Latest wheats?

Hey ElP and someone else (can't remember who else recently did one), how did your recent wheat beers turn out?

I just racked the B's Honey Wheat to secondary. So far, it is killer. It has a funky sulphur smell but I didn't taste it in the sample. Hopefully a secondary rest will scrub some of that out. I can't wait to try an ice cold, carbed up sample of this.

I think the bitterness is good. I'm really liking the glacier hops. Very smooth.

The FG was 1.006. That honey really went to town!

I made this one for my wife so she's gonna be mighty happy! I'm really liking how this turned out so far!

What about you guys?

I've just started drinking a straightforward extract hefe made with Wyeast 3333 German wheat.

3333 is more flocculant that other hefe yeasts, so if you swirl the bottle you get globs instead of more yeast in suspension--that's not too pleasant.

I fermented at about 68: this strain isn't real strong on either clove or banana...the phenols are a little closer to belgian strains, IMHO. (But it's still sweet like a German Hefe.)

I wasn't sure I would like this at first--the phenols tasted kindof medicinal in the first couple I tried. But it's improving (medicinal taste is mellowing). I think this strain is probably better suited to a little more complex grain bill: a dunkelweizen or weizenbock.

SWMBO likes it--that's the main thing.

(BeeGee--did you forget about the Aventinus recipe? I think 3333 would be great for that.)

My first one is bubbling along and it may be done today. I hope I hit the anticipated FG (~1.010) because I was questioning the length of the saccrification rest (90min at 150F) and shortened this rest to 60 min.

yesterday it climbed up to 71F and I was surprised how that little of a temp change brings out the banana aromas. I put some Blue-Ice packs on the bucket to keep the temp below 70F. Well, I may have to invest into an ale-fermentation fridge eventually

Kai

Kaiser said:

My first one is bubbling along and it may be done today. I hope I hit the anticipated FG (~1.010) because I was questioning the length of the saccrification rest (90min at 150F) and shortened this rest to 60 min.

yesterday it climbed up to 71F and I was surprised how that little of a temp change brings out the banana aromas. I put some Blue-Ice packs on the bucket to keep the temp below 70F. Well, I may have to invest into an ale-fermentation fridge eventually

Kai

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You were the one!!!!

Keep us updated!

:rockin:

Dude said:

You were the one!!!!

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Gosh, did I again write something stupid for the amusement of all the native speakers here

Kai

cweston said:

(BeeGee--did you forget about the Aventinus recipe? I think 3333 would be great for that.)

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Nope. I'm obviously updating the progress in the Kaiser's thread on Dopplebocks (duh).

It's racked to secondary and has cleared nicely (relatively speaking). Tasted about right at racking, so I'm hopeful. I'll bottle it probably next weekend and then condition it for 4-6 weeks (8% abv).

I went with 3068 because it's what I had, but I plan to try most if not all of the hefe yeasts eventually.

The hefe I did with this yeast was a little too bitter (~19 IBU's...miscalculation on my part), but is still good. I did get much better phenolics in the Aventinus, possibly because I aerated it much less. Still, I'm relocating them at a pretty good clip.

I just bottled a Hefeweissen made with the Weinstephan Wyeast. I took a little taste while bottling and it tasted very good to me (for a warm, un-carbonated beer). Another two weeks in and I'll let you know the final result.

Dude said:

Hey ElP and someone else (can't remember who else recently did one), how did your recent wheat beers turn out?

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Mine's four days away from bottling time...I think I recall a drunken post about it, probably while you were out of town. I was looking to get a little citrus note from the hops, and boy did I get it! The sample from when I racked tasted and smelled like grapefruit juice...which was exactly what I was looking for.

I just finished my keg of Wheat. mighty tasty i might add!! But i do have a purple haze clone ready to be brew'd in the next day or 2!

well i have nothing to report, but tis the season for wheats, so i think my next brews will be a hefe, a american wheat, a wit, and a saison. ive got way too much stout and porter in the cellar (and i'm on a amber/red ale kick right now, so they're just sitting there).

Yep...when I racked the wheat I kept the slurry....I think a need to plan another wheat just so I can use that good yeast. We'll see.....

I racked mine tonight. It seems to have finished with an remaining extract of 2.5P (FG 1.010) which is a little high for a Weizen, but just a little .

It has a pronounced clove aroma and no banana, as expected. But I also noticed that it is considerably more acidic than any other beer I've ever made. I hope I didn't infect it when I skimmed the kraeusen to remove the hop resins and to harvest some yeast. Is acidic taste normal for Hefe Weizens when they aren't carbonated yet?

