I will be doing my first all grain beer in a few weeks. I searched the forum for favorite wheat recipes and couldn't find any. Could I get some recommendations or a link to a post regarding my question? It seems like wheat beers are pretty straight forward with slight variations, just looking for some ideas.
Wheat beer recipe
- Thread starter AndyRN
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Might I suggest that you do something other than a wheat beer for your first? Wheat kernels are smaller and harder than barley so they don't crush as well which will make your efficiency terrible. When you are expecting an OG around 1.057 and get 1.023 it can be very discouraging. Wheat also has no husk so it doesn't make a good filter bed on its own, you need to add something like rice hulls to make up for the missing hulls. Wheat is also full of beta glucans which make a sticky mash, not as bad as rye, but bad enough.
Instead, for your first all grain I'd suggest a pale ale or a porter or whatever you prefer that isn't wheat.
Instead, for your first all grain I'd suggest a pale ale or a porter or whatever you prefer that isn't wheat.
I wouldn't say to not do a wheat as your first all grain as it was my first however some valid points were made. My first ever brew day was an all grain franziskaner clone ( google it I don't have quick access on my phone). My efficiency for the batch was only 50% which I thought was pretty bad. But it's been happily bubbling for the past week. So I'm just gonna let it do its thing.
Today was my 2nd and 3rd batch. I got about 65% out of them. One was an Irish red - final volume a little low but gravity was good and the other was a porter - gravity was a little low but volume was spot on. I think on the 3rd batch I finally got used to my kettle/burner so I know how to set it. Now I just need to edge a little extra efficiency out of my mash tun.
Back to you: I had no problem with the sparge or anything else on my first wheat and all grain(used 1lb of rice hulls might of been excessive but was per recipe). I just boiled off more than I expected and ended with about 3.75 gal instead of 5.
Today was my 2nd and 3rd batch. I got about 65% out of them. One was an Irish red - final volume a little low but gravity was good and the other was a porter - gravity was a little low but volume was spot on. I think on the 3rd batch I finally got used to my kettle/burner so I know how to set it. Now I just need to edge a little extra efficiency out of my mash tun.
Back to you: I had no problem with the sparge or anything else on my first wheat and all grain(used 1lb of rice hulls might of been excessive but was per recipe). I just boiled off more than I expected and ended with about 3.75 gal instead of 5.
Sorry, I did not see that recipe tab at the top. I thought it was weird that I could not find something like that.
I was looking for a recipe with maybe 60% wheat. I was only looking for something a little lighter because everyone that comes over won't drink IPA's, porters, or even a slightly hoppy brown ale. I don't plan on grinding my own grains, should I have the store run the wheat through the mill twice??? Will that improve efficiency?
P.S. I do appreciate the cautionary statement to not do wheat as a first batch. Maybe I will look to do something else.
I was looking for a recipe with maybe 60% wheat. I was only looking for something a little lighter because everyone that comes over won't drink IPA's, porters, or even a slightly hoppy brown ale. I don't plan on grinding my own grains, should I have the store run the wheat through the mill twice??? Will that improve efficiency?
P.S. I do appreciate the cautionary statement to not do wheat as a first batch. Maybe I will look to do something else.
what commercial wheat beer are you shooting for? that will also make your recipe different.
for example one of my favorite wheat beers was Boulevard wheat, and their 80-acre hoppy wheat. when i got the recipe from them, it turns out that it's only about 37% wheat, including the flaked wheat and the wheat malt.
also the yeast strain will be different.
for example one of my favorite wheat beers was Boulevard wheat, and their 80-acre hoppy wheat. when i got the recipe from them, it turns out that it's only about 37% wheat, including the flaked wheat and the wheat malt.
also the yeast strain will be different.
A cream ale or blond ale might work for the people who want beer without the flavor.
I made a really light colored ale using barley, flaked corn (flaked maize in some stores) and rice. You might substitute rice syrup solids.This is the one I modeled mine after. If you don't want or have the equipment for 10 gallons you can just cut everything in half. The recipe calls for yeast saved from a previous batch but I used a dry yeast like US-05. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f62/cream-three-crops-cream-ale-66503/
The styles RM stated ought to go over well, though a wheat might also as long as the cloudy look doesn't scare them. If you choose a wheat I'd suggest a honey wheat. I don't care much for s typical wheat, but I've about nailed down a great honey wheat!
I 2nd the cream of 3 crops suggestion. Very easy brew that I keep in my rotation for those that like fizzy yellow beer. Centennial Blonde is also good solid choice.
chickypad
lupulin shift victim
I use Great Western white wheat malt and don't need to adjust my crush, they claim the kernels are bigger than the average wheat and that does seem to be the case compared to German wheat malt IME. With smaller kernels I do think a separate, double crush could help.
One other caution that I didn't see mentioned, if you do choose a wheat recipe from the database and you're making this beer for light beer drinkers you probably want to make sure you choose an American style. Your crowd may not like the phenolic/estery character from a German hefe yeast if that's not what they are used to. I almost always have some version of an American wheat on tap as my easy drinking beer, this is what I usually do with possible variations as listed:
Target OG around 1.050
50% white wheat malt
50% pilsner or 2-row
noble hop at 60 min to target 20-22 IBU
1 oz of noble or other aroma hop around 5 min
Wyeast 1010
Variations:
- add 1/2 lb or so of light crystal and/or munich
- for a more hoppy American style: choose citrusy hops and up the late addtions +/- dry hop (sorachi ace is another of my favorites)
- replace a portion of the other base malts with rye
- add fruit
I like 1010 a lot but any clean yeast like a kolsch or chico strain would be okay in an American wheat.
One other caution that I didn't see mentioned, if you do choose a wheat recipe from the database and you're making this beer for light beer drinkers you probably want to make sure you choose an American style. Your crowd may not like the phenolic/estery character from a German hefe yeast if that's not what they are used to. I almost always have some version of an American wheat on tap as my easy drinking beer, this is what I usually do with possible variations as listed:
Target OG around 1.050
50% white wheat malt
50% pilsner or 2-row
noble hop at 60 min to target 20-22 IBU
1 oz of noble or other aroma hop around 5 min
Wyeast 1010
Variations:
- add 1/2 lb or so of light crystal and/or munich
- for a more hoppy American style: choose citrusy hops and up the late addtions +/- dry hop (sorachi ace is another of my favorites)
- replace a portion of the other base malts with rye
- add fruit
I like 1010 a lot but any clean yeast like a kolsch or chico strain would be okay in an American wheat.
