Critique my Weizenbock?
 

Hey guys,

I want to make a really good Weizenbock for my brother's wedding in August. His favorite beer is Sunshine Wheat and he said he's always wanted a dark version of that. He love's very dark beers like porters and stouts so I thought maybe a nice weizenbock would fit the bill perfectly.

I just kind of came up with this on my own so please let me know if it should be changed. I'm going to make a yeast starter tonight and brew on Sunday hopefully. I decided to use the trappist ale yeast instead of hefeweizen yeast because I am concerned the hefe yeast won't do well in a high gravity beer. The trappist yeast should still give it that fruity aroma anyway.

I will be using the brew in a bag technique for this so keep that in mind. My last batch was BIAB and it was low efficiency around 63%. I'm going to use a finer crush this time to hopefully fix that but accounted for 65% in the recipe anyway.

I also need advice as to what hops should be used. I assume just about an ounce or so of bittering hops at the beginning but not sure what kind for the style. TIA!

Type: All Grain
Date: 3/27/2009
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Brewer: Dave
Boil Size: 5.72 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My Equipment
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00
Taste Notes:

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.25 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 65.22 %
3.00 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 17.39 %
2.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 11.59 %
0.50 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 2.90 %
0.25 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
0.50 lb Candi Sugar, Dark (275.0 SRM) Sugar 2.90 %
1 Pkgs Trappist Ale (White Labs #WLP500) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.085 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.020 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 8.56 %
Bitterness: 0.0 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint
Est Color: 25.7 SRM Color: Color

Your recipe reads like a Dubbel except the wheat. Saaz and Styrians jump to mind, but anything noble would probably be fine.

You can always blend strains. Maybe even ferment with 100% W-68 for a couple days to get some wheat yeast character and then pitch your 500 starter to finish it. Then again, 68 is such a crazygonuts fermenter, I wouldn't put it past it to take you to 10% by itself.

Thanks for the advice. I'm thinking 1.5oz of Saaz at 60 minutes and .5oz at 15 minutes for a total IBU of about 19. That puts it on the low end for the style but I don't want it to be too bitter.

Do you have any experience with the White-Labs hefeweizen ale yeast WLP-300? My LHBS only carries white labs. I guess it's worth a shot and I can always re-pitch if I need to.

Weihenstephan-68 == WLP300 == Wyeast 3068

This is reminding me of New Belgium's Lips of Faith Dunkleweisse 30º which is on tap at a local pub here. Very smooth, not too rich but plenty warming!

Oh heck yes that is really what I want to go for. I live in Fort Collins and have had the 30 several times. You are very lucky to have that out in CA! Must be a great pub! What's it called?

The Toad in the Hole. Pretty new, very British, very awesome. Only 10 or so taps, but they change often and there's a new cask every Tuesday. This week it's Lagunitas Caskimus Maximus. Next week Anderson Valley is bringing in a 2-year old barleywine.

Very nice that place sounds awesome. I will remember it if I ever make it out to that area of CA. Thanks for the help!