Tell me about AG wheat beers

[Mitchamitri]

Did my first ag at the weekend - as a real ale man I did a proper good pint - one which will equal or better a pub real ale. BUT now I want to do a wheat beer like Hoegaarden a) because I like them, and b) because all my mates will think "Bloody hell, he's good"......

a) Is there a recipe

b) Do they come out anything at all like the original? Or better still, any good?

[mysterio]

There's been dozens of threads on this subject, quite a few of them very recently - try a search.

You're looking at a ratio of 45/45 unmalted, flaked wheat to lager/pilsner malt. The rest of the 10% can be made up of oats, or alternatively just make it up with more wheat and pils malt. Do a short rest at 50C before raising it to 68/69C. About 20 IBUs of a noble hop, or Goldings. Late hopping is optional and should be very subtle.

WLP400 White Labs belgian white yeast is very good, so is the wyeast equivalent. T-58 is a fairly good dried substitute. 10g per gallon of fresh citrus peel, anything orange, added in the last 5 mins of the boil, and about 2g of fresh crushed coriander seed. You can add any other spice you like on top of that.

Yes it is easy to make something similar to Hoegaarden if you follow the above.

[Subsonic]

I will second Mysterio as I use his recipes for Hoegarden! Give it a go you will be very suprised. I actually use neutral yeasts because I prefer it that way. For hops I use Halletau or even Goldings. Slow sparge / runnoff can be an issue, not a problem if you have time and it does bump up efficiency. Subsonic.

[Cheshire-cheese]

Has anyone used the yeast from a weisse beer with success?

[Invalid Stout]

Look for the word "Flaschengärung" (bottle conditioning) somewhere on the label. Even then it's not necessarily the primary fermentation yeast that's in the bottle. Good luck if you do try it.

[Cheshire-cheese]

Even then it's not necessarily the primary fermentation yeast that's in the bottle.

I did wonder.

[edit1now]

I did a Hoegaarden clone here. I think the half which was fermented with S-33 has come out very like the original, while the half which had WB-06 was clovey and more Germanic. I'll have another go soon using fresh orange zest rather than the dried Curaçao peel which was a pain to grind up.

I suspect you could get away with using a very neutral yeast like Nottingham, which is cheaper