Quick Summer Wheat Beer

[wildschwein]

Right now I'm enjoying a very tall and cool glass of Coopers Pale Ale made with Coopers BE2 - as per kit kit instructions - very damn tasty. But as I just received a whole new shipment of fresh Grolsch seals I threw together a very quick wheat beer for summer refreshment. 1 tin of Coopers Cerveza + 1 tin of Thomas Coopers Liquid Wheat Malt extract + 1.6L of hot water (for mixing/cleaning out tins) topped up to 23L with cold water. Pitched the Coopers' kit yeast at the higher end of the temperature range (mid to high 20s). I'm looking forward to knocking back a few of these with some slices of lemon or lime just before Christmas.

[wildschwein]

Well, after 7 days in the fermenter I bottled this batch up. I bulked primed with 3/4 cup of table sugar boiled with an equal quantity of water. Temperature control is difficult for me so it fermented out at around 23-24C. Personally I would have preferred it a little lower but it's the best I could do at present. Pushing all those new rubber seals onto the Grolsch bottle lids almost rubbed my fingers out of existence. Glad I don't do this too often - I've been using the original seals on the bottles for most of the last decade.

Anyway, I couldn't resist having a taste of the beer after just three days in the bottle. Man, this is a killer brew. I don't have any lemons to add right now but the straight beer exhibits very subtle banana esters with low bitterness and an almost green apple-like crispness on the finish. The aroma has hints of cider and citrus. No real detectable clove aromas are present. The colour is slightly cloudy but quite on the yellowish side - this is mainly a Cerveza kit after all. The total wheat bill is probably around the 20% mark but is very noticeable in the finished brew. Even early on the beer holds a reasonable head. First impressions are definitely positive. It reminds me of Redback but it has a little more fruitiness and flavour to it. I think I could knock a few of these off already. I guess after a week or so in the bottle it may be even better.

[gregb]

Grolsch seal question split out to here.