I'm planning on brewing a wheat wine this weekend. I haven't brewed one since a poorly executed extract clone of Smuttynose's I took a swing at 8 years ago. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Here's what I've crafted so far: OG: 1.097 FG ~1.019 (10.2%) 50% Wheat (9lbs) 45% 2 Row (8lbs) 3.5% Caracrystal Wheat (10 oz) 1.5% Midnight Wheat (4 oz) Hops (~70 IBU) 90 Minutes: 1.5 oz Simcoe 30 Minutes: 1 oz Centennial 15 Minutes: 1 oz Centennial 5 Minutes: 1 oz Cascade, 1 oz Centennial FO: 1 oz Cascade, 1 oz Centennial 2 liter starter of Yeast Labs Vermont Ale, fermented around 65 (beer temp) I'm not looking to make a hop bomb, but something fairly balanced that can be put on tap in 2-3 months.
a 1097 beer is a big leap from doing one extract batch 8yrs ago. There is a lot of ways that a high OG beer can go wrong, and the last thing you need is to be discouraged with a poorly executed batch yet again. I would suggest a smaller OG batch to get your feet wet and to enjoy some success That said, if your dead set on doing the wheat wine my comments are below 1 - I think your being a bit optimistic to get that OG (on a 1st batch AG?) I would up the grain to 11# wheat and 10# 2-row, this would get you in the high 1090's with ~60% eff 2 - I would nix the 30min addition of centennial (inefficient use for bittering/flavor), instead I would use that for the bittering charge and use the simcoe late in the boil 3 - mash around 151 - 152F
Haha, sorry for the confusion. This is my first wheat wine since a poorly executed extract batch 8 years ago. I've brewed 100 or so all grain beers inbetween. I'm counting on 70-75% efficiency (down from 85% on a normal batch). Poundage might be off a little (I have the master recipe on my computer at home, this was a similar version on my phone), but the percentages are what I was going off of. I chose Simcoe for bittering because I wanted high IBUs to balance the sweetness of a 10% beer, but thought it's low cohumulone would make for a smoother bitterness. I forgot to post it, but 151F was my planned mash temp. Is a protein rest necessary for this beer? I could do one, but it would be a bit of a pain in the ass with my system. I would like a clear beer, but don't mind a bit of haze. Thanks for the reply, I thought this thread was going to sink to the bottom without one.
Get some rice hulls in there! They may or may not be 100% necessary but thats not a grainbill that I would want to risk a slow or stuck sparge with. I also agree with nixing the 30 minute addition and working in the ibus elsewhere. Personally, I would use that oz near the end of the boil somewhere. Ive been wanting to brew a wheatwine for a while now but have never pulled the trigger, if you do brew this keep us updated.
Totally forgot to mention the rice hulls, but I did plan on using them as well, good call. Do you think half a pound would be enough, or should I use more?
I personally think a half pound should be fine. I used a half pound in a smaller grain bill and it was overkill.
