermentation.
Ferment at 18.0c

I have heard that the wheat beer is a good beer to drink young and thought that this would be great for Christmas and watching the cricket. Does any one have any suggestions or changes I can make to enhance this brew?

Cheers

Stuey

 

[mckenry]

Hi people, this will be my second beer (plus a ginger beer). I want to make a wheat beer, as I quite like the one brewed at Occy's brewery in Abbey, WA for a session beer.

The recipe I am proposing is:

1 x TC wheat beer kit
0.8kg Wheat dry malt
0.1kg Maltodextrin
0.35 kg honey (wescobee jar)
W34/70 yeast
Dry hop with 12g Saaz hops at day three of fermentation.
Ferment at 18.0c

I have heard that the wheat beer is a good beer to drink young and thought that this would be great for Christmas and watching the cricket. Does any one have any suggestions or changes I can make to enhance this brew?

Cheers

Stuey

Well, be aware 34/70 is a lager yeast, so you probably dont want to ferment at 18
I dont know what Occy brewery wheat is like, but there are two types essentially. German & American. German wheat is really, well, wheaty, whereas American is made from a high proportion of wheat, but gets no character from its yeast. If you want an American wheatie, sub that yeast for US-05 and brew at 18 - 20 or Get WB-06 is you want dried wheat yeast. Pasturise your honey, to be safe.

 

[Silvern]

Hi people, this will be my second beer (plus a ginger beer). I want to make a wheat beer, as I quite like the one brewed at Occy's brewery in Abbey, WA for a session beer.

The recipe I am proposing is:

1 x TC wheat beer kit
0.8kg Wheat dry malt
0.1kg Maltodextrin
0.35 kg honey (wescobee jar)
W34/70 yeast
Dry hop with 12g Saaz hops at day three of fermentation.
Ferment at 18.0c

I have heard that the wheat beer is a good beer to drink young and thought that this would be great for Christmas and watching the cricket. Does any one have any suggestions or changes I can make to enhance this brew?

Cheers

Stuey

Depends on what you are after in a wheat beer, if you're after a dryer style try the Danstar Munich yeast.

I'm putting one down tonight that should be a bit different:

1.7kg Coopers Wheat Beer
1.5 kg Coopers wheat malt
1kg Honey from our farm
two tablespoons lightly crushed coriander seeds.

Boil for 20 min, 25g of hallertau for 10min.

Dry hopping with another 25g hallertau at 3 days. Going to ferment with Danstar Munich a bit higher because of the warmer weather but will have to watch for overflow in airlock. May need to use a blowoff.

Let me know how yours goes! Wheat beers appear to be all the rage atm.

 

[verysupple]

...if you're after a dryer style try the Danstar Munich yeast.

Yup, Danstar Munich if you want it drier. If you want it more fruity (like a Weihenstephaner) go with Wyeast3068 (Don't be scared of liquid yeast like I used to be. Wyeast smack packs are so much easier than messing around with rehydration etc.)

I'd ditch the maltodextrin as you don't want too much body in a wheat anyway.

Just a warning about using honey: By all means use it if you want that character, but be aware that it will ferment very slowly due to the complex sugars so you will need to let it ferment longer.

 

[Stuwort]

I ended up going with the brewcraft wit, which includes wb06 and corriander seeds 15g. I could only find dried tangerine, so have used that instead of seville orange. One question: I would like to dry hop with saaz. Will this work in a wit? And when shoulx it be done with how much hops?

 

[6tri6ple6]

I ended up going with the brewcraft wit, which includes wb06 and corriander seeds 15g. I could only find dried tangerine, so have used that instead of seville orange. One question: I would like to dry hop with saaz. Will this work in a wit? And when shoulx it be done with how much hops?

I probably wouldnt dry hop a wit. you will lose all the delicate coriander and orange flavours. My last wit, which is on tap atm had from memory 14g of coriander as well as 50g of fresh orange zest. Not the pith tho, too bitter. Amazing flavours. A great beer.

 

[carniebrew]

I probably wouldnt dry hop a wit. you will lose all the delicate coriander and orange flavours. My last wit, which is on tap atm had from memory 14g of coriander as well as 50g of fresh orange zest. Not the pith tho, too bitter. Amazing flavours. A great beer.

+1 on that i'm afraid, no reason to dry hop a proper weizen, especially with wb-06 in it....that yeast is an absolute blinder inside the Coopers Wheat Kit (which is already hopped perfectly for the style IMO). The flavours and aroma the wb-06 will impart in your weizen should be spot on without the need for aroma hops. Especially being your first wheat...if you've never used wb-06 before you're in for a real treat. And don't be afraid to ferment a little higher than 18, even 21/22 with that yeast, it will impart more of the clove/banana flavour at higher temps.

