Review My Brew

I was hoping someone could take a look at this brew I put together. This would be the first one I have ever built from scratch so I was hoping someone would be able to give me some feedback.Things I'm looking for are things like "will this actually taste good or not?" and if the recipe will actually work out. Any advice and or criticism is welcome.
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Batch size5 gallons Boil size6.7 gallons Boil time60 minutes Grain weight8
pounds Efficiency70% Original gravity1.055 Final gravity1.013 Alcohol (by
volume)5.5% Bitterness (IBU)41 Color (SRM)7.4°L *Yeast* 2 liquid packs *White
Labs*
* WLP400*Belgian Wit Ale
*Grains/Extracts/Sugars* 8 pounds *Liquid Malt - Wheat*
* 34ppg, 5°L*3 pounds
* 37.5%* *Dry Malt - Wheat*
* 43ppg, 5°L*3 pounds
* 37.5%* *Honey*
* 30ppg, 20°L*1 pound
* 12.5%* *Wheat (Flaked)*
* 36ppg, 2°L*1 pound
* 12.5%*
*Hops* 3 ounces *Hallertauer hops*
* 5%, Pellet*3 ounces
*Mash* 60 minutes, 7.8 gallons *Strike*
* Target 152°F*6 quarts
165°F
60 minutes (+0) *Sparge*
* Target 170°F*6.3 gallons
174°F
*Boil* 60 minutes, 6.7 gallons *Hallertauer hops*
* 5%, Pellet*2 ounces
60 minutes (+0) *Hallertauer hops*
* 5%, Pellet*1 ounce
15 minutes (+45)
*Ferment* 14 days @ 67-74°F *Rack to secondary*7 days (+7)

I'm a little confused here. It looks like you are using 3 lbs LME and 3 lbs DME (both for wheat beers), and 1 lb of honey, and 1 lb of flaked wheat. But you are mashing for 60 minutes in 7.6 gallons of water? What exactly are you mashing? You can steep the flaked wheat for a while if you want, but I wouldn't call it a mash.

I think this beer is going to be a bit thin. The honey will boost the alcohol, thin the beer out, and may not add much in the way of flavor if it is going to be in the boil for the full 60 minutes.

I also think your hop rate is a bit heavy handed, unless you plan on spacing the hop additions out a bit more throughout the boil. I would consider an ounce at the start, then another ounce about halfway through, then an ounce at knockout.

All that said, I don't think this is a bad recipe. It will be a very light beer, but that's OK for the style. You should be able to really detect the yeast in this one.

I would suggest adding your honey at the end of the boil -- and cover the pot. This sanitizes the honey, and helps retain the honey aroma. You don't mention what kind of honey you are using, but I would suggest a medium flavored one. You might want to cut the honey back a little bit, and increase your malt extract a comparable amount. You may also be able to get from your LHBS some honey malt, which can produce some of the same profile.

Keep us posted how it turns out.

Thanks for the input on this. As you can probably tell I have very basic knowledge as to how to formulate a beer. I basically plugged the ingredients into some software and this is what came back. So thats probably why the its talking about the mashing.

What is good to know is that the Flaked Wheat can be steeped. This is something I was wondering about.

Thanks for the suggestions on the honey that should prove to be extremely helpful.

I was also thinking about adding some oats in addition to the flaked wheat.

Any other suggestions? Maybe a different malt extract or a different specialty grain?

There is no need to add oats in addition to the flaked wheat. They do they same thing. I don't think I would substitute a different malt extract. I personally would probably use more, but I tend to like stronger beers. Don't go nuts, though, because then the alcohol would dominate your flavor.

If you want your beer a little darker, you could try adding some specialty malt. Some light crystal would give you some unfermentables and add body to the beer. You might also try steeping some Vienna or Munich malt. Again, this will make the beer a little darker, and will make it a little stronger.

If you try some crystal malt, I would look for the lightest you can find, and steep about a half-pound at about 155-160 F for 30 minutes.

Steeping specialty grains is a great way to start to transition to all-grain brewing, if that is something you want to do. It is also a great way to begin to familiarize yourself with your ingredients. Don't add a lot of different ones -- just one or two at a time so you can better assess the impact on the overall beer. Then add them to recipes you have already brewed.