TasunkaWitko
Well-Known Member
We all know that wheat beers seem to be best enjoyed when young, but I had a vivid reminder of that this past week.
Early this spring (2017) I brewed three different wheat beers: Cranberry Wheat, Edelweiss (2 batches, each using different yeasts and hops) and a 50/50 mix of Maris Otter and wheat that I call "Das OtterWeizen."
In total, I used 3 different yeasts and several different varieties of hops; the IBUs ranged from maybe 15 in the Edelweiss to about 37 for the Cranberry Wheat. The fermentations were all normal and bottling for all was with a medium carbonation in mind; the Edelweiss was bottled 3 days after BrewDay with no priming sugar, a practice that had worked fine in the past. All bottles were clean and sanitized.
When young, all of the beers were very good and tasted exactly as I expected them too. Carbonation was normal, as well. I was saving a couple of bottles each so that I could enjoy them with a friend in July; however, our trip to South Dakota was postponed until October, so they sat in the refrigerator until we left for our trip, and rode in the trunk on the way down. Because of this, the brews were all about 7 months old when we were able to try them in South Dakota.
However, even with all of the different factors listed above, these beers ended up all about the same when we opened and sampled them:
a) Hugely over-carbonated, ranging from gushers (the Edelweiss) to geysers that sprayed the wall (we opened the rest outside). The foam that flew out was very fine, almost (but not quite) like whipped cream
b) What little beer that was left in the bottles was very malty and sweet, with a huge prominence of the unique flavours from the malts and yeasts that could be easily detected. It was as if the hops had perhaps aged completely out.
After the first couple of beers, we decided to leave the rest in the fridge overnight, in case they were simply "excited" from the trip; unfortunately, the rest were the same after 24 hours in the fridge.
For comparison, a Chocolate Maple Porter and Root Beer Stout that I brought down were fine and the experience with them was almost completely opposite - no over-carbonation, no loss of hops; if anything, they might have been a tad under-carbed, but the hop flavor was not diminished at all and very good, while the darker malts came through nicely, as well. This in spite of the fact that the stout was actually older than the wheat beers, while the porter was about the same age.
I'm wondering if age and low IBUs were the only factors; perhaps water might have had something to do with it as well? My water is very high in bicarbonate (something like 190, if I remember correctly).
Anyway, those are some thoughts; we might "know" things through reading or common wisdom; however, as usual, "knowing" and "seeing for yourself" are usually two different experiences.
Ron
Early this spring (2017) I brewed three different wheat beers: Cranberry Wheat, Edelweiss (2 batches, each using different yeasts and hops) and a 50/50 mix of Maris Otter and wheat that I call "Das OtterWeizen."
In total, I used 3 different yeasts and several different varieties of hops; the IBUs ranged from maybe 15 in the Edelweiss to about 37 for the Cranberry Wheat. The fermentations were all normal and bottling for all was with a medium carbonation in mind; the Edelweiss was bottled 3 days after BrewDay with no priming sugar, a practice that had worked fine in the past. All bottles were clean and sanitized.
When young, all of the beers were very good and tasted exactly as I expected them too. Carbonation was normal, as well. I was saving a couple of bottles each so that I could enjoy them with a friend in July; however, our trip to South Dakota was postponed until October, so they sat in the refrigerator until we left for our trip, and rode in the trunk on the way down. Because of this, the brews were all about 7 months old when we were able to try them in South Dakota.
However, even with all of the different factors listed above, these beers ended up all about the same when we opened and sampled them:
a) Hugely over-carbonated, ranging from gushers (the Edelweiss) to geysers that sprayed the wall (we opened the rest outside). The foam that flew out was very fine, almost (but not quite) like whipped cream
b) What little beer that was left in the bottles was very malty and sweet, with a huge prominence of the unique flavours from the malts and yeasts that could be easily detected. It was as if the hops had perhaps aged completely out.
After the first couple of beers, we decided to leave the rest in the fridge overnight, in case they were simply "excited" from the trip; unfortunately, the rest were the same after 24 hours in the fridge.
For comparison, a Chocolate Maple Porter and Root Beer Stout that I brought down were fine and the experience with them was almost completely opposite - no over-carbonation, no loss of hops; if anything, they might have been a tad under-carbed, but the hop flavor was not diminished at all and very good, while the darker malts came through nicely, as well. This in spite of the fact that the stout was actually older than the wheat beers, while the porter was about the same age.
I'm wondering if age and low IBUs were the only factors; perhaps water might have had something to do with it as well? My water is very high in bicarbonate (something like 190, if I remember correctly).
Anyway, those are some thoughts; we might "know" things through reading or common wisdom; however, as usual, "knowing" and "seeing for yourself" are usually two different experiences.
Ron
