Pinhead Wheat Stout, Puffed Wit, 2-batch Stovetop adventure day

A couple of friends came to help me drink and brew beer yesterday.

I don't have a LHBS, but a buddy coming from a different town was to pick up my grains for me, so I called to pre-order so they'd be ready for him.

On the list was a belgian wit and an english nut brown. I chatted on the phone with a fellow about my various options ("you don't have A... do you think I could substitute B in a wit?" "For my nut brown, what yeast do you have that you would recommend?")

I ordered a full two pounds of chocolate malt, because it's hard to find and shows up in small portions in a few recipies I like.

So... the grains show up ground and thrown all in the same bag. 4 lbs of wheat malt, 2 lbs chocolate, .5 cara-dex. What the crap do I do with that? (I didn't ask for it to be ground, and we had specifically discussed two separate recipies... what was the guy thinking?)

Well I've never made up my own recipe before, but the strike water was already heating so we opened some 16-yr old Lagavulin, sat down, and came up with: (named after the gentleman at the HBS) Pinhead Wheat Stout:

3.5 2-row
4lb wheat malt
2lb chocolate malt
.5 lb cara-dex
1 lb light crystal
.5lb dark crystal
.5lb rye flakes
1lb wild oats (oatmeal)
.2lb crisp roast barley

1 oz goldings (60)
.5 oz goldings (10)

Wyeast 1028 (London Ale)

Did a quick cereal mash with the wild oats and 1lb 2-row. Did a "multi-step infusion mash" (that's what I call it when I badly miss my strike temp, and have to wait for more water to heat before adding it again to bring it to 153.)

I haven't done the math and don't have beersmith, but we got 1.062 for 5 gal.

Of course... then we didn't have any wheat malt for the wit I'd promised my girlfriend... so it was off the the grocery store to find ingredients for the Puffed Wit... (Pinhead Puffed?) (Also basically made up / plagerized as we went)

3.5 lb puffed wheat cereal
5.5 lb 2-row
1 lb flaked oats
1tbsp flour at flamout

1.5 tbsp ground corriander
pinch cumin
250ml jar ginger marmelade

3/4oz goldings (60 min)
1/2 oz hallertau (10min)

Wl 3955 (belgian "hoegaarden" yeast) - from a few jars of "washed" yeast, 8 mos old

Hit 1.048 on 6 gal

Don't have a clue if these will turn out, but it was a fun day anyway. Really I just started this thread wanting to vent / laugh a bit at the dude throwing all my grains together. (And I wanted to brag about a two batch day on stovetop!)

Keegan

Yeesh, that's quite a 'recipe' you ended up with for the first brew. Unfortunately, I can guess where you bought the grains -- I thought they had really cleaned up their act. Hopefully I am wrong about the LHBS.

I hope both batches turn out -- those are two of the most (unintentionally) bizarre recipes I have ever seen! Actually, I am really curious to hear how the second works out.

Tip for the 'dark' beer -- I have found that 1028 yeast can have a habit of not fermenting out fully if you let it get too cold, and it gets really estery (with a touch of fusels) at high temps. If it were me, I would try to keep it on the cool side (18 - 19C) for the first part of the ferment, then once the ferment really starts to slow down, get the carboy up to 22 or 23C and give it a little shake every now and then. That is a big, thick grainbill you have (and not a lot of hops to balance), and I think you want that beer to really ferment out as much as possible to avoid a cloying, sweet beer.

Let us know how those turn out. I'll be very curious to hear!

Thanks for the tips!

I usually shop in Edmonton when I'm up there, but I called around and I could only find one shop in Calgary that had specialty grains, so we went there... (...) (?)

(I thought I would be really ticked about something like that, but actually - it was so ridiculous that all I could do was laugh)(When life gives you lemons... make wheat oatmeal stout?)

Both beers are fermenting like crazy right now, it looks like I'm sitting a bit warm - 21.5C or so. I'll try to find a cooler spot for them on your advice, thanks!

mrkeeg said:

Both beers are fermenting like crazy right now, it looks like I'm sitting a bit warm - 21.5C or so. I'll try to find a cooler spot for them on your advice, thanks!

