Weissbier Recipe Critique

[fguenther]

I'm looking at brewing something that would appeal to me and my Blue Moon loving father. This is what I came up with for a 5 gallon extract recipe.

Steeping Grains:
7 lbs Wheat Malt (German)
1 lb Flaked Wheat

3.3 lbs Wheat LME
2 lbs Wheat DME (late addition)

1.0 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh (60 min)
1.0 oz bitter orange peel (5 min)
1.0 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh (flameout)

1 pkg Safale German Ale

Single Stage Fermentation 14 days @ 67 degrees

 

[didinho]

sounds fair. as a belgian wit (like blue moon), but that's not a weissbier...

 

[FatDragon]

You've got almost double the grainbill for a typical 5 gallon wheat beer there. You could mash the grains alone without the extract and have a decent wheat beer. Ditto for just using the extract alone. If you do a partial mash with all of those fermentables, you'll have an OG in the 1.080 range and likely end up with a 9% or stronger wheat beer, which might be fun but wouldn't be refreshing like a Blue Moon.

The variables I don't know are how much sugar conversion you would get from doing an extract-brewing-style "steep" of those grains or what they'll add that you're not already getting from the extract. That said, my opinion is if you're using that much diastatic grain, you might as well be mashing it. For your steep/mash step, toss the crushed grain in a steeping bag (or a few steeping bags if necessary), let them steep within a couple degrees of 150F/65C for an hour or so, drain them into the kettle and go about your brewday as usual. If you mash the grains, you could use half of all of your fermentables and have a perfectly good wheat beer, leaving you with enough ingredients for another batch when this one's done.