American Wheat doesn't seem like an American Wheat?!

[MustangCF]

I brewed my first American Wheat recently and it turned out differently than I had expected.

Recipe is as follows:

5lbs 2-row
5lbs Malted Wheat
.5lbs Rice Hulls

Hopped with Liberty at 60, 15, 5.

So, the hop profile is what I expected and I really like it. But the beer is quite clear. It doesn't have that wheat haze and it does't seem to taste much like wheat either. The wheat aroma seems to be there, but not the flavor. It's more just... malty.

I'm confused. What could have happened?

 

[brandonnys]

Malted Wheat, or Flaked Wheat?

 

[MustangCF]

Malted Wheat, or Flaked Wheat?

Malted.

 

[jjeffers09]

American wheat is quite clear by comparison to Bavarian hefeweizens... difference between a krystalweizen and an American wheat is Am Wheat does not have the banana clove flavors, or the phenol off-flavor positive yeast strains. So this style can range from clear to almost hefeweizen hazy. I would have added a crystal and a flaked wheat in that brew for Appearance and mouthfeel/taste. Torrified wheat is another option that I agree with in an wheat beer.

Couple of questions
What yeast did you use?
What was your fermentation temps?

 

[MustangCF]

American wheat is quite clear by comparison to Bavarian hefeweizens... difference between a krystalweizen and an American wheat is Am Wheat does not have the banana clove flavors, or the phenol off-flavor positive yeast strains. So this style can range from clear to almost hefeweizen hazy. I would have added a crystal and a flaked wheat in that brew for Appearance and mouthfeel/taste. Torrified wheat is another option that I agree with in an wheat beer.

Couple of questions
What yeast did you use?
What was your fermentation temps?

Interesting insights. I used Jamil's Brewing Classic Styles as the basis.

US-05 was the yeast.
Mashed at 154.

Ambient room temp in the cellar was 65 degrees, I didn't have a reading inside the fermenter during fermentation. I cooled the wort with a chiller down to 80 degrees and then waited a few hours to pitch. Maybe I pitched too high, but the wort was in the cellar the whole time after it hit 80 degrees.

 

[jjeffers09]

I would want to target in a 62-65F for at least the first 3 days for 70+% of fermentation for little to no ester production. That way the esters and phenols stay limited in an American style. So on the next brew, maybe ice chest the brew or put it in a cooler in a water bath to help stabilize the temps at under ambient temp. I also would advise a better yeast strain to a WB-06 or wyeast 1010/2565 or wlp023/320. My tastes prefer a phenol off flavor + yeast in a German/bavarian Wheats for those bready big clove and banana flavors.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

I usually throw some flaked wheat in with my wheat brews. I also use Wyeast 1010, though I don't know if that makes a big difference in the haze factor or not.