Just go mad professor and mix it up. Make something that might be entirely unpalatable, but hey, you’ve had a go!
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Yeah, I think I will be getting the Pilsner at least. I can use that malt for some pretty easy drinking pale ales I have in mind for summer, so can do that.
For what I thought was going to be a pretty straight forward beer - this seems like one that if you change something from the temperature in mash and ferment, it can have a pretty huge impact.
Also, something like this sounds great.
Ok, had a look. What kind of Hefe profile are you looking for flavor wise? Id definitely go for a nice tasting pilsner malt in place of the American, which can be pretty bland. Liquid yeast would also be a better choice. Since most of the classic character of a weissbier that isn’t belgian comes from the yeast, its paramount. If you went for WLP300 or the Wyeast equivalent, or really any hefeweizen yeast, crank that temp up a lot higher. Fermenting cool you’ll end up with a very plain beer. If you want those tasty banana esters and clove phenols, you need to be fermenting more around 20C and up.
Hops wise, if you got something with a bit woody character, like Northern Brewer, it would go well here. As its used at 60min (though if I were you, Id go first wort hop), you’re not going to get a ton of character so really anything could work as long as you get the calculated IBUs you want.
Thanks for checking it out! I guess I was after the more banana side of the Hefe. With a bit more time and research last night, I have scrapped the Hefe for now due to I was trying to make it with only items from my supply stocks (hence the ale malt and EKG). I know that I will probably be disappointed with the end result if I pushed any further.
So I have put together another brew, a Pale Ale - boring, but it’s what I have myself geared up for. My last few beers have all been around hazy/neipa/oatmeal so this one I will try and get as clear as possible. I got my hands on 100g of Zappa so I am hoping to highlight that hop, because I don’t have too much. I am going to go straight to whirlpool and dry hop additions with the bitterness coming from Columbus early on.
Malts
4.5 kg (84.9%) — Gladfield American Ale Malt — Grain — 5 EBC
500 g (9.4%) — Gladfield Wheat Malt — Grain — 4.2 EBC
200 g (3.8%) — Gladfield Sour Grapes Malt — Grain — 4 EBC
100 g (1.9%) — Gladfield Medium Crystal Malt — Grain — 111 EBC
Hops (115 g)
15 g (22 IBU) — Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) 16.2% — Boil — 60 min
20 g (2 IBU) — Zappa 8% — Aroma — 20 min hopstand
80 g — Zappa 8% — Dry Hop — 3 days
Hopstand at 80 °C
Miscs
3.5 g — Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) — Mash
5.2 g — Epsom Salt (MgSO4) — Mash
10.6 g — Gypsum (CaSO4) — Mash
Yeast
1 pkg — Fermentis US-05 Safale American 81%
As far as whats in my pantry:
Malts
Gladfield American Malt - 20kg
Gladfield Wheat Malt - 3.5kg
Gladfield Big O Malt - 3.9kg
Gladfield Brown Malt - 1kg
Gladfield Dark Crystal Malt - 0.8kg
Gladfield Medium Crystal Malt - 0.1kg
Gladfield Roast Barley - 0.6kg
Hops
Azacca - 100g
Calypso - 68g
Citra - 20g
Columbus - 55g
EKG - 40g
Ekuanot - 150g
El Dorado - 250g
Mosaic - 170g
Nugget - 100g
Simcoe - 12g
Strata - 20g
Zappa - 100g
Southern Tropic - 500g
Yeast
Lallemand American East Coast Ale x 1
Lallemand English Ale x 1
Safale US-05 x 4
Safale WB-06 x 1
Safale S-33 x 1
This looks good. Though Id up the Zappa at hopstand. Maybe do 50/50 with the whirlpool and dry hops.
Planning on just crashing it clear or fining?
Yeah, cold crashing - I have done this with every beer so far. I have some whirlfloc tablets I could use as well.
Would definitely use the whirlfloc. Will take care of the big proteins in the hot break. I would avoid the cold side finings though if you want to really keep that hop punch.
For all you guys doing hazies and what not lately, you might want to check this article out. Hop bite is one thing I really hate about hazies and why most taste like crap to me. Since the old dry hopping ideals were so long and warm, I think maybe most brewers kinda stuck with that mantra. Guess its fine for the old early to late 2000s IBU and bitterness wars, but not fitting for modern fruity, light IPAs.
Thanks for that - I might give it a go for the next hazy something I do that has a good amount of hops added. I only experienced the hop burn for the first time the other day at my homebrew club meeting… someone offered me a taste of their hazy beer as I am getting a bit of a reputation in the club as the guy who only brews hazy beers. It was terrible!
A bit of drama here last night, I went to pour myself a nice Friday beer… no gas. I think my relief valve on the keg had a leak. So I had to take a lid from a spent keg and swap it over. A bit shit as I bet it’s going to have an impact on the aroma of my beer.
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Thinking I might do a Saison next. I’ve got a recipe that has lemon and orange zest and a whole bunch of pantry ingredients in it, which has been a winner in the past.
If I can knock that one out in the next few weeks, I can take Summer off.
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How’s that NEIPA going?
Pitched the yeast last night for the Zappa pale ale which I have since named Cosmik Debris.
Finished the keg of Ghost Chips last night. That was a good, simple beer - could have used more hops though. I’d really like to dial in my grain bill for a Pale Ale so I can start really digging into the hops a bit on these, so the only variable is the hops.
At the moment I am at
4.5 kg American Ale malt (84.9%)
500g Wheat Malt (9.4%)
200g Sour Grapes (3.8%)
100g Medium Crystal (could go a light crystal 1.9%)
Bottle conditioning at the moment. Got the FG down to 1.010 in the end.
Banger.
Fruity with a smooth bitterness, subtle malt back drop. A+, would brew again.
Got a starter on for my saison. I’m thinking of calling it ‘Saisons In The Abyss’.
Edit: damn, somebody already thought of that. Saisons in the Abyss - New Level Brewing - Untappd
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Yay! Glad to hear you like it… now drink it as soon as you can. The hop aroma will drop quite quickly and if there was any oxidation in the packaging process, it will start giving your NEIPA a bit of a honey kick (you will notice the colour change a bit too).
Saison has fermented down to 1.008 which is fairly impressive (for me.)
Loving the NEIPA, except for the last yeasty bit in the bottle of the bottle - tastes horrid. I’ll happily drink bottle conditioned beers and barely notice the yeast in the bottom, but this one just has a metallic kind of taste. Thankfully it’s just the last mouth full, so easily avoided.
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There is probably more than yeast in there - a heap of hop matter would have made it into the bottles.
Give the bottle the ol’ coopers roll before you pour it and see what happens.
I’d also be pouring it into a glass you savage! Get that aroma you worked so hard for out of that little bottle.
Yeah I’ll have to try that, except I don’t want the off flavours to ruin the good stuff!
Ha ha, yeah I do. I usually get three and a bit glasses out of a bottle, so it’s the ‘bit’ that tastes yuck.
Glad you’re enjoying it though. They are a style of beer that I am really enjoying.
The Zappa beer of mine is good - just a nice, simple and crisp pale ale. I was a bit unsure of it when it was fresh but now it has settled a bit I am liking it. I gave a guy up the road a 2L growler filled with the Cosmik Debris in exchange for a bunch of seedlings that he had grown. Good swap!
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I am going to be down to one beer on tap soon as I haven’t found time to brew for a while. I have a load of hops that I need to use up so I think I will be doing a spare parts pale ale again.
I will throw in 36g of Strata, 20g of Citra, 68g of Calypso and a I will try and use a good smack of Ekuanot.
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