Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat Clone

I am looking to do an extract (LME) clone of Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat and need some help. The research I have done leads me to believe that it is modeled after a Belgian Wit with Lager Yeast...yes lager yeast- with a hint of blueberry added during bottling. Does this sound right? I think it is lightly hopped, maybe I will use Perle & Mt Hood Hops. I also think I will use 1lb of 2-row malt. Any feedback would be helpful. Thanks.

Maybe try adding some fruity pebbles or trix cereal to the secondary?

I do believe you're right about the lager yeast, from what I've read, almost all, if not all, of leinie's beers are lagers.

yes fruity pebbles dry hoping should get you the flavor your looking for.

Lol, spot on with the fruity pebbles, but yeah I bet anything it's a lager not a real wit.

Where are you in Illinois?

Yea, as a kid I loved fruity pebbles, so now as an adult I can get drunk off of that same great flavor! Haha, the snobs come out. Anyway, to each his own. North of Champaign by 1.5 hrs.

Isn't it actually Skittlebrau?

I'd go into the database and get BierMuncher's recipe for his Blue Moon cloner. Personally I think the 2 beers are very similar.

It is definately a lager. I think all of their beers are a lager. I toured the brewery last month...

I second the fruity pebbles vibe. Not a bad beer, just has that taste....

I've read that this recipe is close. I'm going to convert it to extract and give it a try in a week or so:

http://rabeb25.mikesdecks.com/BEER/Recipes/Recipes/Sunset Wheat 5g.htm

I'm a little confused by the hops, however. It has .5 oz of cluster at 60 min but then has .5 oz of cluster also at 60 min for aroma. A typo maybe or am I just too new at this to understand?

typo. If it's aroma it should be added 20mins or later. 10 probably would be better.

1.5hrs that'd put just north of kankakee, or in the south suburbs?

I think we have quite a few on here from the west suburbs.

SWMBO tried the Leiny Sunset Wheat once and spit it out. She's German.

drunkatuw said:

Maybe try adding some fruity pebbles or trix cereal to the secondary?

I do believe you're right about the lager yeast, from what I've read, almost all, if not all, of leinie's beers are lagers.

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Hahahaha. I personally dont mind the beer too much, though I would never buy it. It definitely does have that sort of taste.

Thanks for the comments. I do not have the set-up to do a cold lager, does anyone have an opinion on how different a California Lager would make this taste? Thanks

DID you get a good recipie? I wanna make that too

I did some research and came up with this recipe. I brewed it on Dec 23rd and right now it is in the bottle (won't be ready to drink for a few more weeks).

Here is the recipe and some notes I took. I will post the end results after I drink one.

Sunset Wheat Clone Brewed 12/23/07

There is no orange peel in Sunset Wheat

Ingredients:

1 lb Brewers 2-Row Malt (Rahr)
6 lbs Wheat LME
1oz Cluster Hops
1oz Coriander crushed
WLP840 American Lager Yeast
2oz Blueberry Extract
1 Whirfloc tablet (clarity)

Make a Yeast starter 48hrs early. (2/3 cup LME & 2 cups water)
Pitch starter at 75 degrees.


Steep grains at 155-165 degrees for 20 minutes.

Remove from burner-add malt extract & boil for 60 minutes
Bring to boil & add ½ oz hops for 60 minutes
Add Coriander for last 10 minutes
Add Whirfloc tablet for last 5 minutes
Add ½ oz hops for last 2 minutes

(Whirfloc will coagulate proteins & make them drop to bottom of kettle. DO NOT pour the last bit of wort from kettle into primary.)

Cool Wort to 72 degrees, shake, pitch yeast,

Keep primary at 72 degrees until fermentation begins (1 day?)
Once fermentation begins, keep primary at 50-55 degrees for 12 days
Bring to 64-68 degrees for 24-48 hrs for Diacetyl Rest
Transfer to Secondary for 3 weeks at 40-45 degrees.

During bottling, add 2 oz of Blueberry Extract to bucket with priming sugar (boil sugar NOT blueberry extract).

Bottle & store for 3 weeks in bottle at room temperature.
Chill in fridge at 35 degrees for at least 3 days before drinking.

NOTES:
First 3-4 days the primary ferment temp was closer to 57-58 degrees. Then 55F
It did not have airlock activity until day 3 or 4.
Pulled to 65 degrees on day 12 for 24 hrs (diacetyl rest). Went back to 55 deg on days 13-16.
Day 17 transferred to secondary. To 40-42F for 7 days then 32F-35F for 21 days

Finally had a taste of my Sunset Wheat clone eight weeks after brewing. Success! It was my first lager and I am happy with the results. I have not compared it side by side with a Sunset Wheat, but I think it is close. The blueberry extract is not overpowering (I feared 2oz might be too much) but is definitely noticeable. Very well carbonated and a light, crisp taste. If I were to tweak my recipe, I would bump the hops to 1.5 ounces. The aftertaste is a tad bit harsher than the real Sunset Wheat, but I think with a few more weeks it will mellow out nicely. A nice lighter beer for Spring & Summer.

