So I wanted to post my recipe for my Wheat beer. I have done a good job I think. Going to put my mash steps on here. I think I am only going to be able to do a beta-glucan rest and a saccharification rest because I use a 10 gallon rubbermaid for my MLT. So here it is and if you have any advice let me know!
White Wheat (US) 6 lbs
Pilsner (US) 2 lbs
Munich (UK) 1.5 pounds
Hallertau 1.1 oz 30 min Alpha 4.5
Tettnanger .3 oz 15 min Alpha 4.5
Hallertau .3 oz 0 min Alpha 4.
Weihnstephan Wiezen Wyeast 3068
OG 1.050
FG 1.013
Primary 14 days
Mash steps Beta Glucan 20 minutes at 120F
saccharification rest 60 minutes at 152F
So I am pretty sure the recipe will work well but the Mash steps is where I fell sketchy. I can only do two which shouldn’t be a problem. So If for the first mash step I did 10 quarts and then 10 for step two would I not have to do a sparge? Thanks for your help!
It looks pretty good. I don’t usually do late hop additions in my hefe but if you like that go for it.
Unless you are fly sparging I would pick ~113 as my first rest to boost clove character in the finished beer rather than 120 protein rest. It’ll get sticky with that much wheat but if you are batch sparging it doesn’t really matter. You can just stir it up and start the runoff again. You could also add a lb or two of rice hulls to help with that.
I usually stick with 60% wheat 40% pils but if you want a slightly darker brew the munich should be nice. Is the wheat flaked, malted, or raw? If raw you might consider doing a cereal mash or otherwise cooking the raw wheat first because the gelentization temp of wheat is pretty high, right around 150 which makes it iffy on conversion at mash temps.
The wheat is a really pale malted wheat from Belgium. So I will take your advice doing it at 113F instead of 120. Definitely after more clove notes. Would it be better to step up the pilsner and maybe back off the Munich a little bit?
Also a little confused with the water to grain ratio for step mashing. I gonna try a calculator again but there is some stuff on it that I am not quite sure about yet
It’s not a huge deal. I have found every calculator I’ve ever tried unable to accurately predict temps and water amounts. I’d recommend you mash in with 1-1.25 qt./lb. After your low temp rest, stir in boiling water while you check the temp until you hit the temp you;re going for.
It’s really a personal preference thing. I really like munich malt in a lot of beers but I also really like a simple yeast forward hefe. Given your yeast choice I’m guessing you do to. But I think you should brew what you think will be tasty. How does it match to your taste imagination? that’s the big question with these early brews. If you only wanted to brew a ‘perfect hefe’ whatever that is, you could use someone else’s recipe but you are headed out into the wild wooly world of creating your own taste imagination so brew it as you have it and see what happens.
If it’s not totally what you want great! then you can brew more!
+1. As long as you can stir it and it doesn’t come slopping out of your mashtun your good.
Wheats are so simple. I would forgo the flavor and aroma additions. Keep it low IBU and start drinking it young. As in three weeks or less. Not a beer for conditioning in my opinion.