trying a "crossover" wheat - wish me luck

I'm brewing a wheat today and blurring the style of Bavarian and American. Bittered and pitched like a Bavarian with Hallertau and Wyeast 3638, but late hopped with some Cascade. Fermenting @ 65*. Maybe I should go warmer and get more banana.

Its either going to be a good interesting beer or a train wreck.

Sounds like it should be a nice refreshing wheat beer. It should be a good one! Nice choice of hops dude!

My favorite are wheat beers and the only batch I have made so far is wheat, and plan on doing another next weekend. Let us know how this works out. I would like to experiment with hybrid wheats myself. I think there is plenty of room to mix wheats for some unique flavors.

I will take notes and update as it goes. If the the results are promising I will post the recipe.

I did one of these and afterwards respected why a hefeweizen is what it is. I used some flavoring additions of Cascade and Amarillo (3/4oz each in 5 gal) and felt it totally washed out the hefeweizen character of the beer. If I was to do it again, I would just use a bittering charge and a late aroma addition (flameout or dryhop) in an effort to retain some of the yeast flavor character. My batch seemed a somewhat muddled American Pale Ale, not a german wheat with citrus in the nose.

We will see what happens with my hop schedule. I think I am going to ferment warm to retain the banana esters. I'm not going crazy with the cascade.

Good idea - don't want to let the hops overpower the wheat characteristics that make it what it is...

Cheers!

OG - 1.051
IBU - 21.9

.5 Hallertau @ 60
.5 Cascade @ 15
.5 Hallertau @ 10
.5 Cascade @ 5

Og sample wasn't hoppy at all. A bit sweet but finished crisp. In line with my intentions. We will see how it ferments out. Ambient will hang around 65 or so and I've wrapped the vessel in a blanket initially, I won't make an effort to keep it cooler.

Always worth experimentation. I love/respect hefe's for what they are; sweet and bubbly.

I was looking to do something a little different too. My LHBS knows me a little too well and suggested I use Sorachi Ace with my regular recipe. This was the best tasting wort I have tried. The Sorachi crept up as an aftertaste which is very different. It fermented at 68 F for 10 days, then warmed to 72. Had OG of 1.051 at 38 IBU's eek. Not sure the FG yet, but I'm at 3 weeks. Prob gonna give it another week before bottle. I would love to check back with you in a month or so and see what you came up with!

Absolut_Ninja said:

Always worth experimentation. I love/respect hefe's for what they are; sweet and bubbly.

I was looking to do something a little different too. My LHBS knows me a little too well and suggested I use Sorachi Ace with my regular recipe. This was the best tasting wort I have tried. The Sorachi crept up as an aftertaste which is very different. It fermented at 68 F for 10 days, then warmed to 72. Had OG of 1.051 at 38 IBU's eek. Not sure the FG yet, but I'm at 3 weeks. Prob gonna give it another week before bottle. I would love to check back with you in a month or so and see what you came up with!

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My wort was sweet up front with a little bite on the very tail end. I am at 3 days in primary so far. Once I can switch from blow-off to air lock I will warm it up to 70 and bottle @ 3 weeks.

Did you have a lot of activity that you needed a blow-off, or you do that regularly? Just getting an idea for this recipe for the future.

cobrawolverine said:

Did you have a lot of activity that you needed a blow-off, or you do that regularly? Just getting an idea for this recipe for the future.

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I normally ferment in a 6.5 gal primary. I use blow-off for wheats and haven't needed it for any other normal sized ale. This particular batch is stuffed into a 5 gal carboy so I definitely needed it.

Ok so I decided I will bottle today. I really wanted to put off sterilizing some bottles but you inspired me. Stupid infection. I will post FG & tasting note. Maybe I shouldn't be tasting before work.... oh well.

Absolut_Ninja said:

Ok so I decided I will bottle today. I really wanted to put off sterilizing some bottles but you inspired me. Stupid infection. I will post FG & tasting note. Maybe I shouldn't be tasting before work.... oh well.

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How did it taste?

Blow-off is off and air lock is on now. I think I'm still going to wait a few days before rising the temp a bit.

