Beersmith/Recipe Help

[downhill_biker]

I am new and don't understand what I am looking for. Here is my goal:

I wanted to brew a wheat beer, but with a stronger flavor, something with more body. This will eventually be a fruit beer, huckleberry, but I wanted a great flavored wheat first, before the fruit.

I got a extract kit from the LHBS, which includes 2 cans of Coopers Wheat LME 3.3lb each. I wanted to give it more body so I added another can of LME so the total is 9.9lb of LME, I know its a lot.

The yeast is Safbrew WB-06, which they said was for wheat beers.

I was told that Willamette hops would be good for this, so to get the "right" bitterness according to the shop I needed 4 oz of Willamette, since they didn't have the 5.5%, only 4.6%. They told me 3 of which would be bittering for 60min, and 1 for flavor last 10 min. It just seems crazy to use 4oz of hops. Can I go with a different hops that would give me better results with 1oz? Or is this the way I should go?

I downloaded the free beersmith and don't know what I am looking at. I don't know where to start and what I am supposed to look at. I saw that for hops if I go from 2oz to 3oz it changes my IBU by about 10. What do you guys think? Any help or expertise would be greatly appreciated.

 

[likwidbliss]

I am not a wheat drinker. But look at your recipe guidelines. It should give you a range of IBUs. 4 oz seems a tad high for me for a wheat, but I don't like them that much. I do make them for my wife and I do put more in for bittering 1.5 oz at 60 min and .5 oz at 15 min.

I am currently brewing a beer that uses 5 oz of hops. It makes a great beer, not too bitter and full of flavor.

Others that enjoy wheats will offer more advice. I do enjoy Beersmith to guide me in making beer.

 

[vast_reaction]

Hi there. I might be able to help a little. I threw your recipe into BeerSmith. 9.9lbs of LME in a 5 gallon batch (I'm assuming) gives you an OG of 1.071. This is high for the
style, but whatever. Live dangerously!

Still, 4 ounces... seems to be an absurd amount of hops for this recipe.

The recommended IBU for a Wheat beer is 8-15. Since your OG is a little high, let's aim the IBU a tad higher, and go for 20. I edited my Willamette to 4.6% AA and came up with this:
1oz boiled for 60 mins
1oz boiled for 30 mins
1/2 oz boiled for 5 mins

This hop schedule will give you 20.1 IBU.

I hope that helps. BeerSmith is fun to tinker with once you get the hang of it.

 

[downhill_biker]

First off, thanks so much for the help! I will tinker with beersmith more as time goes on but for now I really appreciate the quick help. I think I'll give it a go as is and see how it turns out. Since I'm dealing with so much lme I was thinking about doing a 6g batch. Would this change it too much or would this be a good way to end up somewhere in the middle?

 

[downhill_biker]

So messing with beersmith I found that if I bump to a 6g batch I should use:

2oz Willamette 4.6 for 60min
1oz Willamette 4.6 for 45min

This would put me right at 20.0 IBU if I had the same SG of 1.071, but that would change with the batch size right? How do I figure out my SG (specific gravity???) and OG (organic gravity???) (is that what those mean?)

 

[Skaggz]

SG = Specific gravity (any gravity reading you take is specific gravity)
OG = Original gravity (specific gravity reading taken right before pitching the yeast)
FG = Final gravity (specific gravity reading taken after fermentation has completed)

If you were to use the same 9.9 lbs extract in a six gallon batch rather than a five gallon batch, then your OG would be lower due to a lesser concentration of sugar in the water.

 

[trigger]

When you came up with the new hop schedule you took out the late addition hops. With your last addition at 45 mins you will have very little or no hop flavor/aroma. If you want to preserve this you should go for at least 0.5oz in the last 10 mins. I personally prefer more, like 1oz, in an american style wheat beer, but keep in mind that those late additions hops have little effect on bitterness but big effects on the nose and flavor.

 

[vast_reaction]

One thing that helped me a ton with BeerSmith: When you're making a new recipe, look near the top where you can fill in values for your Style, Brewer, Assistant, Equipment, etc. Uncheck the little box that says "Set Boil Volume Based On Equipment" and then you'll be free to enter your own values, which are on the row beneath that box. Altering your Boil Volume will change your IBU's, I think because it takes into consideration the fact that you'll be adding plain water after the boil to top up to your Batch Size. Hope that helps!

 

[downhill_biker]

Thanks guys. I didn't know that the boil size would change things. I'm usually doing a 3 gallon boil for a 5 gallon batch. This recipe would be a 3 gallon boil for a 6 gallon batch.

 

[downhill_biker]

Can someone help me figure out a good hopping schedule for a 6g batch?

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

For a wheat beer that you're adding fruit to, I would just add hops for bittering (60 min) and not worry about flavor or aroma additions. So just add hops at 60 min in beersmith until you get to 20 IBU or whatever you're going for.

 

[downhill_biker]

Ok. Thanks. Would others agree that aroma hpa are not necessary in a fruit beer?

 

[KevinW]

I think that all depends on the type of fruit, type of hops and the final say, whay you like!
You certainly don't want to overpower your fruit with a lot of aroma hops but I think a combination of say a citrusy hop would accent a strong fruit flavor like grapefruit in the beer.
Experiment, drink, repeat!

 

[downhill_biker]

Sounds good Kevin! I will try it out and see what happens...and go from there.