Summer's Coming, need suggestion

[cdew4545]

So summer is coming up and I'd like to brew a good Wheat Ale. I was wondering if anyone had any good recipes or good ideas for flavorings. As far as commercial wheat ales, I enjoy Hacker-Pschorr and Sam Adam's Summer, and wouldnt mind cloning something like that, but am also open to any other suggestions for flavorings. Let me know what you guys like for recipes.


Also, off topic, but this has been bothering me so I might as well ask it here. It had been awhile since I've had a Blue Moon (before the other day) and everytime I drink it, the flavor reminds me of something in particular but I can never put my finger on it. Just wondering if anyone out there knows what I'm talking about.

 

[mysterio]

Wheat wise, I was planning on doing one of these pretty soon... I've never tried the ones you've mentioned though.

 

[chillHayze]

I made a lemon wheat that is conditioning right now, but had a good taste to it at bottling. Here is what I used if it helps. It is almost too simple.

Wheat DME 6 lbs
Hallertau @ 45 1 oz
Wyeast 3068 packet
Lemons 5 whole ones squeezed into secondary


Oh and Blue Moon makes me think of ice cream sundays (sp?). Like a Blue Moon float would be a thing to try.
I also associate it with playing pool cuz one night they were on special at the bar and we played like 80 games of pool while drinking like one pint per game...

 

[Desert_Sky]

I made a lemon wheat that is conditioning right now, but had a good taste to it at bottling. Here is what I used if it helps. It is almost too simple.

Wheat DME 6 lbs
Hallertau @ 45 1 oz
Wyeast 3068 packet
Lemons 5 whole ones squeezed into secondary

I have one similar to that fermenting away as we wpeak. But I used the zest from 3 oranges instead of lemons, and about 1/2 Tbls of crushed coriander. If it tastes half as good as it smells, Im in for a real good brew

 

[Walker]

I have one similar to that fermenting away as we wpeak. But I used the zest from 3 oranges instead of lemons, and about 1/2 Tbls of crushed coriander.

Yum... Belgian Wits rock (though... with the german yeast, I guess it's not EXACTLY a Belgian Wit). This is what I was planning for summer, too.

-walker

 

[cweston]

I definitely crave tarter, crisper alcoholic beverages in the summer. (Summer is the only time I tend to enjoy white wine, for example.)

My summer lineup...
Wits

American wheats if they're not too boring (Bells Oberon is good, or New Belgium Sunshine, which is spiced like a Wit)

German Hefeweizens--but not if they're too intensely sweet or fruity (those are for spring)

lagers or lager-like beers with high IBUs: pilsner, Cali common (I pretty-much only drink lagers in the summer)

APAs

and my number one favorite warm-weather beer style...
Belgian Saison (esp. if well-hopped for the style)

 

[drengel]

blue moon reminds me of hippie girls in the summer time, i don't know why exactly, but it does. it also reminds me that we shouldn't let the BMCs pretend theyre craft brewers. it is brewed under coors.

i think the taste is of orange peel and coriander.

as far as suggestions, lemon/orange peel, lemon grass, various spices all go well in wits.

 

[waskelton4]

blue moon reminds me of hippie girls in the summer time...

yummm..

nothing like a stinky unshowered girl with hairy legs and pits :fro:

 

[Walker]

yummm..

nothing like a stinky unshowered girl with hairy legs and pits :fro:

that's pretty much how my wife looked when we met, an I was the stinky unshowered guy with a pony tail to my waist and a beard to the middle of my chest.

we're quite different looking now, and we bathe/shave more often, but I stil have a soft spot for those kinds of girls... I think it's because I totally HATE the other extreme (superficial, sparkling clean women).

-walker

 

[cweston]

Sounds like we have a lot in common.

When my wife and I were first married, we lived in kindof a hippy neighborhood in Seattle. I still wear my hair (what's left of it) in a pony tail, and she's still partial to a certain style summer dress that we call a "Wallingford dress." (After the name of that Seattle neighborhood.)

I have compromised and settled on a very trim and professorial looking goatee, instead of the full beard, though. And yes, she does shave her pits.

 

[El Pistolero]

Truth be told, everyone on this board is either a hippy or used to be a hippy, except for RightWingNut and ScottT, and neither of them ever comes around here anymore.

 

[Walker]

Truth be told, everyone on this board is either a hippy or used to be a hippy, except for RightWingNut and ScottT, and neither of them ever comes around here anymore.

I don't know about that. There are a lot of military folks here, too, and I don't think there is much time to be a hippy when you are in the armed forces.

