Critique my recipe: cherry weizenbock

[marca31]

So this is my first partial mash and wanted to get some feedback before I get to boiling.

6.6 lbs liquid wheat extract
1 lb malt extract (half for the starter)
3 lbs Munich malt
1 lb Vienna malt
8 oz carafa III
1.5 oz Saaz 60 min
1 oz Millenium 60 min
.5 oz Saaz 5 min
12 oz dextrose
4 lbs cherry puree into the secondary
wyeast 3333 with a 4 liter starter

I have a bottle of cherry extract on hand to flavor to taste at bottle time and I am considering throwing a cup of vanilla infused Knob Creek I have left over from a vanilla bourbon stout I bottle recently.

I looked at a few weizenbock partial recipes online and cherry picked (pun intended) ingredients I thought sounded good. Suggestions?

 

[LexusChris]

I too just recently put together a weizenbock recipe after looking at various recipes on this site & others, and have it in the fermenter right now. You recipe looks pretty good & in the ballpark, except for the Saaz hops at 5-min. I saw some recipes with a 20 or 15 min addition, and many without any flavor or aroma hops.

I'm all for trying something different, as long as you were hoping to bring some of that Saaz spicy aroma & taste to the brew. With all the potential for yeast ester production, phenolics, malt & cherry flavors/aromas ... I would just want to be sure that I thought Saaz would blend well in there.

I used WLP351 on my weizenbock, and fermented low 64-F .. as I did not want to have much banana esters, and I do like the clove phenolics... If you like the esters, ferment higher or underpitch the yeast. I also got a lot of sulphur production in the 3rd day of fermentation, which I'm told will clean out with conditioning.

Good luck with the brew! Would love to hear how the cherries work out in there!
--LexusChris

 

[marca31]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll think I'll skip the 5 minute hops. I really want the fruitiness to come through without a lot of competition from the hops. Should I skip the Saaz all together and go full Millenium? I have both on hand. My preference is for lightly hopped beers anyway and have concerns that the cherries will get hidden by other, more robust, flavors. Cheers.

 

[LexusChris]

Yeah, I'd probably drop the Saaz all together then.

Millinium hops are good, just keep your IBU's around 15-20... not much more.

Looking forward to hearing about the results!
--LexusChris