I am looking for a "rock solid" wheat beer recipe. A mate of mine brewed up the Coopers wheat beer kit, which in my opinion tasted OK, but had a very rtten egg type of smell to it.
I was thinking of using Olivers No. 11 Maaswheat recipe as a base. Here is what I am looking for. A few days ago I tried a very good German wheat beer, that had a very dry celery type of taste to it.
What type of hops, ,and and sugar combo would I need to achieve this?
For a german style wheat beer, you'd probably go with something like hallertau or tettnanger hops. Wheat beers dont tend to be very bitter, so be aware if you're using a pre-hopped extract.
THE most important thing is getting the right yeast. This is extra important for wheat beers if you want to hit your target style. It's the yeast that give it that clove like finish.
I'd say forget dextrose or cane sugar (eeewwww) entirely and go with a 40-60 to 60-40 wheat malt- barley malt ratio.
If you're just doing a kit brew, Malt Shovel makes a kit that comes with a 10g pack of german wheat yeast. It only makes 11.5L, so you'll need 2 for a standard batch, unless you want to only use 1 can and do some customizing. Maybe a hint of ground coriander seed to add a little spice?
Yeah, I'm with thehipone. I battled away at getting an authentic wheat beer for a while - changing cans and hops and adjuncts. The yeast is the key here. To get that phenolic flavour that's associated with wheat beers, specialised yeast is a must. Have a look at White Labs and Wyeast's range. They normally cost about $15 but you can stretch that out to do at least 4 brews. Well worth the $'s.
The makers of Safale and Saflager dried yeasts also make a wheat beer yeast called, you guessed it, Safwheat.
I haven't tried it, but if it's anything near as good as the ale and lager variants, it's bound to be good.
And to nexrex, if you do use my No.11 Maaswheat as a base, I'd use a hop other than Pride of Ringwood, which I don't think you'd find in too many German wheat beers!
You might like to have a look at my Number 116 - Pots' Belgian Wit Beer. In an attempt to get that lovely floral character of the Belgian wheats, in particular the Hoegaaden White, I brewed up the peel of an orange and a small bunch of fresh coriander.
I haven't tasted it as yet, although I did take the mandatory hit out of the fermenter when bottling, and it was pretty bloody good. Smelled great.
