American Wheat recipe

[lexuschris]

Heyas,

I was reading the last issue of Brew Your Own, and their story on 'Summer Suds'. With all the heat this past week or two, a nice clean, crisp, summer wheat beer would be awesome!

They had a Laht Neppur Brewing Co. American Wheat clone recipe, which I modified slightly. I am going for something with an even hop balance, light body, and not too strong. Would appreciate any pointers for suggestions. Like, are rice hulls really needed? (I have a false bottom 10-gal rubbermaid cooler tun). I moved away from the citrusy hops to those listed with a more clean flavor, but I have not used either hop before.

Here is where I'm at.

Summer Fun Wheat - American Wheat beer
5.00 gal Batch Size
target OG: 1.051 FG: 1.012 ABV=5%
SRM=4.9 IBU=23

Qty. Ingredient %
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 50.00 %
4.00 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) 40.00 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) 5.00 %
0.50 lb Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) 5.00 %
0.50 oz Mt. Hood [6.00 %] (60 min) Hops 10.8 IBU
0.50 oz Mt. Hood [6.00 %] (30 min) Hops 8.3 IBU
0.50 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (15 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)
1 Pkgs Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) [Starter 1500 ml] Yeast-Ale

Single Infusion Mash, 60 mins @ 150-F, Single Batch Sparge @ 168-F.

Ferment at 67-F. Aim for 2.5-2.6 CO2 volume in the keg.

Never done a wheat before...
--LexusChris

n.b. I do have some extra Nugget & Amarillo hops in the fridge ...if that makes sense...

*edit - added recipe to database - Summer Fun Wheat*

[kevinham]

Rice hulls are really cheap insurance. They won't affect the beer at all, and you don't want a stuck mash or sparge. Wheat has that tendency.

[carbon]

Use rice hulls or you may regret it. As Kevin said, they are cheap and incredibly usefull.

[jward]

I do higher then 50% wheat beers and never get stuck mashes from them. Oats in a stout..... has caused problems. your mash may very.

[dhempy]

FWIW I just did a hef with 6lbs of malt and 6 lbs of wheat ... no rice hulls and no issues.

Dan

[backyard brewer]

FWIW I just did a hef with 6lbs of malt and 6 lbs of wheat ... no rice hulls and no issues.

Dan

IIRC : I had Dan all fucked up before brew day on this too because I told him he needed rice hulls.


oats give me issues sometimes... <searching for the GI tract joke here but it didn't come to me quick enough and as we all know, timing is everything in comedy>

[dhempy]

[
IIRC : I had Dan all f#%@*d up before brew day on this too because I told him he needed rice hulls.


oats give me issues sometimes... <searching for the GI tract joke here but it didn't come to me quick enough and as we all know, timing is everything in comedy>

This is why I stopped asking Derrin brewing questions and now only consult with him on hardware issues

Truth be known, I would've probably used the hulls if I had them but I wasn't going to make a special trip for them. I did try to keep unnecessary vorlaufing to a minimum AND I did add a gallon of 175 degree water right before runoff to thin the mash ... seemed to have worked! The second sparge/vorlauf was all 170 degree water .. again no issues.

Dan

[lexuschris]

Used the hulls, and had zero issues with the mash.

My biggest issue was dealing with the 85-F ambient temp on brew day! Garden hose on the IWC got me to 85 .. had to put a lid on the fermenter and store it my cold room for a few hours before pitching. Bubbling along now, and still trying to get my ambient temp down. It's 68-F in there now.. will try bumping it down a few more degrees.
==LexusChris

n.b. I noticed the Alpha % on the hops I bought as different than the defaults in BeerSmith, so I recomputed the hop additions on the computer and added the new weights in time. Gotta watch that next time!

[lexuschris]

Hey all,

Just a quick update on this one.

Its only been in the keg 3 weeks, but I'm making a serious dent in this delicious beer!

I am really happy with it! I'm not really a light colored beer drinker, but this has been a fun refreshing drink that I just keep coming back to. Initially, the Mt. Hood & Liberty hops suprised me with their flavor... kinda like an American Lager hop... With a few weeks in the keg it has now really balanced well with the pale & wheat malts.

Anyways, just wanted to let you know it came out well. You guys have been awesome in helping me get through my first few batches of all-grain brewing, and now being able to drink brews like this .. well .. it just rocks. You guys rock.

Cheers!
--LexusChris