I've been lurking for a while but have finally decided to post. I'm a very new brewer with a handful of brews under my belt (or hanging over the top of it is probably more accurate! ), and some have been better than others.
I've got a Thomas Coopers Wheat kit and a tin of the Wheat Malt and am looking to the hive-mind for a decent recipe. I've done some basic hop additions - 2 dry/ferment hops and one short boil, so am reasonably comfortable with that process (I think ) - so what do you think?
I've made a couple of wheats but have added some caramunich and a little extra hop boil and used WB-06 but they've ended up a little sweet. Next wheat will be just the kit + tin of wheat malt extract + WB-06. Apart from wheat flavour a lot of the character comes from the yeast so I'll focus on that. Maybe a mini-mash of wheat malt added in the future but it sounds like your not quite up to that yet.
I'm asking because I don't have a fermenting fridge and my last attempt at temp control with a tub with water and PETs full of ice didn't work very well.
The temp will determine what type of flavours you get. I think 17-18 gives clove flavours and 21-22 gives banana flavours. I hope I've got that the right way around, someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
earle wrote:The temp will determine what type of flavours you get. I think 17-18 gives clove flavours and 21-22 gives banana flavours. I hope I've got that the right way around, someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
Yep spot on.
I recently read somewhere that the best temp is 17C. I think it was in Brewing Classic styles? Some old German dude had said it..
Another rule of thumb is the "30 Rule" or something like that. Basically: pitching temp + finishing temp = 30. i.e. pitch at 13C and let temp rise to 17C to finish. I have done this with liquid with good results, but haven't tried WB06 for ages.
earle wrote:The temp will determine what type of flavours you get. I think 17-18 gives clove flavours and 21-22 gives banana flavours. I hope I've got that the right way around, someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
Yep spot on.
I recently read somewhere that the best temp is 17C. I think it was in Brewing Classic styles? Some old German dude had said it..
Now that you mention that I remember it as well. While the 18 gives clove and 22 gives banana, in Brewing Classic Styles Jamil reckons if you go 17 you get a balance of both.
The Dunkel I have on now has been at 16 - 17C for about 7 days then I ramped it up to 19C. Tasted great out of the fermenter. The first time I have destinctly tasted bubblegum, however this may go as it was a bit sweet and not at FG. Still had the spicy clove character too. Should be a good drop.
This is the first wheat I have done at these temps.
Thanks all for your responses. I might have to wait until it cools down a bit before I do this one. If it's cloves at 17C and banana at 21C, then at 25C it's probably ashtray.
I did mine like this and it turned out fine, as a beer anyway.
Coopers Wheat Tin + 500g LDME, 50g Dark Brown Sugar, 40g Yellow Box honey from ALDI, 12g bag Hallertau Hops steeped 30min, 1038SG/1010FG for 3.75%Alc. Fermented at 22deg. Proved a Sweet Drop & was well accepted by all guests/yet I find it a bit boring, but I'm different.
I'd skip the Brown Sugar, I was playing. Stick with the honey exactly and maybe up the hops slightly by steeping 20g from one of those (60g) packs, then straining it in at the end.
-Sonny
EDIT: To make it work well, yeh probably a good yeast.
http://forums.bikeme.tv/
the copper said that he'd 'been waiting all day for me to come along', I replied I got here as faaaast as I could!
), and some have been better than others. 
) - so what do you think?
