Das OtterWeizen

[TasunkaWitko]

Well, it took a while, but this beer has really come into its own. The flavour has always been great, but the aroma was a little ... "muddled," for lack of a better word. Now, with my last beer of the batch, I noticed that the hops and aroma have balanced out really nicely, and I really like it. I think that this recipe might be a keeper, but I'd like to experiment a bit by reversing the first two hop additions before saying for sure.

Here's a picture of the beer, which had a wonderful, creamy head:

The flavour, aroma and other characteristics came together really well this time. A little time in the bottle (about 2 months after carbonation, by my reckoning) seems to have achieved the balance I was looking for. It was just a tiny bit bitter for my own personal tastes, but to anyone else, I am betting it was just right; the bitterness was not over-powering, but such that it gave the beer just a bit of a bite, which is probably what it should be doing.

Not bad at all for a first attempt at a completely from-scratch brew!

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I've been thinking about this, and now I am wondering - is it "normal" for hops to come forward after some time in the bottle? I would have through that under most circumstances, they would fall back a bit.

If anyone has any thoughts on this, I'd be grateful. The hops aromas were definitely more developed as time passed - they started out very "non-descript" with the first bottle I tried, but by the final one (2 months or so later), they had settled in very nicely, giving a wonderful aroma and adding a nice, crisp character that complimented the beer very well. I'm not complaining at all, I am just not sure of the reason.

Thanks in advance -

Ron

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I've been thinking about making this beer again, later this winter, and have been wondering about possible improvements. The malts in this beer are excellent, and the Bavarian yeast works well, I think, But the hops were a muddled mess for quite a long time.

Thanks to an excellent suggestion from @jjeffers09, I have decided that the next time I make this, I will try Kazbek hops. Judging by his account of them, and the descriptions I've read, they might be just what I am looking for. I've ordered some and will brew this sometime this winter. Will report.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Today, 20 February 2017, I brewed this beer again.

In order to be able to measure the effect, I only changed one thing compared to the first time I made this. Instead of the scrambled mess of a hops schedule that I had before, I chose one hop: the Kazbek that @jjeffers09 had recommended. According the its profile, it looks like the Kazbek might achieve something close to (or better than) what I was trying to do with my combination of hops that I used for my first attempt. You can read more about Kazbek hops here:

https://bsgcraftbrewing.com/hop-profile-kazbek

My thanks to jjeffers09 for this recommendation!

The brew went quite well, with no complications. I'll post updates as they happen.

Ron

 

[TasunkaWitko]

A couple of stats I neglected to mention:

a) The Kazbek hops that I have come in at 4.1% AA

b) I added 0.1 oz @ 60, 0.1 oz @ 30 and 0.1 oz @ 1 minute left in the boil.

c) The adjusted IBUs for this updated version of Das Otterweizen are 15.09; to my knowledge, this puts the bitterness more in line with what would be expected from a wheat beer.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I checked on my fermenter when I got home from work and...we're fermenting!

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I took a peek at this beer last night, and it looks as though everything is on schedule.

It looked exactly as I have described before, with my first brew, and smelled very good. The Kazbek hops seemed to be having their desired effect, as I did detect a bit of brightness that was just slightly "citrusy," which made a nice accent to the expected earthy and spicy qualities found in its parent, the Saaz hop. The citrus touch was reminiscent - to me - of lemon, but it wasn't over-whelming or over-powering...just there, riding gently above the other aromas of the beer.

I'll most likely bottle it the second weekend in March - maybe a few days before; at that time, I'll probably have a little left over for a sample, and we can get an idea of what we're ending up with.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Updated label for this beer -

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I put this second batch of Das OtterWeizen in to cold-crash last night, 8 March 2017. I did this mostly to compact the sediment a bit, in order to insure that I get as much as I can into the bottles.

It was looking pretty good, with the same colour as before, and a nice, fresh aroma that might (or might not) have had just a touch of sulfur in it. I'm not sure what the reason for that would be, but it has happened before on another hefeweizen that I made, and the final product did not suffer for it.

We'll see where we end up.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I bottled my second brewing of this beer on 15 March, 2017.

Note to self - I used the "Gold" caps for this brew.

For carbonation, I used Brewer's Best Conditioning Tablets:

http://a.co/c2t2lox

I am a big fan of these tablets, for two reasons: a) they give very consistent, reliable results and b) a person is able to tailor the amount of carbonation with them - ranging from low to medium to high - in order to push the beer in a desired direction. I was looking for a medium carbonation with this beer, so I used 4 tablets per bottle. They are made from corn sugar, which as far as I can tell is the standard for priming sugar in homebrewing.


Thanks to cold-crashing and care taken when racking, I was able to get 9 bottles from this batch. The beer was fairly clear, with a slight wheat haze, and looked really nice, with a colour somewhere between straw and butterscotch. As before, there was a slight orange tinge to it, presumably from the Maris Otter. It smelled really, really good, with a bready, malty quality accented by the promised attributes of the Kazbek hops: floral, earthy, spicy...with a nice, unobtrusive overlay that is slightly citrusy (lemon). This hop has been described as "like Saaz, but turned up to 11," and based on my limited experience with Saaz, I'd say that it is an accurate description.

I had just barely enough left over for a small sample, and found the first impression of my second brew of this beer to be very positive. This is not carbonated yet, of course, but based on the first brewing and this sample, it is proving to be a great malt combination, with the best characteristics of both the Maris Otter and the wheat working quite well together to produce a malty, bready, slightly-nutty ale with what seems to be great body and a tasty, almost addicting flavor. My previous brewing of this beer revealed some hop issues that could best be described as "muddled" in aroma and flavor; this is not surprising, considering my overly-complicated hop additions, but early indications are that this second brewing using just one hop has solved that issue, and I am very grateful to @jjeffers09 for suggesting the Kazbek hop. The bitterness seems to be just right - low, but noticeable and in good proportion. The previously-mentioned characteristics of the Kazbek hop appear to be just the right thing for this beer. I was immediately a big fan, and anticipate that everything will work very well together once there has been some time to carbonate and condition.

I'll be able to properly sample this beer in about 2 weeks or so, and will have more on it, then. We're still a little early to say for sure, but I think that I might finally have this recipe dialed in where I want it to be!

 

[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.