Tallgrass Halcyon Wheat clone

I love this Summer beer and wanted to try brewing it myself. Unfortunately there's no reliable ingredient information out there so I'm really playing this one by ear. The one thing we do know is that it's around 20~ ibus (according to the tallgrass site). So here's what I've got for round #1:


Halcyon Wheat Clone
American Wheat or Rye Beer
Type: All Grain
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.20 gal A
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Volume 5.20 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal Est Mash Efficiency 75.0 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0

Ingredients

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4 lbs 8.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 47.4 %
3 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 36.8 %
1 lbs Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 4 10.5 %
8.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 1 5.3 %
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min 11.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min 9.8 IBUs
2.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 7 Days 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min 1.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) [23.66 ml] Yeast 8

Add the dry hops in secondary after a 14 day primary and leave for 7 days before kegging.

Est Original Gravity: 1.051 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.8 %
Bitterness: 22.1 IBUs Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 3.8 SRM


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 9 lbs 8.0 oz
Sparge Water: 4.37 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F Tun Temperature: 72.0 F

Mash Steps
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 11.88 qt of water at 168.2 F 156.0 F 45 min
Sparge Step: Batch sparge with 2 steps (2.2gal, 2.2gal) of 168.0 F water


Any thoughts/suggestions? I was able to secure 4 oz of citra from Rebel brewer :rockin:

Brewed today. Only got a 66% efficiency and didn't boil it down enough so my OG was about 1.036. We'll see how it turns out

The appearance is about right, I'd say the same for aroma and mouthfeel. It is young still.

The taste isn't right, I can taste the citra hops and the tropical flavors but it doesnt have the fruity bite, I wonder if doing some cascades near the end or with the dry hops would add some of that. The flavor is just very one-dimensional. I'll give it some time and see how it does.

It is coming around and really reminding me of HW already. I want to do some side by side tests next week.

i've cultured the yeast from the bottom of the halcyon wheat cans for a wheat beer. i just bought a sixer and poured them into glasses one evening, putting them bottom 1/2" of the can with the yeast into a sanitized jar. then i made a 1000ML starter and pitched it. that takes awhile to get going, maybe even 48 hours. then i made a 1500 ML 4 days before I brewed, and pitched first starter into that. then i added 500ML of wort to that the day before I brewed. The 5 gallon batch had a krausen within 3 hours and fermented nicely. But, I didn't make a clone, so I can't vouch for that.

This is a delicious beer but not a good clone.

If I was to redo it I would need a less flocculant yeast and more flavor/aroma hops, less bittering hops. Maybe just save all of the hops for the last 10-15 minutes? I don't know.

It's a tasty beer though. I like it