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Yep, that's the store I was thinking about. That's too bad -- they are putting themselves right out of the homebrew business with service like that. Glad to hear you had a sense of humour about it, because they have been pretty good to me lately.

If those beers are already fermenting away, I wouldn't drop the temp on them now (you don't want them to slow down the yeast prematurely). I would keep them at that temp until they are finished, and give that carboy a little shake/swirl every now and then to keep the yeast from falling out. Hope they turn out!

Well, I guess they are still the only gig in town

And also... the brew day was WAY more fun flying by the seat of our collective pants's and knowing that if it worked we were making brewing history. And maybe the 16 yr old Lagavulin helped too.

Later!

BTW... both beers started good fermentation within a day, but the wit beer (with WL 3955) STILL (2 weeks later) has 4" of Kraussen on top... is that usual? I'd kind of like to move to secondary, but not with that much still going on.

mrkeeg said:

BTW... both beers started good fermentation within a day, but the wit beer (with WL 3955) STILL (2 weeks later) has 4" of Kraussen on top... is that usual? I'd kind of like to move to secondary, but not with that much still going on.

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That's pretty typical for wits and weizens -- all that wheat protein makes for a stiff krausen that seems to persist forever. No worries.

Kegged these today and had to taste.

Preliminary verdict:
'Puffed Wit' - Extremely strong aroma - ginger and toast. If you get past that, the beer is actually pretty drinkable, it's a spritzy wheat beer, slightly sweet, could be good as a summer refresher. Could actually be a worthwhile recipe with about 1/2 the ginger marmelade, and maybe 1/2 the puffed wheat. We'll see how it mellows.

'Pinhead Wheat Stout' - strong, alcoholic aroma and flavor up front - actually sort of candy-ey, reminding me a bit of kahlua. Different, not unpleasant. Sweetness is balanced by bitterness (roast bitterness more than hop bitterness.) Unfortunately, the finish is BURNT (go figgure, with 2 lbs of chocolate malt...)

We'll see what cooling, carbonating, and sitting does to these. Certainly wouldn't repeat either recipe as-is. We had fun and did the best with what we had though!

Final Update

Against all odds, the "Ginger Puffed Wit" has become a surprise house-hit. It pains me to say that of all the carefully crafted beers I've made on purpose, I've never floated a keg as quickly as this one. My roommate and girlfriend can't stop drinking it. When I say things like "next time maybe a bit less ginger marmelade.... maybe some malted wheat instead of puffed wheat... maybe a longer mash..." they tell me to NOT TOUCH THE RECIPE. LOL. Now that it has mellowed a bit the ginger and toasted puffed wheat aroma has subsided to an unusual but pleasant level. The taste is really quite delicious, the only thing I don't like is kind of a sticky/tangy taste at the back of my mouth after a few pints. The color is PERFECT for a white beer, nicely clouded and soft golden. Persistant, very white foamy head.

Any thoughts on how to deal with the sticky aftertaste? The beer itself doesn't seem that sweet otherwise.

The Wheat Stout... well.. I enjoy it.. but I'm not that discerning. It's certainly not BAD... it's strong (maybe 9%), complex, flavourful, very coffee-ee. Good for a slow pint.

So its a hit, eh? Funny how it can be hard to predict such things (particularly with the non-beer-geeks). I have to admit, though, I have never heard of claiming 'sticky' mouthfeel. That must be one unique beer! Maybe you should enter it in a homebrew competition as a specialty and see what the judges say (the NHC qualifier in Regina is coming up soon, and the MCAB qualifier in Edmonton isn't far behind it).

FlyGuy said:

Yeesh, that's quite a 'recipe' you ended up with for the first brew. Unfortunately, I can guess where you bought the grains -- I thought they had really cleaned up their act. Hopefully I am wrong about the LHBS.

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I think the LHBS ( assuming we are speaking of the same one ) is kind of hit or miss, it all depends who is working really.
Some know their stuff, others well....the mix bag of grains really tells the tale.