Boulevard Wheat Clone

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Can't help oyu guys out right now (at work) but if you search the homebrew recipe sites, just go for a generic "american wheat" recipe and it will get you darn close. Make sure to use the american wheat yeast strain, which will cut down on the banany phenols and make it a cleaner flavor.

I'm pretty familiar with Boulevard wheat and it is as american as it gets.

When I get home I'll search the Boulevard site to see fi they give any clues. It will be easy to formulate a recipe pretty close if they give a little info about it.
 
Dude said:
Can't help oyu guys out right now (at work) but if you search the homebrew recipe sites, just go for a generic "american wheat" recipe and it will get you darn close. Make sure to use the american wheat yeast strain, which will cut down on the banany phenols and make it a cleaner flavor.

I'm pretty familiar with Boulevard wheat and it is as american as it gets.

When I get home I'll search the Boulevard site to see fi they give any clues. It will be easy to formulate a recipe pretty close if they give a little info about it.

I LOVE BOULEVARD! my fav is a toss up between the wheat, and the irish ale. looked on their website and here is your hint.

Malts:
Pale Malt
Unmalted Soft Red Winter Wheat

Hops:
Magnum
Simcoe
13 IBUs

Starting Gravity:
11.3 degrees Plato
 
Using those specs/ingredients (and a little extra research), here is what I came up with.

Note: I read an article in BYO from the head brewer at Boulevard who said they use unmalted wheat--but he doesn't recommend that homebrewers do that. He said any soft malted wheat would work. He also suggests using the chico strain. :confused: Phooey, I say. That WLP320 is awesome.

Boulevard Wheat cloner

A ProMash Recipe Report
Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.5 Wort Size (Gal): 5.5
Total Grain (Lbs): 9.50
Anticipated OG: 1.048 Plato: 11.82
Anticipated SRM: 3.7
Anticipated IBU: 13.9
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70 %
Wort Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.50 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
3.00 lbs. Soft White Wheat Malt America 1.040 3

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.25 oz. Magnum Whole 14.00 11.4 60 min.
0.25 oz. Magnum Whole 14.00 2.3 5 min.
0.25 oz. Simcoe Whole 14.00 2.3 5 min.

Yeast
-----
White Labs WLP320 American Hefeweizen Ale



For extract brewers, sub in 4.0 lbs. light DME, 1.5 lbs wheat LME/DME, and steep 1 lb. flaked wheat with some DME at 150°ish for about 15-30 mins.
 
looks good. i came up with my own Irish Ale clone recipe. I'll post it later. I gots to go to work now :(
 
Okay I'm sure this is a stupid question but in looking at this for an extract,

"For extract brewers, sub in 4.0 lbs. light DME, 1.5 lbs wheat LME/DME, and steep 1 lb. flaked wheat with some DME at 150°ish for about 15-30 mins."

I get the steeping, but what does "some DME" mean? Do you just steep a little bit (.5 lb??) of the wheat DME in with the flaked wheat?

Thanks for any help, I wanted to try this for my next batch, but wanted to make sure I understood it first! :)
 
How do you think this recipe looks?

Boulevard Wheat Clone
6-D American Wheat or Rye Beer

Size: 5.5 gal
Efficiency: 70.0%
Attenuation: 80.0%
Calories: 149.26 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.045 (1.040 - 1.055)
Terminal Gravity: 1.009 (1.008 - 1.013)
Color: 3.73 (3.0 - 6.0)
Alcohol: 4.74% (4.0% - 5.5%)
Bitterness: 15.6 (15.0 - 30.0)

Ingredients:
2.0 tsp 5.2 pH Stabilizer - added during mash
5.0 lb Standard 2-Row
5.0 lb Red Wheat Malt
0.25 oz Magnum (13.6%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
2.2 g Wyeast Nutrient - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
0.5 oz Simcoe (11.9%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
1.0 ea Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05

Mash at 154F for 60 minutes
 
This is the wheat beer I brew in the summer, although it is pretty good year round. I wasn't trying for a Boulevard Wheat clone, but it comes pretty darn close IMHO.

I've also done this recipe with Cluster hops, which wasn't bad. But if you are going for the Boulevard clone, use stay with the Pearle and Spalter or substitute something you feel better suited.

