Honey Lemon Wheat

[jzech79]

I brewed a wheat beer yesterday. Ingredients are:
6lbs wheat LME
2lbs Clover Honey
1oz Cascade
1oz Hallertau
1/2oz Lemon Peel
Safeale S-33

60 minute boil, Cascade at 0 Minuetes, Honey at 30 minutes, Lemon Peel at 50 minutes and Hallertau at 57 minutes.

My goal is to have a slightly sweet yet crisp summer taste. I plan on primarying for 2 weeks, bottling and condition for additional 2 weeks. It is fermenting pretty well this mornng, a lot more action than non honey brews. Fermenting at 73 degrees. My issue is that while brewing, my 3 year old broke my hydrometer so I have no way to know my gravities. Does anyone have any idea what I can expect? This is my third batch ever. My first 2 have been can kits. This recipe is straight from my head. Thanks for your help.

 

[CusterBrews]

1.057 is what my brewzor app tells me!

 

[jzech79]

Sounds like I might have a pretty high alcohol content then. Hopefully this does not throw off the tast Im aiming for.

 

[Pandoro]

looks like you should get a 1.020 final gravity. beer will have a nice kick @ about 6.16% abv. Let us know how it turns out. Im curious to see how adding the Honey later in the boil as opposed to at the beginning will effect(affect?) the sweetness. Keep me posted when you finally taste it.

 

[jzech79]

Tasted a sample today after bottle conditioning for 7 days. Tastes excellent. Enough carbonation. A lighter taste that was not to sweet combined with the tartness of the lemon peel. Great warm weather brew. The only oddity was that it was clearer than normal wheat brews. Either way, the taste was excellent. When I brew it again I will try to double the lemon peel so that the lemon is a little more pronounced.

 

[paulster2626]

I've been looking for a lemon-y wheat to try as my 3rd batch ever as well! I'll probably copy this one to a T, but increase the lemon peel by 50% (0.75oz). Can always add a slice when drinking, although I generally frown upon putting slices of fruit in/around my beer.

What is clover honey? Nevermind, I'll search.

 

[IrishBrewer74]

Are you using the whole lemon peel or just the zest? In cooking you usually try to only use the zest as that's where the lemon oils are found that give off the flavor. The rest of the white rind can give off a bitter taste. I'm not sure if the same hold true for brewing though.

 

[jzech79]

Clover Honey is the generic honey at my local grocery store (Kroger).

 

[jzech79]

I used Brewers Best Dry Lemon Peel 1oz package, using only 1/2 oz. Bought it from Midwest Supply. Next time I will use fresh.

 

[sweaterman]

Honey has such a high sugar to water ratio that you don't have to worry about bacteria in it and boiling it, just like boiling hops, boils off the aroma. I would suggest adding it at flameout or secondary. Some people think that the primary fermentation process blows off a lot of the aroma from the honey, too.

If you really want a good honey flavor, though, add a half pound to a pound of honey malt and steep this at 155F for 30 mins prior to your boil.

 

[gordilicious]

Sounds like a good brew!

I did a very similar recipe that I am going to bottle this weekend. I made a honey orange wheat. I used 1oz of bitter orange peels at 15min left in the boil, then added 1lb of clover honey and 1lb of orange blossom honey at 5min left in the boil. I also had 1/4oz of amarillo and cluster early on for bittering and then a 1/4oz of each later for flavor/aroma.

I'm anxious to see how it turns out. I'll keep you posted.