Black Wheat?

I was checking out the New Glarus Brewery website the other day and noticed a description of a seasonal black wheat beer they brew, which they note as having flavors of "roasted chocolate and toasted caramel." They also mention using wheat, oats, rye, and barley. Naturally, I was intrigued and am considering throwing together a blind clone of sorts for my next brew. Does anyone have any opinions on where I should start with the recipe? Im thinking of going for a hearty american wheat recipe and subbing darker specialty grains in but i dont really know what to expect. Any thoughts?

maybe look for a dunkleweizen recipe and switch the yeast?

I am also curious about this. New Glarus wheat beers are very distinct and very good. Crack'd wheat and Black Wheat are both particularly good, but I don't know how one would go about cloning them. I don't think your average dunkelweizen recipe is going to come anywhere close.

No, Im thinking of going more along the lines of a schwarzbier, but applying it to a wheat base. Does anyone have any experience using chocolate wheat? It seems like a good way to darken the beer without overemphasizing the bitterness of roasted barley.

This is my first hack at a grain bill


Briess 2-Row Brewer's Malt 3 lbs, 0 oz

Weyermann Dark Wheat 2 lbs, 0 oz

Weyermann Rye Malt 1 lbs, 0 oz

Briess 2 Row Caramel 80 1 lbs, 0 oz

Thomas Fawcett Oat Malt 1 lbs, 0 oz

Weyermann Chocolate Wheat 1 lbs, 0 oz

Simpsons Chocolate 12 oz

Hmmm. . . It's been a while since I last had a Black Wheat, but I do know that NG's other two wheat beers, Dancing Man & Cracked Wheat both use a more traditional German hefeweizen style yeast with some cloves & banana, not a clean American yeast. I want to say that's also true of the Black Wheat -- that it uses a more German hefe style yeast, but I just don't remember specifically well enough to trust my memory on this.

However, my slightly fuzzy memory does tell me that tell me that a combination of a dunkelweizen & schwarzbier will get you kind of close to Black Wheat. If I were trying this, I'd use a hefeweizen yeast.

Earlier this year I brewed a black Witbier (yes, I know that's an oxymoron) and what I did was start with a basic Witbier grain bill (10 lb. pale and 10 lb. flaked wheat for a 10-gallon batch) and substitute 1 lb. of Carafa III (dehusked) for a pound of the pale and 1 lb. of chocolate wheat for the flaked wheat, so my final grain bill was 9 lb. pale, 1 lb. Carafa III, 9 lb. flaked wheat and 1 lb. chocolate wheat. The end result was actually pretty similar to NG Black Wheat in terms of color and level of roastiness. The chocolate wheat definitely gives it a roasty edge, but nothing like a stout, and the Carafa is smooth enough to keep the beer from getting more astringent while still adding color. Looking at your recipe, I'm thinking the three main suggestions I would have are ditch the 80L crystal (or, if you're sure you want a caramel malt, go with Weyermann Caramunich III), use dehusked Carafa III instead of the 12 oz. of Simpsons chocolate, and cut the oats down to 1/2 lb. Of course, if those are grains you have sitting around that you're looking to get rid of, go nuts.

Oh, and I agree with mkling re: the yeast, though I would ferment on the cooler side (~64°F).

Yea, a combo of a dunkelweiz and a schwarz would probably be a good start. I think a pound of caramel is too much. Consider Carafa III Spec maybe. Also, yea, a german hefe yeast. "Lavish spice aromas of clove and cinnamon are promoted naturally by the yeast we import especially for this most individual of brews."

Good suggestions Windigstadt. I like the fermenting a little cooler idea, this beer isn't huge on the esters. Also, a smaller quantity of Caramunich instead of the C80 seems good. Keep us updated.

thanks guys, ill let you know when i decide on a recipe

Black Taco?

Man, thanks for bringing this up. I drove my NW Indiana all the way to New Glarus, WI on Saturday to pick up some beers on the way to my parents house up there. I grabbed two different unplugged beers (Imperial Saison and Berliner Weiss) and six different regular releases including the Black Wheat. Never had it before, and I am from WI. Get to my parents house and the girlfriend grabs her bag, the strap catches on the sixer and sends it to the concrete. Lost the Black wheat, and two others. Three made it without breaking. The unplugged series were also untouched.

But seriously, you grab your stupid bag first? Not the beer perched on the edge of the tailgate? Man....

I am thinking of doing something similar to redbaron24's
but I was more inspired by this http://www.sheltonbrothers.com/beers/beerProfile.asp
I guess it adds up to about the same idea. Chocolate wheat sounds good but I am thinking a Schwarzbier recipe and just ferment with Weizen yeast.

jgln said:

Black Taco?

Click to expand...

10/10, A+, would read again.

Did you ever brew this?