Ken, I agree. I get so annoyed at people who think the only good beers are NEIPAs and beers with extreme flavors. It’s the big thing right now. People think simple is equivalent to boring or bland. And sometimes it is, but if it’s well made, like someone else mentioned, pretty much any style can be good. Within reason, of course 
I don’t do pastry stouts or milkshake IPAs…just no. But there’s a reason I homebrew - I make and drink what I like. Nothing else matters.
Right. We have people on the extremes (as we do in politics, etc) where they only drink the coolest, latest, trendiest craft beers or else they never stray from Bud Light. That’s fine for them but I have to wonder about them a little bit. Maybe it’s my Midwest upbringing but simple works for me and my drinking session is generally not “one beer” and then I’m done. So having a number of well-made 4.5 to 5% simple beers is nice and there can be a pretty wide range of beers in that group… ESBs, Pale Ales, Helles, Vienna Lager, Festbier, Pilsner, Marzen, Blonde Ale, Red Ale, Amber Lager or Ale, Bock, Dark Lager, Dunkel. None of those are gimmicky, none of those are on the cutting edge of craft beer “coolness” and none of those are Bud Light. 
Very interested to hear how you make out. Your description is perfect, IMO. Here’s hoping you get exactly that. (I have the ingredients for mine, but I’ve got a few others lined up first…won’t be having a go until late May.)
I find it interesting that people want a low bitterness beer for hot weather. I’m exactly the opposite. I find low bitterness beers cloying when it’s hot. I recall when I was studying for my BJCP exam years ago and had to drink a Bud to study it. I decided to wait for a really hot day and enjoy it on my deck. It was so sweet I just couldn’t get it down. This is not a value judgement, just an observation on varying tastes.
The beers I make are not cloying and I do not care for sweet. I like a beer that finishes dry. It’s hard to explain but a beer that is either high in bitterness or else high in late-hop additions starts to grind on me after a couple of beers. Like my tastebuds are getting numb to all of that flavor. These beers are also not a good pair for certain foods. I generally like higher-hopped beers in the fall and winter and more straightforward, simple and refreshing beers in the spring and summer.
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When I think of American Wheat, the last thing that comes to mind is “cloying” or “sweet”. Possibly there could be a touch of grainy, maltiness to it, kind of a soft mouthfeel, but I would never describe it as sweet. I’d call it dry - but not necessarily “crisp”, if that makes sense.
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There are many reasons why I could never get a Bud down.
So much this.
And that points out how perceptions differ.
On another board, I asked “what does Bud taste like?” because I have honestly not had one in so long that I don’t remember. Many of the responses from homebrewers was that it had a distinct green apple character (acetaldehyde?) which would kill me right away. I admit to being out somewhere with people with a giant cooler and some good beer in there and then some BMC beer as well. If I went into the cooler and only BMC beers were left I would drink Miller Lite or Coors or Coors Light before a Bud or Bud Light. I did taste a Bud Light about 6-7 years ago. It was so estery and absolutely gross. Their ads call it ‘crisp’. No.
I don’t mind American wheats but they aren’t a go-to style for me. More likely to pluck a hefeweizen but I will confess to having consumed a fair amount of this style, too. Like all styles apparently, over time it became more of a wheat-heavy APA than a tempered yeast version of hefeweizen.
If you think Leinenkugel when you think of American Wheat, then I totally get the cloying/sweet thing. But when properly made, I wouldn’t necessarily consider this style a “low-bitterness” beer. If it’s well made, then it has light malt flavors balanced with the right amount of hops. Bud is 12 IBU, and I don’t think I’d ever brew anything other than a sour that low in IBU. Mid 20’s is a good ballpark to my palate to balance out a beer in this kind of style without getting in the way of the malt.
And for me, it’s the ester profile of AB products that keep me from enjoying them, not the sweetness. (FYI - it’s not acetaldehyde, it is an ester from their yeast strain that gives Bud that “green apple” character). I can put down a couple of Coors or PBR’s if I need to, but I am hard pressed to finish even one can of Bud or Bud Light.
For this particular beer, I’m aiming for around 24 IBUs. Whether this is an American Wheat or not, I am planning on hopping it only once which is something I occasionally do for a number of styles. That’s not very “homebrewer-ish” but I like the character I get from it. You get bitterness which offsets the sweetness of the malt but the finish is very smooth and drinkable because there are no late hops. I also have to be careful of the water composition because I’ll be using 1968 for this beer which is a notoriously low attenuater… 67-71%. A beer with only one hop addition fermented with a low attenuater could be perilously close to being unbalanced (ending up sweet) which is why I made this beer around 24 IBUs instead of maybe 18-20. I often add some amount of chloride to my mash and I still will but it will be slightly less because the grain bill and hop schedule (and yeast) will already be targeting that smooth, round, full character. It’s a bit of a balancing act especially with this yeast. 24 IBUs plus a lower amount of CaCl will hopefully crisp up the flavor of the beer. I’m really looking forward to brewing it now.
Keep in mind when I talk about sweet that I don’t care for helles because I generally find it too sweet. Just the way my tastebuds work.
That’s an interesting situation because when you read about how to brew helles it seems almost impossible to pull off. It’s supposed to be only pilsner malt (seems tricky), it’s supposed to be very malty (how one might do that with only pilsner also seems tricky) and it’s supposed to finish very dry. That last one I could see with only pilsner. My beers have been finishing around 1.008 so I am getting a dry finish but our tastebuds are all different so one never knows.
Interesting. I’ve never heard that helles is supposed to be 100% pilsner malt. Maybe a century+ ago, but modern helles I think is brewed a different way, with some carahell or munich/vienna. There’s no way, with German brewing practices, that Weihenstephaner is using 100% pils malt in their helles. It’s, like, 4 SRM.
I agree with you. When I make one it’s typically got some carahell or vienna in it. A number of articles I read mentioned the 100% pilsner thing but just because they say that doesn’t mean we have to follow it. Get to the finish line however you need to get there is something I have accepted lately. It reminds me of that article where the journalist travels to somewhere in the Czech Republic and talks about this award-winning pilsner that has a burnished-gold color. The journalist keeps asking the brewers how the beer got so much color and they don’t want to tell him but eventually they spill it… they use some crystal malt in the beer. :o
I don’t doubt that crystal/cara malt is used by some, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a brewer like Weihenstephan or Paulaner uses a base malt that is custom-kilned to their specs to achieve a deeper flavor/color.
The good news is that we shall have access to canned WO soon:
Cheers!
Ooh, I need to look for that Helles. That could be really nice. I like the Paulaner Original Munich Lager too.
I’m toying with the idea of a wheat lager soon. My normal wheat has gotten a bit too clean and crisp for what I envision so might as well go all in. Planning to redesign the ale with a more characterful yeast and perhaps some munich malt