Another attempt to make a wheat beer – another long shot, maybe. I made another wheat beer, thinking it could be getting there since I used jumbo oats, but I’m not sure it is it yet. The beer starts very clean (almost clinical) when it is very cold, but as it warms up, the flavours come out and the beer really shines. It is still a very light beer that can easily be a summer beer, but I’d like to try it with a different yeast strain.
Mash
700g of Wheat Malt
500g of Crushed Pale Malt (Marris Otter, UK, EBC: 4.5)
140g Vienna Malt
100g Crystal Malt
60g Flaked Oats
4 litres of boiled Brita filtered London tap water, start temp before grains: 55°c
Multi-stage mash:
90 minutes: Beta rest, water temp 47°c after adding the grains
75 minutes: Protein rest, 46°c -> addition of 500ml ->55°c
60 minutes: Mash, 45°c -> addition of 1000ml -> 67°c
0 minutes: Grains taken out and drained (+ squeezed)
Roughly 4 litres mash was left with 1040 gravity at 37°c.
Yeast
6g Brewferm Blanche yeast dissolved in 500ml Brita filtered London water (31°c)
Left to activate from mid boil, about 1.5 hours.
Wort (boil)
4l mash water brought to an immediate boil with another 1l boiled Brita water added
60 minutes: 180g Light Spraymalt, 10g Marynka hops (9.3%)
15 minutes: 10g Saaz hops (3.1%)
0 minutes: in the ice bath
Wort was a total of 3l with a gravity of 1080 at 23°c
Fermentation
3l of the cooled wort was added to 2.5l Brita filtered London tap water and the yeast mix
Total of 6l with OG=1042 at 20°c.
Drinking while making
Bottling (13 days after brewing)
FG=1010 at 18°c, making it a 4.3% ABV beer.
Total of 6l
62g dextrose added for priming to achieve a CO2 volume of 3.2 (wheat beers are highly carbonated).
Tasting notes
Medium honey colour, opaque. Clear when first poured, slightly hazy with a bit of a roll of the bottle before pouring. Creamy, persistent and solid head foam.
When drunk very cold out of the fridge:
Smells like a wheat beer, but no banana/bread scent, earthy, slightly sour. No hop trace at all.
Thick mouthful, very carbonated, maybe even too carbonated, slightly sour, not sweet at all and no bitterness. Flavour is a bit too clean and without character.
After 30-40 minutes, cool temp, less carbonation:
Carbonation reduced and the flavours intensifies: sweet and sour notes come out, while the wheat aroma stays to compliment the flavour.
All in all, not a bad beer at all. Very enjoyable to drink, especially at higher temperatures. Carbonation is a little too high, can use a 2.9 CO2 volume next time. I still want to find a way to make a more classic wheat beer, but I think this sour style wheat beer is nice. I would like to try the same grain base with a different yeast.