American Wheat Beer American Wheat Beer - 2nd place Best of show - 2011 HBT BJCP competition

Brewed this for the 4th time yesterday. LOVE this beer! My only complaint is that the kegs don't last long enough. Previously I had made a blend of Citra & Amarillo and subbed it for the Centennial, and the beer was fantastic. Realized I had no Citra during the brew, so used some Zythos that were given out at the NHC. Should be tasty.

Would love to hear an update w/those Zythos hops. I have always thought they would be a fun hop to use in a wheat beer.

Maybe I will use them on my next batch of this as well!

I decided to try this for my first all grain. I had some issues and mainly I don't think my grains where properly crushed. Anyway thought someone on here may have some advice for me. Hope I don't have to throw it out. I am goin to try this again after I get my grain put together. Here's what I posted on main page. Thanks for the helpl.

Ok so I have brewed about 8 batches of extract and all turned out great. So I decided to try my hand at a my first all grain batch...wheat. It has 5.5 lbs 2-row, 1 lbs munich malt, 4 lbs wheat malt, and .5 lbs rice hull. 9 grams of magnum 1st wort hop.
I had 3 gal mash temp of 152 for 60 min, 3 gal batch sparge 152 for 10 min, 3 gal batch of 158 for 5 min
60 min boil
10 min left I added 12 grams centennial and 1 tbsp irish moss
Flame out I added 26 grams centennial

It took about 20 min to bring wort down to 70*
my Og was 1008

I think the issue was my grain wasn't crushed properly. I noticed the next day what crushed grains look like and mine where not crushed. I got them from my local brew shop but he just opened and dosen't crush grains. So I used a rolling pin to crush grains and even though I thought I did a good job I think after seeing properly crushed grains that I may have only had 10-20 % crushed.

So that night I tried to add more sugar into the wort before pitching my yeast and but instead of adding sugar I added 4.4 of fresh watermelon and 1.2 lbs of fresh cherries. After doing this my OG went to 1020

I pitched the yest and put it in my controlled fridge and set it at 64*

That was July 21st. It's stayed in there till Aug 6. Then cranked fridge down to 44* and waited for the everything to settle out. Now today Aug 11 I pulled it out ready to prime it and bottle it. I got a final gravity of 1002. I took a drink of it and it taste awful. So I put it back in the fridge and figured I would ask for advice.

I realize now that if I would have just used some DME after that first OG reading that I could have saved myself some heart ace. Now I'm just wondering if it will taste better after carbonating (however I doubt it since it has a funky taste...almost a sour fruit taste and bitter but not a good bitter.

I have some left over Magnum hops and a little 2-row, wheat, and rice hull left. I thought I could try and brew a little more wort and try and re ferment this with the added wort.

Sorry so long... This is my first post on here. Thanks for any help.

Yikes bro.

Sounds like you had a bum start. I'd consider tossing it and giving yourself a fair chance and clean slate.

Start over again with crushed grains and make sure to hit your temperature basics. That should give you much better "1st" impression of all grain brewing.

Just moved this to a keg this morning, final gravity was 1.010. Sample was tasty, though I didn't notice any of the banana/clove aroma that WLP300 is supposed to add. We'll see in a couple weeks once this is carbed up and cold.


Edit: A couple days after I kegged this, there was a barely noticeable aroma. Doesn't have much taste to it now. I was supposed to bring this to a family picnic tomorrow, not sure that I will.

gbrewing said:

Has anyone played with the yeast pitch rates related to this beer? I am particularly interested in anyone who has underpitched the beer yeast to get more flavor from the yeast.

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My last batch of this was a 10 gallon, and I used what probably would have been an appropriate amount of yeast for a 5 gallon batch. In addition, it fermented at around 70-75 degrees for a full 2 weeks. I was pleasantly surprised with the final product. There is a bit more fruityness from the yeast, but it goes very well with the citrus hops and wheat character. I am using Amarillo & Citra instead of Centennial, for about the same IBU's in the end.

thunderworm said:

Here's the recipe for my American wheat beer that won 2nd place BOS and 1st place Hybrids (Category 6-7) in the HBT BJCP 2011 contest. I brewed this on March 6th, so it was about 3 weeks old for the first round judging. I was surprised that it was actually very drinkable only 11 days after brewday (but still extremely turbid). As the Kölsch yeast continued to settle out in the keg, the more subtle fruity fermentation characteristics began to come out a little more.

Grain:
5.5 lb 2-row malt (52%)
4.5 lb Wheat malt (43%)
0.5 lb Munich malt (5%)
0.5 lb rice hulls

Hops:
9 g Yakima Magnum (14.0% AA); first wort hops
8 g Centennial (8.8% AA); 10 min.
21 g Centennial (8.8% AA); 0 min.

