Category Archives: wheat beer

Humboldt’s Hefeweizen 2026

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I finally perfected my weissbier recipe, and with that locked in it’s time to rebrew! My current version is same as the previous in technique, but I swapped in Weyermann pale wheat malt instead of Briess red wheat malt, and used Briess pilsen malt instead of Rahr’s equivalent. Upon starting this quest, I was excited to see if I could replicate the excellent results of my previous attempt. Overall, I wasn’t disappointed (but have a few notes).

Recipe Name

  • 7 lb. pale wheat malt (Weyermann)
  • 4 lb. pilsner malt (Briess)
  • 0.5 lb. rice hulls
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB (mash)
  • 1 oz. Sterling whole hops (4.5% alpha estimated), 45 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. yeast nutrient (White Labs WLN1000)
  • 1 pkg. Munich Classic Wheat Beer yeast (Lallemand)

Target Parameters

  • 1.050 o.g., 1.010 f.g., 5.4% abv, 14 IBU, 3 SRM
  • Full volume mash, no sparge, 113° mash for 20 minutes, 145° mash for 45 minutes, 162° mash for 30 minutes
  • RO and neutralized Claremont tap water, mixed to hit 43 ppm Ca, 3 ppm Mg, 38 ppm Na, 29 ppm SO4, 43 ppm Cl, 4 ppm CaCO3, RA=-29, effective hardness=33 ppm.
  • 5.25 gallon batch

Procedure

  • I collected 2.9 gallons of Claremont tap water and neutralized it with 2.1 mL of 88% lactic acid and a small bit of Campden tablet. Then, I added 4.5 gallons of RO water, to hit my mash water profile.
  • I started the mash at 113° for 20 minutes, to enable a ferulic acid rest. Then, I raised the mash to 145° for 45 minutes, and finally ended at 162° for 30 minutes. Once the mash was done, I pulled the grains and heated the runnings to a boil.
  • The kettle had 6.6 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.043, for 69% mash efficiency. I’m pretty happy with that, as the previous batch had a lower efficiency.
  • Once the kettle was boiling, I added finings per the schedule and then turned off the heat after 60 minutes. As a procedural note, I had a 3 liter boil-off during my boil at 74% power on the Foundry (25 liters down to 22 liters).
  • I chilled the wort to 80° and then transferred to the fermenter, chilling down to 68° in my fermentation chamber, before pitching the yeast. I held the temperature here for fermentation.
  • I brewed this beer on 26 July 2026. Starting gravity was 1.049, just a shade off target, but nothing significant.
  • I kegged the beer on 11 August 2026, splitting it into two 2.5 gallon kegs, with 3.5 oz. of corn sugar into each. One keg was full up, the other around three-quarters full. I let the kegs carbonate at room temperature. This batch was split because I wanted to take some to a festival, but in my experience a full 5 gallons usually isn’t necessary (we rotate the kegs mid-way through the afternoon and have a full tap selection, so it’s rare to kick 5 gallons in 2 or 3 hours).
  • Final gravity was 1.013, for 4.8% abv.
  • I moved the kegs into the chest freezer on 17 August 2026, and topped up with forced carbonation. The sampled beer was really nice, with an excellent clove aroma. However, that was at room temperature, so we’ll see how it manifests once it is at serving temperature.
  • As a note, the less full keg had a pressure of 40 psi at 85°, so around 2.6 to 2.8 volumes of CO2.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • When done properly, this beer pours with a pillowy and persistent white head. It’s not quite as fine of bubbles as on the last edition, though. This is a pale straw beer, with a high level of yeast haze.
  • Aroma
    • Medium level of clove-like yeast character, and very light banana, and a little pineapple comes through, also. The latter is not at all bubblegum-like; it’s truly pineapple, which is interesting to me. Slight doughy malt aroma.
  • Flavor
    • The yeast flavor is at a moderately high level; mostly clove with a low level of banana and a little pineapple, also. Doughy malt character at a moderate level. Slight tartness to the beer, accentuated by the high level of carbonation. Medium low bitterness.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, spritzy carbonation, light and slightly dry finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is a solid recipe overall. I feel like a touch more body would be nice; I might mash at a higher temperature next time. This is a highly drinkable beer, but I’ll notch back hops slightly in future batches. A stronger yeast flavor/aroma would be nice, too. Maybe I need to go to a higher fermentation temperature? Given that the foam wasn’t quite as fine as on my first version, I think I’ll switch back to red wheat malt for my next one. Looking at the stats sheets, Briess Red Wheat Malt seems to have a higher average protein than the Weyermann White Wheat Malt (12.5% versus 10 to 13%), and I think I like the flavor on the Briess product a little better. I know, it’s heresy to use American over German ingredients in this style!
  • Overall
    • 7.5/10

