American Wheat Beer American Wheat Beer - 2nd place Best of show - 2011 HBT BJCP competition

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thunderworm

Active Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2009
Messages
37
Reaction score
16
Location
NE
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Wyeast 2565 Kölsch
Yeast Starter
1.5 L on stir plate
Batch Size (Gallons)
6.0
Original Gravity
1.050
Final Gravity
1.010
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
19
Color
3.9 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
9 days at 62 °F
Tasting Notes
Refreshing beer with a nice mouthfeel and a light clean fruitiness.
Here's the recipe for my American wheat beer that won 2nd place BOS and 1st place Hybrids (Category 6-7) in the HBT BJCP 2011 contest. I brewed this on March 6th, so it was about 3 weeks old for the first round judging. I was surprised that it was actually very drinkable only 11 days after brewday (but still extremely turbid). As the Kölsch yeast continued to settle out in the keg, the more subtle fruity fermentation characteristics began to come out a little more.

Grain:
5.5 lb 2-row malt (52%)
4.5 lb Wheat malt (43%)
0.5 lb Munich malt (5%)
0.5 lb rice hulls

Hops:
9 g Yakima Magnum (14.0% AA); first wort hops
8 g Centennial (8.8% AA); 10 min.
21 g Centennial (8.8% AA); 0 min.

Single infusion mash at 152 °F, 60 min. Mash out at 165 °F, 10 min. Batch sparged.

Fermented 9 days at 62 °F. Cold crashed for 1 day, then kegged and force carbed.
 
I just wanted to say that I think it's awesome that a straight-up, true to style American Wheat was able to take 2nd in such a big competition. All to often, BOS ends up being crazy beers from Category 23, or really amped-up imperials.

Congrats! I might brew this before the summer is out.
 
I made a kolsch a while back using White Labs 029 kolsch yeast and thought the yeast character I got from that would go nice in a wheat. When I compared notes on the Wyeast vs White Labs kolsch yeasts I ended up deciding to go with the Wyeast. The kolsch yeast doesn't produce any of the phenols that you would get from a hefeweizen. It does make some fruity esters, but none of the banana like a hefe, more like a bit of pear and pineapple. This fruitiness is subtle though. The wheatiness came out nice and bready. I might brew it again soon and see how the White Labs kolsch yeast does with it.
 
Thanks, Airborneguy!

It's funny, a week before this contest was judged I decided not to enter this same wheat beer into a "best damn beer" category in a local contest because I thought there's no way an American wheat would have a chance to win going up against other styles.

If you brew it let me know how it turns out for you. I have a feeling I will be brewing this one a couple more times this summer...
 
Congrats! That has to feel good. I'd love to try that beer. Is it similar to lil sumpin sumpin? Sounds similar to the Can You Brew It recipe that was posted a while back. Man I like that beer.
 
9 days with wyeast kolsch? when i use this the krausen is usually several inches high for 3 weeks.
 
Ya, that was my first time with the Wyeast kolsch yeast. At 9 days I opened it up to pull a sample and there was still a whole mess of bubbly yeast on top! But a gravity check showed it was fully attenuated and it tasted great (and for the style it didn't matter if it was cloudy) so I decided to crash it and keg it and force carbonate.

I probably would have let it go longer in the primary like i do with most of my beers. But I had only decided to enter this contest the week before entries were due, so that's why I rushed it through.
 
I've never had Sumpin Sumpin. I had a look at that recipe, it looks fantastic! But it's quite a bit stronger and with all those dry hops I doubt it would be to similar to this one.

We don't many chances to try Lagunitas here in Nebraska, but I'm headed to the NHC in San Diego this June, so I will have to look for it when I'm there. Thanks for the tip!
 
Yes, I just double checked the recipe. The hops are right. Is there something in particular that made you wonder about it?
 
Ya, not a whole lot of late hops in this recipe just enough to give just a little bit of citrus in the aroma and brighten up the flavor. The 9 g of Magnum should give about 19 IBU, which is what I was aiming for. I listed the hops below in ounces also.

Hops:
9 g (0.32 oz) Yakima Magnum (14.0% AA); first wort hops
8 g (0.28 oz) Centennial (8.8% AA); 10 min.
21 g (0.74 oz) Centennial (8.8% AA); 0 min.
 
newbie here too, looks like a good summer recipe for my first AG batch.. most of it look self explanatory, but just a couple questions.. i plan on ordering my ingredients from austinhomebrew and they have all the grains fine, though they don't have that same first hops, they have magnum pellets that are 13.5%AA, would they do? the cenetenniels there are 10.3%AA, would that change the taste much? also, what is the order for the hops.. the magnums go in first thing? then what? thanks for your help, still learning how to read these things ;-)
 
Ya, I brewed another batch recently and I'm really enjoying it in the warm weather!

