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

Is the wheat white or red wheat

BamaProud said:

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

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Bama,

Did you end up brewing this as BIAB? I'm looking for BIAB wheat recipe and I also have a 10-gal pot.
If you did, did you do as directed by the OP? If you scaled back, what did you brew? How did it turn out?

This beer is amazing. I will be serving it at my wedding. Thanks for posting!

This beer really is good, it has been a hit with all my friends and more importantly it has been a big hit for me personally. I washed some yeast from my first batch and am thinking of brewing a Kolsch with it but I really am tempted to make my version of this recipe again.

I did a little write up on a beer blog about brewing this beer. I made two batches and pitched different yeast, give it a read.

http://rockonbeer.com/article/the-greatest-of-these-is-yeast/

Brewed this today, but made a few changes.

Steeped 8 oz Munich and 8 oz of Minute Rice(didn't have any rice hulls), at 155 for 60 min. Then added 6# Wheat DME, boiled for 1 hour with the same hop additions as original. Hit the mark right on at 1.050. My yeast starter wasn't quite ready yet(Some washed Safale US05 from a cream ale, my LHBS didn't have any Kolsch). Cooled the wort to about 90 degrees and then put in bucket fermentor, sealed it up with an empty airlock with a vodka soaked cotton ball to prevent suck back of any nasties. Yeast should be ready tomorrow...I hope.

I'm going to be brewing a second batch of this tomorrow while watching The Masters. My new LHBS doesn't have any Vienna or Munich malt so I just left out that 1/2 lb of grist. Last batch I brewed using their crush I way overshot the OG (87% efficiency) so I think using just the 5.5lb 2-row and 4.5lb wheat will be fine. The hop and yeast character is what makes this beer. I'll be using 0.5oz Magnum and 1oz Amarillo split into 0.25oz at 10 minutes and 0.75oz at flameout. I loved the results I got last time with Centennial but a little extra citrus from the Amarillo might be nice.

Made this recipe a few weeks ago. The first pint from the keg tastes amazing. Thanks for the great recipe thunderworm!

Has anyone tried to rack this recipe onto Blueberries? Been contemplating if I want to do that or just leave it alone. Or if anyone has had any good results using any other fruits?

aschupner said:

Has anyone tried to rack this recipe onto Blueberries? Been contemplating if I want to do that or just leave it alone. Or if anyone has had any good results using any other fruits?

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I would like to know too!! I was thinking blackberry puree.

Just brewed this on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I forgot to make a starter prior to the brewday (use US-05 99% of the time), so I'm a little concerned about having pitched the smack pack straight into the wort. Also set the fermentation temp at 66F instead of 62F for whatever reason. I'm losing my mind I guess. Either way, it'll be beer, and I suspect it'll be a refreshing one when spring eventually shows up here in snowy Minnesota! (You know, ideally in the next few weeks...)

Unless you are entering a competition, why stress? The tiny subtle difference of a starter vs direct pitch will not be noticeable unless tasted side by side (IMHO). The fermentation temp might...but c'mon dude. BEER!!!!

borden said:

Just brewed this on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I forgot to make a starter prior to the brewday (use US-05 99% of the time), so I'm a little concerned about having pitched the smack pack straight into the wort. Also set the fermentation temp at 66F instead of 62F for whatever reason. I'm losing my mind I guess. Either way, it'll be beer, and I suspect it'll be a refreshing one when spring eventually shows up here in snowy Minnesota! (You know, ideally in the next few weeks...)

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Been wondering the same thing about spring here in South Dakota, just got another 5 inches of snow yesterday. They say we are supposed to get up to 70 this weekend. Snow to 70 degrees in 3 days....that's SD for ya.

I brewed 10 gallons of this beer on March 30th.

The brew day was a disaster, many things went wrong, but there was only one thing that could have affected taste.

This was the second time I used a ph meter, and apparently you have to calibrate them every time. My guess is that I lowered the ph of the strike water to much. Anyway, after a 90 minute mash the pre-boil OG came in at 1.040. So I added 2 lbs of light pale malt DME to bring it back up to 1.050. (note to self: have in inventory various flavors of DME on hand).

So after 4 weeks in the primary, and one week conditioning, the results are in:

This beer rocks!!!

This beer is dangerous; it simply is too easy to drink. It’s been 90 degrees down here in Tucson, and sitting out by the pool with this beer…. Life is good. (hangovers not so much)

Fantastic recipe, a very forgiving recipe, my wife wants this on tap all summer long.

Thanks for posting this recipe Thunderworm.
.

Tapped this beer on Saturday for National Homebrew Day. We kegged it on Wednesday, hooked up the CO2 and set the regulator at 40 psi. Saturday morning, bled off the headspace, set the regulator to 6ish psi and poured. I think that it was right on with the carb level for the style, but I've since turned up the pressure to 15 psi for a while to try to target about 3 volumes of CO2 overall.

