american wheat

Beer Recipes
1

I am looking for some ideas/feedback for an American wheat. My previous attempts have been great but very clean, crisp, with not a lot of wheat character. Those attempts were 50% belgian pilsner, 40% white wheat, 10% flaked wheat. I want to beef up the wheat/malt character but keep it very simple this go around.

60% wheat (Rahr or Weyermann Spelt?)
40% two row? pale ale malt? something English?

Magnum bittering
Hop 1 20 min - noble or noble-like
Hop 2 5 min - citrusy American - Cascade, Amarillo, etc…

US05

1.048
~20 IBUs
5% ABV

*Malt - Any recommendations on a good American 2 row or possibly a different base malt? I have been using primarily continental malts for the last year…

*Hops - I am considering something noble or noblish (sterling, crystal) at 20 min and something American at 5 min. Any thoughts?

*Yeast - I have 05 in there kind of by default. I will likely use something dry that I have on hand (05, 04, K97) but am open to recommendations

*Water - normally I would probably shoot for a mash pH around 5.35 and a ‘yellow balanced’ profile. Should I bump up the pH a bit and give ‘yellow malty’ a shot?

So basically I don’t have a recipe… :D. If anyone just wants to share some tried and true recipes that would be great too.

2

In my experience, what you have described - crisp, clean, not a lot of wheat character - sounds like an American wheat.

Try changing your yeast to something that will give you a wheat beer character.  US-05 doesn’t come to mind as the right yeast for a wheat.

3

I am not trying to go away from the crisp, clean character necessarily just less so. I am still looking for a nice drinkable beer.

I agree that some more yeast character would help. Any recommendations?

4

Dunno.  I don’t do a whole lot of wheat beers.

If you want to stay with dry yeast, I’ve used both Munich and WB-06 and found them to be just fine.  I think 06 was probably cleaner.  Maybe more what you’re looking for.

I think WY sells an American wheat beer yeast, but I have no experience with it.

5

Thanks. I always assumed that WB-06 was a hefe yeast. I will look into it.

6

K97 would be good option since you have it. i do something similar with 60ish% wheat and 40ish% pale ale malt, and then mandarina to get some of that citrus fruit character in it.

7

I haven’t been able to detect much of a difference with K97 and US05 but I have only used it in a couple of styles.

Sounds great Ken. What type of Pale Ale Malt do you use? I am considering using some Sterling hops for some light flavor and aroma.

8

i use avangard. are you looking for a yeast with ester contribution?

edit: wb 06 will get you a german hefe. if you want some more subtle fruit ester or more neutral, look at BRY 97.

9

Definitely not looking to do a hefe of any sort. Is the BRY97 the dry version of WY1272? If so, I have been wanting to try that for a while…

10

i’m not sure about that. some variation of chico, but behaves differently is what I understand.

here’s a decent review:

if you don’t want banana and clove, and you don’t want ester neutral, its a tasty option and adds some refreshing fruity ester to your beer.

11

I agree with switching up the yeast for your next go round.  Much of what makes an American Wheat an American Wheat can be the yeast selection.  Both WY and WL make a good American wheat strain that will give you that slight tartness and fruity esters you are looking for in this style.  Do not use a german hefe strain on this one as you will get the clove/spice and banana which are NOT what you want here.

An altbier or kolsch yeast can also make for a wheat beer with some more interesting yeast character as well. Have you considered swapping out your traditional base malt with some Golden Promise?  I might try that along with 60% wheat malt for something different.

12

Thanks for the feedback. I have considered Kolsch yeast which I think would be very good. I may just experiment with fermenting K97, a German ale yeast, a bit warmer in attempt to get some esters.

I like the suggestion of Golden Promise. I pretty much have no experience with UK base malts so that could be an interesting selection.

13

IMO, it is less toasty than Maris Otter and a good all around full malty base malt.

14

I know you said you would probably use dry yeast, but look into White Labs WLP 320 American Hefe. It’s a dialed back standard Hefe yeast strain. You won’t get the banana bomb as you would with WLP300, but you’ll get hints of those traditional Hefe notes. This alone might get you the dynamics that you want. From my understanding, WYeast does not have an equivalent. I’d keep the malt bill simple with 50/50 Pilsner and wheat. Maybe a splash of caramunich. Bitter with magnum and finish with a combo of cascade/Willamette/Mt. Hood.

15

Also not a dry yeast but I have always had good luck with WY1010 American Wheat.

It finishes with enough body, a little cloudy and I’ve always enjoyed the flavor profile.

Paul

16

Thanks for the feedback. Looks like that the Widmer Hefe strain?

I think after all of the advice, yeast is where I should focus my efforts. I will have to consider a variety of options…

17

I am very intrigued by this yeast especially.

18

Yeah. I’m not sure what I was thinking when there was no equivalent. I’ve used this strain too. But for some reason, I’m traditionally a White Labs fan. It’s what I can regularly get, so I feel comfortable with it.

I remember. I was at a tiny brewery in Port Clinton, Ohio - Catawba Island Brewery and I spent a lot of time speaking with the assistant Brewer. They had just tapped a habanero/mango hefe. I was intrigued because I was planning on brewing a Hab/mango pale ale. He said he would’ve more excited about that, because he didn’t like his Hab/mango hefe because they used the WYeast 3068. He thought that the banana esters clashed with the flavors of the beer. They certainly did. I agreed with him. I asked if he would consider WLP320. He explained that they contracted through WYeast and didn’t think they had an equivalent to WLP320.

Wow. Long story for that. Owell. Regardless, I think either 320 or 1010 will get you where you want to go as opposed to a neutral yeast like S05.

19

I think K97 is supposed to be an alt yeast. Widmer uses an alt yeast in their Am. hefe.

20

Got ya. The WLP320 was described to “produce the Oregon style American Hefeweizen” which I assumed was referencing Widmer’s Hefe.

From my experience with K97 it doesn’t have close to the same character as what is used in their Hefe. Maybe it is a temperature difference thing…