Hef tastes like I'm drinking raw wheat

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brando

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My first all-grain brew has been conditioning in the keg for 2 weeks and we just tapped it last night. The orange and coriander are great, were it not for the beer. The taste is like drinking a big mouthful of liquid wheat and the brew doesn't taste at all like widmer hef. It really doesn't taste good. I think I will throw it out, and chalk it up to the first all-grain experience and getting used to the keggle, cooler, batch sparge method. Hard to throw out 10 gal of beer though. Is this a hard beer to brew or did I mess up formulating a recipe? Perhaps the white wheat malt did not convert?

shooting for 1.050, sparged with way too much water, hit 1.040
shooting for 1.012 fg, hit 1.005 mash at 155 sparged with 170 deg water.

10 gallon boil...

7.5 lb Pale Malt, 2 Row, US
6.5 lb White Wheat Malt
.5 lb Carafoam
.5 lb Caramunich II

Used Wyeast American Wheat, 2 weeks at 68 deg.
 
The recipe looks fine to me...although I don't think I've ever seen a hefe with corriander and orange peel.

How long did you ferment the beer?
 
Totally midread the title and thought you said raw meat! Recipe looks fine, as Suthrn asked, how long did you ferment and also how long did you age and/or bottle condition? What is the appearance of the beer in the glass?
 
two weeks in primary, two in keg at 60 deg...just carbed it up recently. The beer looked quite cloudy but a normal color for a wheat beer. It is difficult to describe the taste other than a strong wheat aroma and taste such that it overpowers the other flavors and makes it difficult to drink. Widmer hef on the other hand has a very subtle wheat aroma and features a flavor profile that focuses more on the yeast.

Now that I think of it, 5 gallons were fermented with pacman yeast and 5 with wyeast american wheat. We had an empty sanke and poured them both in so we wouldn't have to bottle. With the FG so low, I didn't think the yeast would have a large effect but maybe this is all stemming from the two yeast strains not getting along. I love the pacman yeast for the cool ferm temps, and no stuck fermentations, but maybe it is time to focus on new strains.
 
My first all-grain brew has been conditioning in the keg for 2 weeks and we just tapped it last night. The orange and coriander are great, were it not for the beer. The taste is like drinking a big mouthful of liquid wheat and the brew doesn't taste at all like widmer hef. It really doesn't taste good. I think I will throw it out, and chalk it up to the first all-grain experience and getting used to the keggle, cooler, batch sparge method. Hard to throw out 10 gal of beer though. Is this a hard beer to brew or did I mess up formulating a recipe? Perhaps the white wheat malt did not convert?

shooting for 1.050, sparged with way too much water, hit 1.040
shooting for 1.012 fg, hit 1.005 mash at 155 sparged with 170 deg water.

10 gallon boil...

7.5 lb Pale Malt, 2 Row, US
6.5 lb White Wheat Malt
.5 lb Carafoam
.5 lb Caramunich II

Used Wyeast American Wheat, 2 weeks at 68 deg.

Ok Brando....

Dumping after 2 weeks?? WHAT THE HECK? I am pretty sure you have not thought this one through. You should really give it more time IMO. I know a Hef is meant to drink young, but your yeast just may not be done its job. It is your beer, and your choice, but if it were me I would consider it a huge waste to dump so soon.

I recently made a wheaty beer, and it tasted WAY too tangy at first. It has gotten better though after 3-4 weeks. I also find I need to be in the mood for a refreshing wheat beer in order to enjoy it. I find that style best enjoyed after mowing the lawn, exercising, etc.

Anyway, just my 2 bits - I am by no means an expert
 
shooting for 1.050, sparged with way too much water, hit 1.040
shooting for 1.012 fg, hit 1.005 mash at 155 sparged with 170 deg water.

Are you using brewing software? If so you should be able to make adjustments midstream to hit your gravity in the future. If you're coming in low you can either keep some DME on hand to boost it up or just boil for some extra time to make sure you hit your gravity. The key is to know what you want in both preboil volume and gravity and to know your boil-off rate.

All that having been said, dumping a two week old beer does sound like jumping the gun. No harm in trying it again in a week. Then if you still don't care for it I'd see how it tastes blended with a storebought hef you do like. Try mixing half a bottle of the hombrew with a whole bottle of the storebought that you do like. It would have to be seriously noxious to still be bad at that rate of dilution. Dumping all those bottles would break my heart.
 
Are you sure you like Wheat beers? I don't, that's why I asked the obvious.
 
I see 1.005 as a very low FG here with that OG and mash temperature. Any possible infection off-flavor sources?

Also the "are you sure you like wheat beers" question is a good one. My American Wheat (fermented with US-05) was always hated by me but loved by everyone else (until I added a Centennial dry hop, but that's another story).
 
Man, dont pitch it! Especially if you didn't use exclusively hefe yeast. Those are meant to mature quick and make a tasty beer (my last hefe went grain to glass in 10 days) pacman isn't. I know that because homebrew can be fresher than Widmer (and a HELL of a lot better imo) the wheat might be stronger than your used to, but give it time

BTW, your first AG was a ten gallon batch? :rockin:
 
Thanks for all the advice...perhaps I'm not a wheat beer fan...I was looking for a cross between blue moon and a hef...but got a wacky beer as a result. I'll let it marinate a while and see what happens.

Yeah...10 gal for the first all grain...what a trip it was. The second AG batch went a lot better...I did a sort of hybrid fly-batch sparge pouring sparge water from the kettle, on some aluminum foil placed on the grain bed from a pitcher. It was easier to stop when I hit the right volume, for sure. A measuring stick sure helped this time lol.

The next step is doing a yeast starter for the next batch on Friday...I've only heard good things about this technique. I may wash the pacman yeast from my primaries again and reuse. I heard Rogue only reuses this yeast for 5 generations though so maybe it is time to branch out on yeast styles. I do love Pacman for the ability to eat everything in sight, especially at the same temp as my interior closet-60 deg.

Has anyone made an AG starter from crystal 40 malt only? Not looking forward to making many trips to LHBS to get more 2 row.

Are there other neutral strains of yeast that do well at 60 deg? Maybe notty?
 
Wyeast American Wheat yeast is culprit... doesn't get really spicy or estery. may age out nice.

I like 3638 Bavarian Wheat for my hefe's good balance of banana and cloves... even the dry Safale Wheat WB06 gives more hefe weizen character ferment either of these below 68 and will minimize these characters but will still be there. above 70 and they really come through.

3942 Belgian Wheat might be your key for a Bluemoon type flavor profile... fermented on cooler side.
 
+ 1 on the 3638 Belgian. It's my go to Hefe yeast.

And for a starter, just get some DME and then do a search here for great info on yeast starters.
 

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