Yeast and wheat question

[briegg]

I would like to make a Belgain white similar to the Blue Moon product for the Mrs (she loved it in college). I tried a wheat beer earlier, and which ended up with very strong clove/banana flavors - probably correct for the style, but not exactly what I'm after

Has anyone tried using a dry ale yeast (US-05 for example) to ferment a wheat beer? I am wondering if the results were cleaner than yeast intended for wheat beer, and if it attenuated properly. Thanks in advance.

 

[Walker]

I made a belgian wit (the basic model for Blue Moon) with US-05 and it worked well. The yeast didn't add anything to the flavor, which let the orange peel and corriander take the spotlight.

 

[david_42]

The esters that Belgian yeasts produce can be limited by fermenting at lower temperatures.

 

[Walker]

The esters that Belgian yeasts produce can be limited by fermenting at lower temperatures.

Agreed, but Blue Moon is a severely Americanized Wit. It doesn't have any of the yeast flavors in it and is just a light wheat beer with the spices.

If she likes Blue Moon, I think you would be best off using US-05.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Unless you used a hefe yeast strain you shouldn't get that much clove or banana taste from a regular wheat yeast strain. That suggests to me that your temperatures may have been too high during fermentation (or you used a hefe strain, or both.)

I've never tried using US-05 or Nottingham for wheat beers, it would probably come ok, but lack a lot of the wheat beer characteristics. There are some other basic wheat strains that come dry (I think Munton's makes one) that I would try instead.