sidepart
Well-Known Member
Update #1 - Primary Fermentor
Update #2 - Secondary Fermentor/Dry Hopping
Update #3 - Finished label, another test.
Here's a recipe I'm going to play with over the summer. The idea is that it'll be a smoked wheat beer. Hoping to get some citrus, apples, plums and a touch of smokiness. First time making a recipe, and I feel like this one's pretty unconventional hop wise. So what do folks think, any thoughts or critiques?
Recipe Volume: 6.5 gallons pre-boil, expect 5 gallons post-boil
Grains/Extracts
6 lbs Briess Wheat LME
1 lbs Briess Golden Light DME
8 oz Briess Carapils
Steep grains for 30 minutes at 155F. Bring wort to boil and add extracts.
Yeast: Wyeast 3638
Bittering Hops
12 AAUs Simcoe Pellets
Add at last 10 minutes of boil. (Ended up going with 1 hour and reducing the amount of Simcoe)
Aroma/Flavor Hops
1 oz Citra Leaf Hops.
Cold Smoked 2 hours with Applewood.
Dry Hop at beginning of secondary fermentor (5-7 days).
Pre-boil Gravity: ~1.040 (used for my utilization table)
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.014
ABV: 5-5.6%
IBUs: 15-16?
The oddities here are that I'm not using the typical hops at all. I'm using some extremely high acidic hops. Simcoe is crazy but I enjoy the aroma and flavor, and I plan to boil it for only a short amount of time so the IBUs don't get out of control. Citra is also acidic but dry hopping won't add to the bitterness. It's similar to Simcoe only a little more citrusy in flavor as I understand it. So hopefully I get some Simcoe aroma and citrus flavor through the dry hopping. The cold smoking will hopefully give me a nice applewood smoke during the dry hopping process as well (not sure about this).
Some variations I have if the Citra smoking doesn't impart enough smoke.
- Add 0.5-1oz of Briess Smoked Malt to the mix. That's about 5-10% of the grain bill, but I just want a touch of smoke.
- If the Simcoe turns out to be an awful disappointment, I might go more conservative with some Liberty and actually have an hour long boil. Will probably keep the Citra dry hop though.
- Might also try completely removing the Citra and Simcoe. Applewood smoking some Liberty, and boiling for an hour to see what that does.
EDIT:
So those are the critical details. Figured I'd also include the name and story for the beer that kind of influences what I've come up with here. Decided to add this for some reason.
Name: Smokey Al
Story: Al was my grandpa. In his final years of life he developed macular degeneration linked to his smoking of Lucky Strikes during WWII (he quit a few years after). I used to see him a lot in the summer time, so those are my fondest memories. I figure the label might include something like, "When drinking Smokey Al you'll hopefully taste a hint of the smokey character of Al and summer time picnics. While peering through a glass of this cloudy brew, you might just be able to see the golden world as he once did." (queue awws and sobbing from the audience)
Update #2 - Secondary Fermentor/Dry Hopping
Update #3 - Finished label, another test.
Here's a recipe I'm going to play with over the summer. The idea is that it'll be a smoked wheat beer. Hoping to get some citrus, apples, plums and a touch of smokiness. First time making a recipe, and I feel like this one's pretty unconventional hop wise. So what do folks think, any thoughts or critiques?
Recipe Volume: 6.5 gallons pre-boil, expect 5 gallons post-boil
Grains/Extracts
6 lbs Briess Wheat LME
1 lbs Briess Golden Light DME
8 oz Briess Carapils
Steep grains for 30 minutes at 155F. Bring wort to boil and add extracts.
Yeast: Wyeast 3638
Bittering Hops
12 AAUs Simcoe Pellets
Add at last 10 minutes of boil. (Ended up going with 1 hour and reducing the amount of Simcoe)
Aroma/Flavor Hops
1 oz Citra Leaf Hops.
Cold Smoked 2 hours with Applewood.
Dry Hop at beginning of secondary fermentor (5-7 days).
Pre-boil Gravity: ~1.040 (used for my utilization table)
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.014
ABV: 5-5.6%
IBUs: 15-16?
The oddities here are that I'm not using the typical hops at all. I'm using some extremely high acidic hops. Simcoe is crazy but I enjoy the aroma and flavor, and I plan to boil it for only a short amount of time so the IBUs don't get out of control. Citra is also acidic but dry hopping won't add to the bitterness. It's similar to Simcoe only a little more citrusy in flavor as I understand it. So hopefully I get some Simcoe aroma and citrus flavor through the dry hopping. The cold smoking will hopefully give me a nice applewood smoke during the dry hopping process as well (not sure about this).
Some variations I have if the Citra smoking doesn't impart enough smoke.
- Add 0.5-1oz of Briess Smoked Malt to the mix. That's about 5-10% of the grain bill, but I just want a touch of smoke.
- If the Simcoe turns out to be an awful disappointment, I might go more conservative with some Liberty and actually have an hour long boil. Will probably keep the Citra dry hop though.
- Might also try completely removing the Citra and Simcoe. Applewood smoking some Liberty, and boiling for an hour to see what that does.
EDIT:
So those are the critical details. Figured I'd also include the name and story for the beer that kind of influences what I've come up with here. Decided to add this for some reason.
Name: Smokey Al
Story: Al was my grandpa. In his final years of life he developed macular degeneration linked to his smoking of Lucky Strikes during WWII (he quit a few years after). I used to see him a lot in the summer time, so those are my fondest memories. I figure the label might include something like, "When drinking Smokey Al you'll hopefully taste a hint of the smokey character of Al and summer time picnics. While peering through a glass of this cloudy brew, you might just be able to see the golden world as he once did." (queue awws and sobbing from the audience)