Hopburst Summer Wheat Ale

At the moment I'm experimenting with some lower gravity extra quaffable beers for late sping/early summer drinkin. For this one, I want a light ~4% abv beer with a massive hop aroma and flavor, but not a lot of bitterness. (for my homeys who do enjoy the occasional homebrew, but don't like their ale bitter). I fear that even 30 IBU's may come across as too astingent in a beer with a gravity this low. Anyway here is what I have for the grain bill, it is very simple!


This is for a 5.5 gallon BIAB partial mash:
3 lbs Pilsen Extra Light DME
3 lbs Wheat Malt
.3 lbs Honey Malt

Yeast: S-05

I'm having a bit of trouble working out the hop bill, any suggestions? Here is what I have on hand. I would definitely like to use the Mosaic in there somewhere. Everything else is a bit up in the air.

Citra 3oz; Amarillo 7oz, Simcoe 7oz, Nelson 7 oz, Mosaic 2 oz, Chinook 2 oz, Centennial 1 oz, Ahtanum 1 oz, Pacific Gem 1 oz, Topaz 1 oz

I want to hopburst this one with only late additions as well as a dry hop. Looking to balance fruity vs pine/spicy/stank. Thoughts?

How about something like this?

15M .5 oz Mosaic
15M .5 oz Simcoe
7M .5 oz Mosaic
7M .5 oz Citra
Flameout: .5 oz Mosaic
Flameout: .5 oz Citra
Flameout: .5 oz Simcoe

Dry Hop: .5 oz Mosaic, 1 oz Topaz, 1 oz Citra

This is 6 oz of hops in a 4% ABV beer, is this too much? (Granted, I realize this is like asking a crack head if there is enough crack in there)

I'm doing almost the same thing, a 4% beer between 30-40IBUS almost all towards the end:

75% 2row
15%wheat
5%carapils

I personally chose Falconer's Flight to hop this beer with exclusively for a couple reasons. First because I heard it was pretty awesome and hadn't tried it and secondly because I thought some citrusy, fruity, floral and lemon notes would go well with such a small beer. That is my thought, fruity and citrusy. Figured to stay away from earthy, dank, piney stuff because I think it can become overpowering easily in such a small beer but I might be wrong there.

Too much? In a 4% beer? No such thing mate.
I am about to put 1oz of Northern Brewer and 4oz of Simcoe into a 4% beer.
I did it last year with Citra, which was amazing and can't wait to try(at last) the simcoe.

badlee said:

Too much? In a 4% beer? No such thing mate.
I am about to put 1oz of Northern Brewer and 4oz of Simcoe into a 4% beer.
I did it last year with Citra, which was amazing and can't wait to try(at last) the simcoe.

Click to expand...

Haha, so there you go. As previously noted I could be wrong and apparently am or maybe it's just personal preference.

If it's quaffable summer (and non-hophead friendly) you're after you might want to stay away from the simcoe which are more piney and resiny. The fruity citrusy varieties seem to fit your stated goals better. I love Citra and just tried Mosaic, pretty good too. I'd go with those two, maybe a 20-10-knockout-dryhop scheme....

Hmm good point, maybe I'll sub the oz of ahtanum for the simcoe.