This post is one in a series following five brewers limiting themselves to a select set of ingredients and brewing several beers each with only those ingredients. The goal of these limitations is to push creativity and to see what can be done within the confines of a single set of ingredients. More about this concept can be found here. The ingredients chosen for this project were Maris Otter, White Wheat (malted), Light Munich, Amarillo, Nugget, WLP810 San Francisco Lager and WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast. The brewer must use all ingredients (with the exception of choosing one yeast strain). The rest of this series can be found here.
Author: M. Rasmussen
I was quite pleased with my first beer in this Limitations Series. I felt like I gained a greater understanding and familiarity with the ingredients we’d chosen even after only one brew. I knew going into this second round that I wanted to try to branch out of my comfort zone when it came to style; I also wanted to avoid duplicating any of the styles/beers that were being brewed by the other contributors to the project. That being said, the ultimate goal here was to brew a beer that I would be satisfied with and that helped me become a better brewer.
Recipe
With the warmer weather rapidly approaching, I figured I would want something on the lighter end of the scale on tap. With that in mind, I knew right away that I wanted to brew a wheat-based beer. I’ve never brewed a wheat beer before, so I welcomed the challenge of drawing up a recipe for a new style, even though I didn’t have full reign of the ingredients in play. After playing around in BeerSmith and conceptualizing the flavors at hand, I decided to take this beer one step further: a heavy-handed dry hop.
The reason for adding the dry hop was two-fold; I wanted to push the limits of my brewing comfort even further, since I normally don’t dry hop my beers. The other reason was that since I couldn’t choose a less flocculent yeast strain based on the limited ingredient choices, I decided to approach the cloudiness from a different angle, and I figured I could try to use the fabled biotransformation reaction with some early dry hopping to add some cloudiness to the beer that I prefer in wheat beers. With those goals in mind, I sat down and hashed out the final recipe.
- Mash at 152 for 60 minutes
- 67% White Wheat Malt
- 21% Maris Otter
- 12% Light Munich
- Boiled for 45 minutes
- 0.5 oz. of Nugget (45 minutes) at 14.2% AA (23.0 IBUs)
- 0.5 oz. of Nugget (15 minutes) at 14.0% AA (8.2 IBUs)
- 1 oz. of Amarillo (Dry hop for 9 days)
- 1 oz. of Amarillo (Dry hop for 4 days)
- Pitched WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast
- Fermented at 65°F for 5 days
- Slowly raised to 72°F over 5 days
- Cold crashed at 38°F for 1 day
- OG: 1.059
- FG: 1.009
- ABV: 6.6%
- Closed transferred, kegged, and quick-carbed overnight
Brew Day
This brew started out like most of my brews lately—with a trip to the local homebrew store the day before. The guy that was helping me get the grains together was quite concerned that I didn’t want any rice hulls to accompany the heavy amount of wheat in the grist. He asked me at least three times about the rice hulls, and he finally seemed to be settled when I informed him that I use the brew in a bag method. When I got home with all of my ingredients I immediately got a quick vitality starter of the San Diego Super Yeast going to ensure a quick and healthy fermentation.
I’d never brewed a wheat beer before, so I was very enamored by the look and smell of the grain bag. Once I got the mash going, the heavy aroma of the white wheat malt filled my garage with a sweet, malty magnificence. This was the first brew in a while where I hit all of my estimated gravity numbers throughout the process right on the dot, which is such a rejuvenating feeling for any brewer that’s struggled with that aspect.
The 45 minute boil went off without a hitch, with the two hop charges adding to the incredible smell filling my brew station. After a few glasses of beer and then 20 minutes of chilling, I got the wort transferred into the fermentation chamber to get it cooled down to pitching temperature. After I got all of my equipment cleaned and stored, I pitched the yeast from the vitality starter and let it go to work.
I woke up the next morning to some early signs of fermentation activity, which was no surprise given this yeast strain’s propensity for fast and furious fermentations. When I got home from work there was serious activity in the airlock and a thick layer of foam on top of the beer. The next morning I pulled out the first ounce of Amarillo and tossed it directly on top of the krausen that was bubbling like crazy. The height from which I tossed the hop pellets allowed for the hops to get past the foam and into the stirring beer.
Once the krausen had subsided and airlock activity slowed down, I gradually raised the temperature in the fermentation chamber to encourage complete attenuation of the yeast. With only a few days before I was set to transfer the beer, I tossed in the second ounce of dry hops. At that point I’ll usually add gelatin to the beer instead of hops, but I decided to forego my normal fining method on this beer since I was actively aiming for a cloudy wheat beer.
After a few more days, I gave the beer a quick cold crash and transferred to the serving keg using my gravity-fed closed transfer method. I cranked my CO2 regulator up to 50 PSI for an overnight quick-carb, and in the morning the beer was carbonated and ready to serve.
Tasting
Appearance: Cloudy and golden. Medium carbonation. Thick, white head that persists quite nicely. Good lacing down the glass. Thick, pillowy head that slowly dissipates into a thin blanket of foam on top.
