Bland wheat beer- anything I can do?

I've got an American Wheat on tap right now, its kind of a wierd recipe. 45% wheat, 2-row and some munich, 28IBU's of saaz and hallertaur, Wyeast 1338 Euro ale with an OG of 1.053. It came out tasting a little bit like budweiser with wheat in it. I dont taste any hops. I think it got a little cidery from high temps but nothing too bad.

Is there anything I can do? Any spices or extracts that could be added to the keg? I just tried Rogues half-a-weizen and quite honestly I'm jealous. I want flavor in my wheat beer too!

Squeeze some lemon/orange into it when you pour a pint.

Frankly, I find American wheats to be somewhat bland by nature. Don't get me wrong...sometimes that's good, like right after a mountain bike ride in August while sweatin' buckets.

In terms of a wheat beer flavor, it doesn't really come so much from the wheat as from the yeast, and 1338 won't get you there. I'm not familiar with the Rogue beer, but most hefe's use a very distinct yeast that results in the hefe-like flavors. There is also an American 'hefe' yeast that I haven't used, but I suppose it must be somewhat similar to the German versions, perhaps a bit cleaner.

I think Euro ale is a very neutral yeast strain. Hefeweizens really get almost all of their character from the yeast.

I'd probably describe what you made as a lawnmower beer. There's a place for them in the world, but...

cweston said:

I'd probably describe what you made as a lawnmower beer. There's a place for them in the world, but...

Click to expand...

...yeah, the lawn!!

OK, let's get serious...you could always mix it with another beer or a fruit flavoring.

Dry hop with 1/2 oz. of East Kent Goldings. That will boost the aroma and add a little spice. Next batch, use a hefe yeast.

I dont have any EKG so I dry hopped with 1/4oz columbus pellets and a pinch of cascade whole hops in a nylon bag. We'll see how it turns out. Should I try to take the bag out at any point?

I tried a squirt of lemon juice in a glass today and it definitely improved the flavor and the aroma.. very nice. Hopefully the dry hops wont get too strong so it still tastes good with some citrus.

Hmmm, I just whipped up a 65% wheat with 20.6 IBU's of Saaz & Tettnanger. At least I heard lawn mowers last weekend while I was brewing........