I also noticed that there was hardly any trub or yeast sediment at the bottom of that bucket. The whirpooling must have worked pretty well, even though I had to push the racking cane all the way down to the bottom at the beginning, because I lost my racking cane clip.

Kai

well i'm going tgo do a wit tommorow. should be good, its a super simple extract recipe, using curacao and coriander, flaked oats and flaked wheat, and hallertau/saaz hops. can't wait, i just have a good feeling that this will be a really nice beer.

Kaiser said:

But I also noticed that it is considerably more acidic than any other beer I've ever made. I hope I didn't infect it when I skimmed the kraeusen to remove the hop resins and to harvest some yeast. Is acidic taste normal for Hefe Weizens when they aren't carbonated yet?

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I've noticed some acidity in my hefeweizen, but it's not unpleasant. I also slipped by AB to pick up some wheat today, so HW #2 is getting closer to a reality.

Slightly off topic but related to wheats. I've only done 2 AG wheats prior to today and my efficiency on the last batches was low. 62-64% if memory serves. With my setup I usually am 72-78% for ales, porters etc. Today my 3rd wheat had a target of 1.052 and I came in low yet again. 1.044 and an efficiency of 60%. Base grains are 6# 2 row and 4# Wheat malt. I'm single step mashing at 154. Is my poor output from not step mashing wheats as I've read in other threads?

I'm sparging my second wheat for today (same base malt). Interested to see if this comes out about the same...

desertBrew said:

Slightly off topic but related to wheats. I've only done 2 AG wheats prior to today and my efficiency on the last batches was low. 62-64% if memory serves. With my setup I usually am 72-78% for ales, porters etc. Today my 3rd wheat had a target of 1.052 and I came in low yet again. 1.044 and an efficiency of 60%. Base grains are 6# 2 row and 4# Wheat malt. I'm single step mashing at 154. Is my poor output from not step mashing wheats as I've read in other threads?

I'm sparging my second wheat for today (same base malt). Interested to see if this comes out about the same...

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Yep. I'd venture that as a good guess. Next time do a 30 minute protein rest at about 122° and see what you get.

I've only done 1 wheat and I believe I got close 76% on it--probably due to the protein rest.

I usually get ~10 points lower on my wheat beers (50-60% wheat).

Dude said:

Yep. I'd venture that as a good guess. Next time do a 30 minute protein rest at about 122° and see what you get.

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Ok, question for ya. I got the 5g cooler setup. What do you do, go in at 1.00 water to grain ratio at 122 then add (how hot?) more water to get to the sac rest of 154 and try and stay below 1.5 ratio? I was thinking of trying to step mash this second batch to see if it came out different but my hangover said that's probably not a good idea.

Baron von BeeGee said:

I've noticed some acidity in my hefeweizen, but it's not unpleasant. I also slipped by AB to pick up some wheat today, so HW #2 is getting closer to a reality.

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The offer for yeast harvested from Kraeusen stands . I generally think that it is better to keep yeast busy than having a low gerenration count.

Kai

desertBrew said:

Ok, question for ya. I got the 5g cooler setup. What do you do, go in at 1.00 water to grain ratio at 122 then add (how hot?) more water to get to the sac rest of 154 and try and stay below 1.5 ratio? I was thinking of trying to step mash this second batch to see if it came out different but my hangover said that's probably not a good idea.

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DesertBrew,

The affect of the protein rest is the conversion of longer chained proteins to shorter ones, which are more soluble in the wort and will contribute to your OG, thus up your efficiency. I'm not sure if that is actually the reason for the good efficiency that I'm seeing. But I have never made a single infusion wheat and don't have anything to comprare to. With the last one I got an efficiency of 78%, this lies in line with other batches of similar OG.

With efficiency problems I always have to ask, fly or batch sparging. I have only done batch sparging so far (and Kaiser starts to like it a lot) and all of my batches have shown consistency with respect to the OG of the batch.

Kai

Kaiser said:

With efficiency problems I always have to ask, fly or batch sparging.
Kai

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Fly - still not clear on how to go from 122 rest to 155 in a limited space. Granted though, the #10 grist has a lot of room left in the cooler; just not sure how to up the temp. Near boiling water; stir and check?

I thought ProMash would calculate water volume and temp for you for each step. Palmer has a step mash calculator in there too.

desertBrew said:

Fly - still not clear on how to go from 122 rest to 155 in a limited space. Granted though, the #10 grist has a lot of room left in the cooler; just not sure how to up the temp. Near boiling water; stir and check?

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yep, use ProMash to calculate the volume of boiling water to add and leave youfself some head room . The good thing is that the protein rest likes a thicker mash anyway.

