Critique my Peach-Ginger Wheat (AG)

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RoaringBrewer

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So, I want to brew something up to celebrate spring and the coming of summer. Plus the SWMBO likes sweet/fruity beers. She's pretty flexible seeing as she also drinks IPA happily, but I think she is wanting a fruit-wheat lately. So, after doing research I have decided to go the black tea route, as opposed to the whole fruit or peach puree route. Brewtopia has done this successfully and supposedly got the idea from Dogfish Head. So, one of our well respected members and one of the most popular micros in the US believe brewing with teas works. I figure I'll give it a shot also... plus its a heck of a lot easier than working with real fruit!

Here's the Beersmith for my version:

Recipe: RBBC Peach Wit Ale
Brewer: RoaringBrewer
Style: Fruit Beer
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.20 gal
Estimated OG: 1.047 SG
Estimated Color: 4.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 15.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.50 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 50.00 %
3.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 38.89 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 5.56 %
0.50 lb Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 5.56 %
1.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] (60 min)Hops 15.3 IBU
3.50 oz Sweet Ginger Peach Black Tea (Boil 3.0 min) Bulk Tea
1 Pkgs American Hefeweizen Ale (White Labs #WLP32 Yeast-Wheat)


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 9.00 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 11.25 qt of water at 163.7 F 152.0 F

NOTES: Republic of Tea brand bulk black tea (in a can - for use with tea-balls or
whatnot) or Revolution brand tea. I am using the Revolution as I can't find RoT
around here. This is still bulk tea, its just split into diffuser packets which actually
appear to be made of very small gauge stainless steel mesh?! E.g. high quality diffusers, not the normal paper type you get with Lipton. I'll either just throw
all 42 of the packets (3 boxes) into a hop bag or I'll open each one and put into
a hop bag. RoT would be easier b/c you could just dump the whole can into a hop
bag. The tea itself though is identical b/w RoT and Revolution. STEEP FOR 3-5 MINS
AT FLAME-OUT per Brewtopia suggestion (he boiled his for 60 min, thinks better results will come at flameout). I am drinking one of the teas (in water) now and it has a great peach nose, but the peach/ginger flavor is definitely mild. It should NOT overpower the brew IMO. Ferment in primary for ~10-14 days, then keg at 2.8 volumes CO2.

Anyway, particularly interested to hear your thoughts on mash temp and yeast choice if nothing else.
 
In my very humble and noob opinion, I think maybe the hefe yeast will compete with the tea. I would either rein in the fermentation temps (65-68) or use a less estery strain, like the American or the Bavarian Wyeast ones.
 
I thought about this (and it very well may be a founded opinion), but it seemed everyone else who's ever made this (only a few people) used hefe strains or even abbey strains (very estery)... I originally had planned to go with just a normal old S-05 dry yeast.

Anyway, this is why I posted, to see what the consensus is! :)

FWIW, I ferment most of my ales at 62-65F, as opposed to 68-72...

EDIT: For those who aren't aware. Here is the description from White Labs:

WLP320 American Hefeweizen Ale Yeast
This yeast is used to produce the Oregon style American Hefeweizen. Unlike WLP300, this yeast produces a very slight amount of the banana and clove notes. It produces some sulfur, but is otherwise a clean fermenting yeast, which does not flocculate well, producing a cloudy beer.
 
Ryan_PA said:
Seems like a fairly solid brew to me. I would be interested to atually try one of these.

Maybe I can bottle some up and ship you some (with other brews I have at that time). You are in PA so shipping should be cheap... Of course only brewing Saturday so it will be a couple weeks at least...

I need to build my BMBF though. I have all the parts, just been lazy!
 
When I brewed the extract version of my Ginger Peach Hefe, I brought my brew water to a boil, shut off the heat, steeped the tea for 5 minutes, removed. I then added my extract and brewed as normal. A lot of the peach character carried through to the finished beer.

When I brewed the all agrain version of the Blackberry Sage Porter which is also made with the Republic of Tea brand tea, I added the tea at flame out, steeped for 5 minutes and cooled. I felt like this method provided much more fruit aroma and flavor in the finished product.

Good luck with this and be sure and let us know how it turns out.
 
Will do... thanks for all the help brewtopia. I think I will add tea at flameout. As I noted, I tried the tea I will be using and there is some peach flavor when you smack your lips afterwards, but its nothing crazy. The aroma is great though. I think its going to work nicely...

I think I'll stick with the american hefe yeast too. A little more complexity maybe while still pretty clean if I control temps to mid-60s and I build a starter (less stressed yeast, less esters). You used a hefe yeast (weihenstephanhoweveryousepllit?) correct?

If I decide against it I have a lot of neutral dry yeasts on hand... or I have Safbrew S-33 as well. Wonder how this would work out.

EDIT: Brewtopia - also wanted to add - i found a pic of your ginger-peach wheat and it looks very, clear... I was expecting a slightly cloudy beer (not that its a big deal) due to the use of low-flocculating hefe yeasts. Did you use a different yeast on one of the batches you brewed?
 
Well - I've been out of town a few days and had no time to make a starter. I am brewing this tomorrow AM and won't be home tonight until about 10PM. Thus, no liquid yeast can be used...

I have S-05 for sure on hand, but I think I may try Safale S-33? It says its for belgian style wits or trappist ales. I always heard trappist yeasts were good candidates for fruity beers b/c they accentuate the fruitiness with the esters.

Anyone got thoughts on this? I want the beer to be more complex than say... a Magic Hat Hefeweizen (first american hefe that popped into my head) which I think is kind of bland. I think I'll get something like that with S-05, but not sure.

Thoughts?
 