 

[Stuwort]

I opened the ferment fridge this morning and the smells that came out were incredible. It was pitched at 21c and spent the first night at that and since then has been at 19c. There was a decent krausen for the first two days (which lifted any stray bits of coriander and peel to the very top of the krausen) and then it died down. The colour has lightened considerably from when the yeast was pitched (especially at the bottom of the FV). I failed to mention that the malt was a 55/45 wheat/barley mix and the brew should be 5.7% once bottled. Happy days. The next brew will definitely be another wheat, as yesterday I got stuck into a few Weihenstephan heffes and loved them.

Cheers

Stu

 

[gTrain]

Just a quick question. When you are adding the coriander seeds & orange zest, do you boil or steep it then add the liquid or are you adding these straight to the FV?

I am interested in putting down a wheat beer shortly & would like to get the process down right.

 

[Stuwort]

Just a quick question. When you are adding the coriander seeds & orange zest, do you boil or steep it then add the liquid or are you adding these straight to the FV?

I am interested in putting down a wheat beer shortly & would like to get the process down right.

Bring two litres of water to the boil, add 15g coriander seeds, 20g dried bitter orange/tangerine peel or 2 tablespoons of orange zest (not the pith) and 1kg dry wheat malt extract and simmer gently for 15 min. Take off the boil and add tin of goo, mixing well. I used Black Rock Whispering Wheat as that is what the Brewcraft kit contains. You have to strain the liquid as you add it to the FV as you don't want the peel or seeds in the FV.

 

[Stuwort]

Help needed. I have just come home from a few days away and the brew looks to be separating in the FV. The top half is dark like the strained wort at the start of the process and the bottom half is quite light. I have just checked the SG and it is 1012 (but still producing a small head when poured into the hydrometer tube). I want to stir these halves together, but realise that this may oxidise the brew. I have just then turned the fridge down to 2c. Am I on the right track and can any one offer any advice?

Cheers

Stu

 

[manticle]

Probably just yeast sediment and other debris dropping to the bottom.

If you are at expected final gravity, leave it at ferment temps a few more days then turn the fridge down to 2 or less (although wheat beer is one I wouldn't generally cold condition depending on what result you want).

How does it taste?

 

[Stuwort]

Probably just yeast sediment and other debris dropping to the bottom.

If you are at expected final gravity, leave it at ferment temps a few more days then turn the fridge down to 2 or less (although wheat beer is one I wouldn't generally cold condition depending on what result you want).

How does it taste?

Thanks for the reply. The beer tastes good, though with less flavour than a few days ago. Yeah, I agree, I don't want a clear wheat bear (Krystal?) so I'll turn the thermo back up and see how it goes. I had ear marked this beer as the boxing day test beer, so hopefully it still turns out.

Cheers

Stu

 

[Stuwort]

The wort brewed down to 1010 and tastes spectacular. I'm not shitting. I never thought I'd get such a good tasting wheat beer from a plastic drum in my spare fridge. Time to bottle.

 

[carniebrew]

The wort brewed down to 1010 and tastes spectacular. I'm not shitting. I never thought I'd get such a good tasting wheat beer from a plastic drum in my spare fridge. Time to bottle.

Wheat beers seem to be one of the easiest to make, especially for new brewers. I just put this partial boil/extract dunkel in the brewfridge at 11.30 last night (started the brew at 8:30pm), and at 10am this morning the airlock was happily bubbling away. It'll be fermented in 6-8 days, fully carbed in 3 or 4 days and ready to drink by xmas day.

 

[Stuwort]

The wheat beer turned out great, albeit a bit dark due to the tangerine peel. It astes great cold, but even more flavour comes through as the beer warms a bit as you drink it. It pours and forms a nice creamy head but then dies and loses carbonation quickly. Does any one have an idea of how I can sort this out on the next brew?

Cheers
Stu

 

[carniebrew]

The wheat beer turned out great, albeit a bit dark due to the tangerine peel. It astes great cold, but even more flavour comes through as the beer warms a bit as you drink it. It pours and forms a nice creamy head but then dies and loses carbonation quickly. Does any one have an idea of how I can sort this out on the next brew?

Cheers
Stu

There's nothing in your recipe to suggest you should have any issues with head retention. Perhaps your glass isn't properly clean? Glasses tend to have a lot of soap residue left on them, especially after being through a dishwasher, and soap is the eternal enemy of good head. Well, that and marriage...

Try rinsing your glass well with hot water and a clean (perhaps brand new) cloth, then do a cold water rinse and try pouring your beer again.