American Wheat/Raspberry Wheat Partial Mash

HisDudeness · Aug 18, 2015

Bit of an experimental one this and still in progress as I type, making up a 23L partial mash batch based on GH American Wheat Beer recipe as follows

1.7kg Coopers Lager
2kg Wheat Malt
1kg Torrified Wheat (Used lots of this because I only had 2kg of normal wheat)
300g Carahell
Rice Hulls for the mash

I have now split the batch into 2 and one half will have 20g of citra/cascade added while its still hot as a flame out addition as per American Wheat recipe.

The other half I will leave as is but chuck in about 1.5kg of raspberrys after a couple of days ferment as per GH raspberry wheat recipe.

Both will be using Safale WB 06.

The wheat mash was sticky as hell and didnt want to give up the liquid when sparging which is to be expected for an all wheat mash. I think this would be a lot easier the other way round with wheat extract and barley malt mash, so I am not expecting a great efficiency. I was literally wringing out the mash bag with my hands but it basically turned to porridgy goop.

The target is 1.054 but I think I will be lucky to get 1.050

Updates to follow.....

Tony1951 · Aug 18, 2015

Looking forward to updates on this one. Just done two brews with a kg of wheat in them, one was raw wheat and the other was malted wheat.

HisDudeness · Aug 18, 2015

Heres the batch split into 2 FVs, one is bubbling away happily already, hopefully the other one will catch up shortly. Tried to split everything evenly between the 2 and pitching temp etc was identical only difference is one was hopped so not sure why there is a difference just another mystery of fermentation I guess. Loads of sediment which you can see in both FVs hopefully this will settle down a bit over time. Fermenting at 18c currently as I want to keep a fairly clean fermentation with not too much estery flavour, the recipes suggested wyeeast american wheat which is supposed to be quite clean but the safale yeast is described as subtle esters so hopefully it will work ok. Got 1.052/3 in the end which I was very pleased with considering the battle I had with the mash.
Does anyone know how much fermentable sugar is likely to be added by the raspberrys when they go in? Wondering how strong that half is likely to end up.

HisDudeness · Aug 21, 2015

Kilo and a half of frozen raspberrys went into the unhopped half of this batch tonight. I defrosted and mashed them up with a campden tablet first and left overnight. Took the opportunity to take a quick SG reading/taste sample and its at target already which was pretty rapid (just under 3 days) was still bubbling fairly regularly though so might go lower and now has the fruit to munch through also. The taste test was a bit surprising there was quite a tart appley taste to it which must be from the yeast but is not really in the usual wheat beer ester range, not unpleasant but slightly confusing to the palette when you are expecting banana or clovey flavours. The safale website doesnt mention anything about apple flavours but its working well within its operating range so slightly odd. Hopefully this will work quite well with the styles I am aiming for as the fruit should complement the raspberrys and the american wheat is supposed to be citrussy from the citra hops which might also be good with the tartness from the yeast. Fingers crossed for the final result, its the other half who is the big fan of wheat/fruit beer in my house so if it goes well it might elicit a more positive response to the regular brewday kitchen destruction that is now happening! :razz:

HisDudeness · Sep 4, 2015

Both batches bottled now, left the raspberry for a bit longer as after 2 weeks it was looking, smelling and tasting pretty rank! Seems to be on the up now though the raspberries floating on top were a bit foul but the beer has taken on a great colour and has a distinct dry/sour raspberry taste quite strong alcohol and reminds me a bit of a kriek style beer. Definitely needs a good spell of conditioning but I think it might work....

HisDudeness · Sep 4, 2015

Raspberries after fermentation, not pleasant! All the colour drained out of the fruit which made it look even more nasty

HisDudeness · Sep 4, 2015

Bottled! Hurrah

HisDudeness · Sep 28, 2015

The American Wheat half of this batch has come out pretty well, reminds me a little of erdinger but with a lighter more zesty finish still a hint of Apple in there which I think has come from the yeast which was a bit of a surprise but overall enjoying this one and as I am not that keen on wheat beers normally that's a result!

HisDudeness · Oct 2, 2015

And here's the raspberry version, lovely colour and a proper grown ups fruit beer more sour than sweet but a real strong raspberry flavour and aroma. Seems to be quite strong was at about 6% without the fruit so not sure what it's finished at but it's got some poke to it!

American Wheat/Raspberry Wheat Partial Mash

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