Das OtterWeizen

[jjeffers09]

I'm glad the brewing is going well. I really like kazbek in my simple hop beers. It really is an awesome hop. Thanks for the shout out btw, I wanted to share a hop crazy wheat with you, and I figured here would be the appropriate.

What I am calling:
Arrogant Wheat
45IBUs
4.6%abv
1.048 OG

46.2% Pale Malt
46.2% Dark Wheat
7.6% Crystal 20

29.7IBUs Idaho 7 @ 60
7.7IBUs Citra @ 10
7.6IBUs Galaxy @ 5
0.25oz/gal Amarillo WP 175 20mins

3068/380 @ 64F 14 days

0.25oz/gal Amarillo DH 5 Days
0.25oz/gal Galaxy DH 5 Days

Really drinks like a fruity session wheat. It is a really interesting complex brew. The hops outshine the 'spicy' wheat yeast and really plays on the fruity flavors of the hops and the yeast. If anyone should try it let me know what you think!

 

[TasunkaWitko]

It looks pretty good to me - if you try it, let us know how it goes!

The two weeks of "carbonating time" has passed on this, so I'll get the bottles in the refrigerator and chill them down in anticipation of sampling, maybe next week.

Heck, maybe even tomorrow...we'll see.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I sampled the first bottle out of my second batch of this on Saturday, and it was great - I think I've got the recipe just about dialed in.

I'm usually too busy taking it all in when I try the first bottle of a batch, but early impressions are that it was just right. The beer was fairly clear - especially for a wheat beer - and had the same colour as before, which was of course expected. The head could have been just a little higher and the beer could have been just a little more carbonated, but if there is any fault there, it is probably due to my error, not the recipe. it had an aroma that I really liked, but can't yet describe - maybe next time.

The taste was as good as before, only a little better. It is a malt-forward beer that is extremely drinkable and full of all the things we love about Maris Otter and Wheat. The hops were not in any way "muddled" this time around, and the Kazbek profile is a very good one for this, I think; in fact, I might bump up the presence just a little bit with my next brew - then again, maybe not. At 15 IBUs, it might be just right.

I think this beer is very close to being pronounced as "ready" for sharing; I'll mull it over and decide on that by the end of this batch. As I said above, there might or might not be a small tweak to the hops, but if it doesn't need anything else, I'll post it in the "Recipes" section.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I sampled this beer again last night - here's a photo:

The beer was a little clearer than the photo seems to indicate, but not by a drastic amount. It smelled nice and malty, with a bit of spice and something else from the Kazbek hops.

The taste was really good, as well - the Maris Otter really gave it some nice character, and the hops were present to balance the beer without being obnoxious. My dad described it as "very drinkable," which is pretty nice praise coming from him.

I am sure that someone with more experience could find some constructive ways to improve this beer, but I thought it was pretty darned good, and can't think of anything to mess with at this time. I'll reserve judgment until after a little time has passed and I am able to evaluate it better, but I think we've got some good stuff here.