Nelson Sauvin Wheat Wine Ale

[Kelpdog]

Thinking of doing a single hop Nelson Sauvin Wheat Wine Ale. I've never had opportunity to try a Wheat Wine so this is a one-off guess on a grain bill. I've also not used Nelson Sauvin, but hear that it can be a reasonable single hop and has interesting characteristics that might play nicely with a wheat wine. Would love feedback.

5 Gallons
60% efficiency
Est. OG 1.093
Est. FG 1.018
Est. ABV - 9.9%


Grain
8.5# Pilsner
9# White Wheat
1# Rice Hulls
1# Orange Blossom Honey (late addition)

Hops
60 min. 1 oz Nelson Sauvin
30 min. 1 oz nelson Sauvin
10 min. 1 oz Nelson Sauvin
Flameout 1 oz Nelson Sauvin

Yeast
Pacman 4 liter starter

Mash
20 min - Protein Rest 125F
45 min - Sac. Rest @ 152F
10 min - Mash Out @ 169F

 

[ardonthorn5]

i did something similar, used two oz. each of Pacific Jade, Nelson Sauvin and Pride of Ringwood. It's still fermenting, looking to keg it next week. Your recipe looks pretty good to me.

 

[Kelpdog]

Thanks... I just read in Mosher's "Radical Brewing" that wheat wine doesn't age like barley wine. I presume this to mean it is better drunk young, but with a higher alcohol brew, what does that mean? I was thinking of brewing this now to enjoy over the holidays Dec/Jan.

 

[ardonthorn5]

my lay understanding is that wheat beers generally don't age well. something to do with the proteins, maybe. i overhopped/added too much candied orange peel to mine, and i'd like to give it time to mellow out, but i don't think that's going to happen. i figure one more week and i'll keg. you could always try to age it, but i'm not sure how that would go.

 

[GuldTuborg]

What's weird is that others state wheat helps beers to age well. Take lambics, for example. Several brewers have stated that the wheat helps in these cases, as there is always something more for the bugs to eat, hence it keeps the "culture" going.

I don't know whether most beers with wheat age better or worse, or what, but the assumption that they don't age well could be a carryover from wheat based styles that don't age well (Bavarian Weizens, that kind of thing). But, the reason they tend not to improve with age may or may not have anything to do with wheat in the grainbill.

I don't know, but I'd love to see any solid info anyone has on the topic.

 

[Kelpdog]

Brewed this last Saturday, but modified things to do it as a partigyle. First half was the wheat wine ale. Second was a saison (wyeast 3711) that I added a little amber dme (had some that needed to be used), honey, a few crushed juniper berries, and grains of paradise. I'll be adding 3# of fresh picked/frozen blackberries to the secondary. A couple of take aways from the experience for those thinking of doing a wheat wine ale or partigyle:

• Hot break from hell - the combination of pilsner and wheat malt produced huge amount of break that looked like Chinese egg soup. Probably lost a half gallon from spooning the break out and will certainly lose more from the trub.
• I opted to do a protein rest. Trying to calculate volumes for mash thickness & temperature to correspond with first running volume was tricky. Preboil OG was quite low but still managed to hit the target OG. May have mismeasured the pre-boil OG.
• I had four hop additions on each of the two brews along with spices. Probably too complicated with two boils going at once. Got lucky that the timing worked out for cooling.

 

[loctones]

Any update on how this turned out? I was thinking about making a similar wheat wine with lots of Nelson Sauvin.

 

[Kelpdog]

It turned out quite good and has been we'll received. Doing the partigyle I ended with a higher og. Fermentation stuck at 1.04 or so. Repitched a good dose of pacman and it chugged along without further problem, ending with 11.5 % abv. Despite that it is very smooth with no real heat or sense of alcohol strength. The Nelson works just beautifully in the beer.

The only thing I would change is the mouthfeel is a little thick and it has a bit of a sweet finish. Was thinking of swapping the honey for sugar and bumping it up just a little. Maybe doing the sac mash a little lower as well? I only drank two of these - gave away the rest over the holidays. Guess I will have to brew it again!

 

[loctones]

Thanks for the update! I'm going to put this on my list. I think I'll aim for about 9% and mash it low in an attempt to have it finish out on the drier side.

 

[Kelpdog]

Go for it - you won't be disappointed! Check back to this thread and let me know how it goes and if you have any recommendations on it as well. I probably will brew it again mid summer for consumption next winter - calling it a Whiteout Winter Wheat Wine (ale).

Oh, and for what it is worth, letting it age a few months seemed to help rather than hinder (see previous conversation earlier in the thread). The hops faded a touch but on the whole it sort of smoothed out the edges and came together. If there weren't a dozen other things on my list I'd brew it again sooner.

 

[loctones]

I just put my recipe together this weekend. It'll probably be a couple of months before I get around to brewing it, but I think it'll make a good beer for summertime evenings. I'll update the thread when I have some results.

 

[BarrelsBarrelsBarrelsOhMy]

Nice read. Are you still planning on brewing this or similar again? I really want to do a wheat wine as I've never had one and I had no idea it would work out with Nelson. Considering swapping Nelson for Southern Passion actually. (Spectacular hop)

 

[BarrelsBarrelsBarrelsOhMy]

How'd it turn out?

 

[loctones]

I never brewed mine. I still have the recipe waiting, but I decided to wait on brewing it in favor of making something lower in alcohol. I ended up doing 50% pale malt and 50% wheat malt with Nelson and Pacific Jade hops, Belgian yeast and an ABV of about 5%. I turned out nicely. The hops go well with a wheat grain bill.

 

[Kelpdog]

I have not brewed this again, but plan to soon for a smooth strong winter brew again. A friend who had not opened the bottle I gave them back in December cracked it open for the US-Ghana World Cup match. It was still good but seemed to have lost some of its crispness and understandably the hop character had faded a little.

I'll probably brew in August and plan to do a 5 gallon batch, shooting for a lower OG and not as a partigyle.


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