Craft The Perfect Draft - The 420 Special Wheat

When someone asks which style of beer is my absolute favorite I half-jokingly tell them that I like all styles of beer, which in fact I do. From the moment I take that first cold sip of beer I start to single out everything I like about it. Perfect color, good carbonation, a lingering head, great lacing, plenty of flavor, aroma and taste.... See what I'm saying, I've just cited seven common qualities to look for in a beer, without hinting at any particular style of beer at all. Still unsure about which style of beer is being described our mind works hard to fill in the missing details. Suddenly a mental image of the beer begins to develop and soon you find yourself thinking about your personal favorite beer style. The imaginary beer can be darker or lighter in color and if you were to focus on it long enough you may almost begin to taste it too. The question is did seasonal weather conditions influence your imaginary choice of beer style at all?

Beautiful Golden Color In The Kettle
Although I share the same appreciation for the care and quality that goes into producing any well-crafted beer I do have my own seasonal favorites. In the hot, humid hazy days of summer here in the Northeastern United States I find myself favoring light citrusy refreshing Ales over robust Stouts and Porters. Whether it be the crisp bite of an IPA or the softer more subtle flavors of a Wheat beer. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying I drink only light colored beers in summer, if there's an interesting dark beer on tap I'll gladly drink it too. But I will admit in hot weather I do favor the lighter colored beers over darker beers.
Five years ago I started brewing wheat beers in late Spring just before the outdoor temperatures began to soar. I tried to have plenty on tap for drinking over the hot summer months. Over time the recipes evolved from extract to all grain ranging in style from Belgian Witbier to American Wheat beer and it was during this time that Screwy's 420 Special Wheat beer was born. My original recipe was dated and saved on April 20, 2013 as I listened to the sound of commuter trains off in the distance. (What were you thinking?)

Carbonate To 2.75 Co2 Volumes
Below is the original ingredient list and recipe for this amazingly refreshing beer. Everyone's brewing process is different, from grain crush to final packaging and all points in between. Keep this in mind as your mileage may vary, you are encouraged to tweak the amounts to your own liking.
Style: American Wheat
Pre-boil Volume 6.50 gallons
Package Volume 5.00 gallons:
Estimated IBU = 26, SRM = 7, OG = 1.069, FG = 1.017, ABV= 6.7%
Brewing Date: 30-Jun-2013
Orig. Gravity: 1.068
Final Gravity: 1.015
Dry Hopped: 06-Jul-2013
Cold Crash: 12-Jul-2013
0.50 pound Munch (German)
0.50 pound Biscuit (Belgium)
2.00 pounds Honey
2.50 pounds Wheat (German)
3.00 pounds Flaked Wheat
6.00 pounds Pilsner (Belgian)
-----------
12.50 Total grain bill
0.50 ounces Columbus pellets
3.00 ounces Cascade pellets
1.00 ounces Centennial pellets
------
4.50 ounces Total hop bill
0.25 teaspoon crushed coriander seed (adjust to taste)
0.50 teaspoon ground Cardamom
0.50 ounce bitter orange peel
Mash at 152F for an hour
Add 0.50 ounce of Columbus hops to the kettle then lauter 6.50 gallons of wort on top of the hops.
** Optional add 1 tablespoon of gypsum to the kettle with the hops.
Boil for 90 minutes
Add 1 oz. Cascade and .25 Centennial @ 17 minutes
Add 2 lbs. of honey @ 10 minutes
Add all of the spices @ 10 minutes
Add WhirlFloc and yeast nutrient @ 10 minutes
Add 1 oz. Cascade and .25 Centennial @ 7 minutes
Add 1 oz. Cascade and .50 Centennial @ knockout
** Optional dry hop for 2 weeks **
1 oz. Cascade and .50 oz. Centennial
There you have it, the entire recipe just as I last brewed it. You can ferment this beer using WLP-001 or Wyeast 1056 - American Ale, Safale S-05 Dry Ale yeast or any clean fermenting strain to let the citrusy hop flavor and aroma come through.

