Wheat IPA Recipe Critique

Use pils malt instead of 2row for its color. I would use flaked wheat along to drive that head in addition to the white wheat.

 

Is the acid malt for pH adjustment? If not, I would drop it. I would also add at least a half pound of rice hulls. And I like your idea to use a different yeast other than US05.

 

I recently attempted to sorta inspired by the Lil Sumpin Sumpin clone recipe from the Can You Brew It Show. I scaled down to pale ale strength, used 3% Victory instead of toasted wheat, went really different on the hops, with nugget, cascade, centennial, and citra, and used a different yeast (Mangrove Jack Liberty Bell). Surprisingly, it tastes nothing like it's inspiration . The yeast is fruitier, and had a touch of diacetyl that eventually cleaned up, and the hops are likely going to be dominated by citra. It's dry hopping in the keg right now, so I haven't had the finished product.

The base beer seems too much like a pale ale. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but in the wheat IPAs I've had, there is something distinctively wheaty, almost like the breakfast cereal and this lacks it. I blame the Victory Sucked the Wheaties out of it?

 

My current ipa uses 13.8% flaked adjuncts.

 

Between the hop choices and the 1318, I think you covered your bases with the fruity characters the people get out of NEIPA. I just looked more carefully at your grist. You are using nearly 100% wheat but you want to avoid wheat flavor characteristics. That seems illogical. You'll get these contributions at much lower percentages, I think, so I'd cut it with 2-row. It might help you sparge. If you really want to see what all this wheat does to body and haze, go for it, but maybe try BIAB to avoid stuck sparge.

 

Another good yeast option for this style of wheat beer is WY2565- kolsch. Ferment it on the warm side (65-67F) and you'll get some subtle fruit flavors. And if want hazy, this will take forever to clear up. Very low flocculation.

 

My bad. For some reason, probably because I was just looking at my own recipe, my eyes played tricks on me and I thought one of the lines was wheat malt and one was wheat flakes. I shouldn't drink beer this early in the morning

I have had stuck batch sparges in the past, usually in beers. These have typically, although possibly not always involved using rye, wheat, spelt (that sucked), oats, or corn grits. Presumably the reduced amount of husk to make a filter bed and the stickiness of the grain contributed. In the case of the grits, they clogged up the slots on my homemade manifold. I cleaned it with dental floss. I developed a solution for the stuck sparges -- shovel all the grains into a large paint strainer to separate the liquid. Light bulb -- if I just started every batch as a biab batch, this wouldn't happen! I've been biabing for a year and am mostly happy with it.

 

I've been trying out SO4 lately for NEIPA yeast. I used to only use it for pale ales but like it in IPA's too. Good fruity low floc characteristics. Start off at between 63-65 and start to ramp up after day 5 and you should get 75%-78% att.

 

As you alluded to and as others mentioned, I would suggest and english ale yeast US05. I love 1318. But others may due the job, as well.

In terms of price, SO-4 is certainly cheaper. But I have not used it in quite some time and never for a "hazy" beer.

 

You didn't explicitly state it, but it sounds an awful lot like you're trying to brew a NE IPA. There are lots of threads on here about that, and unless I'm missing something here, all of that advice in those threads would apply. The only caveat is that lots of people call for oats in a NE IPA, which is bad for your head retention.

 

I had excellent luck with 2-row, 1318, 10% flaked wheat, and 15-20% flaked oats. Also threw a pound of CaraFoam into a 5 gal batch. Only complaint is that the head retention sucks.

I had originally planned to use s-04, but I picked up some 1318 at the last minute and threw a starter together. Still have it in my fridge and will probably try it in a NE IPA at some point.