Summertime Hoppy Wheat (Bubs' Pale Wheat Xtra)

[philm00x]

It's hot outside. I'm really craving a wheat beer but I want something with some hop punch. Initially I was thinking of brewing a Lagunitas "Lil Sumpin Sumpin" clone, but instead I took a bit of inspiration from it and decided to brew my own recipe. This will be an exercise in recipe building with regards to hop schedule, water treatment, and clarification of the beer (practicing what I'm learning at work).

I know I want to make it with citrusy hops. Citra is the first that comes to mind. I have a bit of Lemon Drop hops left over at home in the freezer. Maybe Mandarina Bavaria will be good to finish that citrus profile. Or Cascade, or Amarillo... I'll figure it out.

The grist will be predominantly wheat, of course. I'm thinking 60-70% wheat, with most of that being wheat malt and a small portion being flaked wheat to aid in head retention. Probably Munich for some good malt backbone as the remainder. Rice hills will be a given, with this much wheat in the grist. OG somewhere around 1.050-1.060 and S-04 yeast to leave some residual sweetness behind and not leave a sharp bite in the beer.

To be continued...




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[Beer-lord]

Amarillo will give you some citrus/tropical flavors. I'd go light on the Lemon Drop if you've never tried them and just use them for late addition or dry hop only.
Sounds like it will turn out to be a nice, hot weather beer. And for us in the south, it'll still be hot into October so make enough of it.

[philm00x]

I've used Lemon Drop before in a saison and it was pretty mild to me. But I also racked it on fruit so it was probably subdued a bit because of it. Still, it's low alpha at 5.1% but I don't intend to overload it with Lemon Drop.


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[philm00x]

While I was waiting for one of the brite tanks to run a cleaning cycle, I fiddled around on BeerSmith and came up with a pretty good recipe, I think.

Recipe: Bubs' Pale Wheat Xtra
Brewer: Mr. Rufus Brewing Co.
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.58 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.20 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 6.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 46.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.50 lb Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 1 4.8 %
5.00 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 2 47.6 %
4.00 lb Munich Malt (6.0 SRM) Grain 3 38.1 %
1.00 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 4 9.5 %
0.50 oz Citra [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 26.5 IBUs
3.70 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Boil 60.0 mins Water Agent 6 -
0.25 oz Lemon Drop [5.10 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 4.0 IBUs
0.25 oz Amarillo [7.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 8 3.5 IBUs
0.25 oz Lemon Drop [5.10 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 2.6 IBUs
0.50 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 10 -
0.50 oz Amarillo [7.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 10. Hop 11 2.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 10.0 Hop 12 4.8 IBUs
0.50 oz Lemon Drop [5.10 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 1 Hop 13 1.9 IBUs
1.0 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) Yeast 14 -
1.00 oz Amarillo [7.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 15 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 16 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Lemon Drop [5.10 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 17 0.0 IBUs

Now, my last brew day I employed a better lautering technique that shot my efficiency up from the usual 72%-75% all the way up to 81%. If I am so fortunate to have such a high efficiency again, IBUs will be closer to 44 instead of 46, but that's no big deal. If anything, it'll help the malt hold up against the hop schedule. I actually went and got all of this stuff (sans the Lemon Drop hops because I have those here at home) and that's where I decided on Amarillo to play along with the Citra and Lemon Drop that I already knew I wanted in the recipe.

[ScrewyBrewer]

Looks delicious, I love me a nice refreshing Wheat beer. I've been toying with the idea of substituting Hallertaur with Amarillo hops because Amarillo is supposed to add 'orange citrus' flavor. Although after adding copious amounts of fresh organic Orange zest, amping up the citrusy flavor and aroma has been very well received by the "I don't like bitter IPAs" crowd.

[philm00x]

Thanks, Screwy. I was very impressed with the aroma of Amarillo. But I could see your point. The peel will add the orange flavor/aroma but obviously not impart any hop oils that can cause a bite. I'm going to brew this next weekend. Hopefully it turns out alright.


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[philm00x]

After some thinking after reading the article about late hop additions, I decided to change the first addition of Citra from 60 mins to 30. Total estimated IBUs drop to 40 but there will be more flavor and aroma. I'm ok with that.


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[philm00x]

Another on-the-fly change: I dry hopped this a couple days ago as it was still actively fermenting, but tapering toward the end. I'm pretty sure I got the idea from Brulosophy, and I'm trying it out to see if it helps bring the aroma out more so than the traditional method of dry hopping after fermentation has completed. Gonna check gravity tomorrow, and then again on Sunday. If no change, I'll cold crash it a couple days before fining with gelatin, then let it sit a couple more days before bottling.

[John Sand]

Looks interesting. I have two Belgian Wheats fermenting right now. They should be ready in August.

[philm00x]

Just put this thing to sleep in the chest freezer. Cold crashing and going to add gelatin in a couple days. Hopefully getting to bottle on Sunday.


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[philm00x]

I brought my 2.5 gallon keg of this to the local brew club and it was a hit! Lotta good feedback about the aroma and flavor. I think I'm finally understanding hops well enough that I'm not blindly adding them at arbitrary points in the boil, but rather strategically so as to produce desired results.


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[Dawg LB Steve]

C'mon Phil don't leave us hanging on the new lautering technique.

[philm00x]

C'mon Phil don't leave us hanging on the new lautering technique.

To be honest, it's not some crazy idea. Instead of opening the flood gates and draining the wort as fast as possible, crack the valve so as to drain the wort slowly. Practically a snail's pace slowly. Yes, it does cause for a longer brew day, but it ensures that the sugars extracted are pulled down with the water as best as possible. The sugars flow at at the same or similar rate as the water as opposed to the water flowing too fast and not able to grab hold of all the sugars to take with it. This works especially well with fly sparging, but has been great for me as a batch sparger.


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[Dawg LB Steve]

Hybrid batch/fly sparge.

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[Dawg LB Steve]

You do that starting on the first drain of the mash or just the sparge?