Wheat / Braggot

[Tanga]

Hi guys. I'm stuck in the country at the moment, but am really missing the brewing. So I managed to pick up a decent kit, but forgot the extras, so I was wanting recommendations.

Here's what I've got
Kit - Morgan's Golden Sheaf Wheat Beer (with dried ale yeast)
'Ultra Brew' - 500g light malt, 250g each malto and and dex.
A few kilograms of bluegum honey.

I wish I had just the malt, then I could make a 50/50 with that and the honey that I think would be nice. I may yet buy some and a hop teabag of some description to go with it. I was thinking Citra might be nice (based entirely on its name - I haven't tried any citra beers), I'm not really a fan of POR (too grassy for my tastes) - suggestion for hops?

Plus I can probably only use dried yeast, given that anything sent to me will take at least 2 days to get here. Suggestions? Is the Morgan's Ale yeast tasty?

 

[Tanga]

Oops - forgot to mention I can get hold of as much wheat as I want. I don't have any AG equipment, or crushers, etc, but could I try roasting the wheat and cracking it with a hammer or something?

 

[barls]

never brewed that kit, so cant comment.
i like my braggots a bit darker ie brown like airgead.
id be prepared for it to take at least 6 months to age up. i used blood wood in my last batch and its still tasting brilliant at 7 months and has since 3 months

 

[Tanga]

Hmm, Ok. I might just do the Wheat K&B and leave the honey until later in the year. I would think wheat and blue gum would be more of a summer quaffer than a winter one. I don't want it to get too old in the bottle - not to mention I don't know where my old man will store this when I go back to the city, so anything could happen to it. =)

EDIT: Nup, bugger it. I'm going to make a braggot with just the kit, a Belgian yeast (searching now), and 1kg of honey and see how it turns out. I think the flavours will be fantastic - I won't add any peel or spice to give the honey her head. Plus I can take over the olds laundry trough while they're away to keep her cool. =)

Does the alcohol content determine How long it takes to age? This one will be pretty low (lower than a yeast usually is).

 

[barls]

by a bit of rough calculations it looks like 7.5% abv with a fg of 1.004 and an og of 1.060
hops id go for something mild and neutral like a hallertau or similar
as for ageing out id say no earlier than 3 months.

 

[Tanga]

Really? My calculations show the honey should only add 2% alc/volume - less than 1kg of sugar. How much in the kit?

 

[barls]

i get a og of 1020 with just the kit and 1kg f honey being 1015 but will ferment down to 0.997 which is 2..3% as i said this was rough off my beer program which is missing dextrose and a couple other sugars.
id safely say 6.5% at least depending on how low it goes.

 

[Tanga]

Doh, I don't have my hydrometer here, but not a light quaffer then =).

Anyone know how much B-Sazz I should add?

 

[barls]

im assuming pellets and your dry hopping them.

 

[barls]

id go about 15-20g at the most.

 

[Tanga]

No, whole flowers:
http://brewadelaide.com/retail/index.php?m...products_id=120

I was thinking maybe a 5 minute boil. I want mostly flavour (not bitterness - the kit should be good for that) - but I don't like the grassyness I've tasted in dry hopped beers.

I've never added hops before, so if I can dry-hop this without grassyness, then I guess I'll do that, but I really need advice on the best way to get the citrus and aroma, but not the grass.

 

[barls]

id go 15g in 5L for about a 15 minute boil with only the dme in the boil , that should get the flavour and aroma. then combine with the kit and the rest of the ingredients.

but thats just me.

 

[Tanga]

Don't have any extract - or did you mean the goop? Will the goop work?

EDIT: Ah, I see. Sorry - meant to say I'm using the honey instead of the 'Ultra Brew'

 

[barls]

right that makes a bit of difference.
that brings it down to an abv of 5%
id do it with part of the can in that case as you dont want to boil off all the bitterness in can.

 

[Tanga]

OK, awesome.

So so far the recipe is as follows:

1.7 L can of Morgan's Wheat goop (300mL of which will be used in a hop boil)
1 kg of honey
15 g of saaz flowers

I'll boil up 300mL of the goop with 3L of water and add the saaz when it begins bubbling. I'll either boil for 15, 10, 5, or 0 minutes (advice wanted here as to the flavour differences of each, at this stage I'm leaning towards 0 minutes because I assume this will give me max aroma / flavour and minimal bitterness).

When it's cool I'll add it to the fermenter along with the honey and the rest of the goop and make up to 22L.

Sound OK?

 

[Tanga]

Oops - also is there any way I can use unmalted wheat in this (without doing a mash, obviously). Will boiling some in a grain bag add anything? I know it lacks the enzymes to turn fermentable, but I was more after that sharp wheat taste you get in wits.

EDIT: Just looked at this extract recipe. He uses raw wheat (which I'll need to find some way to crush I guess). How fine should it look? Can I use a coffee grinder?

 

[barls]

sounds good. i dont think there will be much difference in that boil time. 15 to 0 are all aroma hops with a very little flavour added.

 

[Tanga]

Still looking on some info on steeping normal wheat in this. I'm thinking crack it and steep? Yes, no? How long?

There's so much info out there, but it's mostly for the wheat you get from the brew shop - not sure what to do with wheat straight off the farm. Please Help!

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

Still looking on some info on steeping normal wheat in this. I'm thinking crack it and steep? Yes, no? How long?

There's so much info out there, but it's mostly for the wheat you get from the brew shop - not sure what to do with wheat straight off the farm. Please Help!

Hi Tanga

AFAIK you need to mash the raw wheat with some base malt in order to convert the sugars.

I've used wheat strait from my mates farm in a Wit. It was 50/50 with pilsner malt.

Cheers

MOM

 

[Tanga]

I don't care about the sugar though - it's alcoholic enough. All I want from it is that sour wheat flavour.

I think I've seen (can't seem to find it) some people use flour for the same reason, but I was thinking real wheat (since I can get it for free), home cracked, should do the job.