American Wheat Beer Gumballhead inspired WPA

cuinrearview · Dec 13, 2008

1lb. Caravienne(now called Belgian Cara-20)
1lb. 2-row
1lb. White Wheat
5lb. Briess Wheat DME
.5oz Amarillo whole (9.8 AA, 60 min.)
.5oz Amarillo whole (9.8 AA, 15 min.)
.5oz Amarillo whole (9.8 AA, 5 min.)
.5oz Amarillo whole (9.8 AA, flameout)
1oz Amarillo whole (9.8 AA, dry-hop)
1oz Simcoe pellet (12.1 AA, dry-hop)

Safale-05 fermented as noted

I mashed the grains in a pot with a gallon of water for an hour at 152 and then dumped through a strainer into the brewpot, followed by another gallon of water as a sparge. I called this an extract recipe because it can be done with household items. A steeper could just steep the caravienne and add a half pound more of DME to the boil.
This was my first experience with the "simarillo" dry-hop combination, and it is a winner. Big grapefruit aroma with the same flavor and a finish of tangerine. This is a very drinkable summer session beer for the lupomaniacs among us, but it will be a staple at my house year-round. I made this with Spartan Spring water and primaried as cool as I can, around 62-64 degrees. When it went to secondary it was pretty much ambient in my house.

I've already drank 1/3 of my first batch with less than two weeks in the bottle. The big hop blast is already fading.

Enjoy!! If anyone has access to Gumballhead I'm up for an exchange to compare. I realize that the real thing uses only amarillo, that is why I'm interested in tasting it.

Grain bill for the AG crowd. All hop additions are the same since this was a full boil originally.

5lbs. Wheat malt
3.5lbs. 2-row
1lb. Caravienne(now called Belgian Cara-20)

Mash at 152

OG 1.051
FG 1.012

eriktlupus · Dec 13, 2008

i've got the sample in the glass now cu. w

aroma: wow the hops reach out of the glass and smack ya inthe nose. citrus from the holy land, tangerine mix with grapefruit is what i'm getting

appearance: a hazy golden yellow reminescent of oberon. nice head on the pour with a fine lacing that is sticking around well.

taste: grapefruit upfront with a limelike back of the tongue bite.

mouthfeel: well carbed gives a nice round feel to this. not sure if i could drink more than a couple though, little too much carb fills ya up

overall: i like this, the only change i can see is to maybe drop the primiung down a 1/4 or 1/2 volume. i'll be converting this to an AG recipe i believe.

ps glad the amarillo went to a good cause

:rockin:

cuinrearview · Dec 14, 2008

Glad you enjoyed it Erik. I didn't account for the batch being a little short to bottles due to all of the leaf hops in the kettle and in secondary when I primed it with the full 5 oz. of priming sugar.

ftlstrings · Feb 10, 2009

This does look interesting. Maybe closer to the spring/summer I'll have to get this on tap.

:tank:

~M~

nickwin · May 8, 2009

Are the grains in this recipe for steeping, or is this a partial mash recipe? I was under the impression that 2-row and white wheat were must mash grains. Would I be missing much if I made this without the White wheat and 2 row?

eriktlupus · May 8, 2009

when you steep with 2row it will convert and in essence you are mashing it.

cuinrearview · May 10, 2009

Thanks for the pickup erik. I feel that the key grain here is the caravienne. It adds a candy-like sweetness to the citrus flavor in the back of your throat. This one will act on the beer whether steeped or mashed. I'm kind of in a "want to do AG" rut and will make a mini-mash with the grains just because it makes me feel like I have a bit more control. You could either steep a lb. of caravienne and add ~.5 lb. wheat DME or mash the three lbs. of grain at 152 for an hour. I've switched to pellet amarillo for the last three batches because I liked this beer so much I bought a pound but will switch back to leaf after that because there's just a little teeny something missing in the finish.

Some may say that this is too sweet to be a summer beer, but the FG doesn't lie. I'm anxiously awaiting someone to brew this. This beer will take summer OVER!.............sorry.

