American Craft Beer Wheat
Ask most craft brewers and they will tell you they started by making beer at home (homebrewing). The hobby of home beer making is often credited with the resurgence of flavorful beer in America.
For 2010, American Craft Beer Week (May 17-23) is tying into the brewing activities of the American Homebrewers Association's Big Brew event. We proudly present to you a wonderful recipe for brewing in early May and then to be enjoyed sometime during American Craft Beer Week. The style is a refreshing American Wheat that will ferment quickly, is as flavorful as it is thirst quenching, and is a perfect beer to welcome in the warm weather months.
American Craft Beer Wheat
– From Brewing With Wheat
This recipe is based on the American wheat beer recipe found in the new Brewers Publications book Brewing with Wheat: The 'Wit' and 'Weizen' of World Wheat Beer Styles by Stan Hieronymus. The book will be available in spring 2010.
All Grain Recipe*
For a 5.3 gallon (20 L) yield for a 70 minute boil
| O.G. | 1.043 |
| F.G. | 1.011 |
| IBU | 13.1 |
Fermentables
4.65 lb (2.1 kg) 2-Row Pale Malt (56.7%)
3.35 lb (1.5 kg) Wheat Malt (40.9%)
0.2 lb (91 g) Munich Malt (2.4%)
Hops
0.25 oz (7 g) Chinook pellets, (13% AA), first wort hop (FWH) addition (If Chinook is unavailable, substitute Simcoe or Challenger hops for 13 IBU.)
Yeast
Two (2) packages Wyeast 1010 American Wheat yeast, or two (2) White Labs WLP320 American Hefeweizen Ale yeast, or make an appropriate size yeast starter
Directions for All-Grain Recipe
Mash in at 145° F (63° C) and hold for 60 minutes. Slowly raise the mash temperature to 169° F (76° C) and sparge with 173° F (78° C) water. Add the hops to the boil kettle and collect enough runoff to end up with 5.3 gallons (20 L) after a 70-minute boil (approximately 6.4 gallons, or 24 L). Bring to a boil for 70 minutes, and then turn off the heat. Next, chill to 62-65° F (17-18° C), transfer to a fermenter, pitch the yeast and aerate well. Continue fermenting at 65° F (18° C) for a total of one week. Rack to secondary for another week. Rack to keg, or if you are bottling rather than kegging, add the bottling sugar and then bottle as you normally would.
Carbonation
Force carbonate at 3.0 – 3.5 volumes of CO2
OR
Bottle condition using 5.0 – 6.3 oz weight (142-178 g) corn sugar
*The all-grain recipes assume 75% efficiency unless otherwise stated. Adjust the grain bill to match your system.
Extract Recipe
For a 5.3 gallon (20 L) yield with a 3-gallon (11.4 L) 70 minute boil
| O.G. | 1.045 |
| F.G. | 1.011 |
| IBU | 12.8 |
Fermentables
7 lb (3.2 kg) Liquid Wheat Malt Extract
0.2 lb (91 g) Liquid Munich Malt Extract, or 0.17 lb (77 g) Dry Munich Malt Extract
Hops
0.3 oz (7 g) Chinook pellets, (13% AA), first wort hop (FWH) addition (If Chinook is unavailable, substitute Simcoe or Challenger hops for 13 IBU.)
Yeast
Two (2) packages Wyeast 1010 American Wheat yeast, or two (2) White Labs WLP320 American Hefeweizen Ale yeast, or make an appropriate size yeast starter
Directions for Extract Recipe
Heat 2.2 gallons (8.3 L) of water to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in extract for a total boil volume of ~3 gallons (11.4 L). Add the hops, and bring to a boil. Boil 70 minutes, and then turn off the heat. Next, chill to 62-65° F (17-18° C). Transfer wort (~2.5 gallons, or 9.5 L) to fermenter and top-up to 5.3 gallons (20 L) with pre-boiled and cooled water (~2.8 gallons, or 10.6 L). When the wort temperature is down to 62-65° F (17-18° C), pitch the yeast and aerate well. Ferment at 65° F (18° C) for a total of one week. Rack to secondary for another week. Rack to keg, or if you are bottling rather than kegging, add the bottling sugar and then bottle as you normally would.
Carbonation
Force carbonate at 3.0 – 3.5 volumes of CO2
OR
Bottle condition using 5.0 – 6.3 oz weight (142-178 g) corn sugar
Tap during American Craft Beer Week on May 17-23, 2010!
To learn more about the American Homebrewers Association, visit HombrewersAssociation.org.
