Double Wheat Suggestions

[theblaster]

I recently tried the Wheatopia Double Wheat. Great idea, but it didn't quite hit my style (it was an American wheat style, I prefer WLP 300/380). But I really liked the idea of a wheat with about 12lbs of DMS. So I figured I would give it a try and I am looking for some suggestions for hops (type, timing and amounts).

I am also wondering if this is a bad idea in that I might blow a gallon of krausen into the blow off tube when the yeast gets going full steam ahead. I might target ending up with 4 gallons so that I leave a few more inches of head space in the 6.5g carboy.

[Jidas]

IMO the hop selection and bitterness levels should be up to what you like. I would stress more effort towards pitching the correct amount of yeast and maybe substituting a pound of the DME with simple sugar to make the wort a little more fermentable.

Back to the hops...If your going away from an American style go with noble hops and give it a enough bitterness to balance the higher gravity.

I'm not sure what your trying to do with the gallon of wort blow off thing.
Anyone else want to chime in on this?

Hope this helps

[BDawg]

I think what he means is that 3068 tends to blow even in a normal 1.050 batch. No telling what's gonna happen if it's jacked up to 1.080+.

The best thing you could do is add foam control during ferm, use a bigger vessel if possible, and use a blowoff tube.

HTH-

[theblaster]

Thinking through it a bit more and reading some posts about hoppy wheat beers, it seems wise to lower the wheat DME to about 9 pounds, which would end up with about an abv of 8%.

As for hops, I was thinking about a small dose of Simcoe for bittering and relatively larger dose of Citra and/or Sorachi Ace for flavor and aroma ending with about 40-45 IBU. Thinking that lemony fresh Pledge hops in a wheat beer might be a good combination. Or at least an educational experience...

Pardon my ignorance, but what would be the advantage of substituting a more easily yeast digestable simple sugar? (and I assume you mean good old fashioned C&H) Just to keep it from having an excess of residual sweetness?

Foam control, good call.

[BDawg]

Simple sugars thin out a beer. Many "kit" beers call for a can of extract and a roughly equal weight of table sugar. This is bad, as the sugar levels are excessive, causing cidery off flavors and thin body.

That said, simple sugars have their place when used properly. Huge beers such as IIPA, Belgians, and in your case, a "Double Wheat", will benefit from the addition of a bit of simple sugar. The reason that it's ok in the big beers is that there is so much malt already present, that without the sugar, the beer can become overly thick and cloying, and the modest amounts (in relation to the rest of the grain bill) will not cause any cidery off flavors. The sugar improves the beer, in this case, while it ruins the kit beer.

Hope this makes sense-

[theblaster]

thanks for the advice. I finally did make this beer and the results are interesting.

Extract:
6 pounds of wheat dry extract in the boil. Based on a the suggestion of BDawg, I added 2lb of simple sugar (but not until 24 hours after the yeast starter was pitched - a suggestion from brewstrong if I recall correctly).

Hops:
I used 1oz Simcoe for 60 min and an ounce each of both Citra and Sorachi Ace at 5 min and 1 min. Also dry hopped for 5 days with an ounce of Citra.

Yeast:
I used WLP 320 with a yeast starter.

Results?
It's definitely interesting. A fair amount of bitterness. Plenty of mouthfeel. Both the odor and the taste are very fruity - but very ripe tropical fruit (without the fruity banana/clove phenolic flavors from fermenting wheat yeasts at higher temps). I'm not sure how to test for OG and FG considering that I added sugar after fermentation began, but Beersmith indicates 8.5% - though my internal (and rather finely tuned) abv test system suggests a slightly lower percentage.

It's nothing one would ever taste commercially, but I am quite pleased with it. Definitely different, but definitely good.

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

thanks for the advice. I finally did make this beer and the results are interesting.

Extract:
6 pounds of wheat dry extract in the boil. Based on a the suggestion of BDawg, I added 2lb of simple sugar (but not until 24 hours after the yeast starter was pitched - a suggestion from brewstrong if I recall correctly).

Hops:
I used 1oz Simcoe for 60 min and an ounce each of both Citra and Sorachi Ace at 5 min and 1 min. Also dry hopped for 5 days with an ounce of Citra.

Yeast:
I used WLP 320 with a yeast starter.

Results?
It's definitely interesting. A fair amount of bitterness. Plenty of mouthfeel. Both the odor and the taste are very fruity - but very ripe tropical fruit (without the fruity banana/clove phenolic flavors from fermenting wheat yeasts at higher temps). I'm not sure how to test for OG and FG considering that I added sugar after fermentation began, but Beersmith indicates 8.5% - though my internal (and rather finely tuned) abv test system suggests a slightly lower percentage.

It's nothing one would ever taste commercially, but I am quite pleased with it. Definitely different, but definitely good.

I think your next purchase should be a hydrometer so you can measure your OG and FG. You'll be able to better replicate this beer.

Citra is an amazing hop. I like it's tropical fruit flavor. I've brewed two or three all Citra wheat beers. You're making me want to brew another one.

[theblaster]

I brewed the morebeer citra kit (dirt cheap) and thought it was great. Definitely a fan of that hop.

I have a hydrometer, but I am not sure it would work if you add sugar after fermentation starts. I assumed that testing gravity after 24 - 36 hours of fermentation (that is when I added the sugar) would not give me a true reflection of the gravity. Maybe I am wrong on this? Any insights would be appreciated.