Im brewing my first batch tonight. My kit from Northern came with an American Wheat kit. I'm not necessarily a fan of this style, so I'm considering tweaking the recipe. It came with 6# Wheat Malt LME, 1oz Willamette (@ 60 Mins), 1oz Cascade (@ 15 Mins). I'd like to go more of a Hoppy Pale/Wheat Ale, so I'm considering these changes: Steeping 1# Carmel 20L 1# Pale Ale Malt 6# Wheat Male LME @ Boil 1oz Cascade @ 60 Min 1oz Cascade @ 30 Min 1oz Centennial @ 15 Min Pitch US-05 Dry Hop 2oz Willamette in Secondary 1 wk prior to bottling. Thoughts?? I'm open to/would greatly appreciate any feedback!
1# of Caramel 20 will make the beer pretty sweet. 8oz might be a better place to start. If you use the pale ale malt, you have to mash it (hold it at 148-158 for 30-60 minutes). Otherwise it will put a bunch of starch in the beer. It would be easier to leave it out and just steep the caramel malt. The rest looks OK, but I don't like Willamette as a dry hop. You might? You could use Willamette at 5 minutes and shift he 30 min Cascade to 10 minutes without getting too bitter. Not doing a dry hop on your first brew might be prudent.
Thanks for the feedback! I was considering skipping the Pale, but I'm trying to build a little more character than just a straight wheat. Definitely don't want a starch Bomb. Any suggestions? As for the hops, we'll see.
The wheat malt extract is a blend of wheat and either pale or pilsner. The 1# of pale malt won't add much character. Using a darker Crystal malt than C20 would give you some character. Like 6oz of British Crystal 55L instead of the C20.
Thank a ton for your help!! I know I'm being a little ambitious for a first timer, so o really appreciate the direction!
The s-05 yeast is a good, clean yeast. You'll want to avoid fermenting it too warm. That might be a challenge this time of year. Basically, you don't want the internal temperature to get above 70F which means putting it in a 66F room. If the fermentation temperature gets too warm, it will probably taste ok, but could give you a headache from the excess fusels.
If you are using tap water, adding half a crushed campden tablet to the water will prevent band aid off flavors from the chlorine in the water. Some bottled water contains chlorine or chloramine.
As mentioned, DON'T steep pale ale malt. In general you can only steep crystal malts and roasted malts. Take some time to learn what can and can't be steeped before too long. 1 lb Crystal 20 is too much. If you really want some more malt character, maybe 1/2 lb Crystal 60, or 1/4 to 1/3 lb of a higher lovibond crystal malt. No need to secondary a beer like this. More potential harm than good. If you want to dry hop just do it in primary (or keg if you're kegging). Focus on sanitation, aerating your wort before fermentation, and a good fermentation temperature. Good luck!
68 ambient temperature is more like 73 to 75 degree fermentation temperature, which is what you should be focused on. I havent used US-05 in forever, but I suspect that is higher than ideal. You might want to research "swamp coolers", which includes an investment of a few empty gallon jugs for ice and a plastic storage bin.
Ambient temp is 66 degrees. Yes, fermentation temp and ambient temp are two different things. I will monitor and adjust accordingly - I have access to a Cool Brew.
Honestly, I would recommend going strictly by the book for your first couple brews. There will be enough you will be worrying about without messing around with the recipe. They also do develop those kits to be the best they can be as they sit. If you do want to mess with it, I would say just do something simple, like upping the aroma hops, or doing a hopstand/ dry hopping or something like that. Don't mess with the grain bill, IMO.
