looking for a black wheat/black Hefe recipe

Had one at a local brewery and thought it was awesome. Seems like a nice variation on an easy wheat beer. I love doing hefes cause I can get them brewed and kegged so quickly, and this seems like a nice change from the normal. I really liked the subtle chocolaty flavors playing off the banana from the yeast, so I'd like to find a recipe that will bring both out.

any help?

Thanks,
cheers!

It's funny, I was searching the forum for a similar recipe earlier today. Seems like a dunkelweizen recipe (pils, wheat, Munich, maybe a little crystal) and then some chocolate wheat malt or midnight wheat added depending on the color and roastiness you are going for should do it. I'd like to see what others think.

I was thinking of just doing my house Hefe recipe but subbing out some of the Red Wheat for Midnight wheat, and some crystal 60. Planned on using the same yeast. It would look something like this:

5# German Pils
4# German Wheat Malt
8oz. Midnight Wheat
8oz. Crystal 60
4oz Flaked Wheat

.75 oz Liberty @ 60
.5 oz Liberty @ 10

Wyeast 3068 (Weihenstephan) @68* for 10 days, then keg.

what do you think?

after playing with beersmith this is what I've come up with:

5#Wheat malt
3#Munich malt
2#Pilsner 2 Row
8oz. Chocolate Malt
6oz. Crystal 60
1.0 oz. Liberty @60
Wyeast 3068 @ 68 Degrees for 10 days, then Keg.

Thoughts?

Edited for Updates!

To get it really dark you probably want to use some dehusked carafa.

ReverseApacheMaster said:

To get it really dark you probably want to use some dehusked carafa.

Click to expand...

What should I use? Carafa II?

If you're looking for the least flavor addition but the most color go with III but II would be fine as well.

I went with III. Im brewing this tomorrow morning so I'll report back with what I end up with. Im pretty excited for this one.

about to sparge. It smells amazing, and the color is pretty much exactly what I was looking for. My strike water turned DARK brown as I was doughing in, so its just gonna get darker.

Yeah, that beer should be very dark and foggy between the carafa, the wheat and the yeast. Should be like a nice midnight fog when it's done. Keep us updated.

DankHead said:

What should I use? Carafa II?

Click to expand...

Midnight wheat will get you as black as you want with no added roasty flavors at all.

My LHBS didn't have midnight so I went with debittered carafa III. Looks good so far, we'll see how it's tastes..

missed my preboil gravity by... alot. It was estimated at 1.046 and I hit 1.030. Need to check and see if my new hydrometer is calibrated right, cause I cant think for the life of me what I could have done to get such poor efficiency. Might need to mix my mash better.. I dont know. Its still gonna be tasty.

edit: No DME on hand to help. Lesson learned.

did u adjust gravity reading for temp?
1.030 at 130 deg is really 1.043

Brewchitect said:

did u adjust gravity reading for temp?
1.030 at 130 deg is really 1.043

Click to expand...

I put my sample in the freezer and dropped the temp to 60 degrees. I think I may need to calibrate my thermometers. or my hydrometer. Or both.

Post boil OG was 1.038 @ 60 degrees, which is only 46.5% efficiency. So if it finishes where I think it will is only gonna give me something like 4% ABV. Not to great, but Im sure the beer will still be tasty.. I hope.

Update: The fermentation was great for the first 3 days, by today (day 4) it has slowed down a lot. No more krausen on top and the airlock isnt moving much. Took a gravity reading and its sitting @ 1.010, hoping it will drop another point or two over the next 6 days. The sample tasted good, cant wait to try in a week.

Took a hydrometer reading and started "cold crashing" today. It finished lower than I thought, at 1.008 so its gonna be right around 4% like i was thinking. It tasted awesome, It'll be great once I get it in the keg and let it sit for a couple more days.

On a side note, I think I figured out where my efficiency problems are coming from. It was in my technique, and am going to work at fixing them.

I'll have a photo and final tasting notes on this one in a few days, but so far Im pretty darn happy with how its turned out, considering the missed numbers.

sorry to resurrect and old thread, but how did this turn out. Im looking to make a black wheat, but have it taste like a regular wheat. I hate when people say they don't like "dark beers", and i want to blow their mind!