Young Beers

[lucas]

I've heard that wheat beers taste better than most when they are still young, compared to others that need months of conditioning. having just started brewing the im having trouble with the "months of conditioning" part since i dont have much of a stockpile yet. so is it true about the wheat beers? I'm not sure I've ever had a wheat beer, what are some comercial ones so i can check i dont hate the stuff before i make litres of it? any other beers that still taste good young?

 

[sluggerdog]

My favourite wheat slugger is Weihenstephaner Hefe. Any of Paulaner, Franzikaner, Schneider arent too bad as well. Even the Australian Redback isnt too bad and its easy to find.

[post="44751"][/post]​

<THREAD HYJACK>
I have never tried a wheat beer and am interested. Does anyone know of a good commercial wheat beer I should try to get the idea?
Cheers
</END THREAD HYJACK>



Sorry JFF

There are three broad categories of wheat beer, with quite different tastes: German Weissbiers, Low Countries (mostly Belgian) Wits, and Berliner Weisse.

Any of the above mentioned German wheat beers are pretty good (at least in Hefewiessen mode), especially Schneider. Schofferhofer Hefeweizen is also pretty good, and rather more affordable.

Hoogaarden seems to be the only low-countries wit widely available, and its a pretty good benchmark. If you have access to a speciallity shop you should also try Witte Raaf and Korenwolf.

I don't know any Berliner Weisse available here, but its somewhat of a specialist taste (I can't stand it) being low in alcholol and very sour.

[post="44799"][/post]​

FROM When I asked what a commercial wheat beer was last year...

 

[Stuster]

If you want a quick easy drinker you could try an English bitter, something not too strong, maybe round the 1040 mark. Drink it fresh. IMO an APA can be ready quite soon too, as long as it's not too wildly hoppy, or if you like a real hop hit.

 

[PostModern]

Milds are also pretty good with just a few weeks in the bottle (or days in a keg), so long as you use the right yeast. Preferably pick a yeast with high flocculation like WLP002 or 007 or Wyeast 1968.

 

[bagnol]

I keg my wit (comm. eg. - Hoegaarden) straight from primary, carbonate it and it's ready to go. Brewing it one Saturday, drinking it the next. :chug:

Cheers
Bagnol

 

[Weizguy]

Yeah,

APA can be consumed young, as has been mentioned. Also, English bitter or pales, Aussie pale, and mmmmm Wheat beer.

Another nice Witbier is Brugs Tarwebier, which I can get locally.

If you need some beer to drink young, I'd recommend Weizen (German wheat-style). I've made a weizen that was a 10-day wonder, from boiled wort to bladder in 10 days.

...or if U need some stock to get U through until your better beers mature, it's easy enough to make a Coopers Kit beer in the meantime. They're drinakable, not too taxing, and mature quickly while you're waiting for your Belgian ales and big IPAs to mature.

You can always make an extract Arrogant ******* clone with heaps of Chinook and, as they say at Stone Brewing, "drink it young to test your mettle". I did! :beerbang:

Seth out

 

[mje1980]

I agree with the bitter and pale ale suggestions. I always used to give them a secondary, but, now, when they are done, which can be between 7-14 days, i just keg em, gas em, then start drinkin!. Yum yum yum taste great!

 

[lucas]

I've just had my tasted my first wheat brew, basically a kit of blackrock whispering wheat, 1 kg of dried wheat extract and 15g of steeped (i think thats the term) orange zest. fermented for a week, bottled for a week, tastes very similar to a lot of the wheat beers i tasted today at purvis wines "beer fest" (which was a very good day for trying new beer if i do say so my self.... 20 tastes for $10, cant go wrong) . definitely an easy to brew at home style of beer