First wheat

[stronk]

I need some help formulating a recipe for my first wheat beer. I would have posted under the wheat beer category, but I don't really need this to be sticky.

OK: I'm aiming for an extract recipe using specialty grains. I couldn't find many of the grains listed under the wheat sticky post, so here's what I bought:
7lbs Liquid wheat malt extract
1.1lbs crystal malt (I don't even know what 'L' means, let alone which this is)
1.1lbs Carapils malt
1.1lbs vienna lager malt
1.1lbs torrified wheat
3.5oz Hallertauer mittlefruh
wyeast 2308 Munich

Curacao orange peel and ground coriander.
6 US gallons (5 UK gallons)

I'm aiming for a light, but fruity wheat; preferably quite dry. If someone can give me their professional opinion on how much of everything I should use, I would be much obliged. Failing that, can someone advise me on how much hopping this needs. Is 1oz really enough for a wheat beer?

Thank you very much (in advance)

[Fast_Eddy]

I would probably drop either the vienna or the crystal(probably the crystal).

I routinely hop five gallons of hefeweizen with only 1 oz of Mt Hood.

[Tom C]

I ran this in promash to see what it would come to. Under the recipe you gave above I came up with a potential og of 1.061 and srm (coloring) of a 6. I think for a wheat beer the og is a little high (not that that is a bad thing:)) If you want to lower the gravity for a lighter wheat then I suggest using less extract maybe 4 or 5 lbs.

I think the coloring is right on if you use a lower number crystal...to answer one of your questions L stands for lovibond. It is a grain rating that will tell you the coloring the grain will give to the ale. The smaller the number the lighter the coloring. I this case you want a lower l rating. I suggest a crystal L rating of 10...your vienna malt runs about 3-4. I ran the recipe on promash with a crystal L of 10. It would be a nice golden/straw color at 6 of course cloudy with the wheat.

The yeast you use has an attenuation of 73-77%. This refers to how much the fermentable sugars would be consumed during fermentation. So your final gravity would run abouot 1.013 result ing in a light to medium bodied beer. This yeast is also a lager and I am not sure of its necesitty with a wheat beer. For the fruity/dryness you mentioned consider the Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen yeast. At higher fermentation temps it lends great banana and clove tastes and ends with a nice dry finish. Also consider White labs hefe (WLP 300 or 320). I think if I were using these yeasts I would not add the coriander or orange as they may end up dominating the beautiful flavors of the yeast and I am not sure how compatable they may lend to each other.

If you like the idea of brewing with orange and coriander (which is divine) Think of using the Belgian wit yeast from white labs and scrap the crystal grains to make a beautiful belgian wit.

These of course are just my opinions. Take them for what they are worth. I am curious to hear what others have to say. Whatever you end up doing, you ar brewing and that is the beauty of it all!

Brew on,

Tom C

[Fast_Eddy]

Depending on what style you're going for a pound of crystal is probably going to be too much for 6 US gallons - and will be very noticeable. The colored malts used for nearly all German weizens is either Vienna or Munich.

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by Fast_Eddy
I would probably drop either the vienna or the crystal(probably the crystal).

I routinely hop five gallons of hefeweizen with only 1 oz of Mt Hood.

I was thinking the same thing with the grains. For bitterness I go for 10-12 IBU's with Mt Hood at 60 minutes and it is the only addition I make to my wheat.

[stronk]

Thanks a lot guys, you've been really helpful. I wasn't planning on using all the grains, I was just listing what I had in stock which might be compatible with a wheat beer. Unfortunately, I have no homebrew shop near me, so I can't get my hands on a better yeast. I think I'll lower all the grains and maybe drop the crystal (I'm using it for a mild in a few weeks' time, anyway).

Thanks again, I'll let you know how it turns out.

[stronk]

I've just had an idea: I have some chocolate malt as well as the above. Would adding a bit of it produce a dunkel weiss, or just a horrible mess? Also, I suppose I'd have to drop the orange peel and coriander if I were to do a dunkel.

On the other hand, I have the extract in cans, so I might keep some back and make a 1 gallon test batch using some crystal malt and a little bit of chocolate malt. This would have the extra advantage of lowering the og a little bit (as I'm not very comfortable with the expected strength of the beer, it being intended for a summer wheat).

I'm brewing this tomorrow (English time; in about 10 hours), so I probably won't be able to take your opinions on board, if you post them.

[stronk]

Yikes! I've just thought that, given that this is a lager yeast strain, I might need to lager the beer. I've never tried to do this before (because I don't have a free fridge and I'm not much of a lager fan), is it going to be absolutely necessary?

[Tom C]

You can still use the same yeast and not lager it. It may take more time fermenting though and may have different flavor than if it were lagered. I just don't know how this yeast will match what you are going for, but if it is all that you have then brew it!

The beauty of brewing is you are the creator, at worst you know what not to brew again, at best you have a magnificant prize winning ale.

Tom C

[stronk]

Well, the yeast was dead (I'm not impressed with the shop I ordered my latest ingredients and equipment from, they also sold me a faulty keg). I had to use dried english ale yeast (I had another packet of wyeast, but I'm saving it for a mild in a few weeks), after a 12 hour lag.

About the wort: after the infusion it tasted astringent (tannins, I suppose; I dunked the grains up and down quit often). After the boil and the adjuncts, it tasted surprisingly sour and was very much darker than I had expected (it turned darker over the course of the boil). I ended up using the Vienna, the carapils and the torrified wheat with most of the extract. OG: 1.046.

I'm a bit worried about this, but it is my first attempt at this style of brewing, so I wasn't expecting it to be perfect.

[brewmonkey]

The darkening during the boil is whats known as the Maillard reaction. It is the same thing that occurs when you cook,say something like a steak and it browns. It is also part of the process that produces melanoidins (final products of the maillard reaction) in your wort.

[Tom C]

I have noticed the same thing (darkening of wort during boil) but have also noticed that it lightens a bit during fermentation as well.

Tom C

[stronk]

Aren't melanoidins the same compounds as those produced by your skin to form a suntan?

What do you think I should do about the yeast problem? It's still not bubbling and I think it'll be ruined by infection if I leave it another day. I'm really annoyed at the shop for selling me dead yeast, especially if it's going to result in a wasted batch. So, I need to know if I'm supposed to take it as an unlucky accident and just get on with brewing my next batch, or whether I should attribute some blame to the shop.

[stronk]

Here's my preliminary report, if you're interested:

I had to pitch some champagne yeast, as it was the only yeast I had left and there were still no bubbles in the airlock after about 36 hours. I made a starter, having learnt from my mistakes with the first two yeasts and the beer finally started fermenting.

After only about 3 or 4 days it had fermented out (probably the champagne yeast acting) and I racked it to secondary, where it's sitting at the moment. I thought it would taste pretty terrible with the three totally incompatible yeasts all fighting each other, but it's not actually bad: rather too orangey for my taste, but otherwise well balanced. I hope it'll mellow into a palatable beer.