Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Honey & Chamomile Wheat: What a way to end a long day

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Joined
Apr 23, 2009
Messages
37,027
Reaction score
17,746
Location
☀️ Clearwater, FL ☀️
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Fermentis S-04 Dry Yeast
Yeast Starter
No
Batch Size (Gallons)
10
Original Gravity
1.061
Final Gravity
1.017
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
24
Color
4
Tasting Notes
Wow, honey and chamomile. Both are very
This beer is defined in Sam Calagione's excellent Extreme Brewing (Wildflower Wheat). Book is a joy to look at.

This beer turned out much better than I expected. I was almost certain the chamomile would ruin it. Or the honey would ferment out and have no more effect than if I had just used sugar. Wow was I wrong.

Wildflower_Wheat.JPG


It starts with a fine heady pour, slightly hazy. I neither cold crashed nor gelatin'ed this beer as it was a wheat. It has a very pronounced aroma of chamomile and honey. While the chamomile is perfumey, I think it blends perfectly with the honey, and is a welcome adjunct to a wheat beer.

The taste also has some chamomile, but the honey is quite prominent too. I wasn't expecting this. From now on, I'll only add honey at flameout, as this seems to leave most of the aromatics and tastey components in there.

Ingredients / Process:
Code:
[B]10 gallon batch[/B]
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU     
10.00 lb      Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)            Grain        47.62 %      
8.00 lb       Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)                 Grain        38.10 %      
2.50 oz       Cascade [5.40 %]  (60 min)                Hops         23.7 IBU     
2.00 tsp      Flour (wheat) (Boil 5.0 min)              Misc                      
4.00 oz       Chamomile (Boil 60.0 min)                 Misc                      
3.00 lb       Honey (1.0 SRM) (Boil 5.0 min)                           Sugar        14.29 %      
2 Pkgs        Safale English Ale (Fermentis #S-04)      Yeast-Ale              

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion Mash, 154°F, 60 minutes.  Leaving some body
in this seemed to increase the perception of honey. 

Honey was cheap clover honey from Walmart.

Add honey when 5 minutes left in boil.


Chamomile!
Chamomile.JPG


Wildflower Wheat in 2 fermenters on right (left 2 are both bavarian hefe's, Wyeast 3068).

Bavarian_Hefe_Left_-_Wildflower_Wheat_Right_.JPG
 
Last edited:
You know, I was just going through my beersmith adding notes to recipes I've brewed in the past, and I came across this one. This recipe I must say is a winner during the summer time. Brew this recipe, you won't be let down!
 
I will be bottling an orange cascade pale I used an WL002 in. I am looking for a recipe to pitch to the cake...this sounds yummy. I am pretty much sold on the pic and description. Any other notes before I go to LHBS for the second batch this week lol.
 
It was good, with fairly strong chamomile presence. I think it is either liked or really really liked by those I have given it to.

Some folks don't like the herbal flowery aroma of the chamomile. Hope you're not one of them.
 
I haven't been able to find an extract recipe for this. Anyone have one?

I stole this recipe from Sam Calagione's Extreme Brewing. The book lists the extract recipe (I converted to AG).

  • 6.6# wheat extract
  • 1# honey
  • 1 oz Vangaurd hops (60 minute)
  • 2 oz chamomile flowers
  • WLP320 or Wy 1010
  • OG: 1.057
  • FG 1.008
  • IBUs: 15
You should pick up the book, though, lots of process info, colorful description, and excellent pics.
 
I stole this recipe from Sam Calagione's Extreme Brewing. The book lists the extract recipe (I converted to AG).

  • 6.6# wheat extract
  • 1# honey
  • 1 oz Vangaurd hops (60 minute)
  • 2 oz chamomile flowers
  • WLP320 or Wy 1010
  • OG: 1.057
  • FG 1.008
  • IBUs: 15
You should pick up the book, though, lots of process info, colorful description, and excellent pics.