Verdict? Delicious! I would have really liked to have made this with the Kolsch yeast, but I didn't have time to procure that. Used US-05 instead, and it's still good (though I can see where the extra yeast flavor would push this from being a very good beer to a great beer).

Bottled half of my batch as regular wheat, and the other half I put onto 3# blueberries for a week. Just racked it off the blueberries today and cold crashing it now. Tasted it, didn't have much blueberry taste. I added an oz of blueberry extract, hopefully that will bring the blueberry taste through.

This is a fantastic beer. Very pleased with my results. Can't wait for a hot day that really befits such a drinkable beer.

For my second batch of this beer I had to make a couple of compromises. No vienna malt available so I just dropped it from the recipe (my new LHBS has a much finer crush so I ended up at the same OG as my first batch) and I used Amarillo flavor hops in place of Centennial. Still came out to be a very tasty beer, I just brought 5 sixers to a homebrew get together and it was a hit.

Add me to the list of people brewing this as their first all-grain batch (ignoring the one BIAB I brewed). I brewed a honey kolsch using the 2565 not too long ago and was looking for a recipe to re-pitch some washed yeast, but didn't think I needed another 5 gallons of kolsch. This recipe was just what I was looking for.

I scaled it down to 3.25 gallons (I only have a 5 gallon kettle) and seem to have hit the OG right on the nose. It's cooling down now and I've got a nice healthy starter ready to pitch. I'm planning on fermenting at 62 for maybe two or three weeks before bottling. I don't have super high hopes for my BIAB (a black IPA...I think it'll be alright and drinkable, not awesome), but I'm really excited for this one.

John

edit: fermented around 62 but forgot to affix the temp probe next to the bucket! d'oh!

I have to say I brewed this beer and added different citric hops at the end. Loved this beer. Could not get enough of it. I only had it a couple of days in the keg when catastrophy struck. I went down for a beer and found my kegs floating in 4 gallons of yellow liquid. I was very sad. brewing this again on Saturday. Thank you for the recipe.

Making this tomorrow, can't wait to try it out! My planned adjustments:

• 0.5oz Belma for FWH - I have a ton of it.
• 0.5oz Centennial at 10min, 1oz Centennial at FO. This should get IBUs true to style according to Brewer's Friend.
• Wyeast 3944 (washed 2nd gen) on a 2L starter, since I have it sitting around from brewing up SWMBO Slayer a few weeks ago.

There are likely to be unplanned adjustments as well.

I was going to use harvested oberon yeast do you guys think that would be a good idea?

Also my crawl space is around 67F will that work?

I have a spare pack of Wyeast 2565 and was wanting to make pretty much exactly this beer. How would it taste racked onto some fruit?

Everyone,

I have made this beer on three separate occasions, with three different types of yeasts, all three times, this recipe comes out excellent! I have even added some honey malt. What a flexible recipe.

daggers_nz said:

I have a spare pack of Wyeast 2565 and was wanting to make pretty much exactly this beer. How would it taste racked onto some fruit?

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I used blueberries, at first it didn't taste the greatest. At first it was pretty bitter, I was expecting some sweetness from the blueberries. It has been in the bottle now 4 months and is finally tasting pretty good. I don't have the patience to wait that long for a beer, so probably won't try this one over fruit again. Maybe it would work better with orange since the hops have a citric hint to them.

THEUKRAINIAN said:

Everyone,

I have made this beer on three separate occasions, with three different types of yeasts, all three times, this recipe comes out excellent! I have even added some honey malt. What a flexible recipe.

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+1 to this. I made this beer a few times with different hops at least, and every time it was amazing. Temporarily out of the homebrewing game but this may be my first batch when I start up again next year.

After 6 months of sitting in bottles. Tastes just like lemons.

Heating strike water for 5 gallons of this as we speak. Going to brew pretty much true to recipe, except for an extra dose of hops. Magnum at FW, 1/2oz Centennial @ 10min, 1/2oz Centennial @ 5min, and 1 oz Centennial at flameout for a total of 25.6 IBUS according to beersmith. Pitching a slurry of Kolsch yeast.

I made this on Sunday as my first all grain recipe. The process went pretty well and it's fermenting like crazy. I'm glad I used a blow off tube because it would have definitely blew my air lock.

I do have a couple questions. If I don't cold crash, do I need to ferment longer than 9 days or move to a secondary? How do I know if 9 days are long enough?

Then once I bottle, how long should they be bottled before drinking? Is a couple weeks good?

keithslater said:

I made this on Sunday as my first all grain recipe. The process went pretty well and it's fermenting like crazy. I'm glad I used a blow off tube because it would have definitely blew my air lock.

I do have a couple questions. If I don't cold crash, do I need to ferment longer than 9 days or move to a secondary? How do I know if 9 days are long enough?

Then once I bottle, how long should they be bottled before drinking? Is a couple weeks good?

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9 days is enough if you check the gravity reading and it's more or less at the estimated FG. Or, if you're doing things by the book, if you check the gravity a few days in a row and it's not moving anymore (and not stuck).

