IPA onto a hefeweizen yeast cake???

ok, I'm down to 6 22ozer's of yooper's 60 min IPA, and I am getting nervous that my supply of this brew is a wee bit low

Now I also have another Dilema, can I brew a tasty IPA using a wheat beer yeast? I have a wheat beer in primary that will be racked to secondary this coming weekend which was made using American Hefeweizen Ale yeast from White Labsl I'm thinking I might want to brew something up using the old yeast cake but unfortunately I don't want to brew another wheat beer right now and I was toying with the idea of brewing up another IPA(possibly yoopers 60 min DFH again) and pitching onto the yeast cake from my wheat beer.

Anyone ever try this? and if so what were the results?

I'm thinking of trying it just to see what happens, but am looking for input from anyone who may have tried brewing an IPA with a wheat specific yeast strain. I am aware that the brew probably won't taste anywhere close to my normal IPA's brewed with a regular Ale yeast, but would it be horribly disgusting if i did this?

I don't know how that'd turn out, but I imagine that it'd give an ipa a wonderful taste. Maybe throw in something with a slight biscuit flavor (or some wheat) to compliment the yeast.

the american wheat beer yeasts, such that they are from Widmer, are actually alt strains.

Thanks for the replies so far. Has anyone tried this before?

Wait American hefeweizen? Is that not contradictive? I always thought American wheat yeasts were peppery and clean as apposed to a hefeweizen being dominated by banana and/or clove.

So mind clarifying what strain you actually have?

bubbachunk said:

Wait American hefeweizen? Is that not contradictive? I always thought American wheat yeasts were peppery and clean as apposed to a hefeweizen being dominated by banana and/or clove.

So mind clarifying what strain you actually have?

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I think a lot of American Wheats have gotten to calling themselves Hefeweizen. Think Widmer. Definitely an American Wheat that is labeled Hefeweizen.

OP - If its an American Wheat strain, you are good to go. I've never used that in an IPA, but it shouldn't throw any crazy flavors, esp if you ferment in the mid to low 60's. If its a true Weizen strain for a beer like Paulaner Hefeweizen (like Wyeast 3068), I might be hesitant to use it for an IPA. It might be good, but it will be more like a hoppy Hefe.

bubbachunk said:

Wait American hefeweizen? Is that not contradictive? I always thought American wheat yeasts were peppery and clean as apposed to a hefeweizen being dominated by banana and/or clove.

So mind clarifying what strain you actually have?

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Doh!! Thought I had included that in the original post. It's White Labs WLP320 American Hefenweizen.

Edcculus said:

I think a lot of American Wheats have gotten to calling themselves Hefeweizen. Think Widmer. Definitely an American Wheat that is labeled Hefeweizen.

OP - If its an American Wheat strain, you are good to go. I've never used that in an IPA, but it shouldn't throw any crazy flavors, esp if you ferment in the mid to low 60's. If its a true Weizen strain for a beer like Paulaner Hefeweizen (like Wyeast 3068), I might be hesitant to use it for an IPA. It might be good, but it will be more like a hoppy Hefe.

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Which could turn out awesome if done well. Think Brooklyn Brewery's Hopfenweisse as a goal to shoot for if that is the type of yeast you have.

dummkauf said:

Thanks for the replies so far. Has anyone tried this before?

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WLP320?

Brooklyn and Schneider collaborated on a pair of beers that are basically IPAs with hefeweizen yeast and they are really good.

With WLP320 I think you'd probably end up with a milder version of one of these.

Edcculus said:

I think a lot of American Wheats have gotten to calling themselves Hefeweizen. Think Widmer. Definitely an American Wheat that is labeled Hefeweizen.

OP - If its an American Wheat strain, you are good to go. I've never used that in an IPA, but it shouldn't throw any crazy flavors, esp if you ferment in the mid to low 60's. If its a true Weizen strain for a beer like Paulaner Hefeweizen (like Wyeast 3068), I might be hesitant to use it for an IPA. It might be good, but it will be more like a hoppy Hefe.

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I've been on an IPA craze lately which is why I've been thinking of brewing another, though if there are other styles of beer that might be better to brew(other than wheat) I'd be interested in knowing what those might be.

