Weissbier Crop Circle Wheat Clone

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cactusgarrett

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Apr 8, 2008
Messages
2,314
Reaction score
895
Location
Madison, WI
Recipe Type
Extract
Yeast
WY3068
Yeast Starter
2qts at 1.040
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.053
Final Gravity
1.016
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
8
Color
8 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
10+ at 65-70F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
None
Additional Fermentation
None
15A Weizen/Weissbier
Tastes identical to The Great Dane's (Madison, WI) Crop Circle Wheat
ABV = ~4.8%

6lbs weizen DME
0.25lbs Cara-Pils
0.25lbs Munich
1oz Hallertauer (4.2%AA) for 60min

Boil Volume = 2.5gal
Total Volume = 5gal

Mash Cara-Pils and Munich in 0.625qts (1.25qt/lb) for 30min at 150-155F. Filter into brewpot and rinse with ~2.3gal 170F water to bring boil volume to 2.5gal.

Boil for 60min, adding the 6lbs DME with 10min left to minimize darkening. Do not use any finings to retain cloudiness to match style.

Chill, filter, and transfer to primary. Bring to 5gal with water, mix and take OG reading. Pitch yeast and hold around 65-70F during primary fermentation.

If you can allow it, serve with a slice of lemon.

Let me know if there are any questions.
 
I have a couple--

Are you adding the entire hop schedule at the beginning of the boil?

Are you only boiling the DME for 10 minutes? Isn't that a bit short?
 
Marshman - yes, the hops go in at the start of the 60 min boil. As for the late addition of DME, it's pretty common with wheats to help keep the color light. Generally it's good to do 25% for the full boil and 75% in the final 15-10 min. You can make that 50-50 or 40-60, also.

As for me, I just sampled m A version of this recipe and it's pretty good. I'm looking forward to a side-by-side, but it had a great aroma, crisp flavor, and a bit of tartness. SWMBO likes it, and that's what really counts.

5.3 Gallons --
6 lb Wheat Malt (German)
4 lb Pale Malt 2-row (Belgian)
0.25 lb Cara-Pils
0.25 lb Munich
Rice hulls as needed

1 oz Hallertauer (60 min)
Wyeast 3068

Mash @ 154 for 60 min (although I might go for 156-158 next time for a bit more mouthfeel).
OG 1.052 - FG 1.011
IBU 11
SRM 4.5
Enjoy!
 
And for reference this had more head when I brought it up. Guess I'll need more Cara-Pils next time.
Crop-Circle.jpg
 
I've found the head hangs around pretty good, but i carbed the **** out of mine in the keg. But, if you're looking for more mouthfeel, as your mashing comment suggests you could go higher with the cara-pils and kill 2 birds w/ 1 stone.
 
Did the side-by-side tonight, and it's pretty dang close. The Dane's is a bit sweeter, and that's about it. I think mashing 2 deg higher should set that straight. Good work on a clone well done!
 
I just rebrewed this with Pilsner malt instead of the Pale, and ended up with a lame efficiency. Got an OG of 1.044. Changing the malt was an excellent decission, and I must say I'm pleased with the lower gravity. It makes it a bit smoother, takes out the bit of over sweetness that was present and makes it entirely quaffable. Those are my suggestions for now.
And, fwiw, two days ago we were at my sister-in-law's and had a blind beer tasting night. This recipe (one of four homebrews out of 16 beers), was a big favorite. It is yummy.
 
I brewed a scaled down version of the all-grain recipe a couple of months back. It's been in the bottle for 3 weeks now. When I first tried Crop Circle Wheat at the Great Dane, it was my favorite wheat beer. I must say that this beer is my favorite homebrewed beer to date (only out of 4). My OG was 1052 and my FG was 1013. This is a very good beer. Well done.
 
Ok, I all these ingredients from Austin Homebrew and brewed this. It's been a year since I last had a real Crop Circle Wheat from the Great Dane. So, not sure if I can compare yet. I will be going back there, and will try to remember what each tastes like. I can say this, this recipe has resulted in the best tasting beer that I have brewed to date! Thanks for the posting of this.
 
Reviving a dead thread. My brother-in-law's favorite beer is Crop Circle Wheat and he wanted me to brew 10 gallons for his 30th birthday party which was last night. I used this recipe as a base and upped the wheat percentage since the Dane claims they use over 60% wheat in this. Let's just say it was a big hit. One person said it was better than the Dane's crop circle, and another said this was just as good as the Bavarian hefes she had while out in Germany. Everybody raved about it. Nice work on this, OP! Here's the version I brewed, again, 10 gallons. I hit 5.25% ABV with a crappy efficiency (which I was expecting).

