after watching my MRBeer sit for 2 weeks im itching to do a bigger batch of wheat beer. any recommendations for an easy extract wheat beer for my first 5 gallon batch of beer? if there is an easy to make cherry/raspberry wheat beer recipe that would be great. thanks for the help, going to pick up a 5 gal starter kit this weekend! im looking through the recipe section but im not totally sure where to start with hunting one down.
wheat beer recomendation
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BrianP
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A good kit recipe from your LHBS or an online HBS (Northern Brewer, MoreBeer, Austin Home Brewing, etc.) would be a good starting point, otherwise there are probably some in the recipe section. One good piece of advice I've heard is to avoid doing a fruit beer until you can brew the base beer well first.
If you like wheat beers, the yeast is important. If you like German wheat beers, your best results will be with liquid yeasts, of which there are quite a few options.
If you like wheat beers, the yeast is important. If you like German wheat beers, your best results will be with liquid yeasts, of which there are quite a few options.
I am a big fan of all types of wheats. the first two i tried were two american type styles, a raspberry wheat and a watermelon wheat(fell in love with a watermelon ale when i was in Boston). I used the american wheat 1010 for them which is very clean for a wheat yeast and the raspberry turned out fantastic. used real, frozen paturized rasperries instead of extract and glad i did. it was the best raspberry wheat i ever had (beat up on purple haze big time) as the raspberry taste was so pure and natural and not fake and muddied. BrianP makes a good recommendation to be able to brew the style well first. however, since this would probably be a lighter beer you aren't sending to a competition, the raspberry may help out by masking some off flavors and making the beer more quaffable. i sure wouldn't be stoked about drinking my raspberry recipe without the raspberries. FYI add fruit to secondary and add a little less (you can always add more, but not take back). I have had several people tell me the raspberry wheat was their fav i made. i am going to try this year using an american ale 1056 and see what happens.
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nvr2low
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that was my thought, adding fruit to the secondary wouldnt be that hard. everyone does recommend staying away from the fruit at first so maybe i will just run it as a plain wheat. i was just wondering if there is an easy fruit wheat kit.
eggraid101
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I used Midwest's Cherry Wheat last year. I don't like cherry myself, but I made it for my Dad, who loves Sam Adams Cherry Wheat. He liked my brew better, though, he said the balance was better. I used the extract recipe, it was very easy, too - I was a newbie (and still am!)
VTBrewer
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+1 to that. Recommend making a simple wit, with some orange peel and corriander first. Once you get that the way you like it, omit the orange and corriander and add fruit using the oregon puree in the secondary, or the extract at bottling time. I prefer the extract, and usually only use 3oz of the 4oz per 5 gallon batch. The full 4oz bottle is a little too strong for my taste.
This will make a great extract german hefeweizen:
6 lbs of Wheat DME
0.75 oz Tettnanger, Hallertau or Saaz @ 60 minutes
WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale Yeast
you could also steep a small amount of crystal or something to make it interesting.
if you want an american wheat or you want to add fruit, use WLP001 yeast and add 1 oz saaz hops at 5 minutes.
6 lbs of Wheat DME
0.75 oz Tettnanger, Hallertau or Saaz @ 60 minutes
WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale Yeast
you could also steep a small amount of crystal or something to make it interesting.
if you want an american wheat or you want to add fruit, use WLP001 yeast and add 1 oz saaz hops at 5 minutes.
Edcculus
Well-Known Member
To make simple extract wheat beers, just do like Death Brewer said. Wheat extract is usually partially wheat and pislner malt. You can look on the packaging to find percentages. Since a traditional hefeweizen is at least 50% wheat malt, you are fine with just using wheat DME. Any low AA noble hop will do for bittering. Keep the IBUS low.
Just make sure you use WLP300 or Wyeast 3068. For an American wheat, use Wyeast 1056.
Keep it simple. Adding fruit to wheat beer is a sin in my opinion. They have such a great flavor. I'm not sure why everyone wants to ruin it with fruit.
Just make sure you use WLP300 or Wyeast 3068. For an American wheat, use Wyeast 1056.
Keep it simple. Adding fruit to wheat beer is a sin in my opinion. They have such a great flavor. I'm not sure why everyone wants to ruin it with fruit.
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nvr2low
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i like most wheat bears, by far my favorite type of beer. maybe i will change my mind once i brew a couple, but i love Sam Adams cherry wheat so i figured a simple cherry wheat would be a great place to start.
comj49
Well-Known Member
I made a Simple American Wheat for one of my first 5 gallon batches, and divided it up at bottling time. On half i added 2 ounces of blueberry extract, and the other half did nothing. The blueberry turned out good, but you could tell it was extract, next time i would try using the puree. The plain American wheat didn't have much character. It wasn't bad, but didn't have much taste to it. It was a kit from Midwest, using Wyeast 1010 (i think) american wheat yeast. If you want a fruit-type wheat, I would recommend using the extract first, since it is easy, just add it to the bottling bucket. Once you are comfortable with the process, go with adding fruit to the secondary fermentor (if you even have one), just not for your first time. Rasberry wheat is on my to-do list, they seem to go together pretty well.
