Recipe Guidance

[markp]

Hi,

Does anyone have any thoughts about the minimum and maximum amount of wheat malt used in a simple recipe?

My local brewery does a couple of great beers using lager malt as base and some wheat malt. Hopping is with Amarillo I'm pretty sure.

Here is my take:
For 40 litres at approx 4% abv
Lager Malt 6kg
Wheat Malt 1kg
Amarillo (9.4%) - 90 mins - 35g - 20.9 IBU
Amarillo (9.4%) - 10 mins - 40g - 8.1 IBU
Amarillo (9.4%) - 5 mins - 20g - 2.8 IBU
Yeast - probably WLP005

This is giving me roughly two thirds of the overall bitterness from the 90 minute addition and the remainder from the late aroma additions. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I often wonder if I look to get too much bitterness from my late hop additions.

 

[Wez]

Anything up to 40% according to beersmith so your 17% should be fine.

Other more experienced brewers may be able to pass on advice re: using it with lager malt.

With regard timing the bitterness additions I think 2/3 from 90 and the rest from your late addition sounds good but it depends what you want from the beer, obviously more late on will give you a more 'hoppy' beer.

 

[markp]

Thanks Wez :thumb:
I forgot to look at the BeerSmith info......I'm only using it to formulate the recipe :lol:

Yeah, understand I get a more hoppy taste and aroma with the later additions. I seem to struggle to get my head around the minimum or maximum bitterness that should be gained/is acceptable/palatable ( :lol: ) from the 90 minute additon. If that makes sense. :wha:

 

[evanvine]

I've always been under the impression, that if you OD on wheat malt, you stand a very good chance of getting a protein haze (eg wheat beer)!

 

[Screwy]

Wheat adds a number of characteristics, the decision is yours. Weizens grist bills often contain 70% Wheat. For improving head <10%. Wheat adds a tartness and dryness to the beer, the amount included being dependent upon to what the brewer is trying to achieve in the finished beer.

Hops added at 15 min or less contribute aroma and have very little influence on bitterness, depending on how fast you chill the wort. Adding a 0 min hop addition for aroma then leaving the brew to chill overnight will achieve a totally different profile when compared to the same brew when run through a chiller to the FV. 75% of Bittering at 60 min or 90 min and 25% at 15 min seems to be a UK convention, have nor seen this used elsewhere.

Using beersmith vary the times of the aroma additions (15 min or less) and flavour additions (30 min to 20 min) in your recipe to see the effect the time has on the amount of bitterness contributed by these additions. Aroma hops are quite often expressed in grams per litre (often 1 or 2 g/l) for their contribution as they basically don't contribute much to bittering. Other methods of adding aroma are gained by steeping hops (leaving in the wort at or around 80 degrees for a given amount of time) or by dry hopping (added after primary fermentation).

Hope this helps

Screwy

 

[unclepumble]

I wouldn't add any more than 10% wheat or you will get chill/protein haze for sure, It depends what you want the wheat to bring to the party, unless you can chill filter don't use a lot or you will get a wheat beer.

UP

 

75% of Bittering at 60 min or 90 min and 25% at 15 min seems to be a UK convention, have nor seen this used elsewhere.

"Beer and strong cider are England's control
Give me the pumch ladle, I'll fathom the bowl"

 

[Aleman]

75% of Bittering at 60 min or 90 min and 25% at 15 min seems to be a UK convention, have not seen this used elsewhere

It's for reasons of economy. Less bittering hops are required to extract the amount of bittering. If you go back to brewing ledgers of the late 1700's, early 1800's you often see that the worts were boiled with hops (single addition) for 2 or 3 hours. At Plzen the process used to be a gentle simmer of the hops for 2 hours or more.

Those countries with less of a craft brewing tradition, have thrown economy and convention out of the window, and shown that turning it on its head (25% of bittering at 90 minutes and 75% at 15 minutes) can produce damn good beers. . . . My latest Lager used precisely that regime . . . and turned out to be very similar to Brewdogs 77 Lager . . . not what I was aiming for (Trad German Pilsner) . . So new hopping schedules can be used very effectively, but be aware that they may not be appropriate for a 'traditional' style

 

[markp]

Thanks everyone for some very useful comments :thumb:

From my discussion with the brewer, the wheat malt is merely there for head retention.
I got to wondering though about issues of taste and clarity....hence my question.

The hopping info is useful too thanks.
I'll re-jig the recipe later tonight when I get home.