Dark Wheat

[alwilson]

Good Morning Surrogate Family,

After spending the evening on Meantimes Wheat Beer (which admittedly was too gassy for my poor gut, but still) I quite fancy making one, less carbonated of course.. I noticed on the back its claims to have 60% wheat malt in the grist. So I have a few questions:

1. Does this style of beer need to be lagered (if so, thats a show stopper, currently)
2. I presume it uses some kind of hef. yeast from the banana flavours given off
3. If I wanted to darken this, would carafa be any good? If so what kind % of the grist, the remainder? 60/40 wheat/carafa?
4. 60% wheat in the grist - will that cause a stuck mash? or should I mash thinner to prevent that? If so what graint/water ratio?

Assuming the yeast does need cold fermenting, what would happen if I used nottingham or windsor? I'd lose the banana, but would it taste okay?

Cheers all for your help,

Alex

[dave-o]

Good Morning Surrogate Family,

After spending the evening on Meantimes Wheat Beer (which admittedly was too gassy for my poor gut, but still) I quite fancy making one, less carbonated of course.. I noticed on the back its claims to have 60% wheat malt in the grist. So I have a few questions:

1. Does this style of beer need to be lagered (if so, thats a show stopper, currently)
2. I presume it uses some kind of hef. yeast from the banana flavours given off
3. If I wanted to darken this, would carafa be any good? If so what kind % of the grist, the remainder? 60/40 wheat/carafa?
4. 60% wheat in the grist - will that cause a stuck mash? or should I mash thinner to prevent that? If so what graint/water ratio?

5) Assuming the yeast does need cold fermenting, what would happen if I used nottingham or windsor? I'd lose the banana, but would it taste okay?

Cheers all for your help,

Alex

1) No

2) Yes, there are a few liquid hefe yeasts

3) Carafa is recommended for this. Recipe below.

4) I've used more than 60% and not had a stuck mash.

5) Don't use Notts or Windsor. If you want to use a dry yeast, use WB-06 or Danstar Munich. I like Munich but other people have been less impressed.
You don't have to cold-ferment liquid hefe yeasts. In fact high temp ferments are often recommended to help get those banana/clove flavours.


My dunkel:

(23l)

2800g wheat malt
2200g pilsener malt
150g Carafa I

30g Spalt - full boil (could use Haller H, Haller M, Tettnang, etc.)

High mash temp (the best dunkels are rich and a bit sweet IMO) 68-69c

[alwilson]

Cheers Dave-o, I apprecaite the recipe.

How would a blonde wheat/wit/wess differ from the dunken, would I just exclude the Carafa or is there more to it?

Cheers
Alex

[dave-o]

With light Wits i like to use predominantly flaked wheat rather than wheat malt.

For example:

2200g flaked wheat
2200g Pils
1000g wheat malt

Flaked wheat gives it that white, silky feel.

Also, you;d probably want to look at adding orange peel/coriander seed.

[Barley Water]

I have my wheat beer factory going full tilt right now because I am trying to get ready for a contest. I currently have a Dunkelweizen fermenting. My formulation is basicly 30/70 Munich/Dark Malted wheat with a little Melonodin and a bit of Carafa II for color adjustment. Naturally, this one is a double decoction and I also boiled down some of the first runnings. I basicly handle a dunkelweizen the same way as I would a Munich dunkel, I want malty with the typical weizen bier flavors provided by the yeast. I carbonate pretty agressively because I want a gigantic head plus the CO2 makes the beer more refreshing in my opinion. Yes, all that wheat can easily stick your mash, I use a pound of rice hulls in a 5 gallon batch to try and avoid the problem. Even so, runoff is slow with wheat, it seems like it takes forever to collect your wort. Anyhow, it's a fun style to play with, good luck.