Black American wheat

OK, folks, I love a fruited American wheat beer when the mood is right... but sometimes, I also want something a lot darker. Why not combine the two?

I'm thinking about the following as the base beer:

3# Pale 2-row (US)
4# dark wheat malt
1/2# crystal 80L
1# chocolate wheat malt
1/4# roasted barley

.75 oz Cluster 60'
.5 oz Cascade 10'

Wyeast 1010 (American Wheat)

Then, for fruit, I want something dark to go well with the flavors of the beer. I'm thinking 3# black cherries, added at secondary.

Thoughts?

I see these coming up all of a sudden. What is the thought? It seems like a sweet and sour idea, only its light/heavy. Lighter beer with aheavy flavor.

I've had good luck with the 50/50 wheat/barley. I get a sour overtone watch your yeast selection. Extra hops have been suggested to me also.

Good luck.

Dynachrome said:

I see these coming up all of a sudden. What is the thought? It seems like a sweet and sour idea, only its light/heavy. Lighter beer with aheavy flavor.

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At least in my case, it's that black IPA seems to work well but I don't like IPAs. Also, the idea isn't a heavy beer - it's that certain flavors don't require one to work well, so let's stop confining them to things like stouts.

The version I wound up brewing dropped the roasted barley for an extra half pound of chocolate wheat, and was brewed as five gallons with a half gallon of black cherry juice added as the fermentation started to drop off. It's not in the bottles yet, so I'll let you know how it went.

That sounds really interesting.

I didn't think the mouth feel would get heavy. I thought the flavor would end up way deeper, than say, a Widmer Wheat.

So, if I re-phrase what you mean, you are trying for a lighter beer with more complex flavors?

Dynachrome said:

That sounds really interesting.

I didn't think the mouth feel would get heavy. I thought the flavor would end up way deeper, than say, a Widmer Wheat.

So, if I re-phrase what you mean, you are trying for a lighter beer with more complex flavors?

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's right. There's a definite chocolate aspect to the smell that (hopefully!) supports the black cherries. I'll report in on how the recipe came out once it's bottled.

I've been thinking about using a full pound of chocolate wheat in recipes, too (like a black Belgian Pale or hefeweizen). I'll be interested to see how it goes. I tend to get little roasted flavor from chocolate wheat that would really clash with the traditional flavors of lighter styles.

I would lose the RB. Might over power. Have you thought about Crystal Wheat in lieu of the C-80? I did this one 2 yrs ago. Came out real nice...

9 lbs Wheat Malt, Ger 49.32 %
4 lbs Munich Malt - 21.92 %
4 lbs Pilsner 21.92 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Wheat Malt (400.0 SRM) 2.74 %
8.0 oz Wheat, Crystal (66.0 SRM) 2.74 %
4.0 oz Caramunich - 120L (120.0 SRM) 1.37 %
1.50 oz Hallertauer [4.30 %] (60 min) 20.6 IBU
0.75 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (60 min) 20.4 IBU
1.25 oz Mt. Hood [4.00 %] (10 min) 3.2 IBU