Recipe Critique Please

Interesting choice of hops. I would go with one oz of hallertau at sixty, or maybe half sixty half twenty. I probably wouldn't dry hop, that might be more pungent than you expect.

 

First off, all the grains you selected (with the exception of the carapils) need to be mashed and you don't have the diastic power to do so. Drop some of the extract and replace with pilsner and wheat malts and perform a mini-mash. You could probably drop the carapils as well, with all the wheat, you won't need the body. I also think you have too much going on there, but that's just me.

Seems to be a lot of small hop additions, I'd simplify them. Maybe just a bittering addition of hallertau and then a touch of cascade at 5.

The honey flavor isn't going to come through with that yeast, might as well skip it.

After checking out this recipe, and your previous thread, I suggest getting a hefeweizen kit from your LHBS or online, and either following it, or add you orange zest at flameout if you must. Gotta crawl before you walk, much less run.

 

Yikes. Tomorrow is now today. I hope you didn't start this one yet. As MrOH said, most of those grains must be mashed (not steeped), and you don't have enough diastatic base malt to mash. I know you're diving in head first and even dreaming of going pro, but have you read "How to Brew" yet?

 

You have the ingredients to make a good, simple hefeweizen. Below is a copy of a recent post from kjyost which I think makes sense here:

“You can do one with 100% Wheat DME, small hop addition & a BW blend.

For the OP: Hefeweizens are crazy easy.

6# Wheat DME

1 oz any noble hop @ 60

Ferment with WY 3068

(c) HB42 All Rights Reserved”

Just use your cultured yeast instead of 3068.

Sometimes simple is ‘better’. You can save your grains for another batch.

Cheers!

 

I 2nd Jack's idea of an all extract hefeweizen here. There is no need to steep or mash grains. The keys to avoiding banana are yeast selection and low fermentation temps. WLP 380, is known for its clove presence. WLP 300 will give banana at the higher ends of its range but I've been able to coax some clove from it at the low end of its range. For me, I like don't mind some banana in there, but I like it balanced with clove.

 

Peter,

It is my read that the OP has already made his yeast selection: “And Weihenstephaner yeast cultured with the SN Kellerweis. Been doing the start for over a week now. Looks like a half a centimeter, maybe slightly more, built up at the bottom of my 750 ml bottle starter.”

You have a good point in that it is a good idea to ferment cooler (62-64°F) if the OP wants to minimize the banana/bubblegum flavors. (Note: some people perceive isoamyl acetate as banana and some people perceive it as bubblegum; and maybe a combo of both?).

Cheers!

Jack

 

Starches instead of sugars in your wort, which can cause cloudiness (not necessarily bad in a hefe), reduced shelf life, and less fermentable material (and thus lower ABV).

 

I picked up on that, but commented about specific yeasts in case he changed his mind (see his other post about using yeast from bottles), or for future reference.

Regarding the banana-bubble gum distinction, I think that old school bubble gum, Bazooka Joe and the stuff they put in baseball card packs, actually had a clove-like flavoring. I wonder if bubblegum in beer is just an overproduction of flavoring compounds. I think the concentration of flavoring compounds really plays into our perceptions of them. Just musing...

 

IMHO - just too mucj going on with that recipe. I'd kill or reduce the Cascade, going to over power some of the more subtle notes that you have in there/ Oberon has Hallertau and Saaz as dominant and Cascade will likely run rough shod over them. Straight from Bell's they use no orange in Oberon, its their yeast that gets the fruity notes.
Kill the orange and really limit and cut the honey in half. some honey is never bad to get the ABV up but think you may be over done with that much. You may be surprised how much sweetness that honey malt you have in their provides already.