It's on my list. I just bottled a variation of his Blood Orange Wheat. That gets me started and I think they have a copy of it for use at the LHBS and I'll check it out to find out if those numbers are LME or DME. Thanks again.
 
Called the LHBS about this one to see if they have what I need and the guy said someone made this and the chamomile was overpowering to the point where he tasted nothing but chamomile.

I want this to be a beer, not an alcoholic tea and my wife isn't a huge fan of chamomile to begin with, so do you think quartering the chamomile to start would be a good idea and if it needs more, I could do a "dry chamomile" for a week or two...what do you think?

I also noticed the all grain recipe you posted in the first post is quite a bit different from the extract recipe in the book - for the 10 gallon recipe, the hops were a different variety and more than doubled, honey was more than doubled, addition of flour, etc. Also noticed the use of an English ale yeast as opposed to a wheat yeast. The flour is just for the hazy/cloudy effect, right?

I was thinking about doing a 2.5 gallon batch of this to see how it goes:
3.3 lbs Wheat LME
1/2 oz Vangard (60 min)
1/4 oz Chamomile (60 min)
1 tsp of wheat flour (5 min)
1 lb honey (flameout)
WLP320 American Hefeweizen
 
I'm looking through some wheat recipes to brew up for the brutal summer coming and this one looks very appealing to me. (summers here are way too hot for this native Vermonter)

Instead of cascades, could I theoretically use any of the citrus types (or any hop type for that matter) to bitter it to about 24 IBUs?
 
Got my half batch going and it smells good. I decided to stick with the original recipe and just half it to see how it is before I decide to mess with it.:mug:
 
Finished cleaning up and now relaxing...OG was only 1.050 though with 3.3 lbs of wheat LME and 1 lbs of honey for fermentables. I'm alright with a lower alcohol content for a summer beer, just not sure how I missed it be 10 points. I'm thinking it's just a bad reading and it wasn't mixed as well as it should have been seeing how full the 3 gallon Better Bottle was with all the foam from aeration.

Gravity sample was tasty and I have high hopes for this beer after being skeptical about the amount of chamomile.
 
I also noticed the all grain recipe you posted in the first post is quite a bit different from the extract recipe in the book - for the 10 gallon recipe, the hops were a different variety and more than doubled, honey was more than doubled, addition of flour, etc. Also noticed the use of an English ale yeast as opposed to a wheat yeast. The flour is just for the hazy/cloudy effect, right?

I was thinking about doing a 2.5 gallon batch of this to see how it goes:
3.3 lbs Wheat LME
1/2 oz Vangard (60 min)
1/4 oz Chamomile (60 min)
1 tsp of wheat flour (5 min)
1 lb honey (flameout)
WLP320 American Hefeweizen

Looks like a great recipe. Yes, I add the flour to get a nice haze in there. I do that for wits, too.

I guess I fudged with the recipe quite a bit. I do that. Hope it goes well for you.
 
Pawn,

I didn't see it anywhere, but this is a 60 minute mash, no?

Also, you said you might increase the IBUs to push back against the sweetness. How far would you go? 30IBUs?
 
Pawn,

I didn't see it anywhere, but this is a 60 minute mash, no?

Also, you said you might increase the IBUs to push back against the sweetness. How far would you go? 30IBUs?

Yes, 60 would be fine. You don't need this to be too fermentable. I think a little body makes the honey and chamomile work. I might even add a # of oats to ensure that.

30 IBU would be great. Add them early so you don't get strong flavor contribution from the hops. This beer is not about hops.

Good luck.
 
Thanks!

I think for this time around I'll keep to the bare bones recipe, but bring it to 30 IBU as I don't like a overtly sweet beer myself.

If I like it, I might just repeat as is next year.

If I feel it needs a little more body, I'll play around with oats/flaked barley/flaked wheat and see what I come up with.

(I'm about to try subbing 1/2# each of flaked oats and barley to sub for flaked wheat in a different recipe...no flaked wheat here :( In fact, no raw wheat product at all here...)
 
