Hoppy American Wheat recipe help

Beer Recipes
1

I am designing a hoppy American wheat beer. Here is my plan:

3G - OG 1051
50% White Wheat
50% 2-row
40 IBU Warrior @ 60
0.5 oz Cascade steep 20 min @ 175
0.5 oz Amarillo steep 20 min @ 175
0.5 oz Cascade Dry Hop 7d
0.5 oz Amarillo Dry Hop 7d
WY 1010 American Wheat

Questions:

  1. Water profile: yellow dry?
  2. Mash Ph target: 5.3?
  3. I have thought about dumping the warrior and switching to first wort hopping with cascade or Amarillo.
  4. Grain bill look ok? Lots of people add Munich or caramel.
2

Personally I would decrease the bittering addition and at least double your late/dry hop additions. I guess it depends on your goals though. Are basically looking to brew a wheat pale ale?

3

Wheat pale ale is a good description. I have thought about decreasing the IBU to 25.

Doubling the late additions? This a 3G batch. I could do that. I don’t go hoppy too often so I am not that sure about the quantities needed.

4

Sorry didn’t realize it was a 3 gallon batch. Maybe increase the amounts by 50% or so?

5

Looking at Gumballhead (which I have never had) for reference. They do have more late hops per gallon.

I really enjoyed Shafly Yakima Wheat Ale which is sort of my inspiration. Except they don’t use citrusy hops.

6

I would say Rahr Red Wheat malt would fair better than white wheat.  I do not like white wheat though, it is a little on the bland side to me.  I also would think a touch of caraWheat to add some depth of sweetness to go with the Amarillo citrus hops would go a long way.  Gumballhead is probably a FBH add with a 10 min and whirlpool/dry hop.  I once read an article on the best aroma/flavor combo is taking 1/2 of the late addition dry hop hops and whirlpooling them after boil under 170F.  It was a 3 way blind taste on a fruity APA done with 100 blind testers and that method got the best reviews.  I do believe Gumballhead is a single Amarillo hop though.

Also gumballhead is only 35 IBU

7

Whoops. I already purchased the white wheat. I chose it because it supposedly has larger kernels. I guess I’ll try red wheat next time. This is a style I have been meaning to brew for years.

I had a hoppy wheat recently (5% ABV and 25 IBU) and thought to  myself this is what a session IPA ought to be. I was amazed how well the hops played with a relatively low IBU and gravity.  Some of the session IPAs clearly have issues where the base beer doesn’t support the hop load. You get a hop slam with no follow through of a fullness/mouth feel you get from a big beer.

Notice I didn’t use the word “balance”.