Baldy Beer Brewery American Wheat
American Wheat


Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
5 lbs Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) (2.0 SRM) Grain 46.5 %
4 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 41.9 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Wheat - Soft Red, Flaked (Briess) (1.6 SRM) Grain 11.6 %
0.50 oz Pearle [8.00%] (60 min) Hops 14.3 IBU
0.50 oz Spalter [4.50%] (15 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale




Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out Total Grain Weight: 10.75 lb
Sparge Water: 4.43 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F

Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 13.44 qt of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F 60 min
 
ISUBrew79, why would you put whirlfloc in a wheat beer?

Bully Wheat isn't filtered.
Oh, I just forgot to delete the Whirlfloc from the ingredient list. I quickly copied and pasted from another recipe in BeerTools Pro and forgot to take it out.
 
Has anyone tried the extract version that Dude put together? I am interested in trying it this weekend and I was curious how it turned out.
 
Just brewed the extract version. I make a few changes:

4Lbs Light DME
2Lbs Wheat DME (The LHBS sells them in 1Lb amounts)

I also used WYeast American Wheat Ale 1010 smack pack. Pitched at 75 degrees and I plan on fermenting in the mid 60's.

OG: 1.051
 
Glad to see Boulevard is so popular! I live in the KC metro area where they are located. Great establishment and fun to tour.
 
I know this is an old thread but here is what I gathered from the lead brewer of Boulevard. I referenced the hops they had listed on their site - Bravo, Palisade, Simcoe, and Summit:

"All of the hops on the list you have are for bittering. Our wheat beer does not have any aroma additions and really since you will not be getting much aroma or flavor out of your bittering hops you can use whatever hops you want to. The hops we use in our wheat beer changes every year depending on what is available.

I can’t really say much about the yeast but I think the California Ale yeast that you have will work fine. Also you might try an English Ale yeast.

We use approx. 60% Pale malt, 19% unmalted wheat, and 21% malted wheat in our malt bill. If the color doesn’t come out right then you can add a little bit of color malt as needed."

So there's the grain bill, hop info, and a clue on the yeast to use.

Hope this helps you guys...I have a batch fermenting based on Dude's recipe and am going to re-calculate based on this information and try again in a few weeks.

Cheers!
 
I'm hanging on to a bottle of Boulevard Wheat for when I make this to try to culture some yeast from it.
Since they bottle condition their beer, anybody know if they use a secondary yeast strain?
 
Good question.

As an update to what I wrote above he did indicate to me in his last e-mail that I should use an American Wheat yeast.

But in the previous e-mail (posted) he said the California Ale or British Ale should work fine.

Sounds to me like he's suggesting pitching both American Wheat and another Ale. The reason I say that is because in his original response when I said I was using California Ale perhaps he thought I was talking about a secondary yeast...because it would seem natural to use American Wheat yeast in an American Wheat beer right?

I hesitate to contact him more because he already said he couldn't say much about the yeast...yet gave me some clues. My next batch I'm going to try pitching American Wheat and British Ale.
 
"All of the hops on the list you have are for bittering. Our wheat beer does not have any aroma additions and really since you will not be getting much aroma or flavor out of your bittering hops you can use whatever hops you want to. The hops we use in our wheat beer changes every year depending on what is available.

I can’t really say much about the yeast but I think the California Ale yeast that you have will work fine. Also you might try an English Ale yeast.

We use approx. 60% Pale malt, 19% unmalted wheat, and 21% malted wheat in our malt bill. If the color doesn’t come out right then you can add a little bit of color malt as needed."


Thanks for the tips. I adjusted to get ~60% Pale 20 and 20, scaled the recipe to the gravity posted on their site and an ABV of 4.6, closer to that of the actual.

Still questioning myself on the choice of yeast though, I plan on using WLP002, thought about using WLP001. I definitely won't use an "American Wheat" yeast, I think what separates Boulevard from the pack is it does not have a hint of hefe to it.

I dig their beers, they are my go to's.
 
They are being evasive about the yeast. I think it's an American Wheat combined with another variety.