The 13.5% AA Magnum will work fine. You can adjust for the different AA% to get the same calculated IBUs by factoring in the ratio of the AA%:

(14.0/13.5) x 9g = 9.3g

So you would use 9.3 g of the 13.5% Magnum to get the same bitterness as the 14.0% Magnum i used. But practically speaking, this difference is so small and my scale only has a 1 g resolution, so you should be fine just measuring out 9 grams with the 13.5% Magnum. Yes, the Magnum go in first. The Magnum were First Wort Hops, which means I added them to the kettle when I started collecting my first runnings after the mash.

Your 10.3% Centennials will work just fine in the same amounts. Since they are added at the last 10 minutes and at the end of the boil they will not add much bitterness. These are for flavor and aroma so you should use the same amount (per 6 gallon batch).

Hope this helps!
 
I've wondered about centennial in a wheat beer (brewed one yesterday and barely restrained myself from dropping a 1/2 oz in a flameout) so it's great to hear that you had such a good result with it!
 
ok, so i get most of it now.. just a couple more Qs.. looks like a great summer beer..

do you put the magnum hops in at the very beginning of the boil? then 8g of centennial 10 min into the boil? then what does the 0min ones mean?

how much water (or how much per lb of grain) do you use for your mash?
 
No problem, happy to help!

I used the Magnum hops as first wort hops, which means I put them into the kettle as soon as I started draining the wort from the mash to the kettle.

Typically, when recipes list a time with the hops, that time is the amount of the time the hops spend in the boil. The 8 g of Centennial go in for only the last 10 minutes (or 50 minutes into the boil). The 0 min means that those hops go in at the same time the heat is stopped on the boil, so they are being steeped while the wort chills; this hop addition is mostly for aroma.

I used 1.3 quarts of water per lb grain in the mash.

Good luck!
 
last question i think:

Single infusion mash at 152 °F, 60 min. Mash out at 165 °F, 10 min. Batch sparged.

does that mean steep the grains for 60 min at 152 degrees, then have the sparge water at 165?
 
krenshaw, will this be your first all-grain batch?

Yes, the mash is 152°F for 60 minutes. The mash out is optional, but it will help the wort to run off faster, especially with the high % of wheat used. If you can heat your mash-tun directly then you can heat it while stirring to get up to 165-168°F, then let it rest 10 minutes before sparging. Then you would sparge with the 165°F water. If you can't apply direct heat to your mash tun (e.g. if you mash in a cooler), then you will probably be fine just skipping the mash out, and sparging with 165°F water.
 
yep.. i liked the ingredients so it seemed like a good first run with my finally upgraded equipment.. probably taken about 6 months to get everything set up and upgraded but now i won't have to worry about re-replacing things down the line..

i have kegs for the HLT and BK, and a 10 gallon igloo for the MLT, just waiting on my ingredients and couple other small items to be delivered.. so excited :)
 
I'm going to brew this recipe this week, sounds delicious. Can I sub Pale Malt for Pilsner? I have 2 bags of pilsner malt I would like to use some
 
I'm sure it will turn out great with pilsner. If you're worried about DMS from pilsner malt maybe just boil 15 minutes longer.
 
I bet Citra would be a great compliment to the fruity character of the Kolsch yeast! I have some Citra in my freezer right now. I might have to give that a shot! Not sure about the Simcoe though; I think the pine might be a bit too much for this beer.
 
brewed the wheat earlier today.. as it was my first all grain took me a while to learn the ins and outs of my new equipment.. did a trial run earlier in the week, but never the same until you have grains in and such.. seemed pretty good.. should be bubbling away shortly, have to check on it in a bit.. thanks for all of your help on the recipe :)
 
Hey Krenshaw, Congrats on the 1st all grain batch! You'll have to let us know how it turns out!
 
thanks.. it's bubbling like crazy in my basement as we speak.. i didn't get the full 6 gallons that was in the recipe.. probably a little over 5.. will that make it stronger/hazier or something like that? as it being my first all grain i'll just be happy if it tastes like beer :)
 
i've always done a secondary with my previous brews, at first for clarity, then i guess just out of habit.. with wheat beers it seems the majority say to just rack directly from the primary into keg/bottles.. i plan on doing both, if i prime the half in the bottles, and force carb in the keg for the other half, any suggestions for doing anything differently that i may have done in the past as this is the first wheat and all grain i've ever brewed??
 
I am about a week removed from brewing this recipe. I'm very anxious to see how it will taste. It already smells awesome, and my pre-fermentation sample gave me a very positive outlook. Thanks for the recipe.
 
just finishing the up the last of the bottles from this.. they got much better with age, overall turned out to be a great recipe! thanks everybody.. also have a RIS, irish red, and apfewein (sp?) also going!
 
I agree that this just got better as time went on. This is my new house Am Wheat recipe. Thanks again!
 

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