RoaringBrewer said:
Well - I've been out of town a few days and had no time to make a starter. I am brewing this tomorrow AM and won't be home tonight until about 10PM. Thus, no liquid yeast can be used...

I have S-05 for sure on hand, but I think I may try Safale S-33? It says its for belgian style wits or trappist ales. I always heard trappist yeasts were good candidates for fruity beers b/c they accentuate the fruitiness with the esters.

Anyone got thoughts on this? I want the beer to be more complex than say... a Magic Hat Hefeweizen (first american hefe that popped into my head) which I think is kind of bland. I think I'll get something like that with S-05, but not sure.

Thoughts?

Both are plenty neutral and 33 is the Edme strain so I dunno where they go off with that trappist/Belgian who-ha. T-58 is more up the alley of what you were talking about earlier in the thread IMHO/YMMV/BBQ
 
brewt00l said:
Both are plenty neutral and 33 is the Edme strain so I dunno where they go off with that trappist/Belgian who-ha. T-58 is more up the alley of what you were talking about earlier in the thread IMHO/YMMV/BBQ

Wasn't aware the S-33 was Edme, but now I am... I was just going off what it says on the Fermentis website - it definitely says, "produces a wide range of beers including belgian wit and trappist". Haha, who knows...

Guess I'm OK to use it then... glad I didn't waste a good trappist style or belgian wit recipe by using the S-33!
 
I just used some S-33 in simple dme & corn sugar brew, racked onto sour cherries a week ago--even as young as it is, still quite good--will need some back sweeting and force carbonating, but very happy so far
 
Well brewday went pretty well - guess I should name this Snow Bunny's Peach Ginger Wheat since it was brewed the day before Easter (hence bunny) and there was 3" of snow on the ground when I awoke for brewday. Wonderful!

Anyway, missed mash temp by only 1' and got a FG of 1.042, when I was aiming for 1.045-1.047. Guess the rice hulls I used reduced my efficiency a bit from my normal 75%? Ah well, I have a nice looking and great smelling beer in the fermenter. As noted, ended up pitching rehydrated S-33 around 11AM this morning. Not home to check activity, but hope its bubbling away nicely when I return home tomorrow!

Took some pics during brewday that I plan to post in the pic forum sometime tomorrow!
 
Wow, the S-33 works. As I noted, I pitched around 11am on Saturday. I left town and didn't return until 930PM Sunday - i.e. around 36 hours.

Checked to make sure fermentation had started. Not only did it start, it fermented out (or appears so) and the krausen already appears to have dropped. There was a 3" high krausen ring and my blowoff bucket was pretty bubbly (used starsan in there), but it isn't bubbling too much now. Maybe 2-3 per minute.

Darn the S-33 works quickly! Only rehydrated and pitched as directed and it finished and krausen dropped in less than 36 hours?! Wow...
 
This tea methods sounds really interesting as I'm planning a hefe next (ingerdients shipped yesterday) but was thinking of going apricot wheat by adding the apricot extract at bottling.

Brewtopia, when you used the tea method how strong was the peach flavor?

I'm not a huge fan of fruity beers, so I was just going for a hint, wanting to try something a little different but nothing overpowering.
 
jvh261 said:
This tea methods sounds really interesting as I'm planning a hefe next (ingerdients shipped yesterday) but was thinking of going apricot wheat by adding the apricot extract at bottling.

Brewtopia, when you used the tea method how strong was the peach flavor?

I'm not a huge fan of fruity beers, so I was just going for a hint, wanting to try something a little different but nothing overpowering.

If you search for Brewtopia's post he discusses his brewing of this at length. From my experience, it had noticable peach aroma after steeping (steeped 5 min at flameout), but definitely not overbearing. Further, I drank a cup of the tea (prepared the normal way), and the peach flavor is definitely not overbearing when the right amount is used in 8oz. of water. Using 3.5oz in 5g of beer is about the same rate as this... It's more aroma than anything...

I think it may give some 'perceived' peach flavor moreso than actual peach flavor. It's definitely NOT like drinking sweet peach tea or peach juice or anything, if that's what you are asking...
 
I just brewed this myself. Steeped the tea before the boil. All they had was the bag kind, so I did 4 bags shy(I need to drink *some* as tea!) of 2.9 oz, before the boil.

I am using White Labs Wit yeast, I wanted to use the German hefe, but they were out (sold the last two and hour before I got there!).

Gravity wasn't huge, it was my first time using a new kettle and a full boil and I didn't I over estimated the boil off a bit, but at 1.046 OG it will be a good easy drinking beer.
 
Mine came out to be 1.042, before I let 2qt of starsan blow-off water seep into it... blah... supposedly it will still be OK and the star-san is visibly laying "on top of" the beer, so I'm going to try to rack from beneath it... I still have it in primary due to plain laziness, but I'm hoping it turns out decent...

Let me know how yours turns out!
 
Wow, this is an old thread, but I'm definitely interested in this. I have another thread about brewing with tea if you want to look for it. Search "anybody used tea leaves?" I made a "tea beer" almost 2 yrs. to the day ago. Turned out alright, although we were looking for different results. My goal was and still is to make a "lawnmower" brew that has a distinct yet not overpowering tea taste. I'm using plain black tea. I don't really want the fruit flavor. I just want a low ABV, mild, brew that has a distinct tea flavor. I made one 2 yrs ago. Granted, it was an extract brew but I'm now on course to pinpoint this style. My final goal is to produce an "Arnold Palmer" brew, which is iced tea mixed with lemonade. May sound a little crazy but believe me I don't want anything that taste liked iced tea or lemonade. If you've ever had one, there pretty damn good. I want a BEER that has that characteristic. And I could use some help, if you're still interested in this idea.
 
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