Hello! I’ve been enjoying the NB extract kits - Brewed American Wheat (yum)and Jamil’s Evil Twin (bottling next weekend). Next up - Dead Ringer! Also want to try experimenting a bit, sticking with the wheat extract (all or partial) - here is an initial recipe that is in my cart - comments? Goal is to mix it up a bit from NB American Wheat
6 lb wheat malt extract
8 oz Carapils (steep)
8 oz Caramel 10 9(steep)
4-8 oz Gambrinus Honey Malt (steep)
1 oz Hallertaurer (early)
.5 oz Saaz (mid)
.5 Saaz (late)
I will now be left with 1/2 of the specialty malts - assuming they will keep a few months in freezer, was going to put together another recipe for April. Would like 1/3 of fermentable to be Wheat extract to keep the theme going, but not critical. Would 2/3 of another LME couple well with the wheat? Hop suggestion?
Thanks for your input!
Sounds good. The Gambrinous honey malt is strong. A little goes a long way. I’d start with steeping 4oz and go up from there on future batches if you want a stronger flavor. I added 8oz to the Smashing pumpkin kit with 4 cans of pumpkin in the mash. I could still easily taste it over the pumpkin and Cluster hops. It was good, but wheat beer is more neutral. So it’ll take less in my opinion to come through. 8oz might give it a cloying honey taste.
Thanks brewdvm! I am totally new to this, so that advice is great. Goal is to not totally “Nail it” for my first creation, but just to have it “be good” (not suck). I want to make this first creation for someone who likes the typical “Labatts Blue” type beers. I want them to have something with character. I think the NB Wheat might be great for this person (my first batch - it does taste great and mild), but thought another milder beer creation would be good for us to compare.
So I could scrape the Honey Malt. If my goal is to create a beer as described above, would a mixture of 50% wheat extract and 50% Pilsen extract work better with the mentioned ingredients minus honey malt?? Or perhaps simply sticking to the above recipe minus honey malt (as to not change to many things) might be better to get an idea how some of the specialty grains and differing hops can alter a beers character??
Thanks again!!
I think the idea of adding some Honey Malt is very interesting. I’ve never had a honey wheat beer, but they do exist commercially, and it sounds delicious to me. I’d give it a try. Let us know how it turns out. I’ve not brewed with Pilsen malt although I’ll be doing it this weekend when I brew a Belgian blond. Not sure if you’ll find any taste difference compared to 2 row when brewing with wheat, but I could be wrong.
