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dandw12786 · 11-07-2010, 01:46 AM

I bought an extract american wheat kit when I was in Kansas City recently. This is supposedly a Boulevard Wheat clone, but after checking their website (they list their hops) and plugging the recipe into beersmith, I have zero faith that it will turn out similar. I have no problem with that (not looking to brew Boulevard Wheat, if I want it, I'll drive down the street and buy some), I just want it to taste good (I just bought it to see if it would be a good base wheat recipe that I can mess with later). Here's the recipe:

6.6 lbs Wheat LME (2 cans, will add 1 at the beginning of the boil, 1 at 15 mins left)
.25 lbs Caravienne Malt (steep about 20 mins)
.25 lbs Carapils Malt (same)
1 oz. Cluster Hops (60)
1 oz. Willamette Hops (5)
Wyeast American Wheat Ale yeast.

I'm pretty confident in the extract and grains, my only question is regarding the hops schedule. This will be my first Wheat brew, so I don't know much about this style (aside from the obscene amounts of it I've consumed), but it seems like they just went with general purpose bittering and finishing hops and used package sizes they had in stock, as the IBUs beersmith calculated ended up on the very high end of the style. Any suggestions on what to use for hops on this? I'd like to end up with low to mid IBUs for the style (around 20, I know Boulevard is 14, I only use that for comparison because I love the stuff), and maybe something with a bit of a citrusy flavor (arrived at through the use of hops and yeast, not adding fruit). Any suggestions would be wonderful, thanks for all of your help everyone!

Skaggz · 11-07-2010, 01:09 AM

Not bad. Aside from the the specialty grains, I use ½ pound crystal 10°L, it looks pretty similar to the American wheat base that I've been brewing for 3+ years now. Mine comes out pretty balanced. I also only use cascade hops, and at three additions.

If you're looking for a citrus flavor, maybe try adding some cascade or citra hops at the 20min or 15min mark.

edit: Might as well throw it out there.

6 lbs Alexander's Wheat LME (50% wheat, 50% barley)
½ lb Caramel/Crystal 10°L
4 AAU Cascade (60)
2 AAU Cascade (30)
2 AAU Cascade (10)
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1056 - WLP001 - US-05

dandw12786 · 11-07-2010, 01:21 AM

So after taking your suggestion, I plugged this schedule into beersmith, which gets me exactly where I want to be for IBUs:
.5 oz Cluster (60) (leaving the full oz makes this start to look pretty hoppy)
.5 oz Cascade (15) (should I up this to a whole oz?)
1 oz Willamette (5)

Look good? I'm really not set on my hop schedule at all, just what came in the box... want to head to my LHBS anyway... they also sell beer and I need something to drink while brewing :-)

Skaggz · 11-07-2010, 01:26 AM

It will turn out just fine.
As far as the cascade addition goes. You could do just the ½oz. It sounds like you'll be planning on brewing it again in the future. If it isn't enough then try using more hops for that addition the second time around.

Make sure that the AA% that Beersmith is using matches that of the hops that you have. Not a huge deal, but you'll be surprised how it can change your numbers.

Some history on that recipe. Blame the IPA I'm drinking if I start to ramble.
Back three years ago when I was a noob, I swore that I would never buy a pre-made kit to brew. This was after the 2 Mr. Beer brews I made that got me started. I was brewing a 5 gallon batch every weekend from either recipes that I found in books, magazines, or on the internet. It got me thinking, "Hell, I could start making my own recipes." So I started coming up with stuff. I made some pretty bad sh*t. Read, a single hop (fuggle) IPA that had so much alpha acid content that I could feel my teeth getting smaller with every drink. I always let my roommates try each batch, they always had mixed (poor) reviews of my hand crafted noob-recipes.

Finally comes the above recipe. I decided to KISS on this one. Like all my beers at the time, I had this one on tap when my roommate's buddy stopped by for a visit from out of town. He asked me what I was drinking so I told him it was some homebrew and offered him a pint. He accepted and I pulled one for him. Few minutes later he says, "Man, I was just trying to be nice when I told you I would try your homebrew. But, this is f*ckin' good, can I get another one of these?" Right then and there I knew I finally came up with a winner. It's been popular with everyone that I've given it to so far. Even my dad, a Corona is the only beer out there drinker, keeps asking me if I have any of it to give him. One time I added some blueberry extract at kegging time, and it really took off. So, I've been adding it ever since. I've been growing some yeast out of a bottle of Sierra Nevada's hefeweizen and I think I'll try using that next time though. [/drunckin' rant]