WheatEater Hefe...First Taste!

[cackxt]

The wife and I went camping this weekend, and decided to take 2 bottles of our first brew for an early tasting. The brew has been in bottles 17 days so it is definitely not mature, but is was really good. We cracked the brews open and drank straight from the bottles (yeah yeah, we were camping so no nice pint glasses).

The brew I tried was great, nice mouthfeel, good carbonation, and a nice American Hefe aftertaste. My wife's brew on the otherhand was flat . So I did the honorable thing and shared (I'm a sap!). She was really happy with the beer since American Hefe's are her favorite style. Well afterwards we decided that we need to make our third batch. I would like to try a Chinook IPA, but she wants a malty Amber.

Any good good recipes for a hoppy amber brew out there?

Man, I must say I was really impressed with the quality of our young beer. It has been worth all the waiting. A mighty thanks for all the great beer discussions, and tips!

 

[MrEcted1]

congrats!

unfortuanely my hefe that I brewed a couple months ago didn't turn out nearly as good as yours - as it sounds. Mine ended up being what I called "Banana Wheat" because of the intense banana flavors that were present (guess I fermented at too high of a temp and got too many esters). Oh well, banana fans like the beer!

Sorry I don't have any Amber recipes handy at the moment just wanted to give you congrats on your success.

 

[Shambolic]

I really like my second attempt at my Lobrau Amber. I don't have my brewing diary here, but it's simple anyway, and if you don't do exactly the same thing it doesn't matter too much. Try something like:

1.5 kg amber LME
1 kg light DME
.5 kg dark DME
250g crystal malt (a fairly dark one)

50/50 Goldings and Fuggles hops (I'll leave you to decide on how much; i don't like my brews too hoppy)

Safale S-04 yeast (or some other ale yeast with a reasonably low attenuation, to leave a nice malty, slightly sweet beer)


Things like the ratio of dark/light DME really only affect the colour. I think I actually used more dark DME than I have stated above, but it was a little darker than I was aiming for. Adjust such things to your liking - you can't go wrong! The Goldings and Fuggles work really well together, in my opinion.

 

[cdew4545]

Mine ended up being what I called "Banana Wheat" because of the intense banana flavors that were present (guess I fermented at too high of a temp and got too many esters).

I just brewed a wheat ale this last saturday. Mine has a pretty noticable banana aroma too it as well. Is this strictly from the fermenting temp? If it is I'm out of luck as far as adjusting because I fermented it in my basement. I like bananas and can deal with it, but would also like to not have it do that. Any other things that can lead to the banana esters?

 

[Brewsmith]

My guess is that it is mostly due to the temperature. What yeast did you use? Some are more estery than others.

 

[NEPABREWER]

I made a crazy off the cuff honey amber with Kolsch yeast the other day. I have not tasted it since I transferred from primary to secondary, but so far so good. Nice malty flavor with a big honey flavor. Im dry hoppping with some cascades to attempt to round it out. It has quite a big taste.