I got another e-mail from another Brewer at Boulevard who told me that they fermented at 65 degrees and let the temps rise towards end of fermentation. Again...didn't give me details on yeast but said:

"We keep the IBU around 13 and use a variety of different hops to keep the flavor and bitterness levels consistent between different crop years. You could use all four varieties that we use but you should be ok with two. Maybe Simcoe and Magnum and get 50% of the IBU from each."

I still haven't brewed my second batch. I will tell you that I don't think California Ale is the right answer.
 
I brewed this last night:

Extract / Specialty

3 lbs Golden Light
.5 lbs Extra Light
1 lb Wheat
1 lb Flaked Wheat

I steeped the flaked wheat in about 1 lb of dme at 150-155 for 30 minutes.

Hops

.5 oz of a ~50-50 mixture of cascade and palisades pellets @ 60 min.

I used the palisades because they have that listed on their site and cascade because I had it on hand. I got about 13 IBU, so I am close.

Target OG was 1.044, I got 1.042.

I went with WLP002, just thought I would give it a shot. We will see how much attenuation I get out of it. I pitched a 2 pint starter.

Color looks good, looked better than it does in the pic.

IMG_0312.jpg
 
Let me know how this works. I'm brewing my version today:

Partial Mash

2.5 lb Wheat DME
2.5 lb Pale Malt (2 Row)
1.25 lb Unmalted Wheat

.10 ounce Bravo
.15 ounce Magnum

I've had more contact with another brewer there and he also suggested American Wheat as the yeast. He suggested going 50/50 with Magnum and Simcoe for bittering.

Also...he told me that they use a different yeast in their bottling process than they do in brewing. He said it's because their house yeast flocculates too much in the bottle. So there's another clue...and a tip to NOT waste time harvesting.
 
I've had more contact with another brewer there and he also suggested American Wheat as the yeast. He suggested going 50/50 with Magnum and Simcoe for bittering.

Do you think there would be a problem with just using the Magnum hops? I usually brew kits but haven't found a wheat kit that is mellow enough for me (my go to beer is an IPA but I like a mellow wheat) so I don't have any hops on hand....it would be most simple to just buy one variety.
 
I brewed this last night:

Extract / Specialty

3 lbs Golden Light
.5 lbs Extra Light
1 lb Wheat
1 lb Flaked Wheat

I steeped the flaked wheat in about 1 lb of dme at 150-155 for 30 minutes.

Hops

.5 oz of a ~50-50 mixture of cascade and palisades pellets @ 60 min.

I used the palisades because they have that listed on their site and cascade because I had it on hand. I got about 13 IBU, so I am close.

Target OG was 1.044, I got 1.042.

I went with WLP002, just thought I would give it a shot. We will see how much attenuation I get out of it. I pitched a 2 pint starter.

Color looks good, looked better than it does in the pic.



Trying to put something togeather similar to yours, never made a recipie just brewed lots of kits. What do you think of the recipie below? I use an extra .5 pounds of the extra light because you can't buy a half pound.

Why don't you like the american wheat yeast? If you don't use that then you won't get the cloudy apperance correct?

Do you think the flaked wheat is important? I guess I am not dead set on a Boulevard clone, I just want a good easy drinking american wheat beer. I tried a NB Wheat kit and it was much too bitter for my liking.


Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 50.00 %
1.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 16.67 %
1.00 lb Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 16.67 %
1.00 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 16.67 %
0.25 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 13.3 IBU
1 Pkgs American Wheat Ale (Wyeast Labs #1010) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.045 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.47 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %
Bitterness: 13.3 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint
Est Color: 5.8 SRM Color: Color
 
Trying to put something togeather similar to yours, never made a recipie just brewed lots of kits. What do you think of the recipie below? I use an extra .5 pounds of the extra light because you can't buy a half pound.

To be honest, this is only the second of my own recipes I have made so bear that in mind.

The extra .5 lbs of extra light will just give a slightly stronger beer, no worries. You could go with all Light if you wanted, I used Extra Light because I have a bunch.

Why don't you like the american wheat yeast? If you don't use that then you won't get the cloudy apperance correct?

Do you think the flaked wheat is important?

On the yeast, didn't say I don't like it, just thought I would try something else, IMO, Boulevard just doesn't have the taste you get american wheat yeast, something less 'hefe' about it, hard describe.

