Wheat Beer - anyone made one? I'm going to try.

[ChrisG]

I have all my ingredients together to make a Wheat beer on Friday but wanted to run it past the forum first.

I'm only making a 2 gallon batch as I'm unsure how this will turn out.

Here what I'm suggesting

Birch Tree - Wheat Beer
Style: Witbier Brewer: Chris Graham
Batch Size: 10.00 L Assistant Brewer:
Boil Volume: 14 L Boil Time: 60 min


Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
1.50 kg Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 75.0 %
0.50 kg Munich Malt (4.0 SRM) Grain 25.0 %
4.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [8.30%] (60 min) Hops 8.4 IBU
10.00 gm Saaz [2.20%] (60 min) Hops 5.6 IBU
7.00 gm Saaz [2.20%] (5 min) Hops 0.8 IBU
11.00 gm Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
11.00 gm Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
Danstar Munich Yeast

Going to mash at 67 degrees for 2 hours.

How long should I mature this in the bottle for? I have read it doesn't keep very well so I was thinking may be only 1-2 weeks maturing.

[mysterio]

Your recipe is a little odd, typically flaked wheat won't go above 50% of the grist because it's difficult to lauter. Munich malt is not very typical of pale white beers either, I would go half and half with lager malt.

It keeps fine, but it will be more than drinkable after a couple of weeks in the bottle

[ChrisG]

Your recipe is a little odd, typically flaked wheat won't go above 50% of the grist because it's difficult to lauter. Munich malt is not very typical of pale white beers either, I would go half and half with lager malt.

It keeps fine, but it will be more than drinkable after a couple of weeks in the bottle

Thanks for the reply, I'm going to stick with what I have just now as I dont have any lager malt....may be just substatute the Munich for Pale malt.



But thanks for the comment.

[ChrisG]

Okay going for this now

1.00 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 50.0 %
1.00 kg Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 50.0 %
4.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [8.30%] (60 min) Hops 8.4 IBU
10.00 gm Saaz [2.20%] (60 min) Hops 5.6 IBU
7.00 gm Saaz [2.20%] (5 min) Hops 0.8 IBU
11.00 gm Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
11.00 gm Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min) Misc

Danstar Munich Yeast

[Fuse]

should be good, as youve changed the malt levels around a bit i think the 50/50 approach is better. I was thinking about doing a wheat beer recently and have been reading about - was going to do half pale (maybe 500g for munich swaped out)/wheat malt - and have read that people get terrible efficiencies of about 50-60%.

Were you not tempted to use Hersbrucker halletau as your main hop to keep it more in the bavarian style? although your IBUs look spot on for wheat beer teritory i.e. <15

[TC2642]

I would go for a step mash schedule otherwise you're going to get an awful efficiency. Done a couple of wheat beers and I will usually start off at 55oC for half an hour, bring it up to 60oC for another half an hour and then 68-72oC for a final half an hour.

[pantsmachine]

I have done a fair few wheat beers and use about 25% wheat malt to 75% pale malt/others, usually throw in a bit of vienna malt for colouring as well(about a 1/2kg in a 5 gallon batch). The most important choice for you is your yeast. I am assuming you are trying to make a cloudy Weissen beer and in the Belgian style since you are using orange peel and corriander as opposed to the german style?

I ask as i used a dry wheat beer style yeast a couple of times and its no comparison to the WL liquid yeasts for Weissens. Don't get me wrong i'm not a liquid yeast snob and will happily use dry yeast in other brews, just not in Weissens where yeast profile is a huge part of it. If nothing else it will worth a look to see what else is out there in choices for you.

For example, the following recipe was my last effort and it was so addictive i had to hide the last of the bottles from myself, my wife and my mates!

Batch Size: 5.50 gal
OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 3.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 34.3 IBU
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 kg Pilsner (2 Row) UK (1.0 SRM) Grain 54.55 %
1.00 kg Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 18.18 %
1.00 kg Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 18.18 %
0.50 kg Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM) Grain 9.09 %
1.00 oz Northdown [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops 24.9 IBU
0.50 oz Northdown [8.50 %] (10 min) Hops 4.5 IBU
1.00 oz Northdown [8.50 %] (5 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
1 Pkgs Abbey Ale (White Labs #WLP530) Yeast-Ale

Anyway, good luck and look forward to reading about how it turns out for you.

[O'Henry]

Recently I tried a one gallon batch of German style wheat (with some changes) and it went quite well.

