3068 AND Chamomile in a Hef

[KlausUndFriends]

Has anyone ever done a Hef using 3068 AND added chamomile? All the recipes I've seen use American Hef yeast, and the more research I do the more I'm thinking I need to add more Chamomile so that the yeast flavor doesn't over power it. I'm doing a 3.5 gallon batch this weekend (3.5 because I only have this much wheat LME on hand!)

5lbs wheat LME (65:35)
2 oz hallertau (2.7%) @ 60
0.5lb honey @ flameout
Wyeast 3068

I was going to do 2oz loose (not tea bags) chamomile at flameout... but might up it. What do you guys think?

 

[LLBeanJ]

The addition of chamomile has been long advocated by Jamil Z, so lots of brewers do/have done it, including me. I'm not sure it does much for flavor, though. It's definitely present, but whether it is a desirable flavor, I'm not certain, and it would come down to personal preference. I don't think German purity laws would allow it, though, so I would have to think that traditional Bavarian Hefeweizens would not have been/are not brewed with chamomile and when it comes to a textbook Hefe, the Germans have been nailing it for years. I honestly wouldn't bother with it unless you really want that flavor in your beer, as it's just not necessary.

 

[KlausUndFriends]

Thanks for the advice!

I'm currently brewing my first traditional hef - wheat lme and hallertau at 60 for 10-12 IBUs with 3068, low 60s week 1, 65 week 2 and 70 week 3. That's it. Keeping it simple, but I wanted to jazz up this batch and since it's only 3.5 gallons I wanted to do something less traditional.

I had also considered orange or lemon peel...

Ah, too many decisions! While I was writing this I think I'm going to skip the chamomile and just do a small late hop addition of either cascade, chinook or centennial to give it some citrus. Not 'to style' but probably closer than chamomile and a few people on here have given good reviews on this method

 

[KlausUndFriends]

Or nugget to keep it German? Decisions, decisions...

 

[LLBeanJ]

Sounds like it should be a nice brew. Good luck!