Single infusion mash at 152 °F, 60 min. Mash out at 165 °F, 10 min. Batch sparged.

Fermented 9 days at 62 °F. Cold crashed for 1 day, then kegged and force carbed.

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I brewed this on October 14th with my brewing buddy and we ended up sparging too much and were a bit low on the pre-boil OG (but now we will have more beer right so we decided to add 1 1/2 cups of corn sugar to the boil. Our post-boil OG was really close @ 1.048. I racked to keg and force carbonated it 10 days later. Last night was the one week mark in Keg on the gas @ about 12 psi. I thought I had better have a glass and make sure it wasn't poisonous It was truely Awesomeness in a glass :rockin: I can't believe this "green or young" of a beer is soo good. I used all of my home grown hops from this year in the brew as it fit the schedule almost perfectly... I had only a touch of magnum and about an ounce of home grown Centennial. So even though i didn't know the AA amounts etc it really turned out Amazing. I can see how you won a contest. Thank you for a recipe that I will most certainly be brewing again and again. The Kolsch yeast is one of my favorite strains hands down (I used Wyeast 2565). Thanks for sharing this Recipe!

Was considering adding some raspberries or cherries to the primary on this recipe for a holiday beer. Anyone have experience with that or any thoughts/suggestions?

JDoubleDuBB said:

Was considering adding some raspberries or cherries to the primary on this recipe for a holiday beer. Anyone have experience with that or any thoughts/suggestions?

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I haven't tried it with this exact recipe, but I have made a basic American wheat beer recipe with 1 pound raspberries per gallon added in secondary. I used frozen raspberries from the grocery store both times. The first time is was awesome. The second time it was fine, but the raspberry flavor was just kind of plain and overly tart. The only difference I could think of was the quality of the frozen raspberries I used.

If you find some good raspberries I think they would go really well in this recipe!

LoloMT7, that's a good lookin pour! That's cool how you used all your home grown hops!

Too bad my 5 gallons is gone already... Lasted 11 days on tap now I'll have to go by my buddy's and help him drink his 5 gallons.. I'd be interested to see how the raspberries work if someone ends up doing them in secondary. Berry & wheat yummy

Thunder, how do you think this would be add a raspberry secondary ?

I'm gonna go for it. Maybe this weekend. I like the idea of throwing them in the secondary as opposed to the primary so I'll probably do that. Fingers crossed I get some rad berries.

By the way LoloMT7... I'm originally from Missoula as well!

oasisbliss said:

Thunder, how do you think this would be add a raspberry secondary ?

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Doing 5 days or a week in primary, then racking on to raspberries in secondary for a couple weeks should work fine. Alternatively, adding raspberries to the primary once the main part of fermentation is almost done should work just fine too.

Perfect - any consensus on frozen raspberries or the oregon canned and purree them?

oasisbliss said:

Perfect - any consensus on frozen raspberries or the oregon canned and purree them?

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I've used frozen raspberries, let them thaw in the bags and squashed the unopened bags to crush the raspberries, then sanitized the outside of the bags before opening and dumped them in.

I haven't tried the canned raspberry puree.

JDoubleDuBB said:

By the way LoloMT7... I'm originally from Missoula as well!

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Funny my brother just moved to Las Vegas last week.. small world

I like the sound of the Raspberry idea guys I'm interested to see how that turns out for you. I've looked quite a bit and hadn't found the oregon purees online until recently i noticed the shack sells them but they are a bit pricey. I'd like to try going that route sometime though. Cheers

http://www.hopsshack.com/store/fruitpurees.html

Going to fire up the jet burner this saturday for this batch. Let you all know how it turns out.:rockin:

Brewed this on 11/25 and kegged it 12/6 finished @ 1.009. Good beer a few weeks later. I am going to try it with US-05 next time...

Thanks for the recipe.

Made this, my 3rd AG batch, last night with White Labs 029.

Thanks for taking the time and posting your recipe!

thunderworm said:

krenshaw, will this be your first all-grain batch?

Yes, the mash is 152°F for 60 minutes. The mash out is optional, but it will help the wort to run off faster, especially with the high % of wheat used. If you can heat your mash-tun directly then you can heat it while stirring to get up to 165-168°F, then let it rest 10 minutes before sparging. Then you would sparge with the 165°F water. If you can't apply direct heat to your mash tun (e.g. if you mash in a cooler), then you will probably be fine just skipping the mash out, and sparging with 165°F water.