Since it's a wheat beer, I'd check it after a week in bottle and see if it's carbed up. If so, have at it. I know patience is usually advised on here, but this beer is so good when it's fresh and young.

Made this a few weeks ago and I'm very happy with the results. I had a bad mash and had to add 3lbs of extra light dme. Can't wait to give it a try again. I split the batch after primary and kept 1 gallon as is and put 4 gallons over 3lbs of raspberry puree. Both are delicious, thanks for the recipe!

I did this as my first all grain batch. I missed the OG by about 4 points due to crappy mashing, but, I am kegging and don't need to worry too much about yeast popping my bottles so I just dumped in some honey to make it up. I will comment later on the flavor, I am excited!

HopheadNJ said:

Heating strike water for 5 gallons of this as we speak. Going to brew pretty much true to recipe, except for an extra dose of hops. Magnum at FW, 1/2oz Centennial @ 10min, 1/2oz Centennial @ 5min, and 1 oz Centennial at flameout for a total of 25.6 IBUS according to beersmith. Pitching a slurry of Kolsch yeast.

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Dry hopped with an oz of cascade - this beer is delicious! Needs more hops though, i'm gonna multiply the late additions next time. The nice big pitch of yeast had this fermented and cleaned up quickly, tastes great less than 30 days from brewday! Really enjoying this one.

Just tapped this keg last night. I screwed up the mash effeciency as it was my first attempt at the all grain brew, however, it came out very light, crisp, and drinkable (too drinkable). Real heavy on the yeast scent and flavor, not in a bad way at all. Went through about a dozen glasses last night (oops).

Scrounged up about 2.5oz of the yeast from the bottom, tossed it right back into my stirplate, brewing with it again very soon. Round two will be a raspberry/orange something or another for the girlfriend and her mom for christmas!

Adding this to my list of wheat beers that I am considering for my next brew. I'm just not sure about the Kolsch yeast? I don't care for most lagers so I'm not sure I want that type of flavor in the finish. I may sub a wheat yeast, or a slurry of US-05 from the beer currently in primary.

For me, the Kolsch yeast is a key part of this recipe. I have also tried it with US-05 and it was enjoyable, but was kind of boring next to the Kolsch yeast version. An American Hefeweizen yeast might also work well, but I haven't tried it in this recipe. I did try using WLP380 Hefeweizen IV in this recipe, and I didn't like the resulting mix of the yeast flavors with the hops. However, that was only one time, and perhaps a different fermentation temperature would have produced much better results (right now I can't remember what temp I used).

Thanks for the quick response. Yeah, I kinda figured the Kolsch was what made this recipe unique. This is a difficult stage in my brewing career. I've only been brewing since the beginning of the year, and don't really have the pipeline fully stocked yet. So I'm torn between brewing what I personally like best, and trying to drag other friends and family members into my hobby of brewing and enjoying craft beer. I'm a hop-head, so I could be happy brewing mostly IPAs, pale ales and variants of that theme. But none of my family members like them, so I want something they will drink, but still a beer that I will like too. Can you suggest a commercial beer that will represent the flavor profile of this yeast? Doesn't have to be a wheat beer, as I can adjust for that. I'm in Texas, and I believe Shiner makes a Kolsch.

I haven't had the Shiner Kolsch. I can't really think of a commercial beer right now to give you an idea of the yeast character, but in this recipe I don't taste much lager character. The US-05 might be more widely appealing, and this would probably give you a beer closer to Boulevard Wheat, which is big around here.

thunderworm said:

I haven't had the Shiner Kolsch. I can't really think of a commercial beer right now to give you an idea of the yeast character, but in this recipe I don't taste much lager character. The US-05 might be more widely appealing, and this would probably give you a beer closer to Boulevard Wheat, which is big around here.

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Thunderworm, I don't have access to any Kolsch yeasts where I live, and have the following options. Care to share your experience / opinion on the following yeasts? This will be my 3rd brew (previously used US-05 and S-04).

• S-04
• US-05
• Safbrew WB-06
• Safbrew T-58 (looks like it could be interesting, but I've never heard anything about this particular strain
• Munich Wheat Beer Yeast

My main goal is to make a delicious beer (as opposed to staying true to the beer style guidelines for American wheat, for example).

Thanks

morbster said:

Thunderworm, I don't have access to any Kolsch yeasts where I live, and have the following options. Care to share your experience / opinion on the following yeasts? This will be my 3rd brew (previously used US-05 and S-04).

• S-04
• US-05
• Safbrew WB-06
• Safbrew T-58 (looks like it could be interesting, but I've never heard anything about this particular strain
• Munich Wheat Beer Yeast

My main goal is to make a delicious beer (as opposed to staying true to the beer style guidelines for American wheat, for example).

Thanks

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FWIW, I brewed this with US-05 and it was fantastic. Very refreshing. I've had some bad luck with S-04 even with temperature control, so if you haven't used it much, I don't know if I'd try it now.