Have to share my extract Weizenbock recipe - came out awesome!

[Rev2010]

Sharing this here instead of the recipe forum since I think many extract brewers don't look in there for recipes. I've since started AG myself but tasted this one tonight after only one and a half weeks in the bottle (the wife wanted to try it since she prefers lighter carbonation) and it is amazing. We're big fans of Aventinus but I wasn't trying to make a clone and my recipe is rather simple. However, it came out tasting similar to Aventinus and I am amazed at the smoothness and taste of this so I just had to share. The recipe is below:

5 gallon batch
8.5lb Briess Wheat DME
1lb Weyermann Caramunich III - steeped for 30 minutes at 160
0.25lb Weyermann Chocolate Wheat Malt - steeped for 30 minutes at 160
1 oz Tettnang hops 4.5%AA for 60 minute boil
0.50 oz Hallertauer hops 3.8%AA last 10 minutes of boil
1 pack Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan yeast (created a 1 liter starter 2 or 3 days before) - ferment at 68 degrees

3 weeks in fermenter, of course make sure the FG has been hit, then 3 weeks bottle carb/condition.

My OG was 1.077, exactly as Beersmith estimated, and my FG was 1.021, one point over beersmith's 1.020 estimate. So my ABV was 7.33%.

As with Aventinus and other Weizenbock's the alcohol does sneak up on you. Anyhow, I hope at least someone enjoys this one. I am rather proud how well it came out!

Please excuse my crappy phone pic - the lighting is pretty poor and the flash overexposed it. Oh, and I intentionally poured it so the head is minor.



Rev.

 

[poislb]

Partial or full boil? Sounds yummy...

 

[Rev2010]

Full boil. It can be done partial but with 8.5lbs of extract it takes up a bit of room in the pot so it would lead to a denser boil.

And I can't recall exactly, but I think I steeped in 2.5-3 gallons of water, mostly because the diameter of my 10G Blichmann kettle makes it a bit too shallow to steep in less water - though I personally haven't seen any difference using more steep water as opposed to less.


Rev.

 

[Big_Belgian]

I think an extract/partial Weizenbock may be my next beer, and I've been checking out the NB kit and Jamil's recipe, and would just note that your recipe seems very light on the wheat, with only .25 lbs. - or is the Briess DME a wheat extract?

Also, I was uncertain on the fermentation temps for the WY 3068 - do you get a strong banana flavor at 68 deg? I was actually planning to go much lower than that, but have never used that yeast before.

Thanks for the recipe.

 

[Rev2010]

The .25lb was for the Chocolate Wheat. The 8.5lbs is Wheat DME which yes, is a wheat extract of 65% wheat 35% barley.

Typically that yeast strain does have a more pronounced banana flavor around that range but I don't really pick that up much in my weizenbock. I don't know if it's because of how the flavors all melded or whatnot but it tastes awesome - very nicely balanced.

*EDIT - I added a small crappy pic.
**EDIT #2 - didn't even realize until I actually read my original post that I didn't say Briess "Wheat" DME. Duh on me!


Rev.

 

[edsrockin]

i did an aventinus a couple weeks ago which called for wyeast 3068 and had little success getting the yeast to work until it was in an ambient 70* environment. i wanted to do a 60* fermentation, but the yeasts said "no".

i had never used that strain before and thought that the yeast were bad because i couldn't get them to ferment. i finally bought some dry yeast (only wheat style yeast LHBS had) and put the carboy in the 70* environment the dry yeast liked and before i rehydrated the dry yeast, the Weihenstephan Weizen had kicked in.

just a data point w.r.t. this yeast.

 

[Rev2010]

I've used this yeast a few times before. Never tried at 60 but I've fermented it from 66-74 and it's never been a problem, it's always actively fermenting by the next day, in under 24 hours basically.


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[mobilecabinworks]

Just wrote the recipe down in my little black book. Cheers!

 

[Rev2010]

Just wrote the recipe down in my little black book. Cheers!

My pleasure! Just a follow up report, I've shared this beer now with 5 other people, and the wife is getting a bit ticked as she wants it all to herself, and each has loved it and praised it. I tell everyone to always be completely honest and explain I would never be offended if they didn't like it and that it simply might not be their style. I've even had two people mention off handedly how much great it was a day later without even mentioning it. My singers wife, typically only a mixed drink woman, asked for seconds. So as it stands it's also a success among my peers


Rev.