Wheat Beer Recipe

[beerbog]

Hi guys, I want to put down a simple wheat beer, here's the ingredients:

Wheatbier

Selected Style and BJCP Guidelines
15A-German Wheat/Rye Beer-Weizen/Weissbier

Minimum OG: 1.044 SG Maximum OG: 1.052 SG
Minimum FG: 1.010 SG Maximum FG: 1.014 SG
Minimum IBU: 8 IBU Maximum IBU: 15 IBU
Minimum Color: 4.1 EBC Maximum Color: 20.0 EBC


Recipe Overview
Wort Volume Before Boil: 5.00 l Wort Volume After Boil: 4.50 l
Volume Transferred: 4.50 l Water Added To Fermenter: 16.50 l
Volume At Pitching: 21.00 l Volume Of Finished Beer: 21.00 l
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.000 SG Expected OG: 1.050 SG
Expected FG: 1.009 SG Apparent Attenuation: 82.0 %
Expected ABV: 5.5 % Expected ABW: 4.3 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 15.1 IBU Expected Color (using Morey): 10.2 EBC
BU:GU ratio: 0.30 Approx Color:
Mash Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Duration: 45.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 20 degC


Fermentables
Ingredient Amount % MCU When
Extract - Light Liquid Malt Extract 0.500 kg 15.2 % 0.7 Start Of Boil
Extract - Wheat Liquid Malt Extract 1.500 kg 45.5 % 2.7 End Of Boil
Extract - Light Liquid Malt Extract 1.000 kg 30.3 % 1.4 End Of Boil
Sugar - Corn Sugar/Dextrose (Dry) 0.300 kg 9.1 % 0.0 End Of Boil


Hops
Variety Alpha Amount IBU Form When
German Hallertauer Hersbrucker 4.6 % 25 g 15.1 Loose Pellet Hops 45 Min From End


Other Ingredients
Ingredient Amount When


Yeast
DCL WB-06 Safbrew


Water Profile
Target Profile: No Water Profile Chosen
Mash pH: 5.2
pH Adjusted with: Unadjusted

Total Calcium (ppm): 0 Total Magnesium (ppm): 0
Total Sodium (ppm): 0 Total Sulfate (ppm): 0
Total Chloride(ppm): 0 Total Bicarbonate (ppm): 0


Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Extract
Schedule Name: No Chosen Schedule

Step Type Temperature Duration


Recipe Notes

What I really want to know is, is the qty and ratio of the malts, light and wheat ok, and what should be put into the boil, the light or wheat. It is an extract version and as I'm new to extract brews, would like some advice please. Thanks.

 

[manticle]

If you're looking at a traditional heferweizen then you need at least 50% wheat malt. Most wheat extracts are only 50/50 wheat/barley anyway from memory so you're way down on the wheat in that regard. However, unless you're a stickler for tradition, I don't think it matters too much. You could easily make all the extracts wheat if you wanted or just go with what you have.

The thing that will give you a traditional hefeweizen taste is predominantly the yeast. I'm assuming hefe is what you're chasing due to the low IBU. I've not used the safbrew yeast but it is supposedly a genuine German wheat yeast so all things being equal. I think you're probably heading in the right direction.

 

[beerbog]

If you're looking at a traditional heferweizen then you need at least 50% wheat malt. Most wheat extracts are only 50/50 wheat/barley anyway from memory so you're way down on the wheat in that regard. However, unless you're a stickler for tradition, I don't think it matters too much. You could easily make all the extracts wheat if you wanted or just go with what you have.

The thing that will give you a traditional hefeweizen taste is predominantly the yeast. I'm assuming hefe is what you're chasing due to the low IBU. I've not used the safbrew yeast but it is supposedly a genuine German wheat yeast so all things being equal. I think you're probably heading in the right direction.

Thanks Manticle, I am after a heffeweizen type beer, you said I'm way down on the wheat malt. I'm using 1.5kg of wheat malt and 1.5kg of light malt. Are you saying that of the wheat malt only 50% is wheat and the other 50% barley?

Also what would be better to do the boil with, the wheat, light or does it really matter.

Thanks again.