-walker

 

[waskelton4]

I don't know about that. There are a lot of military folks here, too, and I don't think there is much time to be a hippy when you are in the armed forces.

-walker

Yeah.. I'm not in the military but my father-in-law is a retired USAF Maj. General.
bro-in-law is USAF too so not to many beards around them

I grew a beard the thanksgiving after we got married and my mother-in-law HATED it..
.. It was kinda funny.

I guess i should have figured that the homebrew community is made up of mostly earthy type folk...

Hope I didn't offend anyone.
and sorry about the hijack..


will

 

[Kevin K]

Truth be told, everyone on this board is either a hippy or used to be a hippy, except for RightWingNut and ScottT, and neither of them ever comes around here anymore.

Wrongo bongo.

I'm no hippy, nor have I ever been one. I do want to drink some good beer though, and I want to make it myself. That's why I'm here.

 

[El Pistolero]

Wrongo bongo.

I'm no hippy, nor have I ever been one.

Who you trying to kid...you live in Canada, that makes you a hippy by definition.

 

[sonvolt]

it also reminds me that we shouldn't let the BMCs pretend theyre craft brewers. it is brewed under coors.

Isn't this a bit unfair? I mean, sometimes homebrewers are a little too radical about dissing the BMC brewers and BMC drinking crowd. To me, it borders on the kind of pretentiousness that homebrewing (IMHO) has never been about.

I actually like Blue Moon. Further, to me it does not matter that Coors brews it. In fact, I like Coors - for the right occasion.

Ok . . . . . . and I know that this is the second thread hijacking, but I had to say it. My refrigerator is always stocked with a 30-pack of High Life, because sometimes you just have to drink it while you are working on your car's alternator and eating a powdered donut

In short, here is my take on the whole BMC bashing trend on this board (a quotation often attributed to Shakespeare) . . . "methinks thou dost protest too much"



(commercial reference there . . . . anyone catch it?)

 

[Kevin K]

Who you trying to kid...you live in Canada, that makes you a hippy by definition.

No, that makes me cold and stubborn by definition. :cross:

 

[user 574]

Yum... Belgian Wits rock (though... with the german yeast, I guess it's not EXACTLY a Belgian Wit). This is what I was planning for summer, too.

-walker

That is an interesting thought. I "kind of" like my belgium wit with the WLP400 yeast but this strain is dominant. I cracked a bottle of this with someone who thought he was beer adventerous and he thought it had gone bad. Told him that's the way it's supposed to taste. He couldn't finish it.

Has anyone ever taken a typical belgium wit grain bill + extras and did it up with an American hefe yeast like wlp320? I have that on hand and need a lighter wheat for upcoming parties/visitors. I think this might be pretty clean tasting. True belgium wit's are not for the unexperienced palate IMO and I can't believe that Blue Moon uses a a belgium strain yeast; either that or all their macro filtering etc has changed it up.

 

[El Pistolero]

Has anyone ever taken a typical belgium wit grain bill + extras and did it up with an American hefe yeast like wlp320?

I thought that's how Blue Moon and New Belgian's Wheat were done.

 

[chillHayze]

Isn't this a bit unfair? I mean, sometimes homebrewers are a little too radical about dissing the BMC brewers and BMC drinking crowd. To me, it borders on the kind of pretentiousness that homebrewing (IMHO) has never been about.

I actually like Blue Moon. Further, to me it does not matter that Coors brews it. In fact, I like Coors - for the right occasion.

Ok . . . . . . and I know that this is the second thread hijacking, but I had to say it. My refrigerator is always stocked with a 30-pack of High Life, because sometimes you just have to drink it while you are working on your car's alternator and eating a powdered donut

In short, here is my take on the whole BMC bashing trend on this board (a quotation often attributed to Shakespeare) . . . "methinks thou dost protest too much"



(commercial reference there . . . . anyone catch it?)

Consider your philosophy shared.

 

[user 574]

I thought that's how Blue Moon and New Belgian's Wheat were done.

I guess I never looked; so they don't use authentic belgium wit style yeast?

 

[drengel]

Isn't this a bit unfair? I mean, sometimes homebrewers are a little too radical about dissing the BMC brewers and BMC drinking crowd. To me, it borders on the kind of pretentiousness that homebrewing (IMHO) has never been about.

I actually like Blue Moon. Further, to me it does not matter that Coors brews it. In fact, I like Coors - for the right occasion.

