American Wheat question

Northern Brewer General
1

I’ve made the NB American Wheat kit before and it was my father-in-law’s favorite of all the beers I’ve made. Maybe it was tied with the Bavarian Hefe, but to cut straight to the chase:

I have 3lbs of Bavarian Wheat DME. I also have 3.3 of NB’s Wheat LME. According to BS I’d have the same SG as the kit, but what if I used a half ounce of Magnum at 60 min vs the Willamette at 60 and Cascade at 15? The Magnum would give me 23 ibu’s vs the willamette and cascade at 26 ibu’s.

I have all the hops mentioned above, it’s just that the cascade is homegrown leaf hops and lately I’ve notices a green vegetable flavor that lasts awhile when I use them.

Do you think the half ounce of Magnum wouldn’t give me the hop flavor needed to be close to the other hops or what?

eta: I could also do Willamette to bitter (as the NB recipe calls for) and Mt. Hood at 15… which would give me 26 ibu’s.

It wouldn’t be a big deal to me but we’re having a baby in about a month and I want to have beer for my father in law that he will drink. He’s not an IPA guy or else I’d be hopping the crap out of this wheat beer ha…

2

The Magnum hops may be a little more neutral than the Willamette. If you have the Willamette hops available, you might want to bitter with the Magnum @ 60 and finish with the Willamette. It won’t give the same character as the Cascades but it will make a fine beer.

The Mt. Hood will be a great addition on top of the Magnum also.

3

Roger that. I have everything. I was figuring on doing Willamette to bitter (as the recipe calls for) and then Mt. Hood at 15 min (in place of the Cascade). I’m just wondering now if I should switch that around and bitter with Mt. Hood and flavor with Willamette.

I know I’m overthinking the process. In my 20 to 25 beers, I’ve ALWAYS strayed from the norm and made up my own recipes except for the couple kits I did. I don’t know why I’d buck the system now. I’ve almost always had good beer ha.

Thanks for the input Pollock.