Got a little crazy with a Wheat beer....

[BeerNoob]

I wanted to make a wheat beer but decided that a regular wheat was too boring. I'm not sure Why I decided that it was too boring because my track record thus far has been pretty dismal.

Anyway here's what I did/am doing. It's a partial mash and it possible I may have made it a bit too sweet because I tasted my wort and it's reeeaaaaaly sugary and has an O.G. of about 1.055 but it does taste great and it has the exact amount of subtle lemon twang that I wanted without overpowering the rest of the flavours. It's aroma right now is very sweet and pleasant.

The Noobiest Honey Lemon Wheat Ever.
7.25 lbs. Wheat Extract
10 oz. Wheat Malt
8 oz. Honey Malt.
.15 oz. Perle Hops Boil
.5 oz. Lemon Zest Boil
500g Pure Alfalfa Honey Boil
O.G. 1.055

I'm using WYEAST 3068 for standard Wheat brews. it's my first time using this yeast but I smacked it and it puffed up in no time so I pitched it directly into my wort.

I substituted the Honey Malt in. it originally called for something a bit lighter, can't recall the name. And I added the lemon and honey to the boil. the volumes were based on some research I did around these forums. The original recipe predicts an O.G. of 1.045.

Depending on how it tastes after the initial fermentation i might add more lemon zest. I have some sitting in a couple oz. of vodka in my fridge at the moment just in case. I plan to use 2/3 cup of honey for priming before bottling and allowing them to bottle condition because i don't have a keg system.

Has anyone tried anything similar? I'm a little concerned about the O.G. and how sweet it's starting out. I think it's got a lot of alcohol potential right now. Thoughts?

 

[BlueWolf]

You can't really judge the final sweetness until the beer is done fermenting. The wort is loaded with sugars. The honey is also going to be devoured by the yeast.

With that said, 1/2 lb of honey malt will give you a very prominent and distinct flavor. It should go well with the lemon zest. If it helps, I used the zest and juice of an entire lemon in a wheat beer recently, and the flavor was very subtle (but pleasant) in the background.

 

[Edcculus]

If you had an OG if 1.055, with normal attenuation, you should end up with a beer around 5% ABV. Don't worry about wort being sweet. Thats how it should taste. I usually describe it as "sickeningly sweet and disgustingly bitter". The honey you added will actually help dry the beer out, (meaning lower FG), so this really won't be a sweet beer. As for the lemon, I'm sure it will add a pleasant "wit" like edge to the beer.

 

[Oldsock]

Most of the carbohydrates in a standard wort are chains of multiple sugar molecules that don’t taste as sweet as the simple sugars in honey. No need to be concerned at this stage as others have said, yeast love simple sugars.

I did a lemon/pepper Belgian wheat beer around the same gravity, it came out well but I should have used more lemon (I used 2 lemons worth of zest).

I love 3068, but the banana can get out of control if you let it get too warm. I like it in the low 60s, but even into the upper 60s it is fine.

 

[BeerNoob]

Just one more question...

Is it a bad idea to add the honey directly to the boil? It seems like most recipes with honey call for it as Pasteurized and added to the primary.

 

[Maarten]

I always add my sugars to the boil. I don't like the idea of disturbing fermentation. If you pitch enough and healty yeast, it will take care of all the sugars. Pouring in sugar later just increases the risk of infection.

 

[Edcculus]

People will usually add honey in once the wort has cooled to around 160°F to preserve the honey aroma/taste. Its very volatile and will boil out easily. Its not going to hurt anything to add it to the boil though.