Saving A Bland Wheat Beer

[lucas]

I brewed an attempt at an AG hefe a few weeks back and about a million things went wrong during the brewing process. fermented it a bit cooler than i perhaps should have and now the resulting beer can only be described as bland. very little esters and not particularly flavoursome.

is there anything i can do at this end of the brewing process to salvage this one? drinking a keg of it isnt so appealing but it's not so bad that I want to tip it out.

I'm not particularly fussed about sticking to the style, all crazy, wild and out there ideas will be considered.

the options I've thought might help (both of which completely ignore style guidelines) were dry hopping the hell out of it with something, or adding some raspberry cordial and making it a raspberry wheat for SWMBO. any thoughts on these?

 

[Steve]

I brewed an attempt at an AG hefe a few weeks back and about a million things went wrong during the brewing process. fermented it a bit cooler than i perhaps should have and now the resulting beer can only be described as bland. very little esters and not particularly flavoursome.

is there anything i can do at this end of the brewing process to salvage this one? drinking a keg of it isnt so appealing but it's not so bad that I want to tip it out.

I'm not particularly fussed about sticking to the style, all crazy, wild and out there ideas will be considered.

the options I've thought might help (both of which completely ignore style guidelines) were dry hopping the hell out of it with something, or adding some raspberry cordial and making it a raspberry wheat for SWMBO. any thoughts on these?

Do you have one of those hop ball infuser things? If so chuck some hops in it and chuck her in the keg.

 

[mfdes]

Certainly don't add raspberry cordial, or it'll become an undrinkable, medicine-like monster!

I'd listen to Jamil's show on fruit beers and go from there. Strawberries would be good, I think. Cherries too. Beware of fake flavours in anything artificial like cordials.

MFS

 

[warrenlw63]

Consolidate I reckon. It's rare you can really do anything to make a bad beer good. Just reside yourself to drinking your mistakes.

Only other thing I'd suggest is blending it with something else.

Warren -

 

[Doogiechap]

Go the blend +1
Or give it to your Lager loving mates with a slice of lemon/ lime :lol:
How big is your storage/ dispensing setup. Kegs of less than desirable seem to hang around forever and tie up valuable dispensing resources that need to be dedicated to tasty beer. :chug:
Cheers
Doug

 

[andrewg]

Isohop extract might be one option to boost the bitterness/flavour.
If you like ginger you might try adding some Stones Green Ginger Wine to boost the flavour. I'd try this in the glass first then if you like the result add the appropriate proportion to the keg.
cheers
HStB

 

[Sammus]

I thought isohop only gave bitterness? which I never really considered a 'flavour' as such

My dunkelweizen recently got uninteresting (started off OK, just didnt finish it in time ) so I'm also thinking about what to do with it... I like Doug's suggestion

give it to your Lager loving mates with a slice of lemon/ lime

might not be quite as appropriate with a dunkelweizen tho

edit: explained something more clearly

 

[brettprevans]

maybe give Ross's liquid hop extract a go? or dry hop

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Got a similar problem with a wheat beer. Mixed it with (excuse me for saying) a VB, a Tooheys Black and an Amstadam lager to see if I could get something drinkable. Probably wrong choices but couldn't get a good enough result to be happy with. Best of luck.

 

[chovain]

I second mfdes' suggestion of doing a fruit beer. Fruit beers bases should be bland anyway, IMO. You never know, you might like it. Worst case: Your wife drinks it all. At least it won't be wasted.

 

[chovain]

Got a similar problem with a wheat beer. Mixed it with (excuse me for saying) a VB, a Tooheys Black and an Amstadam lager to see if I could get something drinkable. Probably wrong choices but couldn't get a good enough result to be happy with. Best of luck.

I hope you didn't mix them all together!

 

[Fatgodzilla]

I hope you didn't mix them all together!

One long neck ordinary Virgin Wheat beer, about half a stubby of each of the swill the other blokes were drinking. No, one mix at a time. They gave me heaps for the wheatie, I told them the mixes were wonderful !! Isn't it amazing the lies you can tell when it comes to home brew !!

 

[Screwtop]

Don't know what stage your beer is at, is it in the keg?

Options.

1. Toss in some fruit (not strawberries) raspberries of canned maraschino cherries and let if ferment out.
2. Put in a little (tiny) banana essence or flavour (try a bakery/cake shop).
3. Go with Warrens suggestion and blend with one of your other beers.

 

[lucas]

thanks for the suggestions guys. the beer is already in a keg but I do have some hop balls. i dunno about adding fruit to it in the keg but i guess i could transfer back into a fermenter.

I might try a few of the proposed additions in a glass by glass trial. I would never have though of banana essence but it could be just the thing to patch it up.

 

[Chris]

I guess you could also put some orange peel and corriander seeds into a hop ball (also a tea ball from tea shops).
Boil the full hop ball in some water for a couple of minutes and then add the water and ball.

 

[Screwtop]

I guess you could also put some orange peel and corriander seeds into a hop ball (also a tea ball from tea shops).
Boil the full hop ball in some water for a couple of minutes and then add the water and ball.

Was a wheat not a Wit

 

[Chris]

Yes Screwtop, but he was also considering using rasberry cordial, so I assumed he was not being a style nazi, like others can be.

 

[mb83]

Yes Screwtop, but he was also considering using rasberry cordial, so I assumed he was not being a style nazi, like others can be.

Buy some mango juice, put some in the glass. top up with wheat beer, and you've got Mangoweizen!

 

[PostModern]

Yes Screwtop, but he was also considering using rasberry cordial, so I assumed he was not being a style nazi, like others can be.

Weizen is/was often served with fruit flavoured syrup (or am I thinking or Weis?).

 

[Screwtop]

Weizen is/was often served with fruit flavoured syrup.

I've learned something!

Buy some mango juice, put some in the glass. top up with wheat beer, and you've got Mangoweizen!

Sounds nice

Yes Screwtop, but he was also considering using rasberry cordial, so I assumed he was not being a style nazi, like others can be.

Sorry if I upset you.