3rd and final attempt at american wheat do you see anything wrong?!?

So this will be my 3rd and final attempt at an american wheat (blue moon clone). The past two attempts have come out undrinkable due to over sprage, possible contamination, long boils and i have no idea what else. So this is everything i will be doing as best as i can detail it. Please find anything wrong and point it out and save my fav. type of beer!

Recipe:

5.5 Gal (diluted 50% RO with 50% tap water)

5 lbs 2-row
4 lbs white wheat raw
0.8 lbs quick cook oats
1.3 oz hallatuer 3.8% 90 min
1 tsp dried orange peel 5 min
2 tsp corriander 5 min
US-05
Mash in - 151 F 11.03 qt
Mash out - 212 F 5.02 qt
Batch Sparge - 168 F 4.88 gal
Boil - 90 min

Ferment using 1 package dried US-05 at 66-68 F 2 weeks
Secondary 68 F 2 weeks
Force Keg

Tap water:
Total Alkalinity (CaCO3) 57
Noncarbonate Hardness (CaCO3) 65
Total Hardness (CaCO3) 122
Calcium (Ca) 37
Magnesium (Mg) 7
Sodium (Na) 76.2
Potassium (K) 4.7
Sulfate (SO4) 135.9
Chloride (Cl) 60
pH Value (pH Units) 7.8

what is 'raw' white wheat? do you mean untorrified?

i have yet to pick up the grain and cannot remember. If it is raw do i need to do a protein rest?

Have you tried different yeast varieties? I got many recomendations a couple weeks back when I started mine.

Seems like a lot of coreander?

I believe that's a belgian witbier rather than an american wheat beer. You might try the Jamil Show for some pointers on the style. I will also say that it is a very difficult style. Do you have a second favorite beer style?

mew said:

. Do you have a second favorite beer style?

Click to expand...

LOL I'm sorry I just couldn't stop laughing when i read this!


But i do agree with him this is a spittin image of a typical Witbier torrified is what your after..if you haven't picked up your grain bill yet talk to your LHBS and see what they could recommend.

I don't usually do a mash out, but I don't think you should be adding boiling water to the mash, it might get hot enough to cause astringent off flavors. 5 quarts isn't much water though, so maybe that's fine. ??

If you're using raw wheat, you'll probably want to do a cereal mash. I don't believe it is 100% necessary, but will certainly yield a lot better results. Flaked, torrified, or malted wheat will not require a cereal mash.

Okay I check with my LHBS and it malt white wheat so I do not need to do a cereal mash correct? I will NOT do a mash out to be on the safe side and just sparge at a 1.3 grain/water ratio. The US-05 was picked as it is a nutrual yeast which is what american wheats use correct? For the corriander 2 tsp is around 0.25 oz which isnt a whole lot for most recipes i see, am i wrong on that statement? I will check out jamil show as well

2 things i am worried about is water and pH. With my water is a 50% dilution with RO a good idea or should I just go all RO water. For pH i have the strips but they dont really give you an accurate value between 5-6. No place in columbus sells pH 5.2 so i cant use that this weekend

Jamil show helped alot! After listening to that i will make the following changes.

4.5 lbs white wheat malt
3.5 lb 2-row malt
0.8 lbs oats
0.5 lbs munich malt for color and a little sweetness
single infusion mash at 150
dilute 70% tap water with RO water to make it extra soft
0.3 oz corriander
2 fresh zested oranges
0.5 oz camomile
US-05 at 65F

How does that sound? any possible problems with pH?

You have a style conflict here. Blue Moon is a Belgian Witbier and should be using the appropriate yeast (White Labs #400 / Wyeast 3944.) If that is what you're after the rest of your recipe is fine except for may be a bit too much coriander for my taste. And you probably should mash a little higher.

But if you're looking for an American Wheat, stick with the US-05, loose the coriander, camomile and orange peel and up the IBU's with some late hop additions.

Regardless, I'd use malted wheat or a combination of flaked and malted and have it be 50% of the grain bill.

Oh yeah, rice hulls.



Edit: All IMHO :cross:

It appears that your malt / spice bill is in style with a classic Belgian Wit Bier (think Hoegaarden). The yeast you chose however is very clean and will not produce the required yeast components in a wit (think Blue Moon version of a wit). Really, I think this beer with a touch less coriander and no chamomile would be somewhat close to Blue Moon.

I would lose the chamomile, use a touch less coriander, a bit more orange and switch the yeast to safbrew S-33 rather than the us 05. The S-33 is a nice clean Belgian type yeast. I also do not see any hops in your newer edited recipe. I would use an oz of hersbrucker or hallertau hops (45 min) and another for the last 15 min.

There is a very informative thread on a Blue Moon clone below. The guy used to brew for Coors. He says that Blue Moon uses a clean American yeast and not a Belgian strain. Your grain bill looks pretty inline with his minus the Munich malt.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/blue-moon-clone-65328/

Okay 3rd and hopefully last version of this recipe:

4.5 lbs white wheat malt
3.5 lb 2-row malt
0.8 lbs oats
0.25 lbs munich malt for color and a little sweetness
single infusion mash at 152 F
dilute tap water with RO water to make it extra soft
1.25 tsp corriander flame out
2 large fresh zested oranges flame out
US-33 at 65F (suppose to be clean all purpose ale yeast but works well in wits)
Sazz or hallertau 90 min
Sazz or hallertau 15 min


When I say "American wheat" I am probably wrong in describing what i want. I want a beer similar to blue moon that has alot of the taste of a german wit without the yeast banana cloves and heavy corriander. This seem good for a final recipe? BTW thank you everyone for the imput I really am greatful!

You really should use WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale Yeast.

I vote for this yeast at the low end of its temps (65 degrees):
"WLP320 American Hefeweizen Ale Yeast.
This yeast is used to produce the Oregon style American Hefeweizen. Unlike WLP300, this yeast produces a very slight amount of the banana and clove notes. It produces some sulfur, but is otherwise a clean fermenting yeast, which does not flocculate well, producing a cloudy beer."

And/or I would do the precise Blue Moon recipe that another poster pointed to above.
good luck!

If you really think there might be a water issue, I believe I've read about filling a container with water a day or two ahead and letting it sit.

What water issues do you have?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/effectiveness-pre-boiling-water-remove-bicarbonate-134108/

I have kinda hard water and very high SO4 levels so i think any bitterness and astrengency i get from over sparge and long boils gets enhanced. I was planning on this next attempt to actually use 66%/33% RO/Tap water for mash then sparge with all RO water. Does that sound fine? Here is my yearly average water report:
total alkalinity 44
noncarbonate hardness 75
total harness 120
Ca 38
Mg 6
Na 60
K 5
S04 128
Cl 46
pH 7.8

The few batches of wheat I tried last year were undrinkable. Banana flavors and just had a nasty aftertaste. I haven't done a wheat beer since.