Lakefront Wisconsinite All Grain Clone?

[JonGrafto]

I just picked up Lakefront Brewery's seasonal Wisconsinite Summer Weiss.

It rocks... This is the beer that is made with all Wisconsin ingredients including a yeast strain captured and harevested with Northern Brewer's Jeremy King.

Apparantly Wyeast is going to be coming out with this yeast strain sometime in the summer, but in the meantime, I am harvesting the dregs from the six-pack that I bought...

Now comes the recipe part. I know this is a fairly straighforward Hefeweizen but wanted to get some input from the forum if anyone has tried this and what recipe I should stick with.

Maybe I will contact Northern Brewer and see if they have a clone set up yet for this one.

Input welcomed please!!!

 

[JonGrafto]

Ton of yeast in the bottles. I have harvested 3 bottles and can't believe how much I have already.

 

[JonGrafto]

Just got this email back from Lakefront Brewery Regarding the recipe...


"Thanks for the kudos on the Wisconsinite - glad you enjoyed it.

You're on the right track with harvesting the yeast from the bottle - we don't pasteurize any of our products, and that beer is packaged with the actual primary yeast used to ferment. (Often quite a lot of it!) We're hoping to have the yeast available fresh in homebrewing quantities soon from Northern Brewer.

As for the malt and hops bill, a lot of the character of the WI beer comes from the WI ingredients. We're using a 6-row Robust barley grown near Waupaca and malted right here in Milwaukee, as well as WI-grown wheat flakes from Briess in Chilton. The hops are Cascades from Gorst Valley in Mazomonie.

If you want to give it a shot with ingredients available to home brewers, here's the basic recipe:

Grains:
63.4% WI 6-row malted barley (I would substitute a simple Pilsner malt for this)
36.6% Briess wheat flakes
Target OG: 11 degrees Plato (~1.044 SG)

We use Milwaukee city water and add some calcium chloride in the mash...maybe 50 ppm.

The WI Cascade hops are used at the start of a 90 min boil...target 12 IBU; and in the whirlpool (end of boil) for aroma, less than 1/2 oz per 5 gal. It's not a very hoppy beer!

Fermentation is with the Lakefront yeast at 72 degrees F - it usually takes a week or so to get to final gravity, then we chill to 32 degrees F and let it sit two weeks to clarify. The yeast is very powdery and takes time to settle.

Good luck!
--
Andy Jones
Director of Operations
Lakefront Brewery
Milwaukee, WI
w. 414-372-8800 x110
m. 414-303-6153"

I know what I am brewing next!!!

 

[JonGrafto]

Here is what I came up with for a recipe using iBrewmaster:

Wisconsinite

Style: Weizen/Weissbier
Type: All Grain
OG: 1.044
FG: 1.012
ABV: 4.19 %
IBU's: 11.33
Efficiency: 70 %
Boil Size: 5.88 Gal
Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
Color: 3.5 SRM
Boil Time: 90 minutes
________________________________________


Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
6.00 lbs 63.16 % Ger 2-Row Pils 60 mins 1.037
3.50 lbs 36.84 % Flaked Wheast 60 mins 1.035

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
0.50 ozs 11.33 Cascade FWH 5.50
0.50 ozs 0.00 Cascade 0 mins 5.50

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
1.00 pkg Lakefront Strain Wyeast Wyeast Labs (null)

Additions
(none)

Mash Profile
________________________________________
Medium Body Infusion In 60 min @ 154.0°F
Add 11.88 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 166.0°F
________________________________________

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
Primary 7 days @ 72.0°F
Lager 14 days @ 32.0°F

Carbonation
Force carb

 

[JonGrafto]

Bump... Anyone?!?

 

[motobrewer]

what more are you looking for? You have the exact recipe from the brewer. did you make yours? did it turn out?

 

[JonGrafto]

what more are you looking for? You have the exact recipe from the brewer. did you make yours? did it turn out?

Reassurance... LOL.. :cross:


I havent brewed it yet... Trying to step up the dregs first..

 

[motobrewer]

well, it looks just like what Andy said, so....+1?

i didn't realize it was so low abv. I might have to try it. is it anything like Local Acre? I didn't care for that beer so I've stayed away from Wisconsinite.