Ryanh1801 said:

yes fruity pebbles dry hoping should get you the flavor your looking for.

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Oh good so I'm not the only one who thought it taste like that.

King of the Swill: I'm curious how your beer looked. Was it cloudy like a hefeweizen or did it clear out with the lager yeast and the whirlfloc? I just poured a Sunset wheat out of the bottle and it was fairly cloudy but not as cloudy as say a Kellerweis by Sierra Nevada. Would substituting irish moss for whirlfloc make any difference? Just thinking about giving your recipe a shot. Also what was your Original and Final Gravity? Thanks for any help.

Thanks for the recipe. I plan to try it when I have a lager setup.

steinsato said:

King of the Swill: I'm curious how your beer looked. Was it cloudy like a hefeweizen or did it clear out with the lager yeast and the whirlfloc? I just poured a Sunset wheat out of the bottle and it was fairly cloudy but not as cloudy as say a Kellerweis by Sierra Nevada. Would substituting irish moss for whirlfloc make any difference? Just thinking about giving your recipe a shot. Also what was your Original and Final Gravity? Thanks for any help.

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It was cloudy like a hefe. I didn't take a gravity reading. Looking back at this beer, I would say it was OK, not great. It was a tough beer to duplicate.

Thanks. I've got mine in primary right now, probably going to begin the diacetyl rest today. I also added .25 oz of warrior hops at 60 min just for a little more bitterness. I'm not a big wheat fan but thought it'd be worth a shot.

Let me know how it turns out. Mine was decent but not great.

Well I tried some last night. It certainly tastes good but I wouldn't call it a clone yet. I think it may need some orange peel and perhaps a bit more of teh blueberry extract. I think I'm going to add 2 more oz. of the blueberry flavoring to mine only because I really don't taste much of it at all. If I were to make this again I would also try adding some orange peel in the boil. It is a good beer and mine came out at about 5.1% abv.

I didn't really duplicate the fruity/berry flavor. Too much blueberry and it might taste like a wine cooler. Tough beer to clone.

I like my "clone" better than the real thing. I used a half oz of coriander and 2oz of blueberry extract in a standard American Wheat. No "fruity pebbles", just slightly tart and VERY tasty.

SWMBO is racing me to the bottom of the keg. Luckily, I still have another half oz of coriander and 2 more oz of extract, since I will probably be brewing it again soon.

:rockin:

I ended up adding all 4 oz of the blueberry extract and it still is barely noticeable. At a blind taste testing last night, my fellow homebrewers couldn't quite put their finger on the blueberry flavoring. It also came out quite dark for a wheat beer.

if you go on their site they say they use wheat and pale malt, cluster hops and natural coriander just getting into brewing and wanted a good clone of this beer

wako13 said:

if you go on their site they say they use wheat and pale malt, cluster hops and natural coriander just getting into brewing and wanted a good clone of this beer

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Yeah, I used 2-row pale, pale wheat, cluster, and US-05 yeast.

Added 1/2 oz crushed coriander at flame out.

Added 2 oz of blueberry extract at kegging.

Turned out good, and I am planning another batch.

Leiny actually uses a mix of blueberry and raspberry, fyi

Fruity Pebbles, Ha! A few of my friends say the same exact thing to me when I drink it. I think its good and am planning to try one of my own if anyone thinks I would get away with slightly higher fermentation temps... I might try some brown sugar as well. My basement gets pretty cold in the winter if I shut all the vents, but I can't do the secondary temps. Think this would be ok to treat like an ale?

Bottled my take on a sunset wheat ale clone and it tasted pretty damn similar before carbing. I will post back in a few more weeks after bottle conditioning with the final results.

I'd love to get some details. Recipe? OG, FG? notes? Let me know.

agentEhrman said:

Bottled my take on a sunset wheat ale clone and it tasted pretty damn similar before carbing. I will post back in a few more weeks after bottle conditioning with the final results.

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I am interested in what your final results were. I want to try something like this but I can't maintain lagering temperatures.

Hey guys, it was OK but I think it will be better next time. It tasted great at bottling, but I wasn't real impressed with it after it carbed up. I plan to brew it again to decide if it was the recipe, or just the brew. I didn't take gravity readings because I only brewed 2.5 gallons in an ale pale (not deep enough for my hydrometer). I used half light DME and half wheat DME. I threw in 3/4 brown sugar and used Mt Hood hops. Also added corriander and irish moss with 15 minutes left in the boil. US-05 for the yeast. Then blueberry extract at bottling. Once I make this one again, I will taste it and if its a good beer, I will try and post back with more specifics if you would like.