Cool Off With Some Golden Sunshine In A Glass
I recommend adding a yeast nutrient during the boil and then oxygenating the wort when pitching your yeast. Maintaining the temperature of the fermenting beer at the lower end of the fermentation range of the yeast used will reduce ester development resulting in a cleaner tasting beer. When fermentation has completed I put the fermentor in the refrigerator to cold crash for three days to help the yeast to drop out of suspension prior to packaging. I hope you find this recipe useful and you get to try brewing it for yourself soon, it's one of my many favorites. Enjoy!

 

[Jcruse]

I realize the name "420 Special Wheat" came from the date you created the recipe, but you may want to consider changing the name. I thought this was going to have some "special" adjuncts based on the use of "420" in the name...
Also, you should check your hop addition schedule. It indicates more cascade than your summary hop bill, and I get an estimated 41 IBU in Beersmith even after shortening the boil to 60 minutes (I subbed plain 2-row for the pilsener malt, as I can always taste DMS in beers that use it)

 

[bembel]

@Jcruse Yes I was going to ask about the adjuncts myself, how long in the boil, etc

 

[SouthernMaineBrewing]

I know a guy who knows a guy...maybe I will throw a half ounce of this beer's namesake in for dry hopping.

 

[andrhamm]

Yeah that title is total clickbait lol

 

[cernst151]

@SouthernMaineBrewing, I'd recommend making a tincture to put in at bottling/kegging. um... I've heard that works well.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

@Jcruse thank you for your edits and please feel free to substitute the ingredients with your own as needed. I don't recall the alpha acid percentages of the hops used in the original 2013 recipe. The idea is to get a nice balance of hop citrus to compliment the coriander and bitter orange without any one becoming overpowering.

 

[azazel1024]

The oils ya'll are talking about aren't alcohol or water soluable...so I don't think it is going to work well.

 

[turkeyjerky214]

Best way I've found is to put the adjunct in everclear to extract the "essence" and then add that to the beer at kegging. Works best with a heavier beer that's got a sweeter finish since the everclear will dry it out a little.

 

[Singletrack]

You know, you can just smoke weed, if you must. No need to ruin beer with it.

 

[originalben]

Singletrack FTW.

 

[Rockindaddy]

@Jcruse My thoughts exactly! Which leads me to my next question......has anyone actually tried making a cannabis beer?

 

[TimBrewz]

Looks like a nice lawnmower beer! As for the addition of cannabis to beer, alcohol tinctures are used to add that other layer of intoxication.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

Anyone have any ideas on how someone would rate the IBU's of such an adjunct?

 

[emyers]

With boiling the honey you boil off any flavor and are basically just add sugar.. at $3 a lb. I would recommend partially cooling and mixing in the honey post boil, allowing time to kill the natural yeasts, much like making a mead.

 

[emyers]

@Jcruse your calculations may be off due to three factors, did you calculate using whole leaf or pellets, what was the harvest AA% and what IBU scale are u using Tinseth or Rager?

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

@emyers I've never tried adding honey post boil but come to think of it since using a counter flow wort chiller the honey would be in contact with the near boiling wort for at least 20 minutes, more than enough time to kill off any nasties.

 

[Kozwald]

I plugged this into BrewSmith and it came out as 7.2%ABV and around 60IBU's.
I'm going to modify the recipe to get it closer to your specifications and then brew this weekend.

 

[turkeyjerky214]

@Rockindaddy, yup. I had wanted to for a while, but I didn't have a great hookup in St. Louis. Now that I live in Colorado, I can get enough for a 5 gallon batch for less than $30. It's clearly not an every day beer, and I usually only drink two pints over the course of an evening (most people drink about 10 oz). Still, it's a fun option to have on tap, especially living in a community where people understand it's no more harmful than a regular beer.
@Singletrack, there are a lot of things people put in beer now that you could enjoy on its own. Pumpkin, sriracha, chocolate, etc. People love their edibles out here. This is just merging two awesome things into something even better.