Aroma: Grapefruit, stone fruit, slight pear. All coming from the Amarillo dry-hop. Slight maltiness takes a back seat to the fruity hop aroma. Slight bit of alcohol.
Flavor: All of the fruity notes from the aroma combine with a moderate hoppy bitterness that hits your up front and gives a slight pucker to the initial flavor. The hoppiness fades throughout the sip into muted, light malt flavor. Hops are the main and supporting actors here, with a strong character role played by the wheat malt. Citrus notes come through at the end of the sip as the bitterness gives way to the wheat.
Mouthfeel: Low carbonation. Medium body. Smooth finish.
Aftertaste: Fruity bitterness. Reminiscent of grapefruit/orange pith.
Overall: Very hop-forward wheat ale. Fruity, bitter, and a slight wheat flavor round out this cloudy concoction.
If I were to brew this beer again with the same limitations, I’d probably forego the second dry hop charge. I wasn’t trying to make quite as hoppy of a beer as the one I ended up with. I think the second ounce of dry hops gave this beer a more aggressive bitterness than what I was aiming for.
If I were to brew this beer again without limitations, which I definitely will, I’d switch the Maris Otter out for American 2-Row and reduce the Munich by at least 30%. I was expecting a lackluster malty character in this beer because of the yeast strain I chose, but I think the yeast did a fantastic job with what it was given. I was quite surprised with how cloudy this beer has remained, given WLP090’s reputation as a highly flocculent, quickly clearing strain.
Recipe Comparison
Note: Some disparity in IBU contributions for flameout and whirlpool additions will exist in the chart below due to variation in recipe calculator software amongst contributors.
| Beer 1 | Beer 2 | Beer 3 | Beer 4 | Beer 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Style | Hoppy Wheat | Pale Ale/Lager | IPL | NEIPA/IPA | Munich Lager |
| Maris Otter | 34.4% | 50% | 50% | 82% | 30% |
| Light Munich | 5.5% | 25% | 41% | 7% | 60% |
| Wheat | 60.1% | 25% | 9% | 11% | 10% |
| Hop Addition 1 | 28.7 IBUs Nugget (60 min.) | 41.3 IBUs Nugget (First Wort) | 21 IBUs Nugget (30 min.) | 41.8 IBUs Nugget (First Wort) | 24.4 IBUs Nugget (60 min.) |
| Hop Addition 2 | 5.5 IBUs Amarillo (5 min.) | 5.8 IBUs Amarillo (15 min.) | 23 IBUs Amarillo—30 min. Whirlpool | 4.8 IBUs Amarillo (20 min Whirpool at 170F) | 8.9 IBUs Nugget (10 min.) |
| Hop Addition 3 | 7.1 IBUs Nugget (5 min.) | 2.3 IBUs Nugget (5 min.) | N/A | 0.8 IBUs Amarillo & Nugget (20 min Whirlpool at 120F) | 6.8 IBUs Amarillo (5 min.) |
| Hop Addition 4 | 16.8 IBUs Amarillo—30 min. Whirlpool | 0 IBUs Amarillo (flameout) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Hop Addition 5 | 22 IBUs Nugget—30 min. Whirlpool | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Dry Hop | 2.5 oz. Amarillo, 2 oz. Nugget (10 days) | N/A | 2 oz. Amarillo @ Day 1; 2 oz. Amarillo @ Day 4 | 1 oz. Amarillo & 0.5 oz. Nugget @ Day 2, 1 oz. Amarillo @ Day 8; 2 oz. Amarillo & 0.5 oz. @ Day 8 | N/A |
| Yeast | WLP090 at 64°F, raised to 70°F | WLP090 at 66°F, raised to 72°F; WLP810 at 63°F | WLP810 at 65°F, raised to 68°F | WLP090 | WLP810 at 60°F, raised to 65°F |
| OG | 1.059 | 1.058 | 1.050 | 1.063 | 1.055 |
| FG | 1.012 | 1.009/1.014 | 1.010 | 1.012 | 1.013 |
| ABV | 6.2% | 6.5%/5.8% | 5.3% | 6.7% | 5.5% |
| Beer 6 | Beer 7 | |
|---|---|---|
| Style | California Common | Hoppy Wheat |
| Maris Otter | 30% | 21% |
| Light Munich | 60% | 12% |
| Wheat | 10% | 67% |
| Hop Addition 1 | 28.2 IBUs Nugget (30 min.) | 23 IBUs Nugget (45 min.) |
| Hop Addition 2 | 4.35 IBUs Amarillo (5 min.) | 8.2 IBUs Nugget (15 min.) |
| Hop Addition 3 | 1 oz. Amarillo (165ºF Whirlpool for 20 min.) | N/A |
| Hop Addition 4 | N/A | N/A |
| Hop Addition 5 | N/A | N/A |
| Dry Hop | 2 oz. Amarillo | 1 oz. Amarillo for 9 days; 1 oz. Amarillo for 4 days |
| Yeast | WLP810 at 65°F | WLP090 at 65°F for 5 days; raised to 72°F over 5 days |
| OG | 1.050 | 1.059 |
| FG | 1.012 | 1.009 |
| ABV | 5% | 6.6% |