Tinkering with a Hefeweizen

[Colonel_Forbin]

Ok, I've brewed three batches, all with great results. They have all been Midwest kits. This brew is no exception. I'll be doing their Hefeweizen, with a few tweaks this time. Original recipe follows.
6 lb. Wheat liquid malt extract
1 lb. Light DME
8 oz. Carapils specialty grains, for steeping
1 oz Tettnang hops, boiled for the full 60 min

I was planning on adding
1.5 lbs. Honey, thinking half with 30min, the remainder at 10 min.
1 oz Styrings Golding hops, added at 2 min

Trying to make a Honey Weizen, I tend to like my beers on the stronger side, thinking the honey will boost the ABV, and give a bit more flavor with adding the honey at the 30 min mark, and some aroma adding the rest at 10 minutes. Thinking the OG will be in the neighborhood of 1.064, & final around 1.01.

I think the tweaks should work out fine. Any suggestions/comments would be appreciated.

 

[Pie_Man]

Seems like a cool idea. I'd drop the light DME and use only wheat extract (DME or LME) because the wheat extracts are already a 50-50 blend of wheat and light extract. It's my understanding that wheat malt typically makes up half to two-thirds of the grain bill in a hefe. You can add part of the extract in the last 15 minutes to avoid darkening the beer too much.

 

[JimTheHick]

Add honey malt for a honey taste, instead of honey. I love honey malt. From Gambrinus.

If you want to stick with regular honey add it later, like all at 5'

 

[Colonel_Forbin]

Pie Man, about how much of the extract to add later to give a lighter color 25% ?

Jack, I'm only doing extract at this point, could I use the Honey Malt as a steeping grain, or is that better utilized going partial or all grain?

 

[Pie_Man]

50/50 is fine. The extract batches I've done seem to have a more correct color when I used that ratio.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Honey malt can be added as a steeping grain. Honey by itself won't contribute a lot of flavor or aroma once fermented. It will thin out the beer so you'll lose some of that mouthfeel of a hefeweizen.

 

[JimTheHick]

Pie Man, about how much of the extract to add later to give a lighter color 25% ?

Jack, I'm only doing extract at this point, could I use the Honey Malt as a steeping grain, or is that better utilized going partial or all grain?

Crush and Steep it. It's like crystal malts.

 

[Colonel_Forbin]

Just got it in the fermenter. Did the extract, half at 30, looks lighter than the other wheat I brewed. Next time I will try the honey malt lbs didn't have any.
OG 1.067 so far so good.

 

[JimTheHick]

Just got it in the fermenter. Did the extract, half at 30, looks lighter than the other wheat I brewed. Next time I will try the honey malt lbs didn't have any.
OG 1.067 so far so good.

They were out because it's so DAMN tasty!

Congrats on the hefe