14 lbs Wheat (German)
8 lbs Pale 2-row (Belgian)
9 oz Munich
9 oz Carapils

1.5 oz Hallertau 60 min

Mash 156F for 60 min
 
Reviving a dead thread. My brother-in-law's favorite beer is Crop Circle Wheat and he wanted me to brew 10 gallons for his 30th birthday party which was last night. I used this recipe as a base and upped the wheat percentage since the Dane claims they use over 60% wheat in this. Let's just say it was a big hit. One person said it was better than the Dane's crop circle, and another said this was just as good as the Bavarian hefes she had while out in Germany. Everybody raved about it. Nice work on this, OP! Here's the version I brewed, again, 10 gallons. I hit 5.25% ABV with a crappy efficiency (which I was expecting).

14 lbs Wheat (German)
8 lbs Pale 2-row (Belgian)
9 oz Munich
9 oz Carapils

1.5 oz Hallertau 60 min

Mash 156F for 60 min

Reviving a dead thread again. :)

Is this an all-grain recipe? Sorry, noob here. I'm planning on brewing a Crop Circle Wheat clone this weekend, all grain (my first), and this recipe sounds promising.
 
This was for 10 gallons so you'll want to halve all the ingredients. Also I fermented around 68-70 (beer, not room temp) with wy3068 yeast to get as much banana as possible. Also make sure you use a blow off tube with this yeast.
 
Thank you for your quick reply! May I ask what you mean by "Pale 2-row (Belgian)" and "Munich"? I could find pale Belgian malt and pale 2-row, but not pale 2-row Belgian. Munich also appears to apply to a number of different grain types from what I'm finding.

Thanks for the tip on the blow-off tube. I'll have to pick up one of those from the Wine & Hop Shop.
 
Oh and if you don't make a starter you should use 2 smack packs of the 3068

So a pale 2-row...sounds good. How about the Munich? Was there a certain type you used/recommend?

I'm actually trying to get some of the yeast that the Dane uses. I talked to the brewer at Hilldale today and he said that he could give me some in about 9 days after fermentation has completed, but I'd like to brew this weekend. So, I'm still trying to get in touch with the brewer downtown. We'll see how it pans out.
 
I think the Munich was a nice touch but not necessary. Just use whatever is available since it is such a small percentage of the grist. Traditional hefeweizens utilize just wheat and Pilsner malts. This recipe adds a few extra grains and substitutes pils for pale malt. I also think the diff in pale vs pils is probably negligible. If you use pils you need to mash for 90 mon. Do what you feel is best. IPAs are my specialties so I followed the previous advice and really found success. The result was an incredibly tasty hefe. Bottom line for this hefe: fermentation temp control with the correct yeast. This hefe needs to be heavy on banana and lower on the clove flavors.
 
I think the Munich was a nice touch but not necessary. Just use whatever is available since it is such a small percentage of the grist. Traditional hefeweizens utilize just wheat and Pilsner malts. This recipe adds a few extra grains and substitutes pils for pale malt. I also think the diff in pale vs pils is probably negligible. If you use pils you need to mash for 90 mon. Do what you feel is best. IPAs are my specialties so I followed the previous advice and really found success. The result was an incredibly tasty hefe. Bottom line for this hefe: fermentation temp control with the correct yeast. This hefe needs to be heavy on banana and lower on the clove flavors.

Great. Thank you for your help. :)
 
Oh and if you don't make a starter you should use 2 smack packs of the 3068

So, I wasn't able to get the Dane's yeast in time. But I just noticed this...you recommend 2 smack packs for 5 gallons? Or was that because your batch was 10 gallons?
 
Two for 5 gallons unless you make a starter. Yeast is so important, especially in weizens. Each smack pack only has 100 billion yeast cells, so unless you make a starter, use two.
 
How did it go?

It went pretty well. I ended up going 60% German wheat, 40% German pilsen, 1 oz. Hallertau leaf, and Wyeast 3068. Had an OG of 1.054 and FG of 1.016. I kegged and forced-carbonated it, and it tasted fantastic on the first night it was ready.

Since then, though, it's strangely tasted a little watered-down. I can't seem to come up with any plausible explanation for that, considering that it's been at the same temperature and I hadn't eaten since lunch when I came home from work and had some.
 
Reviving an old thread. Just brewed this on Saturday. I used to live in Madtown and this was one of my favorite beers.

Bottling in about a week, so I'll be sure to follow up with the end result in roughly 3 weeks from now.

I think someone said to use a blowoff tube with the 3086 yeast and they were right. Last night the yeast went crazy and I'm glad it was in place.
 
Interesting to see hear how it goes. I used to live across the street from the Great Dane and have many good memories drinking Crop Circle. Would love to brew a clone.
 
Here she is rocking and rolling. Color looks to be slightly darker than the real deal, but I'm guessing that will change as it matures.

Ignore the rather medieval looking surroundings. Haha!

**sorry for the sideways picture**

image.jpg
 
Here she is rocking and rolling. Color looks to be slightly darker than the real deal, but I'm guessing that will change as it matures.

Ignore the rather medieval looking surroundings. Haha!

**sorry for the sideways picture**


Color is spot on. It will look lighter in a serving glass.
 
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