I've got this sitting in the primary (no secondaries for me) and it's been about 3 weeks. I'm a little worried as there is still a slightly detectable sulfur smell when I push on the airlock.

Should I let it sit for another week or so?

Should I drop in a wee bit of honey to see if I can scrub the remaining sulfur out with some CO2?
 
Just bottled this the other night and it was AMAZING. I'm very happy with out it came out and I'm looking forward to it fully carbed and chilled.

Thanks again Pawn!:mug:
 
Please advise on this partial mash recipe! I'm struggling to get the color to come out similarly to the all-grain recipe. Not a big deal, as long as I can get the taste to come out similar too.

Code:
2-row Pale Malt:  	2 lb      21.6%
Pale LME:          	2.5 lb    27.0%
White Wheat Malt: 	1.5 lb    16.2%
Wheat LME:          	1.75 lb   18.9%
Honey:			1.5 lb    16.2%
Cascade (60 min):	1.25 oz
Dried Chamomile:	2 oz
S-04	Yeast
 
This is one of my all time favorite recipes. I've brewed it up a couple of times over the past year. The only changes I've made to the recipe is I've added some Honey Malt into the grain and I've switched over to Saaz hops using about 1.75 oz.

I actually have this beer recipe up as the kit of the month at my brew store, its been a huge hit.
 
This is one of my all time favorite recipes. I've brewed it up a couple of times over the past year. The only changes I've made to the recipe is I've added some Honey Malt into the grain and I've switched over to Saaz hops using about 1.75 oz.

I actually have this beer recipe up as the kit of the month at my brew store, its been a huge hit.

Cool! Are you brewing all grain or extract?
 
The first batch I did was all-grain, lately I've only had time to brew at my store and I am kind of limited to partial or extract brews while I'm there. The kit I set up at the store is an extract recipe, but its been flying off the shelves.

The extract kit I put together is...

Specialty grains:
.5 lb honey malt
1 lb wheat malt

Fermentables:
6.6 lbs Wheat LME
1 lb. Wildflower Blossom Honey

Extras:
2 oz dried chamomile flowers

Yeast: WLP320 American Hefe.
 
Just finished brewing this up (AG). I scaled everything down to a 1-gallon recipe (as that's what I brew right now) and pretty much nailed everything, but my SG was 1.051. Any reasons why this would be? I didn't use any top off water, I was pretty close to my mash temp., etc. I'm not sure what could've happened with this.
 
Just finished brewing this up (AG). I scaled everything down to a 1-gallon recipe (as that's what I brew right now) and pretty much nailed everything, but my SG was 1.051. Any reasons why this would be? I didn't use any top off water, I was pretty close to my mash temp., etc. I'm not sure what could've happened with this.

That gravity will work fine. You will have a ~5.1% beer, which is fine for a wheat.
 
Love this beer, I have been keeping a version of this beer on tap every spring and summer for awhile now. Always a hit. (In fact just keggedd my first batch of it for this year)
 
So what's your thoughts? Can you taste the honey and chamomile?

I just did my first FG reading, so I'm not drinking it yet, but I had a very small taste and yes, I can definitely pick up the backbone of the honey and the chamomile :)

I just gotta let this baby carb up now, just didn't expect to get down so far on the FG.
 
So if one were to want to make this as a extract/partial would I use the recipe posted a few pages back? I havent seen an updated one so Id assume so, just making sure before I add this to my list of things to buy at the LHBS.
 
Was thinking about brewing this next week but I only happen to have WLP005 on hand. I see you used English yeast, so do you think this might work for me?
 
Sure. It'll probably be better than what I made. Seriously.

Thanks! After reading further I see Dogfish uses WLP005/Ringwood in a lot of their beers. I am going to guess that they used it in the beer this recipe when they originally brewed this for the BrewPub as opposed to propping up something else.
 
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