Really sweet. I figured about 38 IBUs and it wasnt bitter at all. Final analysis in 3 to 4 weeks! The clove really came through on this one. It may have fermented a little lower than my strip said.

Absolut_Ninja said:

Really sweet. I figured about 38 IBUs and it wasnt bitter at all. Final analysis in 3 to 4 weeks! The clove really came through on this one. It may have fermented a little lower than my strip said.

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What was the grain bill? I estimate mine to be 21 IBU's or so, I hope it isn't syrup! It makes me think about keeping the temp cooler.

Brewed 2/16

2 oz flaked wheat in approx 2 gal, 150° for 15 min
3# Briess wheat DME @ 60 min
.5 oz Sorachi Ace pellets (12.1%) @ 60
3# Briess light DME @ 15
10 oz honey @ 15
.5 oz Sorachi @ 15
1 tsp Irish moss @15

OG 1.051, FG 1.012, IBU ESTIMATE 38.56, ABV 5.12%, ESTIMATED 6.77 SRM, not that I care bout color.

Cooled to 72, pitched 3068 smack pack directly. Activity after 2 hours, temp dropped to 67 ~ 68. Warmed up to about 72 after 10 days.

Bottled 3/7

21 shouldn't get you syrup; BJCP says 8 - 15. Ive never used Sorachi before. Its been forever and a day since I had a Sapporo but its bitter if I recall. I am going to look up that now....

It wasn't syrup from my og sample, but sweet with a tart finish. My recipe was simple, it looked like this:

OG - 1.051
IBU - 21.9
SRM - 5.9 (probably ended up darker, but who knows)
I don't remember my est fg, AVB was est 5.1%

2.5# Wheat DME

.5 Hallertau @ 60
.5 Cascade @ 15
2.5#Wheat DME, 1# Extra Light DME @ 10
.5 Hallertau @ 10
.5 Cascade @ 5

Pitched wy3638 @ 75 direct
Visible signs of fermentation occured at about 6.5 hrs, my temp was about 64 at that point.
After 3.5 days of heavy krausen, it slow enough to air lock where since I am still rocking a steady bubble stream.

So the FG sample was really bitter up front, followed by slightly sweet clove. Really weird. My hefe's are usually drank young (well, quickly), but his one may have to sit and calm down.

Recipe looks great. I have exclusively used hallertau in the past; I think your recipe is really more of what I was looking for. At least I get to experiment with something different.

It will be interesting to see if your bitterness mellows. It may not given the higher IBU's for the style. It may however make for a perfect candidate for a fruit garnish to off set the bitterness if it doesn't mellow.

I still have 2 weeks before bottling.

Absolut_Ninja said:

So the FG sample was really bitter up front, followed by slightly sweet clove. Really weird. My hefe's are usually drank young (well, quickly), but his one may have to sit and calm down.

Recipe looks great. I have exclusively used hallertau in the past; I think your recipe is really more of what I was looking for. At least I get to experiment with something different.

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I'm bottling this weekend. I think I'm going to definately be darker than I wanted, but I'm not concerned there.

After a week have you have a chance to sample with a wee-bit of carb on it?

Went into the bottle today. A lot of banana. I'm hoping a little bottle conditioning will dry it out or crisp it up a touch.

Update; wow, this one is a keeper. About a week ago I tried one that was really bitter. Did not taste good at all. It had a gross aftertaste from the Ace. Had my first real one last night and it was great! I gotta check my OG/FG again. This one bout knocked my on my tail. SWMBO had a 12 oz and said the same thing.
I suck at reviews so take it as is; initial clove & Sorachi up front. Odd but pleasant combination. Definate wheat malt sweetness, close but not enough to be cloying. Nasty bitter aftertaste subsided. Very bubbly, consistent with style. Packs a hella buzz; no idea where that came from.

If you want to know more just ask!

I tasted one of mine. It needs another week to finish up carbing properly, but the banana died down. Mine also is going to be a really good beer. Surprisingly similar to Heogarden (sp) with an added hint of banana up front. We'll see middle of the week how it is once it retains its carb.