 

[manticle]

******* computer just ate my carefully typed response.

Basically most wheat extracts (not certain about your yours as I don't know what it is) are a combination of wheat and barley malt.

Whether you use wheat or LDME in the boil is irrelevant. What is relevant is gravity. Hop utilisation suffers much above 1050 and supposedly in low gravities can tend towards harshness. 1040-1050 is usually recommended, particularly for extracts where you have control over that for the boil. Making an AG tripel that has a 1040 wort is a bit more problematic.

Having never tried to extract bittering acids from hops in plain water, I can't swear the above is true but it seems commonly accepted. You definitely need more hops for higher gravity though and hops ain't cheap.

German hefe can be anything up to 70:30 % wheat: barley (and probably more - no reason beyond what is generally done to make rules) but as mentioned the yeast and yeast treatment are the most important factors in a hefe - it will give you the phenolics and esters typical of beers like schoferhoffer or weistephaner as well as the cloudiness. I think what you have is fine, particularly for an extract wheat attempt. If you start playing around with base malts you can look at decoctions and all sorts of shenaigans but for now - low bittering and right yeast choice are the keys to a decent extract hefe.

I prefer to ferment low (17) but some people try and push banana esters by going a bit higher (eg 22)

 

[beerbog]

******* computer just ate my carefully typed response.

Basically most wheat extracts (not certain about your yours as I don't know what it is) are a combination of wheat and barley malt.

Whether you use wheat or LDME in the boil is irrelevant. What is relevant is gravity. Hop utilisation suffers much above 1050 and supposedly in low gravities can tend towards harshness. 1040-1050 is usually recommended, particularly for extracts where you have control over that for the boil. Making an AG tripel that has a 1040 wort is a bit more problematic.

Having never tried to extract bittering acids from hops in plain water, I can't swear the above is true but it seems commonly accepted. You definitely need more hops for higher gravity though and hops ain't cheap.

German hefe can be anything up to 70:30 % wheat: barley (and probably more - no reason beyond what is generally done to make rules) but as mentioned the yeast and yeast treatment are the most important factors in a hefe - it will give you the phenolics and esters typical of beers like schoferhoffer or weistephaner as well as the cloudiness. I think what you have is fine, particularly for an extract wheat attempt. If you start playing around with base malts you can look at decoctions and all sorts of shenaigans but for now - low bittering and right yeast choice are the keys to a decent extract hefe.

I prefer to ferment low (17) but some people try and push banana esters by going a bit higher (eg 22)

Sounds good, I usually do a boil of 500g to 5l water which I'm told gives the right SG for hop additions.

 

[warra48]

I'd swap one of your Light Liquid Malt extracts for another Wheat Liquid Malt Extract.
That should give you a better balance of wheat v. barley in the mix.

To get the esters into a wheat beer, I believe it's a misconception that higher temperatures push the banana esters. If you read enough posts, you'll see plenty of brewers end up with clove etc, rather than banana, in spite of brewing at 20C plus.

Also, many will say you need to stress the yeast to get the right esters. I think that's correct, but most seem to do it by not pitching sufficient yeast. In my view, that doesn't work. The way to do it is to use a proper amount of yeast, proof it (seeing as you're planning to use a dry yeast WB-06), and pitch it into your wort without aerating your batch.

If using liquid yeast such as WY3068, you'd do it by making a starter, and pitching the starter at high kraeusen into a batch without aeration. I ferment at 17.5C all the way.

Good luck. I love hefeweizens, they're a great beer, relatively easy to brew, you can get into them very quickly after bottling/kegging, and they're great and refreshing to drink. I'm having one now as I type.

Some of what I've said in this post may not agree with what many others will post, but it's my view, and it works for me.

Edit: spelling

 

[Nick JD]

Wheat beers are the Altzeimers of homebrewing, they get worse as they get older.

Everything else gets better.

WB06 seems to suffer from this even more. Your only solution is to drink like a fish. When fresh it's like eating a banana while chewing gum. Two weeks later and it's like sniffing a banana skin while chewing some gum from off the footpath.

I got some natural fruit extract from one of our esteemed sponsors. When my wheaties get incontinent and generally fuddled I add some fruitiness and ZING - we're back on track!