Boulevard Wheat Clone

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I threw this in the keg on Saturday and it's cold-conditioning right now. I did sample it on Sunday and have to say it's a very good tasting beer...but it's not Boulevard Wheat. I think it's much closer than the last batch I did and I can say I'm 'in the ballpark' but there is something missing. The two things I can think of:

Fermentation temp - They say they start at 65 and raise it. I can't replicate that.
Yeast - They've told me both American Wheat and British Ale. I've tried both (but not together) and it seems the British Ale is a bit closer.

I think I'm going to move on for a few batches and see if anyone else comes up with something. It's springtime - Heffeweizen on the way!

Resurrecting this thread... anyone have any progress on this? Thinking of this for my next brew.

Is the 35 min mash sufficient? Any benefit to a full hour mash?

Also what about the yeast? Has anyone tried the American Wheat / British Ale combo?

-Tim
 
No my recipe is on page 4 of this thread and comes from the book Brewing with Wheat. Basically 50% pale malt, 24% malted wheat, 24% red wheat and 2% Munich malt and then American hops, I used Cascade and Chinook.

I did not do all of the rests, just one at 130 for 30 and then 152 for 30 with no mash out.
 
The recipe I posted on the third/fourth pages was based on direct communication with the brewers at Boulevard.

I attempted it three times last year and never got close. It's all in the yeast, and I have no idea what they use.
 
The description of WLP022 sounds like something Boulevard may use as a house strain. I think it would defintley fit for the Wheat, Irish Ale, Porter and Pale.

WLP022 Essex Ale Yeast
Flavorful British style yeast. Drier finish than many British ale yeast. Produces slightly fruity and bready character. Good top fermenting yeast strain, is well suited for top cropping (collecting). This yeast is well suited for classic British milds, pale ales, bitters, and stouts. Does not flocculate as much as WLP002 and WLP005. Attenuation: 71-76%
Flocculation: Medium to High
Ideal Fermentation Temperature Range: 66-70°F
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium

http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp022.html
 
Alright...here's a re-cap:

2.5 lb Wheat DME
2.5 lb Pale Malt (2 Row)
1.25 lb Un-malted Wheat

.10 ounce Bravo
.15 ounce Magnum

Wyeast American Wheat Yeast

I mashed the Pale and Wheat @ 150 degrees for 35 minutes. Added DME and boiled. Added hops. Boiled for 60 minutes. Pitched yeast @ 75 degrees.

Target OG was 1.042 and I got 1.039. I obviously didn't get much efficiency on my mash.

Fermented in primary (no secondary) for two weeks. Kegged and under pressure for cold conditioning right now.

The samples I've tried are underwhelming. I think I'm in the ballpark but I have to tell you the beer is nearly tastless. I mean literally it almost tastes like water. It's not too sweet so I did get some bittering out of the hops I used but there is something missing.

The previous batch I did with California Ale was way wrong. The American Wheat yeast seems to be closer but really lacks the flavor profile.

What I'm going to try next:

Increase Pale Malt to 3.0 lbs
Substitute malted wheat for un-malted wheat
Increase the IBUs ever-so-slightly (they claim 13 but I may not be getting good efficiency out of mine so I may be a little short)

Also seriously considering pitching both American Wheat AND British Ale yeast. I'm convinced that their 'house yeast' is a combination of some kind. Both brewers told me to use American Wheat but their beer has a flavor twist to it that can only be created by the yeast used since they only use bittering hops.

Have you tried this with the American Wheat and British Ale yeast? I'm thinking of brewing a batch of this in a few weeks. Just figured I'd check to see if you had nailed this recipe yet :)
 
I just brewed a clone of boulevard wheat and went with white labs 023. Pitched at 68 then raised to 72 after day 3.
 
All grain 60% pale malt, 40% malted wheat. step mash (pulled the mash temps off this thread). Matched the og and ibu's pff the boulevatd website Drinking off keg Two weeks after brew date. Very tasty brew and it didn't last long. May rebrew it again.
 
I'm hanging on to a bottle of Boulevard Wheat for when I make this to try to culture some yeast from it.
Since they bottle condition their beer, anybody know if they use a secondary yeast strain?

I know this is many years late on a response, but I've been told the bottle conditioning yeast is T58 and all Blvd bottle conditioned beers receive T58 for conditioning. Reason for the use of T58 is that is drops out quickly and compacts nicely at the bottom of the bottle and the bottle fermenting/conditioning from T58 doesn't depart any flavors or aromas. I still don't understand why Blvd. does this with their Wheat beer since it's unfiltered. I would figured the residual yeast particles in the beer would be sufficient for bottle conditioning and there would be no need to add in a bottle conditioning yeast. But maybe there's a reason for this on a commercial level. I don't see application for this technique at the homebrewer level.

I'm actually making a hefe this weekend and am going to split the batch. Half with a hefe yeast and the other half is going to get a Blvd'ish type yeast profile. What that means is I'm just going to toss in 1 packet of US05 and packet of US04 and let them duke it out. Not sure anyone really knows what the Blvd house yeast is for their wheat beer. But, it certainly has profiles that match the chico strain and english strain yeast. I personally don't care for using the US04 strain by itself, but I have tried mixing it with US05 in the past with a blonde ale and it was quite nice. So I'm going to try this out and I'll post my results when it's done.
 
I would be interested to hear how your version turns out. I have not attempted this recipe since I last posted to this thread a couple of years ago.

However, it just so happens that I toured the brewery yesterday and was told once again that Wyeast 1010 (American Wheat) or Wyeast 1007 (German Ale) would be the closest I could get.

So basically I have nothing new to add to the hunt.
 
Interesting. I don't perceive any Kolsch yeast profile in their beer. But would be interesting to try that with a wheat beer.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Bumping this thread for any updates. I've been trying to clone this one for 4 years and haven't gotten there yet. It's definitely all about the yeast and probably a combination of two yeasts based off of other's conversations with the Boulevard Brewery folks. Any updates from anyone? Summer is coming around and this is a great summer beer.
 
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