Wheat beers! (my least favorite style but i have extra wheat)

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Bigbre04

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Hey all,

I am trying to use up some wheat malt before i order more grain at the end of next week. I am generally not a huge fan of wheat beers in general, but i have extra wheat malt and not enough flaked oats to make many of my normal recipes.

The hops are copied from a previous recipe, but i dont think they look terrible for the style/abv. Let me know where you would go with this. Most likely use Chico to ferment this out, but i have Voss or a couple others on hand. I also have Apricot and Blood orange on hand.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1541972
 
I wouldn't bother calling it a Wheat Beer unless you use a yeast that's specific to the style. If you use Chico, it's just a basic Pale Ale. The percentage of wheat, even flaked wheat, isn't all that much, considering. I've used a fair percentage of wheat in Pale Ales just because it mashes and attenuates with pretty high efficiency. If you went toward a White IPA and fermented with Lallemand Wit yeast, you could add either the Apricot or Blood Orange and have something very interesting. Maybe you can get enough character from the Voss to fake a somewhat Belgian character.
 
I was thinking the same thing. If you want to play around with something using a normal yeast, hop that bad boy up.
 
So i know that the % of wheat is a little low, but that is a limitation of my stupid oversized homebrew system.

This is a different recipe adapted from the one above. it has a touch of smoke and a tiny amount of spec(160L) x for a little color and flavor, i could sub that for spec B(80L). i reduced the 2row but left the wheats the same. I have some victory/munich1or2 that i could add a touch of additional graininess with as well? i think this could be really interesting recipe. doesnt really fit a specific style??

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1542081
 
J A said:
I wouldn't bother calling it a Wheat Beer unless you use a yeast that's specific to the style. If you use Chico, it's just a basic Pale Ale. The percentage of wheat, even flaked wheat, isn't all that much, considering. I've used a fair percentage of wheat in Pale Ales just because it mashes and attenuates with pretty high efficiency. If you went toward a White IPA and fermented with Lallemand Wit yeast, you could add either the Apricot or Blood Orange and have something very interesting. Maybe you can get enough character from the Voss to fake a somewhat Belgian character.
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I dont have wheat specific yeast. i have voss, chico, munich lager, mexican lager, kolsch, hazy(london), maybe something else on hand.

i hate making wheat beers. I made an award winning Belgian wit beer for about a decade. it was amazing fresh in the cellar, but just bleh once it sat around and had a chance to clear up. which made me sad. hence why i dont make them.
 
Bigbre04 said:
I dont have wheat specific yeast. i have voss, chico, munich lager, mexican lager, kolsch, hazy(london), maybe something else on hand.

i hate making wheat beers. I made an award winning Belgian wit beer for about a decade. it was amazing fresh in the cellar, but just bleh once it sat around and had a chance to clear up. which made me sad. hence why i dont make them.
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Yeah. Witbiers have a window. Too fresh and they tend to be just a bit strident but after probably 2-3 weeks they're just an odd-tasting blonde ale. In a homebrew setting, you can just slosh the keg around and get the yeast worked up again. In a brewery serving from tanks, you could blow some CO2 into the dump port and rouse things up. Serving from 1/2 barrel kegs, nobody's going to want the job of sloshing kegs every day. :)

Bigbre04 said:
This is a different recipe adapted from the one above. it has a touch of smoke and a tiny amount of spec(160L) x for a little color and flavor, i could sub that for spec B(80L). i reduced the 2row but left the wheats the same. I have some victory/munich1or2 that i could add a touch of additional graininess with as well? i think this could be really interesting recipe. doesnt really fit a specific style??
Click to expand...
I'd be very leary of any smoked malt in conjunction with those hops. Any smoked or peated malt is going to be the defining note in the flavor. Super simple hops would be best.
The first recipe is better IMO - use your Kolsch yeast for an interesting clean blonde ale or use your London hazy yeast and lean in to the NEIPA similarities - wheat is your friend, malted or flaked. I do think this is your best chance to incorporate your Blood Orange.
 
man off the fermenter belgian wit is truely amazing imo. we actually used to ship the kegs upside down to the distributor. you know who hated that? the distributor... they were told to store and give them to the bars upside down. they never ever did.

J A said:
I'd be very leary of any smoked malt in conjunction with those hops. Any smoked or peated malt is going to be the defining note in the flavor. Super simple hops would be best.
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I get what you are saying about the hops, but apricot and smoke is pretty fucking good. its a little bit of a confusing thing to read but it tastes really good.
this is a collab i did with 2 other breweries and it was one of my favorites...also that beer is not a helles, its just what we started as when we were talking about it and i never changed the name.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1462231
J A said:
The first recipe is better IMO - use your Kolsch yeast for an interesting clean blonde ale or use your London hazy yeast and lean in to the NEIPA similarities - wheat is your friend, malted or flaked. I do think this is your best chance to incorporate your Blood Orange.
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i have a kolsch that is going on draft next. this is really just a fruited ale, but when you put wheat on the title the blue moon crowd gives it 5 stars on untapped even if there is the mere whiff of wheat in there.
 
