Iron Chef Contest

[roger_tucker]

I'm getting ready to brew a beer for an Iron Chef sort of contest in my brew club. This thing is going to be a real Frankenstein beer. The ingredients I have to accentuate/work with are smoked malt, honey malt, tomahawk hops, and Wyeast Weihenstephan Weizen (3068). I've got a recipe put together for a smoked honey wheat.

I think I can get the smoked wheat and the honey to work together. I'm most worried about the yeast because you'll generally get banana esters off of 3068. I don't think that's going to work with the smoked malt and honey malt. I read that you can over pitch and reduce the banana esters. From the Wyeast web site

Over pitching can result in a near complete loss of banana character. Decreasing the ester level will allow a higher clove character to be perceived.

I think a clove flavor might come off OK with the honey and smoked malt

I've never over pitched before. Do I just need to make a big starter, 2 liters maybe? Also the suggested temp range for the yeast is 64 - 72 degrees. I'm wondering if I can go even a little bit lower, maybe down to 60, in order to reduce the banana flavor even more.

 

[JoshuaW]

I think you are headed in the correct direction. I would bet that you wont have any problems at 60*. You might even want to try 55* and just see if it ferments. You can always ramp the temp up a little bit if it isnt progressing.

 

[NTexBrewer]

Look into a smoked roggenbier. Smoked Rye Beer.

I'm just spitballing, I checked wyeast's website about your yeast and they said it was used in that style of beer. Then I googled smoked roggenbier and found some info about that. A smoked roggenbier has smoked malt, and uses your yeast. I'm guessing the tomahawk hops would be used for bittering so the only grain left out would be the honey malt. Not sure how the sweetness of the honey malt would work out but maybe the spiciness of rye malt would counter the honey malt.

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2011/11/cherry-wood-smoked-roggenbier-recipe.html

Here is a smoked roggenbier recipe that I found.

Again, I have not experience with this recipe just throwing something else out there. Also, if you find a style that people are not familiar with then how are they supposed to know what it is supposed to taste like!

https://byo.com/grains/item/326-brewing-with-rye-tips-from-the-pros

Here is some information about rye. Some of them use rye and honey malt together to balance things.

 

[finsfan]

I wouldnt push the lower limit of the 3068 too much, but I would suggest fermenting at 62°F. I just tried this myself after reading brewing classic styles and my hefe turned out great. No banana and just the right amount of clove, but nothing overpowering. Good luck with your brew!!

 

[roger_tucker]

Look into a smoked roggenbier. Smoked Rye Beer.

I've already got the grain for my smoked honey wheat, but something like this might be worth looking at. Maybe I'll do two recipes and see which turns out best. I also noticed in the link you sent at

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2011/11/cherry-wood-smoked-roggenbier-recipe.html

that they fermented at 58 degrees and then raised the temp to 62 to finish it off.