Wheat Beer

[Flash_DG]

Hi guys,

I would like to make something different and move in to adding my own hops.
What I want to know is a recipe like this difficult to get right or pretty straight forward as it seems?
Are there things that wheat beers need to be done differently then a barley malt beer?

Thanks

Link to Recipe

1.5 kg Briess DME- Weizen

1.5 kg Muntons DME - Light

25 g Saaz (Czech) (Pellets, 4.0 AA%, 60 mins)

500 ml Wyeast Labs 3068 - Weihenstephan Weizen

 

[thylacine]

kits url, but lists other ingredients too... http://www.geocities.com/lesjudith/WheatBe.../WheatBeer.html

style article... http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2008/11/02/b...te-beer-styles/

 

[manticle]

Extracts generally aren't a lot more complicated than kits. It just takes an hour boil and a small amount of attention.

Have some drinking quality ice on standby as part of your water to hit pitching temp quicker.

Also weighing out your hops and either labelling the container (eg bit of masking tape and texta) to say 60, 30, 15 etc or putting them in appropriate order is a big help.

As for wheat beer being different - only some of the sugar comes from malted wheat. wheat beers also contain barley malt. There are some differences when mashing wheat but that's not relevant to this recipe.

You can ferment low (17) or higher (21-22) depending on what you want from the yeast. I think the recipe suggests that.

 

[Supra-Jim]

Very straight forward recipe there Flash, should make a nice beer too!

As manticle says, extracts are pretty easy brews, and you've got a nice simple one there to cut your teeth on. Jsut follow the instructions at the bottom of the recipe and all will be well.

Cheers SJ

 

[usastman]

I brewed a wheat with Liquid extract - I was trying to replicate an Erdinger

3.70 kgWheat Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM)Extract100.0 %
9.00 gmPearle [8.00%] (90 min)Hops8.5 IBU
12.00 gmTettnang [4.50%] (90 min)Hops6.4 IBU
12.00 gmTettnang [4.50%] (45 min)Hops5.5 IBU
7.00 gmTettnang [4.50%] (15 min)Hops1.7 IBU
1 PkgsWeihenstephan Weizen (Wyeast Labs #3068)Yeast-Wheat

You will need a bigger fermenter as the 3068 has a big Krausen - if you do it in a standard 23L fermenter you will have heaps of Krausen flowing out. I bought a 30 L fermenter for mine.

 

[Flash_DG]

You will need a bigger fermenter as the 3068 has a big Krausen - if you do it in a standard 23L fermenter you will have heaps of Krausen flowing out. I bought a 30 L fermenter for mine.

This was the sort of info I was after I wouldn't have know and just wacked in my airlock.
will a blow off tube suffice?
My fermenter is one of the Coopers HBK barrels I'm guessing it is pretty close to 30L, it has markings upto 25L and still 100mm or so to the top of the rim

Thanks for all the info guys, I'm really looking forward to making this beer

 

[Supra-Jim]

You should be ok with that fermenter, but whack on a blow off tube instead of the air lock just to be safe (makes cleaning up a little easier if the krausen gets out of control).

Currently have a wheat fermenting in the Coopers barrel (22ltrs) and have a 3" krausen on it, heaps of room!

Cheers SJ

 

[Flash_DG]

Bought all the ingredients for this brew yesterday and got to boiling.
Due to the excitement of doing a different style of brewing I measured out my hops and chucked it straight in to the boil, then I thought umm maybe I shouldn't have done that :unsure:
Anyway I didn't have any way to strain it before adding the wort to the fermentor so in it all went.
Will the Hops (pellets) gravitate to the bottom and stay there or will I need to strain when racking?
When I say strain I had an idea to sterilise a piece of stocking (the toe of said stocking to make like a bag) and fit it over the end of a length of pvc tube I got for racking not sure if it is a good idea or not or if I will need to.

 

[Fourstar]

Will the Hops (pellets) gravitate to the bottom and stay there or will I need to strain when racking?

They will settle out. If you can crash chill post fermentation, even better.

 

[Flash_DG]

Update: This Beer has been in the bottle for 2 weeks now so i put on in the fridge and gave it a try.

one thing I noticed is that it is clear, I thought this style of beer was meant to be a cloudy beer? all the commercial ones I have tried have been cloudy.

 

[goomboogo]

Flash, a couple questions. Did you end up using the wyeast 3068 yeast? Did you try the filtering when bottling as mentioned in the earlier post? You will find that wheat beers can drop bright just as a beer made from barley malt will drop bright. When this happens depends on a few things including the strain of yeast. Some flocculate quicker than others.

