NooB seeking advice

[trusty32]

Hi there! I am a complete beginner to all of this, but have brewed a few recipes from kits and been reading up on making my own recipe. I am a big fan of wheat beers and took a crack at a recipe that I wanted to get some feedback on before starting off to make it. Here is what I got:

Grains:
* 1 lbs belgian wheat malt
* 0.5 lbs Honey Malt

Hops:
* 1 oz centennial - 12 minutes in the boil
* 1 oz glacier - 12 minutes in the boil

Extract:
* 6.5 lbs Pilsner liquid extract

Yeast
* Wyeast American Wheat

What do you all think? Bad idea? Good idea? When I plugged this all into Beersmith I got an estimated OG of 1.048, 21.4 IBUs, 5.9 color, and 4.8% ABV.

Thanks!

 

[Terek]

Hi there! I am a complete beginner to all of this, but have brewed a few recipes from kits and been reading up on making my own recipe. I am a big fan of wheat beers and took a crack at a recipe that I wanted to get some feedback on before starting off to make it. Here is what I got:

Grains:
* 1 lbs belgian wheat malt
* 0.5 lbs Honey Malt

Hops:
* 1 oz centennial - 12 minutes in the boil
* 1 oz glacier - 12 minutes in the boil

Extract:
* 6.5 lbs Pilsner liquid extract

Yeast
* Wyeast American Wheat

What do you all think? Bad idea? Good idea? When I plugged this all into Beersmith I got an estimated OG of 1.048, 21.4 IBUs, 5.9 color, and 4.8% ABV.

Thanks!

I don't have much experiance with extract, mainly cuz I have only done all grain. This looks good, but might turn out a little bland. I would add a bit of coriander and citrus zest (orange, grapefruit, lemon, and lime all work nicely) to give it more flavor.
Also, I have never really seen any one not have a 60 min hop addition. I'm curious on the bitterness and flavors in this beer when ur done.

 

[trusty32]

Thanks for the advice on how to add a bit more flavor. I had done a bit of research into whether I could use a straight orange rind, or needed to explore some sort of oil. I will go with the rind.

In terms of the lack of a 60 minute hop - I thought I would try this out (not knowing it was so obscure) because I wanted very little bitterness in this beer, but the flavor profile of the two hops I selected. Because the two I selected had the propensity to add a significant number of IBU's if boiled for the entire time I decided to reduce the time they would be boiled.

That said, if I need a 60 minute hop to be present to avoid this not tasting terrible...what would you all suggest?

 

[chickypad]

That's not much wheat, and just steeping it won't give you much except the haze if that's what you want. I'd go with wheat extract instead - which is typically something like 60/40 wheat and barley. Or do a small partial mash. I haven't had great luck with using zest although others do so maybe it's my technique. I do like to do some flameout or dryhop in my American wheats to get some citrus character. I agree your schedule is a little odd but I would assume it's okay if the calculated IBU are coming out where they are. I probably just would have done it differently, with a small bittering charge at 60 then the rest late hops.

 

[atoughram]

Beersmith calculated the OG to be 1.055 at 29.9 IBU's - My Hefe is only 14 IBU's and I think it's over hopped. Let your taste buds tell you if you like it. Also - in my opinion, I'd do a partial mash. Put a pound of two-row pale malt in the bag with the wheat and honey, bring a gallon of water up to about 150f and soak it for an hour. I think you'll get more out of the wheat if you do. Then rinse out the grains with another gallon or two of hot water. Take the water from that and add your extract and proceed as normal. You may want to put a little less extract in if you do this because it will add more sugar.