Long story short, thought I was getting American Wheat yeast from LHBS and ended up with German Hef yeast. Anyway, I have 2 oz of Citra that I intended for a dry hop, but not sure how that is going to meld with Bananas and Clove. I kept fermentation at 65 to hopefully cut down on the esters and now I am a little torn on what to do. Recipe is below... 6 lbs 2 Row 2.25 lbs Wheat 2.25 lbs Rye .75 lbs Flaked Wheat .75 lbs Flaked Rye Mash @ 151 1 oz Palisade 60 minutes 2 oz Citra Dry
A few years ago, New Glarus came out with a beer called Crack'd Wheat - it was a German weizen but had some late and dry American hops, cascade and Amarillo, I think. Anyhow, I was surprised to find that I liked the combination of the weizen yeast esters with a noticeable amount of C hops. I think your beer could work. There is a risk that the hops, the rye, the yeast would be encroaching upon each other, diminishing your enjoyment. I would have thought that true of Crack'd Wheat. You'll need to brew it to find out which side of the fence you are on.
This looks like it could be really good -- the Citra should combine wonderfully with a good hefeweizen yeast (did you get the Weihenstephaner?). Kind of like a non-smoked Grätzer.
I used Fermentis WB-06, which is a dry yeast. The guys at the shop hadn't ever used it and I was in a bit of a hurry, so I went with it and figured out about halfway through the mash what I had. I have an APA that is ready to keg as well that was late hopped with Cascade and Centennial, then dry hopped with Centennial, so my other option would be to add the Citra to that and just go with the Hefe the way it is.
I've only used WB-06 with a bizarro gluten-free sorghum experiment. In that spirit, I say you experiment too with a heavily dry-hopped wheat/rye
What yeast did you use? wlp380 plus amarillo dry hop is money. Citra may be a bit much, but worth a try. Only one way to find out if it works...
This batch was my attempt to come close to the New Glarus beer I referenced earlier. Note that I used the WLP 380 yeast. With another yeast, say the 300, I would have made sure to keep the temps down to try to minimize banana. Not that I dislike fruity hefes, but the NG one I was trying to emulate was more clovey. Amt Name Type # %/IBU 6 lbs Red Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 1 52.2 % 5 lbs 8.0 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 47.8 % 2.00 oz Hersbrucker [3.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 18.9 IBUs 1.00 oz Cascade [5.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 4 9.2 IBUs 1.00 oz Amarillo [7.20 %] - Boil 3.0 min Hop 5 2.7 IBUs 1 pkg Hefeweizen IV Ale (White Labs #WLP380) [35.00 ml] Yeast 6 - 1.00 oz Amarillo [7.20 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 7 0.0 IBUs
I have never brewed a Hef, so I might just let it go as is and dry hop the Pale Ale with the Citra. I appreciate the advice and I am going to re-do this one with WY1010 or go full blown with the White Labs #380 and try to mimic the Crack'd Wheat.
Took a gravity sample tonight and I am down to 1.010 and it is definitely restrained on the banana esters. I have 2.5 oz of Citra, so I am going to split what I have between the Hef and the APA. I am going to keg them both up this weekend and let it ride.
From "Brewing with Wheat" by Stan Hieronymus New Glarus Crack'd Wheat OG: 1.053 ABV: 6% Appt. Attenuation: 86% IBU: 36 Malts: Pilsner, wheat, caramel Hops: Hallertau Tradition, Cascade, Amarillo Yeast: Weizen yeast from Bavaria Primary Fermentation: Proprietary Secondary Fermentation: In the bottle "Cascade and Amarillo hops on top of hallertau tradition, including a solid dose of dry hops" "No decoction or oats" My first attempt at brewing this was made years ago and had some unforeseen complications that rendered the batch a drainpour. I left the temperature probe outside of my chest freezer which caused the heating pad inside the chest freezer to run constantly and nearly boil the bottled beer inside, causing most of the bottles to explode / beer to steam, and the surviving bottles to caramelize!!!! So while I can't tell you how close my first attempt was to the real deal (especially because New Glarus stopped making Crack'd Wheat to my dissappointment) here is the recipe I attempted at that time FWIW... 90 minute boil 50% pilsner 45% red wheat 5% caramel 20 @ 60 minutes: 16 ibu's of Hallertau Tradition @ 20 minutes: 9 ibu's of Amarillo, 5 ibu's of Cascade @ 5 minutes: 3 ibu's of Amarillo, 3 ibu's of Cascade Hefeweizen IV yeast (WLP 380) fermented on the warm side of the recommended range 5 day dry hop with about a 1.5oz of Cascade and 0.5oz of Amarillo per 5 gallons
