Hop Back Wheat Beer Recipe

[DaveyT]

Howdy
I tried Hop Back's Wheat Beer last month and was very impressed.
Anybody any ideas on a recipe? It was very hoppy and very quaffable. I've emailed the brewery but to no avail.

Cheers
DaveyT

[DaveyT]

I've managed to contact Hop Back about this recipe and the head brewer has kindly let me know what he uses for their wheat beer.
This is the info he gave me:

For 3190 litres of English Wheat beer:
OG 1.0455
225kg malted wheat 40%
300kg pale barley malt 51%
50kg wheat crystal malt* 9%
*can be substituted for barley crystal

7.5kg Styrian Golding bittering hops
4.5kg Saaz late hops
1.5kg coriander 5 minutes after flame out

To scale this down and turn it into an extract brew, I needed the IBU. I used Beer Engine and came up with numbers that were slightly different:
333kg pale barley malt 51%
261kg wheat malt 40%
59.1kg crystal malt 9% (it doesn't have wheat crystal)
I got an OG of 1.046 and an IBU of 27.

The extract then gave me:
3150g wheat malt extract
310g crystal malt
58g Styrian Goldings bittering
35g Saaz late hop
10g Coriander 5 min after flame out

A couple of things have emered. I got an OG of 1.045 that isn't consitent with my original calculations, but I kept the 27 IBU.
I based the recipe on a 60 min boil because I can't really be arsed to boil anything for that long so this might not help things.
Also, the Saaz and coriander didn't figure in the software so I did some fag-packet maths for them. The hops seem remarkably high for 27 IBU, but then I guess there's a lot of extract going in.
If anybody can check these figures out, I'd be much obliged. I'd highly recommend a crack at making it too as it was amazing. I'll not be starting it until Christmas, unfortunately.

Cheers
DaveyT

[Fuggled Mind]

Thanks for sharing that DaveyT.

It looks a very interesting recipe and am tempted to give it a try myself. Are your calculations for 23L?

Cheers

Jason

[DaveyT]

Yeah, sorry Jason, it is for 23l.
I'm looking at the coriander. Does it need crushing before going into the copper or does it go straight in as whole seed?
Let me know if you give it a shot. Like I say, I'll give it a whirl after Christmas.

Thanks a lot for the feedback.
DaveyT

[Fuggled Mind]

I'm looking at the coriander. Does it need crushing before going into the copper or does it go straight in as whole seed?

DaveyT

From looking at another homebrew recipe for a whit beer using coriander, it should be crushed and added to the copper during the last ten minutes (like you do with Irish moss). It's advised on numerous homebrew websites to proceed with caution when experimenting with coriander as it's very assertive in beer. I hope to give this one a go but like you, I've never used coriander in beer either.

What yeast is used in this? Does Hopback use their house yeast or a whit beer yeast?

Cheers

Jason

[DaveyT]

Hi Jason
They use ale yeast but I didn't ask which one. I've heard rumours that their Summer Lightning is with US 05 but this might not be the case and may not even affect this beer even if it was.
Steve Wright, who gave me the recipe, said they add the coriander with the late hops 'after 95 minutes'. I take it the five minutes after flame out gives the wort time to cool a bit.
I asked my homebrew supplier about this and he says coriander can give you different tastes according to how you use it and the coarseness of the grounds (as per on anything, I guess). Whit beers may stick it in towards the end to really get everything out of the seeds. My homebrew chappie said the coriander would do its thing then just settle out. That would mean just slinging it in then leaving it throughout the primary fermentation. I don't think I want to risk that.
I was surprised that it was in this beer to be honest as I didn't taste it when I drank it. To get such a slight flavour, I'm thinking of sticking it in a bit of muslin, as the hop bags I have aren't fine enough, when the temperature hits 80 degrees. I can then whip it out before I pitch the yeast.
I cook with coriander seeds and they´re pretty resilient things. Like all whole spices they can be stuck into the hot oil at the start of the curry then sit through the whole process quite happily. Not sure that boiling them for 90 min with a load of malt and hops would do the malt and hops much good, to be honest.
Half hour dunk at 80 degrees I reckon.

[Fuggled Mind]

Thanks for the feedback.

Knowing that you received a reply from Hopback I'm tempted to ask them for their Winter Lightning which I thought was a mighty fine brew. That also stated 'spices' in the ingredients though I had no idea what. It was a similar taste in their Christmas brew 'Elf and hoppiness' too but I didn't enjoy that one at all.

First off though, I'll be giving this one a go. Probably over Christmas

Cheers

Jason

[DaveyT]

No worries. I'm keen to get this one up and running and a the more tries at it the better it'll become.
Winter Lightning? Is that new? Do you know if it's in bottles? I'll be in the UK in December so I'll keep an eye out for it. I'll be in Newcastle, though and it might not get that far. Having said that, though, the wheat beer did.
Speaking of which, keep me informed about how it goes. I'll be getting the hops and wheat crystal when I go back so it'll have to wait till then.