I would just rather not see rich old men become richer old men by marketing a beer as a 'craft brew' (and true Blue Moon is a fairly tasty brew) yet the profits get funneled into a mega corporation that already makes plenty of money. Look, this comes from someone who works in a brewery and gets the chance to talk with many micro/brew-pub owners/brewers: none of them are rich, and many (most small breweries?) struggle to even survive. I would rather see the BMC's continue to produce the lagers that got them where they are, and leave the 'craft' brewing to the 'craft' brewers instead of stealing part of thier market share. It has nothing to do with pretentiousness or snobbiness, I simply want smaller breweries to be able to make a decent profit, and therefore the brewer who makes that local pale ale (or whatever it is, I'm sure we all have one) that you love so much can actually make a decent living. Just my 2 cents....

 

[Walker]

I guess I never looked; so they don't use authentic belgium wit style yeast?

I don't know either, but I'd like to.

I've only ever had Ommegang's Witte and Blue Moon, and those beers were so different, I would have never even guessed them to be the same style. I hated the Ommegang, I like BM.

If BM uses some yeast other than a belgian wit, then I'm going to adjust my recipe in that direction.

-walker

 

[cweston]

I thought that's how Blue Moon and New Belgian's Wheat were done.

I'm absolutely certain NB's Sunshine Wheat does not use a Belgian yeast strain. In fact, I don't think NB uses Belgian strains to primary ferment any of their brews, except maybe the boutique seasonals specialties. They do sometimes introduce wild strains in bottle conditioning (I know they do this in their seasonal Bier de Mars) for a little of the Belgian earthiness.

Dunno about Blue Moon: I've never had that.

I would like to find out how to brew a wit with a *bit* of that Belgian earthiness, because I love it, but SWMBO doesn't. (She loves the coriander/orange peel flavor, though.) Maybe split the batch, ferment with different yeasts, then blend at bottling time? Anyone ever tried anything like that?

 

[jldesign]

Summer Honey Wheat
6 lbs. Liquid Wheat Extract Alexander’s 60% Wheat 40% Barley
.50 lbs. Maris Otter Pale
.25 lbs. Crystal Malt 10°L
.25 lbs. Honey Malt
.50 lbs. Rye Flaked
1.00 lbs. Orange Blossom Honey @ 15 minutes
1 oz. perle 60 min.
.5 oz. Hallertau 1 min.
Safale US-56 dry

sounds good by the pool don't it! thanks to tony for the idea

---------

this is in the secondary now verdicts still out on it but again with a iced mug & slice of orange by the pool what could be better?

EBH WITBIER
6 lbs ultra-light malt extract
1 Lbs 2-row
1 lbs Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 16.2 %
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 10.8 %
1.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80%] (60 min) Hops 18.1 IBU
1.00 oz Saaz [4.00%] (5 min) Hops 3.0 IBU
1.00 oz Coriander Seed Crushed(1/2 @ 10min, 1/2 @ flame out) Misc
1.00 oz (1/2 Orange Peel Bitter and 1/2 Orange Peel Sweet)
(1/2 each @ 10min, 1/2 each @ flame out) Misc
Safbrew T-58 dry yeast

 

[cweston]

EBH WITBIER
6 lbs ultra-light malt extract
1 Lbs 2-row
1 lbs Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 16.2 %
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 10.8 %
1.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80%] (60 min) Hops 18.1 IBU
1.00 oz Saaz [4.00%] (5 min) Hops 3.0 IBU
1.00 oz Coriander Seed Crushed(1/2 @ 10min, 1/2 @ flame out) Misc
1.00 oz (1/2 Orange Peel Bitter and 1/2 Orange Peel Sweet)
(1/2 each @ 10min, 1/2 each @ flame out) Misc
Safbrew T-58 dry yeast

Sorry to nitpick, but isn't this at least as close to the saison style as the wit? Your yeast strain and grain bill (heavily barley) are closer to the saison style, but with the starch haze from unmalted grains and spices of the wit style.

Sounds good--I like 'em both.

I'd even consider upping the hop level to more like 25 IBUs and a little aroma hop (I used EKG in my saison) to bring it even closer to the saison style.

 

[jldesign]

agreed not 100% true to any style and the verdict is still out on it - it did taste a little light on bitterness at rack and a nice light hazy golden color. light orange/spice not overpowering at all which I'm not sure is a good or bad thing. WITs are not my favorite style at all and this would be my first crack at it so take it for what it is worth.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I don't know about that. There are a lot of military folks here, too, and I don't think there is much time to be a hippy when you are in the armed forces. -walker

I had a beard and long hair several times BEFORE and AFTER being in the service. As a matter of fact as a civilain who was deployed to Kosovo twice I had them both even though I wore a uniform. I needed something to make me stand out that made me not look like a soldier.

I cut off my last ponytail in Feb 04.