Bigbre04 said:
Hey all,

I am trying to use up some wheat malt before i order more grain at the end of next week. I am generally not a huge fan of wheat beers in general, but i have extra wheat malt and not enough flaked oats to make many of my normal recipes.

The hops are copied from a previous recipe, but i dont think they look terrible for the style/abv. Let me know where you would go with this. Most likely use Chico to ferment this out, but i have Voss or a couple others on hand. I also have Apricot and Blood orange on hand.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1541972
Click to expand...
Really at 16% this is just an nice body and head retention tool for a good pale ale. I like your recipe and think it'll be great beer- and sicne you don't like "wheat beers" you kind of get your cake and eat it too- it's not going to taste anythign like wheat really, but it will have a bit creamier mouthfeel and have a rocking head retntion!
 
BilltownBrewingCo said:
Really at 16% this is just an nice body and head retention tool for a good pale ale. I like your recipe and think it'll be great beer- and sicne you don't like "wheat beers" you kind of get your cake and eat it too- it's not going to taste anythign like wheat really, but it will have a bit creamier mouthfeel and have a rocking head retntion!
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ya i am fairly limited in the amount of adjuncts that i can add to my stupid brewhouse because of the depth of the "basket" i have tried higher percentages and it absolutly murders my effeciency. I have about 60lbs of white wheat and probably about 40#s of flaked wheat, but only 10lbs of oats on hand :<... i can rework it and at a higher %, but im not sure how it would turn out. plus i dont have a specific wheat beer yeast on hand. I could run Voss at 102f and see if i can get some esters out of it, but that would likely just end up with a beer that finishes in 2 days with not alot of esters lol.
 
Bigbre04 said:
ya i am fairly limited in the amount of adjuncts that i can add to my stupid brewhouse because of the depth of the "basket" i have tried higher percentages and it absolutly murders my effeciency. I have about 60lbs of white wheat and probably about 40#s of flaked wheat, but only 10lbs of oats on hand :<... i can rework it and at a higher %, but im not sure how it would turn out. plus i dont have a specific wheat beer yeast on hand. I could run Voss at 102f and see if i can get some esters out of it, but that would likely just end up with a beer that finishes in 2 days with not alot of esters lol.
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Just run it as a Pale Ale and the wheat goes along for the ride, boosting head and mouth feel - it's not going to do a lot to change the flavor without certain yeasts. Either your Voss or your Chico works. My vote is still for your Blood Orange in this one. Vlad the Im-Pale-er! :)
 
My favorite place that closed made an Oat Ale that was basically a very good Pale Ale. I was sitting out on the deck on Friday nights after I brought home a crowler and posting on the "What are you drinking" thread. I could go over there just for a quick two after work and bring home a can. It made me happy for a little bit when my wife was very sick. I like the idea of putting a crap load of wheat in something and making a Pale Ale out of it. I don't know about the smoked malt in a lighter beer. Go 40 or 50 IBUS and make a kick ass Pale Ale with a big head.
 
Bigbre04 said:
ya i am fairly limited in the amount of adjuncts that i can add to my stupid brewhouse because of the depth of the "basket" i have tried higher percentages and it absolutly murders my effeciency. I have about 60lbs of white wheat and probably about 40#s of flaked wheat, but only 10lbs of oats on hand :<... i can rework it and at a higher %, but im not sure how it would turn out. plus i dont have a specific wheat beer yeast on hand. I could run Voss at 102f and see if i can get some esters out of it, but that would likely just end up with a beer that finishes in 2 days with not alot of esters lol.
Click to expand...
Voss is my go-to yeast strain for american style wheat beers. However, those are specifically clean fermenting and aren't overly estery like the german counterparts (Think Boulevard Wheat). But I don't think you need to change this recipe at all- I think you'll end up with a nice drinkable beer with an added mouthfeel and head retention. Hell I know a lot of guys who go 10% wheat in their pale ales just for this purpose. I don't think you need to try and stretch this beer into anything else, it should be pretty good IMHO. Let us know how it tastes!
 
Well i think the second recipe is more to my liking. An American Wheat beer should be crushable so the lower ABV works for that.
Also I made a Keutbier a recipe from BYO that came out great. The recipe uses a Kolsch yeast but Chico would work. Take a look
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1146566/keutbier
Sub the pilsner for 2-row and spelt for wheat
Actually the % s in your beer are close . Nock back the hops and up the smoke and its there.
This was a historical beer hence the spelt
 
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@Sandy Feet So i think this will end up being a pale ale at the end of the day. I will likely hold on to the original recipe and brew it when i have the space.

