Golden Light DME In a Hefeweizen

Long story short it was suggested to me by the local beer brewing supplier that I purchase 3# of Golden Light DME and 3# of Wheat DME for my Hefeweizen, which I did. I was told the Golden Light DME would give my beer a more malty taste. After doing some reading I am not so sure the Golden Light DME is such a good idea for a Hefeweizen. Anyone have an option on the matter.

It'll shift the malt balance toward barley -thus giving you the aforementioned increased maltiness.

For me I would say I prefer a hefeweizen to be dominated by wheaty goodness, and not very malty at all. But that's not going to stop you from ending up with a darn tasty brew. Unless you are looking to enter a comp I wouldn't fret over it, in fact do a back to back keeping everything the same except the malts used and see how the flavor profile changes.

I'm assuming this is a pretty straight forward extract brew with some steeping grains, a small amount of noble hops and maybe some spice adjunct (although Hefewiesen is usually done in traditional german style and therefore no spices or other adjuncts )no lactic acid additions or any other off the beaten path stuff.

Its not going to be like the maltyness from ambermalt would,I would prefer it this way I tend to get bored with a similar hefeweizen taste all the time , i think it would add a nice character but if you have lightdme also maybe use someof that.Golden is suppose to give a little more body and a little more maltiness.Along with a slight increase in color.I think the wheat will still dominate it.

lakewoodbrew,
Thanks I feel much better about this now. As for spices I was thinking about a cinnamon stick in the primary to give it a little something different and maybe a half pound (or perhaps a full pound) of clover honey in the late fermentation process. If you have any suggestions I am all ears.

jonmohno,
Thanks a bunch. I am glad to know the wheat will still be dominant.

I make my wits with a Grainbill that is about 75% Wheat, standard WME is about 60%, so with cutting with golden light you'll be around 30% wheat. It'll have a nice subtle wheat fla vor charecteristic.

I've never played with cinnamon and clover together, sounds interersting. The late addition of the honey will leave the most effect on flavor, so you should definitiely pick up the clover flavor.
Let me know how you like it, could be pretty good.

lakewoodbrew,
Thanks for your expertise!! Yeah I find it very misleading that most Wheat DME is not 100% wheat, I wish it was stated on the packaging. I asked the dude selling me the Wheat DME what percentage of wheat it contained and he said 100%. I told him from what I have read most wheat DME is less than 100%. He disagreed. I looked up the manufacturer's ingredients of the Wheat DME when I got home and I was right.

You both are right in a way - the bag was probably filled 100% with dried wheat malt extract. And that's probably what he meant, in other words they didn't fill the bag with a mixture of dme's. The grain bill used to create dried wheat malt extract is what you and I are talking about. That will always be some mixture as wheat alone would be almost impossible to mash and sparge efficiently.

I had no idea that wheat couldn't be "mashed and sparged" by itself. Good info thanks!

schrock said:

I had no idea that wheat couldn't be "mashed and sparged" by itself. Good info thanks!

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You may want to check out HOw to Brew by John Palmer free online or his updated book. Its a good reference.

I typically use 1lb of either Golden Light or Pilsen DME to 4.5lbs Wheat DME in my hefe recipe's and they come out awesome. Though I recently made one with all wheat DME and will bottle that next weekend, so I can't say yet if I prefer that over using a pound of light DME.

As already mentioned wheat DME is typically 65% wheat and 35% barley so you don't want to thin it too much away from the wheat.


Rev.

Rev2010 said:

I typically use 1lb of either Golden Light or Pilsen DME to 4.5lbs Wheat DME in my hefe recipe's and they come out awesome. Though I recently made one with all wheat DME and will bottle that next weekend, so I can't say yet if I prefer that over using a pound of light DME.

As already mentioned wheat DME is typically 65% wheat and 35% barley so you don't want to thin it too much away from the wheat.


Rev.

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True. He coulda just used all wheat dme extract really.Thats probably a true hefeweizen. Although any of the other combos mentioned im shure would turn out to be very good beerz.:rockin: