My American wheat recipe critique

Hi.
Im going to brew an big batch of american style wheat ale, but I need also some recipe critique and ideas from you guys.

Here we go:

50% Pale Ale malt
40% Wheat malt
10% Oats, flaked

Hops:
60min: 15ibu from Magnum
10min: 1gm/l Simcoe
0min/Whirlpool: 1gm/l Citra and 1gm/l Amarillo

Dry hops: 1gm/l Citra and 0,5gm/l Amarillo.
(1gm = 0,04oz).

Yeast: Wye 1010 American Wheat Ale.

looks great in theory, a little light (1 gram additions?) on the finishing hops. Toss those fruity hops in with reckless abandon at the end of the boil.

I would probably mash at 153 or so as well, to help it from becoming to crazily dry.

A few things

Id go 50/50 wheat 2 row, although it'll be fine at the current ratio

10% flaked oats is a lot, expecially for an American Wheat. I personally like my American Wheats dry and light bodied. With 10% oats you are going to have a ton of body in a small beer. I would get rid of them all together, and go with a poundish of some sort of cara malt.

Id change to 1.5-2 grams per liters for the 1 gram additions. Id also flip flop the dry hop and use more ammarillo than citra. Citra is much more potent than ammarillo and even at equal additions it will be the dominant flavor.

If you have already purchased the 1010, go ahead and use it, but I see no reason not to use good ole American Ale yeast.

I'll second the yeast suggestion. Use 1056/ 001/ s05

Many thanks.
I made small changes to malt bill: 49% Pale Ale, 48% Wheat, 3% Oats (Flaked) -> just love that creamy and oily mouthfeel.

I also changed the hops for a bit:

60min: 15ibu from Magnum
10min: 1,2gm/l Simcoe
0min/Whirlpool: 1,5gm/l Citra and 2gm/l Amarillo

Dry hops: 1gm/l Citra and 2gm/l Amarillo.
(1gm = 0,04oz).

The yeast can be almost anything. I also initially thought the classic S05/001/1056 family, but I also wanted some choices/opinions for other yeasts like that 1010. I also planned the American Ale II, orr maybe even Kolsch yeast? We shall see.

Looks good. I'd drink it.


Out of curiosity, what do you pay for your "designer" hops...citra, simcoe ammarillo..in Finland?

Well, if you're up for the Kolsch yeast, I'd heavily recommend it. I used WL 011 (euro ale yeast) in an IPA that was fantastic. It had a similar hop bill as yours, but the yeast left enough malt intact. It was divine.

Wyeast 1007 makes a great wheat ale as well.

I don't think 10% oats will add a huge oily/slick mouthfeel at all. I often time add oats to my tripels, IPA's and other light ales in order to add just a touch of extra body/texture without adding a ton of flavor.

Xpertskir said:

Looks good. I'd drink it.


Out of curiosity, what do you pay for your "designer" hops...citra, simcoe ammarillo..in Finland?

Click to expand...

Depends where I buy them, but around 8-9€/100gm-> 10,5-12$ per 100gm (3,53oz). Bigger hop bags are of course slightly cheaper.