I currently have a kolsch that is cold and carbed, just waiting on kegs. So without the fruit added this would be really too close to that beer.

Ill work up a Pale ale recipe and see what the consensus is. I might hold the Blood orange for an IPA?
Brew Cat said:
Well i think the second recipe is more to my liking. An American Wheat beer should be crushable so the lower ABV works for that.
Also I made a Keutbier a recipe from BYO that came out great. The recipe uses a Kolsch yeast but Chico would work. Take a look
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1146566/keutbier
Sub the pilsner for 2-row and spelt for wheat
Actually the % s in your beer are close . Nock back the hops and up the smoke and its there.
This was a historical beer hence the spelt
Click to expand...
i love lightly smoked beers, if you get a chance to check out the apricot smoked beer i posted above it is really really good, sold really well for me and i will be making it again.
BilltownBrewingCo said:
Voss is my go-to yeast strain for american style wheat beers. However, those are specifically clean fermenting and aren't overly estery like the german counterparts (Think Boulevard Wheat). But I don't think you need to change this recipe at all- I think you'll end up with a nice drinkable beer with an added mouthfeel and head retention. Hell I know a lot of guys who go 10% wheat in their pale ales just for this purpose. I don't think you need to try and stretch this beer into anything else, it should be pretty good IMHO. Let us know how it tastes!
Click to expand...
I love voss. brewed a juicy ipa yesturday starting grav was 15P. this morning the grav is at 4.0....wild. dryhopped while i was taking a sample...crash on monday, carb and pack it on tuesday... like clockwork it is a lifesaver for my system.
 
Bigbre04 said:
@Sandy Feet So i think this will end up being a pale ale at the end of the day. I will likely hold on to the original recipe and brew it when i have the space.

I currently have a kolsch that is cold and carbed, just waiting on kegs. So without the fruit added this would be really too close to that beer.

Ill work up a Pale ale recipe and see what the consensus is. I might hold the Blood orange for an IPA?

i love lightly smoked beers, if you get a chance to check out the apricot smoked beer i posted above it is really really good, sold really well for me and i will be making it again.

I love voss. brewed a juicy ipa yesturday starting grav was 15P. this morning the grav is at 4.0....wild. dryhopped while i was taking a sample...crash on monday, carb and pack it on tuesday... like clockwork it is a lifesaver for my system.
Click to expand...
I think the Pale Ale that I liked was in the mid 5's somewhere. Drinkable, hoppy, but not too crazy, carbonated fairly high, huge mouth feel, and a big ass layer of foam in the glass on top. It was good.
 
Bigbre04 said:
i have a juicy that i brewed yesturday filling the IPA slot in my cooler. once summer hits ill need a 3rd ipa(session 5% year around), Medium(6-7%) and a big(8-9%)

was thinking i would brew an westie in a few weeks.
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West Coast is definitely my jam...I'm working on one to get on tap asap. Because I need variety rather than quantity, I'm doing an IPA/Irish Stout split. I take the wort to 15 minutes and then pull enough to make the stout then finish the IPA hop additions. After that's done, Stout wort goes back in and just add steeped Roasted Barley and maybe a little late hop addition. It leaves the IPA a little rich in mouthfeel but nothing too out of place and the wort is a little big for the Stout but I portion it out so that I can dilute to my fermenter volume and hit the lower gravity.
Once I get taps running with a few different styles and a couple of kegs of my Lager in the storage fridge, I'll hit a full batch of my wife's Pale Ale and use that yeast cake for a nice DIPA.
When I type it out, it looks like a lot of work...I guess I better get busy. :D :D
 
J A said:
West Coast is definitely my jam...I'm working on one to get on tap asap. Because I need variety rather than quantity, I'm doing an IPA/Irish Stout split. I take the wort to 15 minutes and then pull enough to make the stout then finish the IPA hop additions. After that's done, Stout wort goes back in and just add steeped Roasted Barley and maybe a little late hop addition. It leaves the IPA a little rich in mouthfeel but nothing too out of place and the wort is a little big for the Stout but I portion it out so that I can dilute to my fermenter volume and hit the lower gravity.
Once I get taps running with a few different styles and a couple of kegs of my Lager in the storage fridge, I'll hit a full batch of my wife's Pale Ale and use that yeast cake for a nice DIPA.
When I type it out, it looks like a lot of work...I guess I better get busy. :D :D
Click to expand...
That's kinda why I stopped doing the splits. More workq and have to kinda settle or compromise with what you get instead of design specific. Don't get me wrong the beer comes out fine
 
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