How is the carbonation at this stage? What are your impressions of your beer? Are you happy with the outcome versus the extra time to do a 60 minute boil? If you followed the original recipe including the yeast recommendation I will guess the beer would be quite nice.

 

[Flash_DG]

Flash, a couple questions. Did you end up using the wyeast 3068 yeast? Did you try the filtering when bottling as mentioned in the earlier post? You will find that wheat beers can drop bright just as a beer made from barley malt will drop bright. When this happens depends on a few things including the strain of yeast. Some flocculate quicker than others.

How is the carbonation at this stage? What are your impressions of your beer? Are you happy with the outcome versus the extra time to do a 60 minute boil? If you followed the original recipe including the yeast recommendation I will guess the beer would be quite nice.

Yes the 3068 was used

no filtering


the carbonation level, well the bottle (PET) was very hard so my guess is it was carbed, but in the glass there was not a lot of bubbling going on.

Impression at this early stage is I hope it gets better with age.

 

[Stove]

You could always follow the Hoegaarden rules for drinking it if it has come out really clear:
Pour 3/4 of the bottle, swirl the rest around to re-suspend the yeasty bit at the bottom and pour that

 

[Flash_DG]

You could always follow the Hoegaarden rules for drinking it if it has come out really clear:
Pour 3/4 of the bottle, swirl the rest around to re-suspend the yeasty bit at the bottom and pour that

Cracked one of these open today and did just that and it tasted alot better then it did a week ago.


got 2 more in the fridge cooling down now ready for tonight :icon_drool2:

Still got a lot to learn about beer, it's amazing how much I really didn't know.

 

[Stove]

Good one.
I'd HATE to hear a Wheatbeer horror story as I am bottling one this weekend

 

[Stove]

I drank my first one tonight.
The WheatBeer I did was the Brewcraft kit (came with the Whispering Wheat kit, plus 2x Wheat DME and the coriander seed and an alternative yeast).
I boiled the kit with the zest of 2 oranges and the cracked coriander before straining it into the fermenter.
When I bottled I over-sugared it deliberately by about 20%, as apparently the style likes high carbonation.
Only bottled on Sunday and drank the first today. Seems strange, but apparently wheat beers also like to be drunk fresh.

Well hell- am *I* impressed.
I used to drink the odd Hoegaarden in my younger days back in NZ, and also another of the style - Wieckse Witte on tap.
This leaves them for dead- awesome flavours. None of the flavours are overdone either- the Orange, Coriander, Wheat and yeast all meld well.
Have to pour carefully as the head is pretty high- from the carb.
If I had to criticise (hard to do with my own beer ) I'd say its a bit dark- could be two reasons- 1) kit was a tad old, 2) boiling the malt probably caramellised it a little. It is still a light colour, but to be correct its more an amber which is too dark. Tastes divine though
Father-in-law isn't a massive fan either- means I get to drink it all

 

[Flash_DG]

Nice one Stove glad you liked your brew.

I drank a few of mine last weekend and did the whole swirl in the bottle to get all the yeast out and it has turned out a really nice beer.
A bit light on the fizz but then I only used the sugar drops.
My Cousin who only seems to drink XXXX really liked it also.

 

[fergi]

i have had a wheat beer in the keg now for 3 weeks and it really is not that pleasant to drink, it is a thomas coopers wheat beer with a brewcraft hoppgarden ?? adda pack, then i put 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder and 40 grms dried mandarin peel, both boiled in kit for 10 mins, now poured straight from the keg it has this overpowering peppery taste which doesnt allow the wheat beer flavours to come out, if i let it sit in the glass it is a bit more drinkable, but still not overly pleasant, i am not sure if more time in the keg will mellow out these overpowering flavours or if it will always be there, anyone had this in a wheat beer before,what about boiling 500 grms malt for 5 mins and tipping into the keg, maybe this will mask a bit of the pepper bite.
fergi

 

[Pennywise]

Did you peel the pith off the mandarine skin? Also, I once used coriander powder instead of ground corriander seeds and it turned out with a funny taste. I think if you plan on using powder again use a quarter of what you used as the powder stuff seems very concentrated

 

[fergi]

Did you peel the pith off the mandarine skin? Also, I once used coriander powder instead of ground corriander seeds and it turned out with a funny taste. I think if you plan on using powder again use a quarter of what you used as the powder stuff seems very concentrated

yes 79 the mandarin peel was dried in a pkt, i think you are right with the corriander , really next time i wouldnt use either, last time i made a wheat it started out just ok but as time went by it became a really nice beer, thats what prompted me to make another.
fergi