 

[JonGrafto]

well, it looks just like what Andy said, so....+1?

i didn't realize it was so low abv. I might have to try it. is it anything like Local Acre? I didn't care for that beer so I've stayed away from Wisconsinite.

Local Acre is a higher alcohol (about 7%) Double Imperial. Not a fan.

Wisconsinite is more of a true German Hefeweizen although they call it a "Summer Weiss" beer.

It is definitely a great summer session brew if you like hefeweizens.

 

[motobrewer]

? Local Acre is an "Imperial Pilsner".....

 

[JonGrafto]

? Local Acre is an "Imperial Pilsner".....

Yeah... It is categorized as a "Strong Pale Lager/Imperial Pils"

But more like a Double Imperial Pilsner

 

[motobrewer]

i don't know what you drank, but Local Acre is definitely not a double IPA. It is everything you think of when you think about an imperial pils - big, grainy malt, medium body, finish is a little dirty only because it's so big (pilsnerally speaking).

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

My only suggestion will be to lower the fermentation temperature. Maybe try 66º. One of te major differences between our scale and the large cylindroconicals that pros use is the pressure on the yeast within the vessel. Typically, pro brewers must use a significantly higher fermentation temperature to get the ester production they are looking for. At our scale, using the same temperatures would results in a beer that was not the same. A good general rule is to start at a lower temp and then try moving the needle up the thermometer on subsequent batches if you want more yeast character.

 

[motobrewer]

doesn't lakefront ferment in horizontal tanks tho? or are those just for lagering? or am I completely making stuff up?

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

It is a matter of volume and head pressure, not necessarily the shape of the container (although the shape does have effects). I don't think Lakefront pushes everything through Curly, Mo, and Larry anymore. I am relatively sure they use normal cylindroconicals now for primary and aging.

 

[GVH_Dan]

Hey, another great write up on the beer from the Isthmus...http://http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=37145

I'm glad you all like it, especially since those are our hops. If you want to truly replicate the recipe, Brew and Grow may still have some of our cascades in stock or try Wine and Hop Shop in Madison. Otherwise, we expect the Cascade harvest to end in late August.

 

[GVH_Dan]

i don't know what you drank, but Local Acre is definitely not a double IPA. It is everything you think of when you think about an imperial pils - big, grainy malt, medium body, finish is a little dirty only because it's so big (pilsnerally speaking).

I can tell you Local Acres 2010 was...I don't know...it was basically whatever Wisconsin Ingredients Lakefront could get their hands on. We sent them nugget and Cascade. 2011, we didn't have hops for them so it didn't happen. 2012 wet hop Local Acres was someone else but the normal was us. It wasn't a double IPA, or at least not intended to be, though we've heard that before. I like to claim its because our hops are fresher, have more oils/aromas, higher alpha, better packaging due to the way we grow, dry and process....but that would just be bragging.

 

[JonGrafto]

SO I just transferred this over to my keg this weekend and my 4 year old stands on the chair next to me to see what I was doing. She says, "Daddy, that smells like bananas!"

I told her that it was SUPPOSED to smell that way and told her that she has a good sniffer. She wanted to try some but I told her it wasn't ready yet and I would let her "taste" it when it was ready.

KIDS!

 

[14thstreet]

JonGrafto, congrats on the fermentation and the good nose on your daughter! I've got the dregs myself but haven't stepped it up yet. I wouldn't have guessed Wisconsinite used Cascades, or enough of them for a slight aromatic presence. Will be interesting if they come through with the FWH though. I had used an ounce or so of them in a hoppy hefe and felt it overwhelmingly dominated the yeast character (3068). Let us know how it turns out compared to the real deal!

 

[JonGrafto]

Will do. It is carbing up right now in hopes that it is fully carbed for a party on the 21st. Of course I will have to sample it before then

 

[JonGrafto]

Also as a side note: after talking with my LHBS we decided to go with a 2-row instead of a pilsner for the grain schedule.

 

[JonGrafto]

Sampled this after letting it sit carbing up for a week and I am pretty disappointed. Very thin and color is tremendously light. OG was 1.044 and finished at 1.009 so the alcohol is there but very watery mouthfeel. Tastes light but I can still taste the banana and cloves. Not sure what went wrong.
Anyone know how I can fix this now? I have read to mix up a pint of water with 4-8 oz of melanoiden and add that in? Can anyone concur??