Damonic · May 11, 2009

Another tasty sounding brew added to my list....

cuinrearview · May 12, 2009

This evening on the deck, and a pitch for my favorite local.

nickwin · Jun 3, 2009

cuinrearview said:
Thanks for the pickup erik. I feel that the key grain here is the caravienne. It adds a candy-like sweetness to the citrus flavor in the back of your throat. This one will act on the beer whether steeped or mashed. I'm kind of in a "want to do AG" rut and will make a mini-mash with the grains just because it makes me feel like I have a bit more control. You could either steep a lb. of caravienne and add ~.5 lb. wheat DME or mash the three lbs. of grain at 152 for an hour. I've switched to pellet amarillo for the last three batches because I liked this beer so much I bought a pound but will switch back to leaf after that because there's just a little teeny something missing in the finish.

Some may say that this is too sweet to be a summer beer, but the FG doesn't lie. I'm anxiously awaiting someone to brew this. This beer will take summer OVER!.............sorry.

Thanks for the tips, I cant wait to try this one out. :mug:

craven_morhead · Jun 6, 2009

I'd like to try it, but can't source the caravienne locally. Any suggestions for a substitute? Crystal 15?

cuinrearview · Jun 7, 2009

I'm not far enough along in my brewing career to start suggesting subs. for belgian crystal grains. Yer' in freaking Denver man! Colorado is the american homebrewing capital!

Sorry. Vienna is a lighly kilned munich malt, so .75 lbs. of caramunich would maybe be a good sub. Maybe .5 lbs. vienna and .5 lbs. belgian crystal 20.

I've been fortunate enough to always have the caravienne at the LHBS when I'm there. Today they were out of white wheat AND 2-row(1 lb'ers)! I used regular malted wheat and 6-row. First time deviating from recipe on the fourth batch I've made of this. I still think that the combo. of the hops and the caravienne give the "candied citrus" hop profile that makes this so delicious, but I haven't messed with it yet to find out different. Let me know how it comes out!

I'm about half-way through the mini-mash now

cuinrearview · Jun 7, 2009

nickwin said:
Thanks for the tips, I cant wait to try this one out.

Let me know what you think when you do.:rockin:

craven_morhead · Jun 7, 2009

Sounds like I should be able to get caravienne in. Will probably get it put together late this week

cuinrearview · Jun 25, 2009

How's it coming craven? Just transferred batch four of this to secondary on Monday.

craven_morhead · Jun 25, 2009

I ended up doing a more american-style, citrus wheat beer instead. might come back to it though.

Rick500 · Jul 1, 2009

What would you say is the difference between the amarillo/simcoe combination, and just amarillo?

cuinrearview · Jul 3, 2009

Never made it with all amarillo. If I ever get to brew enough to build some stock up I'm going to try it that way since that is what the original GBH uses.

dwf137 · Aug 13, 2009

finally drinking this, gotta give this a major two thumbs up! by far my favorite beer yet, everyone who I know agrees.

cuinrearview · Aug 14, 2009

This one always seems to be a crowd favorite around here too. Glad you like it dwf.

Did gravity numbers and tasting fall in-line with my descriptions?

We're finally travelling to Three Floyd's tomorrow so I should get to try the real thing. Should be interesting to see how it compares.

cuinrearview · Aug 17, 2009

If anyone wants to tackle an exact Gumballhead clone, the hop schedule of this beer is, IMO, spot on without the Simcoe in the dry-hop. Visiting this brewery has been on my "to-do" list long before I tried this recipe. It's definately a "Gumballhead inspired" recipe as the taste of the real thing is close but a little lighter in color, body, and sweetness. But I was never trying to replicate the beer exactly anyway. The simcoe takes it from grapefruit to tangerine in the finish, that's pretty much all on the hop front. If I were trying to clone it I'd drop the caravienne to 1/2 lb. or use 1/4 lb. with another 1/4 lb. of cara-pils. I like my recipe better than the original but, as they say, "I wounldn't kick her out of my bed". If anyone else tries my recipe or takes my advice on an exact clone or even has an inside track to the brewers I'd love to get some feedback.

cuinrearview · Sep 25, 2009

Got my lb. of leaf amarillo from hopsdirect tonight(man I love their pricing) and the typical heavy lbs. from them should yield enough for six batches of this. Next up will be a freshops order with six ozs. simcoe and some citra to finish out the order. I haven't brewed in nearly three months (schedule) and this will be the first beer I make!

