Pale Wheat Ale Recipe Advice

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wseidel51

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Hello all,

I've been brewing for half of a year now. I'm a hop lover, but my soon to be wife prefers wheat beers. I was hoping to brew something this summer that we would both enjoy. I thought a citrusy pale wheat beer might be a nice compromise. Please check out my extract recipe below and offer advice. A couple of concerns I have is deciding on what yeast to use. I'm thinking a Wit yeast to accent more citrus and wheat without using a wheat yeast. My hops are all pretty citrusy, am I going overboard on citrus? Can I add hops, orange peel, and coriander in the secondary at the same time? Thanks for your advice!:mug:

'Beach Pail' Ale

Batch Size 5.000 gal Boil Size 5.500 gal
Boil Time 60.000 min Efficiency 70%

OG 1.056
FG 1.015
ABV 5.4%
28.4 IBU
Color 3.4 srm

FERMENTABLES:
Briess - Carapils Malt Grain 8.000 oz
Wheat, Flaked Grain 8.000 oz
Muntons DME - Extra Light Dry Extract 3.000 lb
Corn Sugar (Dextrose) Sugar 2.000 lb
Honey Extract 1.000 lb
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L Grain 8.000 oz

HOPS:

Cascade 6.2% 1.000 oz Boil 60.000 min
Centennial 10.5% 0.250 oz Boil 15.000 min
Amarillo 9.5% 0.250 oz Boil 15.000 min
Centennial 10.5% 0.750 oz Dry Hop 7.000 day Secondary
Amarillo 9.5% 0.750 oz Dry Hop 7.000 day Secondary

ADDITIONS:
Coriander 1.000 tbsp 10.000 min left in boil
Sweet Orange Peel 2.876 tsp 10.000 min left in boil
Whirlfloc 1 tablet 10.000 min left in boil
Yeast Nutrient 1.000 tsp 10.000 min left in boil

Sweet Orange Peel Secondary .5 oz for 7 days
Coriander Secondary .5 oz for 7 days

YEAST:
Wyeast - Belgian Witbier Ale Liquid 0.528 cup Primary
 
I think you've got too much sugar/honey in this and you'll end up with a watery beer with very little body. Get a hold of some wheat DME or LME and replace the sugars with it.
 
Personally, I would either decide to go with the spicey wheat beer (corriander, orange peel, wit beer yeast) and forgoe the late hops additions, or do the opposite (forgoe the spices and use the hops). It feels like there is too much going on in the flavor area with late hops, dry hops & spices + phenolic yeast character. Just my opinion.. if that is what you are going for, then go for it! :)

For the extract side, I would use a 60/40 split of pale DME and wheat DME. The DME will already have some crytal in its makeup, so no need to add more. If you want the honey flavor, I would add 1 pound after the wort has cooled down below 120-F... Something like this:

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.80 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.24 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated Color: 7.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 20.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 1 50.0 %
3.00 lb Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 2 37.5 %
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 13.1 IBUs
0.25 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 4 3.4 IBUs
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 3.9 IBUs
1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 6 -
1.00 lb Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 7 12.5 %

I like the neutral & dry finish of Nottingham yeast, to give you that crisp & refreshing finish! If your wife likes a little of the banana/clove thing in her wheats, than the American Wheat yeast should give you a little bit of that.

Good luck!
--LexusChris
 
Thanks for the great advice. I'm going to tweak it. I'd like to keep the citrusy hop profile, just so I like it :), but I think the wheat and honey will balance the flavors enough for my future wifey to enjoy it too. Would I be crazy to keep the orange peel in the boil and/or secondary to give it some more flavor?
 
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