Advice on Amer Honey Wheat

I am planning to brew an American Honey Wheat over the weekend and was hoping to get some feedback on the recipe below. Relatively new with recipe formulation so I really appreciate any suggestions.

I reduced the boil to 45 min to keep it a bit cleaner and not as malty and added the honey at 30 min, as opposed to flame out, trying to add a bit of the honey flavor.

Recipe Specifications

Boil Size: 3.91 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.64 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 7.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 35.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 45 Minutes

Ingredients:

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 1 7.7 %
0.50 oz Northern Brewer [9.60 %] - Boil 45.0 min Hop 2 13.5 IBUs
6 lbs Wheat Dry Extract [Boil for 30 min](8.0 Dry Extract 3 92.3 %
0.50 oz Northern Brewer [9.60 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 4 11.3 IBUs
1.50 lb Honey (Boil 30.0 mins) Other 5 -
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 6 -
1.00 oz Cascade [4.30 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 2.6 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Hefeweizen Ale (White Labs #WLP Yeast 8 -

Adding the honey to the boil will do the exact oppisite of what you want. Put it in the fermenter once the yeast is working, consider adding some honeymalt and use honey to prime when you bottle.

Question @Rookie L A:

If one were to follow your advice, since the honey would be going into the fermenter and also the bottles, would you not want to make sure to pasteurize the honey first (particularly as the bottle primer) to ensure there won’t be any contaminants?

I would add the honey at flameout, or maybe only boil for 5 minutes, or else you won’t get much flavor from it.

I would also throw out the Cascade hop addition. Otherwise the Cascade hop flavor will cover up the honey flavor.

Otherwise the recipe looks pretty good.

[quote=“Casimir”]Question @Rookie L A:

If one were to follow your advice, since the honey would be going into the fermenter and also the bottles, would you not want to make sure to pasteurize the honey first (particularly as the bottle primer) to ensure there won’t be any contaminants?[/quote]

I’ve never pasturized any honey added to the fermenter. I add it when the ferment is going good and have never had a problem.
On the other hand when using honey, or anything else, to prime I boil that a short while.
There are quite a few mead makers who use no heat, simply mixing the honey in the water and pitching yeast.

Does anyone have any feelings on using Whirlfloc in a Hef, Wit or American Wheat since haze is not a concern? I am not saying it is a bad thing, I am just wondering if it is needed?

Clarifiers are totally up to personal preference. I like wheat beers crystal clear or cloudy – makes no difference to me. Some people like them more one way or the other. It really doesn’t affect flavor much if at all.