PurdueDerek · Nov 17, 2009

Hey, from NW Indiana and I love Gumballhead/ Three Floyds all around. I'm pretty new to brewing but I def. want to give this one a shot.

cuinrearview · Dec 16, 2009

Bottled another batch of this last week and am giving some away for the holidays. It's always a winner. Good luck with your batch Purdue!

sfinger · Apr 16, 2010

cuinrearview said:
If anyone wants to tackle an exact Gumballhead clone, the hop schedule of this beer is, IMO, spot on without the Simcoe in the dry-hop. Visiting this brewery has been on my "to-do" list long before I tried this recipe. It's definately a "Gumballhead inspired" recipe as the taste of the real thing is close but a little lighter in color, body, and sweetness. But I was never trying to replicate the beer exactly anyway. The simcoe takes it from grapefruit to tangerine in the finish, that's pretty much all on the hop front. If I were trying to clone it I'd drop the caravienne to 1/2 lb. or use 1/4 lb. with another 1/4 lb. of cara-pils. I like my recipe better than the original but, as they say, "I wounldn't kick her out of my bed". If anyone else tries my recipe or takes my advice on an exact clone or even has an inside track to the brewers I'd love to get some feedback.

Hey Cuinrearview,

Tried to post this once before but I think I messed up--sorry if you get two of these. Thanks much for the Gumballhead clone recipe, I am going to try it next weekend. I visit Three Floyds once in a while and like Gumballhead, but I am going to do your version with the Simcoe as it sounds great. Couple questions...Have you tweaked anything since your original recipe post? Also, are you happy with the Safale US 05 yeast? I know you have done more than a few batches of this clone with it--has it worked pretty consistently for you?

Thanks again for the recipe and I'll let you know how it comes out!

cuinrearview · Apr 23, 2010

When I brew this I do it to the original recipe because I like it being a little sweeter and heavier than the real thing. Really goes well with the dry-hop to give a "candied tangerine" finish. The suggestions for changes were for others looking to nail a clone. I still use US 05 because when the fermentation is kept below ~65 degrees yeast flavors are virtually non-existant. Good luck on your batch whether you decide to tweak it or not and don't forget to follow up.

mixmasterob · May 28, 2010

Would I be safe using Briess Bavarian Wheat DME?

Edit: Looks like its the only kind of wheat dme they make, so I guess so.

mixmasterob · May 31, 2010

Thinking about switching up the hops as I don't really care about cloning Gumballhead...I have never had it. I am just looking for a nice hoppy American Wheat that I can enter into my local homebrew club's "lawnmower beer" contest. I have 4 oz each of Amarillo, Citra, Centennial and Summit on the way. I also have 1 oz of Simcoe. I have never used Citra but from what I have read it seems as though it may be nice in this recipe. Any suggestions?

mixmasterob · May 31, 2010

Also cuinrearview, about how many IBUs were you getting?

sfinger · Jun 7, 2010

cuinrearview said:
If anyone wants to tackle an exact Gumballhead clone, the hop schedule of this beer is, IMO, spot on without the Simcoe in the dry-hop. Visiting this brewery has been on my "to-do" list long before I tried this recipe. It's definately a "Gumballhead inspired" recipe as the taste of the real thing is close but a little lighter in color, body, and sweetness. But I was never trying to replicate the beer exactly anyway. The simcoe takes it from grapefruit to tangerine in the finish, that's pretty much all on the hop front. If I were trying to clone it I'd drop the caravienne to 1/2 lb. or use 1/4 lb. with another 1/4 lb. of cara-pils. I like my recipe better than the original but, as they say, "I wounldn't kick her out of my bed". If anyone else tries my recipe or takes my advice on an exact clone or even has an inside track to the brewers I'd love to get some feedback.

Just bottled cuinrearview's recipe yesterday... I followed the above recommendations for an exact Gumballhead clone and, based on a taste of the uncarbonated beer (I don't have a kegging system so am bottle conditioning) it is going to be really, really close. Regardless, the beer tastes really good! The hop aroma is dead on in a side to side comparison. Thanks much for the recipe and I will forward a review and a couple pics when it is ready...

American Wheat Beer Gumballhead inspired WPA

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