American Wheat Beer Sterling Gold (3.5% AG, Light and Zesty)

When I was at midwest supplies a few weeks ago, I couldn't find the rye malt in the grain room. I could only find crystal rye (never heard of it before), little did I know it's similar to crystal 90, but made with rye malt. I knew something was wrong when my sterling gold wort looked more like sterling amber. I'm guessing the final beer will be a little sweeter. The hydro sample tasted really good and I'm thinking the maltier profile will mix well with the orange flavor.

drunkatuw said:

...I knew something was wrong when my sterling gold wort looked more like sterling amber...

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I say it's a "Fools' Gold".

BierMuncher,

I made this recipe and thought it had too much pepper. It was kegged and served at a party 4 weeks after brewing. It went over well since it was gone well before the end of the night. Since I didn't get a chance to age it at all, have you found that the pepper taste mellows with time or should I use less pepper next time?

Thanks for the recipe!

BM... i just put this in the keg tonight, a question if i may. goldie was in primary for 3 weeks and had a OG-1.036 and FG-1.010. the nottingham yeast curdled up on the bottom of the bucket... i must admit it's been a while since i have used notty, i assume this is common? what causes this strain to curdle (chemically)?

getting ready to brew this, but a quick question. I didn't notice until just now that the hops i ordered were 5.9% AA and not 7% the recipe calls for.

Would it ruin the recipe if i put the second hop addition in at 10-15 minutes instead of 5 minutes? Beer alchemy tells me this will bump the IBUs from ~13 and put it closer 17 IBUs, which is what the recipe calls for.

What would that change do the the flavor?

Oh, and no chance of getting more hops in time. I do have some EKG and Galena on hand if i could use one of those for bittering, i could.

Just picked up 2 pounds of Sterling 6% AA for $14, so now to use some of my Rye and whip up a batch of this after I do my Oktoberfest Ale tomorrow.

I made 5 g's of this about amonth ago. I tapped it at our blockparty last weekend and it was gone in 3hours.

One guys quote (a neighbor originally from Boston so forgive my attempt at typing in an accent): "Gaad - I had a few belts a your stuff and I can't stomach the milla lite from my coola any more, mind if i fill my pitcha?"

Just got done brewing this, tastes the OG sample, sure tastes spicy, hope that the fermentation calms it down lol

pirate252 said:

Just got done brewing this, tastes the OG sample, sure tastes spicy, hope that the fermentation calms it down lol

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Oh yeah....the spices will definitely mellow by the time you're ready to serve.

I'm going to do a batch this weekend or next with Wyeast 2112 California Lager. I have 2 smack packs sitting around becuase I bought them on accident and LHBS wouldnt take them back (damint). I have a feeling it will be tasty...

Wow, I've got to brew this. My brew bud and I have already brewed six 10g batches of the Centennial, and three 10g batches of the OcktoberFast. I have to admit I like a BierMuncher recipe.

BigdogMark said:

...I have to admit I like a BierMuncher recipe.

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Meh... I can take em or leave em...:cross:

probably not the best thing to ask for this recipe, but is there a decent substitute for the sterling hops? I currently have:
centennial
cluster
hallartau
tettnang

shoebag22 said:

probably not the best thing to ask for this recipe, but is there a decent substitute for the sterling hops? I currently have:
centennial
cluster
hallartau
tettnang

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Go with the Tett.

It's cleaner and will allow the other flavors to come through.

Just tapped this tonight and I think I did something wrong. I substituted the pepper for GOP but kept everything else the same. I'm not getting any of the spices and there is a very distinct yeast aroma that isn't very pleasant.

I'm thinking of giving it a few weeks, if it stays the same maybe I'll steep a little more bitter orange and GOP and add it in. I've got 1 gm of GOP left and I was thinking of doing about .25oz of the bitter orange. Any thoughts on those amounts?

Sounds like it needs some time to alow the yeast to fall out and allow the flavors to come through.

How long were the spices in the kettle?

The coriander was in for 10 and the GOP and orange for 5.

I had a few glasses last night and as I was getting to the bottom of the glass (after the beer had been the glass around 30mi) I noticed the yeast smell fading. I still didn't get any smell from the spices but I could notice the taste of the spices much more when I wasn't being overpowered by the yeast smell. I used a 4th generation washed yeast, perhaps this is my problem. Maybe it's time to toss the yeast and start over.

Update- After a few weeks in the keg the yeast aroma has gone, I must have accidentally picked up some transferring it to the keg. I'm still not getting a lot of the spices, but I've decided to leave it alone. It's still a great beer, I think messing with it at this point is asking for something bad to happen. Thanks for the recipe BM, I always go to one of your recipes when I need something that I know will be good. I'm 5/5, haven't been let down yet!

i did a batch of this exactly as the recipe is posted but with Wyeast California Lager 2112

Fantastic!!! Very good. Gonna keep this in the rotation, great reviews from all my friends, even those who are die hard craft brew IPA drinkers.. Very nice drinkable beer.. and 3.9% @ 85% eff, its nice and light and i can drink 4 and enjoy even on a week night and not worry about waking up at 620am the next morning

Brewing 5 gals of this as we speak, partial mash style. This is my second PM attempt and it is going really well. I think I ended up mashing in the mid 150s for about half the mash. When I finished it was spot on. It never got above 158, though. Hopefully works out ok.

The spices and hop combo on this is incredible. I have .5 oz of Cascade left over in my fridge. I'm debating on whether or not to throw them in there. This one is for SWMBO, though, so I don't want to hop it up too much.