500g Wheat malt
500g Pilsner malt
1 litre apple juice
Safbrew WB-06
5g Hallertau (9%) 60mins

I know the juice is strange but it did taste quite good. Was best fresh, perhaps a week after it was bottled. I agree with TC for step mashing. I got quite a good efficiency having a break at 55C for 20-25mins and then up to 66C and then to 70C. Highly recommended.
Hope this helps.

[ChrisG]

Made it last night and it went quite well.

Changed the Goldings for Cascade to give a better flavour.

No stuck mashes, just a slower run off but that was fine. Had 14L to boil and after 40mins it was under 10L so decided to chuck in that last few ingredients.

Fermenting just now with a big yeast head 7 hours later

Not sure how this will turn out, but glad I tried something a bit different.

Final recipe was:

1.20 kg Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 51.1 %
0.70 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 29.8 %
0.45 kg Munich Malt (4.0 SRM) Grain 19.1 %
5.00 gm Cascade [7.60%] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 10.0 IBU
10.00 gm Saaz [2.20%] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 5.8 IBU
7.00 gm Saaz [2.20%] (5 min) Hops 0.7 IBU
11.00 gm Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
11.00 gm Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min)
Danstar Munich Yeast

[leigh1919]

some good advice here - timely, too, i'm planning a wheat. Was going to go with a different hop to saaz though - any sugeestions of what would go well but also a little different?

[mysterio]

I haven't found much or any benefit from step mashing a wheat malt mash, infact I got poor head retention the time I did it. However flaked wheat is totally different, a step mash is definately recommended, I would only hold it for 10 minutes though. I've held it for half an hour before and the beer became extremely dry and well attenuated. DON'T get hung up on the fine details though, these are really quite easy beers to brew.

Leigh, styrian goldings are pretty good in a wheat, get a bit of a citrussy note in there. Liberty is good too.

[Subsonic]

I second Mysterio (whose recipe I now use). Wheat beers are actually very forgiving and I find my efficiencies are now up there with my bitters. I think the key to this was a slow sparge which you often get anyway due to the mash. I allow a bit more time for my wheat beers on brewday. They use less hops and you can have a cloudy or non cloudy version. I have some kegged now that come out like a fantastic clear lager with streams of fizzy bubbles and a lovely creamy head, and that one is after just 1 month in the keg. Fantastic for the summer and since they don't need lagering they are ready quickly. Definitely worth a go, they are my stock 'lager' beer now. In fact a lot of people who drink mine don't even realise they are wheat beers! Subsonic.

[TC2642]

I haven't found much or any benefit from step mashing a wheat malt mash, infact I got poor head retention the time I did it. However flaked wheat is totally different, a step mash is definately recommended, I would only hold it for 10 minutes though. I've held it for half an hour before and the beer became extremely dry and well attenuated. DON'T get hung up on the fine details though, these are really quite easy beers to brew.

Leigh, styrian goldings are pretty good in a wheat, get a bit of a citrussy note in there. Liberty is good too.

I've always had a problem with efficiency when I've done it normally. My head retention has been good with a step mash. I do prefer a drier wheat beer though, less of a sticky taste IMHO, but that's a personal preference.

[drmick]

it must be the season for it, I ordered my ingredients for a wheat beer at the beginning of the week, all arrived today so going to have am enjoyable sunday getting it in the FV. Recipe I'm following is adm's with a few changes - see the recipe boards.

Just reading this thread and lots of talk of stepped mashing - I understand you start at a low temp for a while then up the temperature throughout the mash - how do you acheive this? normally I add my mash water at one temp and leave it how do you go about increasing the temp - do you add extra hot water each time you want to raise the temp or is it not possible using a coolbox for mashing?

[pantsmachine]

I second Mysterio (whose recipe I now use). Wheat beers are actually very forgiving and I find my efficiencies are now up there with my bitters. I think the key to this was a slow sparge which you often get anyway due to the mash. I allow a bit more time for my wheat beers on brewday. They use less hops and you can have a cloudy or non cloudy version. I have some kegged now that come out like a fantastic clear lager with streams of fizzy bubbles and a lovely creamy head, and that one is after just 1 month in the keg. Fantastic for the summer and since they don't need lagering they are ready quickly. Definitely worth a go, they are my stock 'lager' beer now. In fact a lot of people who drink mine don't even realise they are wheat beers! Subsonic.

Sounds a bit like Kristalweissen, had a few of those when i was over in Germany in the Winter. Heylands brewery do a really nice one. Ended up in the mountains in a tiny wee village and the bar owner was about 70, his name was Adolph, no joke. Great old boy once he got over the surprise of a couple of jocks dropping in from nowhere on a Saturday morning at 10.30!