On the flaked wheat, no not that important, especially since I just steeped it, so all I got out of it was bit of haze (cloudy appearance) and body.


I guess I am not dead set on a Boulevard clone, I just want a good easy drinking american wheat beer. I tried a NB Wheat kit and it was much too bitter for my liking.

I hear ya, I like my wheat to be a nice clean tasting with a bit of sweetness.

I think you are on the right track, and keep it simple if you like, go with a single hop, maybe next try two and taste the effects.
 
If you guys want to clone Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat, their ale yeast is distinctive and is the bottle conditioning strain so grow it up.

Anyone around KC may want to know that in association with the Kansas City Bier Meisters Competition later this month we are sponsoring a private tour of Boulevard, led by a brewer. Great opportunity to ask questions.

www.kcbmcomp.com has more info.
 
If you guys want to clone Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat, their ale yeast is distinctive and is the bottle conditioning strain so grow it up.

I know you probably didn't read my posts above, but I've had e-mail communication with one of their brewers and he told me they do not use the same yeast when they ferment. They re-pitch it apparently because - in his words - the yeast they use to brew flocculates too much in the bottle.
 
Do you think there would be a problem with just using the Magnum hops? I usually brew kits but haven't found a wheat kit that is mellow enough for me (my go to beer is an IPA but I like a mellow wheat) so I don't have any hops on hand....it would be most simple to just buy one variety.

I think going straight Magnum would be fine.
 
Let me know how this works. So there's another clue...and a tip to NOT waste time harvesting.

So I bottled this tonight, hit about 1.011, tastes like a warm flat boulevard wheat that sat in the garage while I mowed the lawn, a bit dryer than I expected. Anyways, I am interested how yours turns out. I am definately going to partial mash this next time around. Been looking at this as well:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/boulevard-wheat-clone-extract-recipe-153191/


You will have to let me know how your yeast selection turns out, I think I might try WLP008 next. I got until June-July to figure it out.
 
You will have to let me know how your yeast selection turns out, I think I might try WLP008 next. I got until June-July to figure it out.

Alright...here's a re-cap:

2.5 lb Wheat DME
2.5 lb Pale Malt (2 Row)
1.25 lb Un-malted Wheat

.10 ounce Bravo
.15 ounce Magnum

Wyeast American Wheat Yeast

I mashed the Pale and Wheat @ 150 degrees for 35 minutes. Added DME and boiled. Added hops. Boiled for 60 minutes. Pitched yeast @ 75 degrees.

Target OG was 1.042 and I got 1.039. I obviously didn't get much efficiency on my mash.

Fermented in primary (no secondary) for two weeks. Kegged and under pressure for cold conditioning right now.

The samples I've tried are underwhelming. I think I'm in the ballpark but I have to tell you the beer is nearly tastless. I mean literally it almost tastes like water. It's not too sweet so I did get some bittering out of the hops I used but there is something missing.

The previous batch I did with California Ale was way wrong. The American Wheat yeast seems to be closer but really lacks the flavor profile.

What I'm going to try next:

Increase Pale Malt to 3.0 lbs
Substitute malted wheat for un-malted wheat
Increase the IBUs ever-so-slightly (they claim 13 but I may not be getting good efficiency out of mine so I may be a little short)

Also seriously considering pitching both American Wheat AND British Ale yeast. I'm convinced that their 'house yeast' is a combination of some kind. Both brewers told me to use American Wheat but their beer has a flavor twist to it that can only be created by the yeast used since they only use bittering hops.
 
According to the book "Brewing with Wheat"

Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat
OG : 1.045
Apparent degree of Attenuation : 75%
ABV : 4.4
IBU : 13
Malts : Pale, Wheat, unmalted wheat, Munich
Hops : Simcoe
Yeast : house, English pale ale
Primary fermentation : Yeast pitched at 64, rises to 73, 5 days
Secondary Fermentation : 59, 5 days

Grain bill
56.5% Pale malt
19.5% raw wheat
22% malted wheat
2% Munich malt

Mashing schedule
104 for 6.5 minutes
122 for 25 minutes
145 for 12 minutes
163 for 15 minutes
169 knockout

boil is 70 minutes with hop additions just before boil begins and then 10 minutes into boil (or at 60 min)

Fermentation begins at 64 degrees and when the gravity drops to 1.024 is raised to 73 degrees

Looks like most of the recipes here are very close to this, I just thought I would throw this out after just reading it tonight.
 
