Looking to brew a cheap wheat beer

I am thinking of brewing a cheap wheat beer (extract) and I had the thought of using 3.3 of LME and 2lbs of dextrose (instead of the second 3.3 LME)

Here is the tweaked recipe from BeerSmith


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 1 4.5 %
3 lbs 4.8 oz Wheat Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 2 59.5 %
2 lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 3 36.0 %
0.50 oz Hallertau [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 5.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 5 5.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Hallertau [4.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 6 3.5 IBUs
2.00 oz Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice 7 -
1.0 pkg Safbrew Wheat (DCL/Fermentis #WB-06) [50.28 ml] Yeast 8


Est Original Gravity: 1.042 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.003 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.1 %
Bitterness: 15.3 IBUs
Est Color: 6.4 SRM


My question is would it be too dry, esp? I am not experienced to know tastes from certain ingredients. Thanks for any input -

Yes, will be a good bit too dry. A general rule on dextrose/table sugar/simple sugar additions is roughly 10% is fine. If you're trying to dry something out like a Belgian Tripel/Quad or are doing some super high gravity fermentations you can push that number up to close to 20% in special circumstances.

A good guide easily accessible online would be the bjcp style guideline for the style (or roughly the style) of beer you're seeking to brew. Since your recipe falls somewhere roughly around a German Weiss/Wheat bier and a Belgian Wit your target final gravity should be around 1.012 and an original gravity a little higher than you show, around 1.048.

You're homebrewing thus if you've accounted for gear amortization you're already brewing cheaply. Now if it were me I'd do the following.

1-eliminate the dextrose, it has no place in this beer.
2-use the LME and add 1# dme
3-calculate how much grain I need to add to attain a target gravity of 1.045 and do a partial mash with 2-row and malted wheat grains 50:50 ratio in a disposable grain sock (like .25 cents). Just heat your water to 155-160 and put the grain sock in for 30 mins. Pull it out, pour hot water over it, maybe a couple quarts and proceed brewing like a normal extract batch.
4-to save money and stay within style eliminate the small fairly insignificant Halertau hop addition at 20 mins.

Good luck, brew strong.

http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2014 BJCP Style Guidelines (DRAFT).pdf

Checkout section 10A - Weissbier (german wheat beer)

"Cheap wheat beer" could be the title of my auto biography. Try this

3 lbs wheat dme late
2 lbs wheat dme early
.5 flaked wheat
.5 carahel

1oz tettanger boil

White labs 320 American heffeweitzen

I usually rack onto 4 lbs of pasturized raspberries that I mash and run through a sive. But that's optional.

The original recipe is by Brian Scaefer. He deserves the credit

There is no such thing as a cheap extract beer. But they can be as tasty as a good all grain. You pay for the ease.

As said above, forget the sugar, do partial mash. Maybe time to look into doing partial mashes (they're easy and great) or All Grain and split the boil between 2 large pots, if you don't have one that can handle a full boil.

Run your orange peel through a cleaned coffee/spice grinder and pulverize it, then soak the little chunks (save the dust for later) in a cup of hot water for an hour. Heat a couple times in a microwave to keep the temp between 130-160°F, not critical. Then add the steeped orange peel potion (chunks and all) plus the saved dust at 10'. You'll get much better extraction. 1 oz would be plenty.

@islandlizzard,
Great tips. Going to try the orange peel trick. Great advice on extracts.

lazarwolf said:

"Cheap wheat beer" could be the title of my auto biography. Try this

3 lbs wheat dme late
2 lbs wheat dme early
.5 flaked wheat
.5 carahel

1oz tettanger boil

White labs 320 American heffeweitzen

I usually rack onto 4 lbs of pasturized raspberries that I mash and run through a sive. But that's optional.

The original recipe is by Brian Scaefer. He deserves the credit

Click to expand...

What function/taste does the flacked wheat add?

The flaked wheat mostly adds mouth feel. Wheat and rye wheat are more gelatinous in nature, especially when exposed to hot water. The BN at my LHBS suggested it and it made a great difference, so I went with it.

Please understand that this is a table beer (meaning a really good quick beer to serve to friends etc, but not to enter in a contest) , and if youre new to brewing please always remember there are no set in stone rules. I have actually made this with flaked oats (quaker) and with minute rice. Why? because that is what was in the pantry. Well actually there are set in stone rules, but there is considerable leeway between them.

what is your experience level?

By just adding .5# of flaked wheat (or oats, rye, etc.) to the boil kettle you basically add a load of starch. Although that will help to keep the wheat beer cloudy and add some mouthfeel and proteins for head retention, I think unmalted adjuncts should be mashed. A mini mash is easy and simple (large pot in oven) if you don't do all grain. This way the enzymes from the diastatic (malted) grains can convert the starches from the adjuncts to usable sugars. You'll still get mouthfeel and increased head retention from that, as the dextrins and proteins are still carried over.

For "permanent" cloudiness add a couple tablespoons of wheat flour, made into a slurry, toward the end of the boil.
Permanent is relative, my wheat beers become pretty clear after 2-3 months in the keg. Speaking of, time to do another 10 gallon wheat beer batch.

Sidenote for those who want to be adventurous:
I use a wheat decoction mash schedule. This gives some great extra flavor not common to wheat beers. Is it worth the extra 3 1/2 hours? You'd be the judge.

More great tips. Learn something new every time you log on. A wheat decotion? I'm intrigued. And now that the ghetto grain 320 (small batch all grain system) is ready to roll, I may be crazy enough to try it.

lazarwolf said:

More great tips. Learn something new every time you log on. A wheat decotion? I'm intrigued. And now that the ghetto grain 320 (small batch all grain system) is ready to roll, I may be crazy enough to try it.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm still learning too. It's great, keeps the brain flexible.

Here are 3 threads on wheat decoctions, the last one has Eric Warner's process chart in it, which is the one I use. It is a double decoction. For Pilsners they often use a triple one.
Of course you need to read that section on decoctions in How to Brew. But the calculations have been done for you through the chart. To scoop out the "thick part of the mash" use a strainer or colander. There should be no wort standing above the concoction grist. It's very hands on, that's brewing, man!

I'm not saying decoction is necessary with our modern highly modified malts, but that wheat beer packs a serious punch of flavor. My last Witbier recipe version uses 40% Red wheat malt, 20% wheat flakes, 30% Pilsner, and 10% Oats. Plus .5 pound of rice hulls (but set that amount to 0 in Beersmith or it will include them in the grist percentages).

Step Mash Decoction for Wheat Beer

Schmitz-Hochkurz Decoction

Wheat Beer Decoction Profile