Kai

Thanks Kai and El P. Looks like I get to play with the complex mash schedule in ProMash.

Well, mine is in bottles right now. I had it in the secondary for 10 days at 50F to settle out the yeast. Last night I pitched a starter, that I made from left over wort and which I used for priming, with some yest I harvested from the Kraeusen. When I came home tonight, the thing was a high kraeusen and by the time everybody was in bed and I could spend time bottling it already lost 2*P worth of extract. So I had to add some DME as well. There goes the purist approach

So I bottled with the Kraeusen beer and the DME UIDB (Under the Influence of DoppelBock). The latter had a negative affect on my bottling yield since many bottles just overflowed while I was drunk and dreaming . The whole patio ended up smelling like a Wheatbeer brewery, which should be a good thing.

I didn't taste a sample though . I poured the last drops from the secondary in a test tube, but re-suspended a lot of yeast and want that yeast to settle before I taste it and take the final FG reading.

Kai

Well I just tried mine after one week in the bottle. Its still very green, and has a pronounced banana flavor and aroma. I kept the primary at 70 degrees, I figured it was low enough to not cause esters. Oh well. Im hoping it well fade in a couple weeks.

Im kind of disapointed in the orange zest i used. Not quite as much as I hoped. Actually not much at all, if any. Oh, well....live and learn. My next batch will be much better.

My Franziskaner hefe has been in bottles one week. I'm being good and haven't tried one yet. I'm going to let it go 2 full weeks without trying one. (The fact that my job is sending me to San Diego for a week will help out with that. lol. ) It tasted wonderful when I bottled though!!

My first hefe of the year is still a bit bitter, especially when I compared it to the sample from my Weizenbock while bottling that. However, I did another revision of the Hefeweizen today. Same recipe, but the mash was acid rest -> protein rest (infusion) -> beta rest (infusion) -> alpha rest (decoction) -> mash out (thin decoction). There was actually another decoction in there because I didn't make the alpha rest temp the first time.

We'll see.

my wit is one week in, and for some reason is not fermenting very vigorously like my beers usually do. i did taake a sample though, and its close to being done fermenting (it was at 1.020, but the sample was not big enough for the hydrometer to keep dropping, so it might be lower than that), but the krausen has not subsided yet, which is strange as i usually don't have issues like that. i'm thinking of skimming the krausen off and taking another sample, it's been three days since the last one. the flavor is decent, but the spices (coriander and curacao peel) are overwhelming. i did 1/2 oz. of peel and 1 oz. of coriander, but there is a sharp bitterness that i'm assuming is coming from the orange peel. i hope it subsides, and i'm sure it will. other than that its got a nice cloudiness from flaked oats and flaked wheat, a good color thats a little on the red side for a wit, which i expected as it was a quick extract batch and i used flaked red winter wheat instead of white wheat (hey it was free). overall, as long as the spices mellow, i think it's going to be a highly tasty, fairly traditional wit.

Man, you guys have got me thirsty for a hefe.....haven't brewed one in awhile. Gotta get my basement done so's I can brew some more.

I put mine on gas tonight, along with my honey pale ale. Now that I'm definitley going to be at the WBF, I'm going to bring the NC guys a sampler pack from IOB. Each one will have some LPR, honey pale, honey wheat and probably a bottle or 2 of Imperial Hellfire to throw in a closet.

The honey wheat is tasting good already, can't wait to have it carbed up!

i skimmed off the krausen of the wit and as i thought it was down to 1.008, i guess the WL wit yeast just doesn't drop out very well. the bitterness from the orange peel also mellowed and it has a really great flavor now. i think this could be one of my best yet and it was an extract brew, whoda' thunk?

When life is good, it is really good!!!

Here is a pic of my american honey wheat.

Honestly I think this would be a better beer with 1056. I think the WLP320 is giving it a sour taste. I don't think it is bad to a fault--but...different. When this was fermenting it was big time sulphury. Anyway, a pic. It is alot darker in the pic than what it actually is. Still pretty dark for a wheat though.



I love that honey malt. It really brings out the honey--whether that is the malt itself or the malt accentuating the honey, I dunno.

Cheers. Nice brutool, too...I love mine. Wish I had had that pint glass Saturday (no I don't).

Baron von BeeGee said:

Cheers. Nice brutool, too...I love mine. Wish I had had that pint glass Saturday (no I don't).

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Brutul is awesome. I get so many comments on it. Pours an awesome B&T too.

I wish I would have wore my T-shirt that said that (what the glass says) on Saturday. I saw some very nice eye candy walkin' around. Thanks god for sunglasses. :rockin: