First BIAB Wheat Recipe

I'm planning on brewing my first BIAB recipe this weekend. Prior to this I've only done a partial mash. How does this Sorachi Ace Wheat recipe look?

OG = 1.054 / 13.3° Plato
FG = 1.013 / 3.3° Plato (1.011 to 1.014)
Mash Efficiency = 70%
Color = 3° SRM / 8° EBC (Yellow)
Bitterness = 26 IBU / 3 HBU
Alcohol = 5.5% ABV / 4% ABW
Calories = 178 per 12 oz.

5.00 lb American Two-row Pale (53%)
4.00 lb Wheat Malt (53%)
.6 oz Honey Malt (4%)

First wort 0.25 Sorachi Ace pellet 13.0
20 mins 0.25 Sorachi Ace pellet 13.0
5 mins 0.50 Sorachi Ace pellet 13.0
1 mins 1.0 Sorachi Ace pellet 13.0

Wyeast American Wheat (1010)

I think that this looks like a tasty recipe. I do have a few thoughts, though.

First off, 32.8 IBUs is too high for an American Wheat. The maximum IBUs should be 30. Honestly, 2.8 IBUs is probably within the margin of error for tastebuds, recipe, and the guidelines. But the reason I mention this fact is that, even if your recipe ends up technically "within style," this will be considerably hoppier than the commercial wheats you've had elsewhere. So if you're looking to be creative and experiment, I think I would really enjoy this beer. If you're looking to brew a wheat beer with your own twist, I would scale down the hops.

Second, I'm interest in what's the thinking behind your malt schedule? You've split your wheat between wheat malt and flaked wheat, and I'm not sure what your thinking was there. The Flaked wheat will give you some starch haze, in my experience and, at 20% of your overall grain bill, leave you with some chalkiness from the unconverted starches. My suggestion would be to loose the flaked wheat altogether but, if you want to keep it in, maybe tone it down to 10%?

I usually keep wheat beers simple: 50% 2-row + 50% wheat malt + single-hop + yeast. I like that you're upping the hops a little on this recipe (I do that too, but I aim for 25 Ibus) and I think that the honey malt will help balance your high bitterness. Let us know how it turns out!

I'd take your 60 minute addition and use it as a FWH addition instead, you'll get more sorachi flavour and a smoother bitterness.

I was thinking the flaked wheat would give me good head retention and more mouth feel. Could I do 50% 2 row 50% wheat and throw in some carapils?

I've modified the recipe above based on the recommendations. What do you guys think?

Have you thought about doing all wheat since its biab and maybe doing a decoction even

Looks like a solid recipe, I've brewed a few with similar grain bills but different varieties of hops.

Tykees said:

Have you thought about doing all wheat since its biab and maybe doing a decoction even

Click to expand...

This is my first BIAB (all grain) so I want to keep it simple.

My LHBS only had White Labs WLP320 American Hefe...Probably not to style...hope it turns out okay.

Curious to how this turned out. Was thinking of making the switch from extract to BIAB.