Great recipe!

MJDore said:

Brewing 5 gals of this as we speak, partial mash style. This is my second PM attempt and it is going really well. I think I ended up mashing in the mid 150s for about half the mash. When I finished it was spot on. It never got above 158, though. Hopefully works out ok.

The spices and hop combo on this is incredible. I have .5 oz of Cascade left over in my fridge. I'm debating on whether or not to throw them in there. This one is for SWMBO, though, so I don't want to hop it up too much.

Great recipe!

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It's a perfect time of year for this recipe. When the temps hit the 80's & 90's, this beer is a big hit.

The smell coming from the airlock is amazing. You can start to smell the spices going to work. Can't wait for this one.

I brewed up 8.25 gallons of this one on June 1. I hit the numbers dead on but I am very concerned; the fermentations temps (ambient) ranged from 70 to 78 even with jugs of ice. My basement basically gets way to hot to hold a decent temp in June. I pitched 2 packs of S-05 and I wonder how clean it will be?

It is now early september and I'm staring at 7 gallons of Sterling Gold fermented at 83 degrees with US 05. Yikes! Much like a mom who has a ugly baby, I've been working with it and playing with it in secret. I've been drinking it slowly, but it is awful.

I forced some buddies to try it on Labor day because I wanted them to tell me what was wrong with it. Words like soapy, plastic, and barf were tossed around. I still have a bomber every other day because I loathe dumping anything that is consumable. And I need the room for something else this winter. Moral of the story is control your ferment temps.

I was thinking of doing this soon but I do not have any rye malt. Could I substitute flaked rye and if so, how much would I use?

Did anyone find an ideal weight for the grains of paradise use instead of pepper?

how much difference would there be between the German 2 row and the Belgian pilsner 2 row. I don't have any german 2 row right now!

RugenBrau said:

how much difference would there be between the German 2 row and the Belgian pilsner 2 row. I don't have any german 2 row right now!

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Any pilsner 2-row will work well with this recipe.

Anyone know if 1 or 2 grams of grains of paradise would be best for a 5 gallon all-grain batch? What would be the best time to add them to the boil?

Do your recipes call for leaf hops or pellet hops?

I made this recipe with Pacman last weekend and it's currently fermenting around 60F. I'm actually kind of hoping to keg it and drink 14 days after brewing (having friends over), but in addition to having little experience with Pacman, I also rarely drink beers less than a month after brewing. The few times I've drunk beers young they've tasted, well, green (duh).

Seeing as this beer's selling point is quick grain-to-glass, I thought it might be pertinent to ask if anyone has found tricks for making it taste as good as possible after two weeks. I'm currently planning on gradually bumping up the temperature to 65F after a couple of days to reduce diacetyl, kegging after 10 days, and crash cooling to 32F with gelatin to hopefully drop the yeast. Hopefully the yeast ferments quickly enough for this aggressive schedule to work. I'll update as to how it ends up tasting, but in the meantime please let me know if you have any further advice or experience!

Just made this for the second time. I always seem to come up short of the 5.5 gallons. I wish I could figure out why. My og was high so I just topped off to the 5.5 gallon mark and my og was 1.038.

My FG was 1.006. I like this beer. It has a nice "bite" to it. I don't get much of the orange. I'll make it a third time!

What specialty should I add if I use light DME instead of pilsen DME? Or are they close enough as is? going the partial version obviously.

Thanks!

I'm considering this as my next brew, perhaps this weekend. I am a bit concerned that it might be a bit too spicy for my taste. Can anyone comment on the spice kick in this beer? Thanks.

ErieShores said:

I'm considering this as my next brew, perhaps this weekend. I am a bit concerned that it might be a bit too spicy for my taste. Can anyone comment on the spice kick in this beer? Thanks.

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More of an essence, than an outright dominant flavor. Think of it like a Blue Moon, without the orange flavor. Certainly no "heat" factor with this beer.

Wow, three minute response from the man himself, thanks. Sold!

Would Willamette or EKG do this recipe any justice, or is the Sterling too key? I've got those 2 in bulk and I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to hit up the LHBS (hour+ away).

hit 1.010 on this beer in two weeks, so I left it out at room temp for a few days (low 70's) to see if I could grab a few more points...I then crash cooled for 5 days @ 40..and bottled and these things have a beautiful head and are almost fully carb'd in 3 days...I can't figure out why this would happen, I only used 4oz corn sugar and I thought the gravity was low enough...hopefully I don't wind up with overcarb'd beeer, this is very good.

lots of yeast sediment, the beer itself isn't bad, but kind of tart...not sure if the oragne os showong through too much or maybe I didn't crush the pepper enough to balance it out...maybe it'll meloow out or maybe this is the way it's supposed to taste and that is what is meant by zesty..

Hello, I slightly modified the recipe to raise the ABV and this is what I got:

7 lbs belgian pilsner
1 lb rye
1/2 lb C10
1/4 lb carapils

Used WLP0029 (German Ale/Kolsch) and fermented at 62-63 degrees and injected pure o2 in for 2 minutes.

It's only been 5 days, but I did a gravity test (its now 1.010) and I swear, I'm holding back the urge to drink it now! This is the third time I've made this beer, and I can't explain how great it is. Now I just need to lager it at 1 degree C for about a week, and it'll be amazing.

BTW, make it with belgian pilsner, the last time I made it with the cheap domestic stuff and it really was not as good. This is like a "show beer" (think show mead) and it is so clean and crisp that it will "show" the most subtle differences in ingredients, technique and/or water quality.