I’m trying to think of some ideas for a winter hefe but I’m having trouble. Will be using an extract kit to brew. Any ideas? Thanks
Most winter beers are spiced. Look into ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc. Another winter fav is real heavy beers like imperial stouts. For RIS and spiced beers you need to plan ahead as the flavors take time to meld. A spiced beer would be done in time but a RIS is pushed in this time frame IMHO.
I’m not a fan of spiced beers, but fruit beers can be great, and fruit CAN go very well with wheat as long as you don’t use a German wheat yeast. That will result in clashing flavors.
Take your hefe kit (and some neutral ale yeast like US-05 or similar), and after primary fermentation is done, add about 1 lb of frozen then thawed fruit to a secondary bucket, and rack your beer onto it. Leave it for 3-4 weeks then bottle. You can use raspberries, cherries, peaches, blueberries, or just about anything you want. Or you can do apples or pears by leaving out 1-2 gallons of water from the brew, and then add fresh pressed juice after the bulk of fermentation is done. Just make sure you don’t use anything with preservatives.
Why not just make an imperial hefe? All you need to do to the recipe is to add about 3 extra pounds of wheat extract. I have made good impy hefes in the past with basically the same methodology. Throw in an extra ounce or two of hops as well to help keep it balanced. It will also age well.
Weizenbock. Or Roggenbier. Or dunkelweizen. Hefe yeast, maltier beers. I personally think these age well too.
One thing I saw that you might try, as it is done with ciders, may work.
Use some 100 proof vodka and get your spice blend soaking into the vodka to make an infusion.
Take some fresh fruit juice that is pure juice with no chemicals, (pasteurized should be OK since not looking for fermentable sugars) freeze a 1 gallon bottle. Once frozen pull the bottle and set it out to drain into a sanitized quart ball jar. You can add the extract juice to add flavor as desired.
Have fun!
Mr. Octabird
American Made!
Oh, probably an addition to make after racking to secondary fermentation container.
Mr. Octabird
American Made!
The Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock in Randy Mosher’s book “Radical Brewing” is very good. Its an all-grain recipe but you can just use an extract kit and follow the recommended spice additions. If you don’t have the book let me know and I will post the recipe.
[quote=“mlsouth”]The Spiced Dunkel Weizenbock in Randy Mosher’s book “Radical Brewing” is very good. Its an all-grain recipe but you can just use an extract kit and follow the recommended spice additions. If you don’t have the book let me know and I will post the recipe.[/quote] I wouldn’t mind having the recipe if you would post it. I been wanting to get that book but haven’t yet.
Yeah that spiced weizenbock sounds pretty awesome if you wouldn’t mind posting it! Thanks!
There was an article in a recent New Brewer magazine about a ‘Lichtenhainer Weissbier’, that’s essentially a German Smoked Wheat beer.
Apparently it’s a super old style that’s around 4% ABV with 50/50 or 75/25 barley to wheat malt. Some or all of the wheat malt being smoked. Low IBU. slightly sour, the recipe they provide achieves this with acidulated malt, but historically it was partially a lactic fermentation. Looks like a cool winter style to me.
Basically, i have found a different way to find winter beer. I see American red ale has been released every winter. It pairs well with sharp cheeses or spicy foods. Do you like it ?