The wheat was brewed for the SWMBO, and while I have nothing against wheats, I'm not a huge fan, and she doesn't drink enough beer to justify brewing another batch of it right away, which is why I'm looking for something else to brew and pitch onto the cake just to try something new.

You should get a fairly clean ferment from the 320 since its not a weizen strain. I don't see why you couldn't brew a IPA with it. Its not a very flocculent strain, so you might need to cold crash or age it for longer to get the yeast to drop.

Edcculus said:

You should get a fairly clean ferment from the 320 since its not a weizen strain. I don't see why you couldn't brew a IPA with it. Its not a very flocculent strain, so you might need to cold crash or age it for longer to get the yeast to drop.

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Sounds good. My main concern was using this yeast for something like an IPA would result in something gross that I wouldn't want to drink since I couldn't find much online, or this site, for anyone using a wheat yeast for non-wheat beers.

I'm probably just worrying too much about it.

mullenite said:

WLP320?

Brooklyn and Schneider collaborated on a pair of beers that are basically IPAs with hefeweizen yeast and they are really good.

With WLP320 I think you'd probably end up with a milder version of one of these.

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Don't suppose those recipes, or clones i should say, are posted somewhere are they? I'd be interested in taking a peek if they're available.

dummkauf said:

Don't suppose those recipes, or clones i should say, are posted somewhere are they? I'd be interested in taking a peek if they're available.

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Choose German or American Hops, the German hops version was brewed by Garret Oliver in Germany and the American hop version by Hans Drexler in Brooklyn.

5.5 gallons

8.0lbs Pils malt
8.0lbs Wheat Malt
(or 12.5 lbs of Wheat LME)

German Hops
0.75 oz Magnum (14%) for 60
1.00oz Hallertauer Saphir (4.5%) 15
0.50oz Hallertauer Saphir (4.5%) 5
0.50oz Hallertauer Saphir (4.5%) Dry Hop

American Hops
0.75 oz Magnum (14%) for 60
0.25oz Amarillo (8.1%) for 15
0.25oz Palisade (8.0%) for 15
0.25oz Amarillo (8.1%) for 5
0.25oz Palisade (8.0%) for 5
0.25oz Amarillo (8.1%) for Dry Hop
0.25oz Palisade (8.0%) for Dry Hop

Wyeast 3638 / WLP351

mullenite said:

8.0lbs Pils malt
8.0lbs Wheat Malt
(or 12.5 lbs of Wheat LME)

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So should I be picking one or the other, Pils or Wheat, or are you saying to use 16Lbs of DME?!?! I'm new but that seems like one hell of a high gravity beer to me!

Yea, not too sure about that. 16lbs of extract is way too much though. Honestly, I wouldn't follow that recipe. Its for a hoppy hefeweizen fermented with weizen yeast. You are going more for a regular IPA (I"m assuming) that just happens to be fermented with American Wheat yeast.

16lbs of actual malt, 12.5lbs of LME, 12lbs DME.

Should be 8.5% alcohol.

I did an IPA on some Hefeweizen yeast once just to have a small experiment. It was only 2 gallons so I didn't feel bad making it 102 IBUs and 9% ABV. It wasn't the best beer in the world, or the most balanced but definitely interesting! I am glad I didn't end up with 5 gallons by the way.

Ok, been playing around with BeerSmith and I think I am just going to go for an ale, though I think this recipe may be getting closer to a brown ale as far as style guidelines are concerned. Anyway, here's what I came up with, this would be the first recipe I've put together myself so feed back would be appreciated.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.81 gal
Boil Size: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.069 SG
Estimated Color: 18.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 17.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.00 lb Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM) Dry Extract 81.82 %
0.50 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 4.55 %
0.50 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 4.55 %
0.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.55 %
0.50 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 4.55 %
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 9.8 IBU
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 4.9 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (3 min) Hops 2.3 IBU
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Hefeweizen Ale (White Labs #WLP32Yeast-Wheat) <--My Yeast cake


Steep grains at 150 for 30 minutes.


Thank you!

how'd this come out? I love the IDEA of a hoppy-wheat.

It actually never got brewed I was planning on doing this, but life got in the way and I never got time to actually brew it, and after leaving the wheat I had in the primary on the yeast cake for too long, I finally just racked it to secondary and sent that poor yeast cake down the drain

oh well, thanks for the update, though.