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Can you tell me how much water to mash and also to sparge, i want to do this recipe, sounds great. I am new to all grain

thanks
Jim

kodyind said:

Can you tell me how much water to mash and also to sparge

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I've always seen 1.25 Quarts/Lb of grain recommended as good starting point when calculating mash water amounts.

Sparge amounts change from brewer to brewer because that depends on your equipment and process; Grain absorbtion, MLT dead space, BK dead space/loss to trub and your boil off rate will figure into this calculation.

For me, calculating dead space on my new equipment, brewing software and having an ATC refractometer to easily check my numbers throughout the brewing process has made nailing down all these variables quick and easy.

Did you put all of the grain in for the full mash? Sorry if this question was already answered but this has become a very long thread and I'm browsing on my phone. I plan on making it tomorrow

Yes, all of the grain wash mashed together in a full mash. I hope it turns out good for you!

First all grain recipe under my belt, thanks for the recipe I hope it turns out well. I made this a 10gal batch and had a few minor issues. My OG was 1.040, I think k that was a combination of a low sparge temp and the fact that my burner is undersized for a big batch in the middle of February. I checked the first runnings with iodine and it stayed brown, so I guess the mash did it's job. I pitched into two different car boys, one with a Munich wheat yeast, and one with a saison yeast I washed from my last batch. I'll let you know how they turn out.



The Munich took off a lot faster, but both were going gang busters within 24 hours.

Update : the Munich shows no signs of fermentation today and the Saison is still chugging along. I hope everything is going well in there. Will check gravity tonight.

Just placed an order from the LHBS for this recipe. Hopefully it'll be delivered Thursday and I can make the starter that same day then brew on Saturday. Really looking forward to brewing this and drinking it as it gets hotter come spring!

I think this will be my first AG batch.

I plan on doing it via the Brew In A Bag method. Can the the experts suggest any pointers in doing it this way. Should I do anything different with the recipe, or does anyone think of any special obstacles I might encounter. Thanks

This is a pretty big grain bill for biab. I are you going to scale the recipe? How big is your pot?

Here are the tips I'll give you for your first biab. Have some iodine on hand to check that you've converted the starches. Have some dme in case you miss your OG.

randmc said:

This is a pretty big grain bill for biab. I are you going to scale the recipe? How big is your pot?

Here are the tips I'll give you for your first biab. Have some iodine on hand to check that you've converted the starches. Have some dme in case you miss your OG.

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My pot in 10 gal. I was planing on scaling it back by about 20%.

As long as you can life the whole wet grain bill you should be fine for volume. BeerSmith will give you good volumes based on your biab setup.

Brewed this up yesterday. I made a 1.5L starter with the yeast but I only made it about 24 hours before pitching. The yeast was definitely working on the starter, releasing lots of CO2 whenever I swirled it, but no signs of activity from the blowoff hose on my bucket yet. I was hoping for a fast takeoff, now I'm a bit worried. RDWHAHB I guess.

Cracked the lid this morning and confirmed that it is off and running with a thick healthy looking krausen. My bucket lid just leaks really badly. I really can't wait to taste this beer!

Should this beer have a slight bitterness on the backend ?

Brewed and kegged. OG and FG were pretty much spot on. Used Wyeast 1007 German Ale. Definitely has a citrusy flavor to it, a little bitter. More 'yeasty' than the Kolsch yeast probably would have been. Someone mentioned similarities to sumpin sumpin early on in this thread, hopefully I can find some out here in TX for a side by side. Any other beers folks who have brewed this think it is similar to??

I brewed this up 2 weeks ago. Just checked the FG (1.010) and tasted the hydrometer sample. WOW, really tasty. I used very slightly more hops than the recipe called for (converted grams to ounces and rounded up). I am going to go ahead and bottle this batch now, I don't see any reason to let it sit in primary any longer!

Racked this onto 60 oz of frozen raspberries, after 3 weeks of conditioning in a keg - WOW!
very very good - thanks for a great recipe.

Another followup. This beer has been in bottles for only 5 days. I couldn't resist sacrificing one so I put it in the fridge for about two hours to chill then cracked it open. Nice carbonation already (used 4oz. priming sugar for about 5.5 gal) and it really tastes great. This is exactly what I was looking for - a clean, crisp, slightly fruity beer that is going to be amazing on a hot day. Best part, I poured the yeast and it only adds character to the beer which means my friends can enjoy it from the bottle. It's going to be very hot here very soon and this is going to be very popular at the beach.

Salud!

Just ordered the NB Raspberry Wheat AG Kit. Gonna brew that up next weekend but use real raspberries instead of the extract. Should be tasty... Anyone else used this kit?