recipe critique

Going to probably brew this tomorrow... Tell me what you think... any suggestions etc.

It's an adaptation of Ilikestuff's fruit beer.

What I'm going for it a major "chick" beer. Fruity, sweet (not too much though) and not much malty taste to it.

Type: AG 5 gallons
7lbs 2 row
4lbs wheat
1lb crystal 10L
1 oz Hallertauer 60mins @ 4%
6lbs of fruit... I haven't picked this up yet so it's still out there to change.
I was thinking strawberries, blackberries and black cherries (2lbs each) as suggested in the original recipe would be fine... frozen, pureed and thrown in at flameout.

OG est is 1.067

What do you think? Think I will hit that goal of fruity and sweet? If not I can add some lactose.

i recently made a fruit beer and its tasting overly fruity but i did add more fruit than you. i would stick to one type of fruit, like strawberries sounds good with your recipe. i think im done with silly fruit beers now, going to focus on getting proper solid traditional recipes down before i mess around with strange ingredients.

P.S i made a bavarian wheat this past weekend and its very simlar to your recipe without the fruit except i included more wheat than barley. hope it turns out good.

You might want to take another look at your Hop addition. I think it may fall too sweet. I'd shoot for 18 to 20 IBU's on that recipe, not sure what that addition gives you without running the numbers but I think it's too low.

If you're shooting for a "chick" beer are you sure you want a 1.067 OG? Seems a little high if that's what I was going for. I also agree with peterfuse about sticking to a few pounds of strawberries unless you want a really fruity beer (not my thing).

Cheers

Well I can always add hops... that's just what was in Ilikestuff's recipe.
4%AA @ 60mins comes to 15ibu's... So I guess maybe a aroma hop of some sort at like 10mins to add just a bit of bitterness.... Might just stick with the same one. not sure.. I haven't brewed in like 2months so I can't remember some of the flavors/smells of various hops.

So here's the new revised... 5lbs 2 row 3lbs wheat 1lb 10L
1oz haulerteau 60mins @ 4.0%
1oz haulerteau 10mins @ 4.0%
6lbs of Whatever fruit hits me when I go to the grocery store.

that comes to 20ibu's and 1.050 OG

So I made this tonight.... Got a 1.038 OG... way down from what I was shooting for... but I don't think the sugars from the fruit are entirely dissolved into the rest of the beer yet.

Smells wonderful.

The 15 IBU's is just fine for a wheat.
I have made what you have here but I did it with extract at the time. I used 6#'s of strawberries. I racked it off the yeast cake (WPL300) onto the berries for 1 week then keged and chilled (39*) for one week, then carbed for one week and started drinking.
It has a "different" taste to it but everyone likes it, if not right away, they like it by the end of the glass.

FSR402 said:

The 15 IBU's is just fine for a wheat.

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Keep in mind though, that (referencing the original recipe) 15 IBU's for a 1.067 imo is a little too low. Normal wheats around the 1.045 to 1.050, I completely agree with you.

zoebisch01 said:

Keep in mind though, that (referencing the original recipe) 15 IBU's for a 1.067 imo is a little too low. Normal wheats around the 1.045 to 1.050, I completely agree with you.

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Yes but the berries are going to give it some bitterness. I would not have thought that, but I have done it and I know now that it does.

Well woke up this morning and wow, this thing is going. Blew the top off the bucket. I hooked up a blow-off tube and cleaned up the mess.

As far as the IBU's being low... I was shooting for a OG under that of the original recipe... and I think I got it (little too much), but not sure with the fruit sugars.

Also I did taste some last night before pitching the yeast and it was a little tart.. might have to add some lactose to it.

Ok, I bottled this today, and it was quite tart, with all the fruit and everything, so I added some lactose. I added a 1/4 cup at a time to see how much sweetness it imparted, and honestly not much. I ended up throwing the whole pound in, and it sweetened it enough for me to be okay with it, but I was looking for more.

Also, when I put the first 1/4 cup in, it foamed up a bit, like the co2 dissolved in the beer was coming out. What's up with that?

Ok, it's been a week in the bottles so I tried one. It's green as expected, but otherwise it has a tart initial taste followed by a light sweetness. It's an off purple in color, like when u mix yellow and purple..or blue. Weird color. Little head that died quickly, but I'll knock that off to being green also.

Overall it's good, would recommend this to someone that wants to make a slightly tart fruit beer.