Wiking44,

Sorry to hear that, I hope it is at least drinkable.

I stuck a couple in the fridge for a day, color is a bit off. It starts alright but ends a bit dry and 'bready'.

Wife's words, "Wow, started in nice but then gets a bit heavy".

The initial tanginess is there, but the finish is off. Certainly I beer I will drink and share.

Hillwilliam,

That is pretty close to what I am going after next, thanks.
Hops TBD, but still undecided on the yeast.

I was reading Brewing Classic Styles and they suggested English Pale as well or maybe a Kolsch yeast. I am going to try the East Coast Ale and wait and see how Wiking44's combo ends up.

I hope to have something close nailed down before it gets hot out.
 
Camus:

Well between the two of us we may get close at least. The epilog to that last beer is that once it was cold conditioned for a week it turned into a very nice light-tasting beer. The low IBU meant my girlfriend would drink it (not much for hops.) Truthfully you have to throw a lemon in there though in my opinion. Otherwise it's a little mild for me.

I did brew another attempt on Sunday. I modified the recipe slightly:

2 lb 10 oz Wheat DME (up from 2.5)
2.5 lb Pale Malt (2 Row)
1.25 lb Un-malted Wheat

.22 ounce Bravo (No more Magnum left)

Wyeast British Ale yeast (Which was one suggested to me by the brewer...but then he said American Wheat too which confuses me still.)

I mashed the Pale and Wheat @ 150 degrees for 35 minutes. Added DME and boiled. Added hops. Boiled for 60 minutes. Pitched yeast @ 75 degrees.


The one thing I can't replicate is the whole part about starting fermentation at 65 degrees and raising it. I don't have that kind of temperature control.

I did get good and rapid fermentation (British Ale always does that for me) and if the smell coming from the air lock is any indication it seems to be much closer than the American Wheat yeast. Will be another 10 days or so before I get a sample though as I'm once again skipping the secondary fermenter. Will let you know.
 
The girl and I drink a ton Boulevard Wheat. I personally would not try to clone it since it is already dirt cheap from the store. In my opinion any beer that is already under a $1 a bottle from the liquor store is not worth brewing.
 
The girl and I drink a ton Boulevard Wheat. I personally would not try to clone it since it is already dirt cheap from the store. In my opinion any beer that is already under a $1 a bottle from the liquor store is not worth brewing.

Thanks for your input.

When you can convince Boulevard to distribute to Florida let me know, since they've told me they have no plans to do so in the future.
 
I did brew another attempt on Sunday. I modified the recipe slightly:

2 lb 10 oz Wheat DME (up from 2.5)
2.5 lb Pale Malt (2 Row)
1.25 lb Un-malted Wheat

.22 ounce Bravo (No more Magnum left)

Wyeast British Ale yeast (Which was one suggested to me by the brewer...but then he said American Wheat too which confuses me still.)

I mashed the Pale and Wheat @ 150 degrees for 35 minutes. Added DME and boiled. Added hops. Boiled for 60 minutes. Pitched yeast @ 75 degrees.


The one thing I can't replicate is the whole part about starting fermentation at 65 degrees and raising it. I don't have that kind of temperature control.

I did get good and rapid fermentation (British Ale always does that for me) and if the smell coming from the air lock is any indication it seems to be much closer than the American Wheat yeast. Will be another 10 days or so before I get a sample though as I'm once again skipping the secondary fermenter. Will let you know.

I threw this in the keg on Saturday and it's cold-conditioning right now. I did sample it on Sunday and have to say it's a very good tasting beer...but it's not Boulevard Wheat. I think it's much closer than the last batch I did and I can say I'm 'in the ballpark' but there is something missing. The two things I can think of:

Fermentation temp - They say they start at 65 and raise it. I can't replicate that.
Yeast - They've told me both American Wheat and British Ale. I've tried both (but not together) and it seems the British Ale is a bit closer.

I think I'm going to move on for a few batches and see if anyone else comes up with something. It's springtime - Heffeweizen on the way!
 

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