Salty One Gose

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I’ve never made a gose before! This confession is probably not terribly surprising for those who know my brewing preferences, because I find most sour beers a little too annoying to deal with. Kettle sours take time, and other sour processes are prone to contamination of subsequent batches in the same equipment. Plus, I find many sours just a little too sour to be drinkable beyond a half glass. That said, gose is only lightly tart and lower alcohol, which puts it into the space of beers I enjoy. I think the main thing deterring me from the style in the past was the annoyance of having to dial in the sourness without overshooting (undershooting?) the pH.

Then, I spotted a neat recipe in the January 2025 Zymurgy magazine–a brew called “Salty One Gose” that won gold in the European Sour Ale category at NHC 2024. Crafted by Jonathan Hernandez of Waterville, Maine, the beer drew my interest because it used kettle soured sauergut added to the main kettle in order to hit the perfect level of sourness. So, you’re essentially blending wort for a desired result.

I modified this beer only slightly from the original recipe. The published version was 6 gallons, so I reduced it towards a 5.25 gallon batch. I also adjusted the amount of pilsner malt required downwards, anticipating high efficiency (as is typical of my batches with minimal grain volumes). I used a mix of Viking and MCM malt, because I had a pound of the latter on-hand to use up. Finally, I used whole Saaz hop cones from South Dakota; hops are a minor consideration for this style, so I wasn’t too concerned about alpha level, aroma, or flavor.

Coriander choice took some thought–although I have it on-hand for cooking, it had been in the pantry for a few years, and I was worried about freshness. So, I ordered a small quantity online; the package didn’t document origin of the spice, but when I smelled the crushed seeds they had the fresh lemon quality I was looking for.

Recipe Name

  • 1 gallon sauergut (added to kettle at boil)
    • 1 lb. pilsen light DME (Briess)
    • 1 pkg. Wildbrew Sour Pitch (Lallemand)
  • 3.5 lb. white wheat malt (Briess)
  • 2.5 lb. pilsner zero malt (Viking)
  • 1 lb. pilsner malt (Montana Craft Malting)
  • 2 oz. rice hulls
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 1 oz. Saaz whole hops (est. 1.5% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 8 g. coriander seed, crushed, 10 minute boil
  • 13.1 g kosher salt, added at end of boil
  • 1 pkg. Köln Kölsch-style yeast (Lallemand)

Target Parameters

  • Full volume mash with 5 minute rest at 131°, 40 minute rest at 147°, 30 minute rest at 161°, and 10 minute rest at 168°
  • 1.042 o.g., 1.007 f.g., 4.6% abv, 5 IBU, 3 SRM
  • Mash water adjusted to 37 ppm Ca, 20 ppm SO4, and 51 ppm Cl.

Procedure

  • Two days before the primary brew day (April 3), I measured out 1.1 gallons of RO water (4.164 kg), added 1 lb. of Briess pilsen light dry malt extract, 1.5 tsp. (7.5 mL) of 88% lactic acid, and then boiled this for 4 minutes. Next, I chilled the wort to 90°, before pitching the entire packet of the lacto culture.
  • I started the initial culture on the evening of 3 April 2025, kept a heating pad under it, and wrapped it in a blanket, to hold temperature at 85° to 90°.
  • By April 5, the pH looked to be around 3.2 or 3.3 as measured by pH strips. This was brew day!
  • I mashed in with 6.5 gallons of RO water and mineral adjustments, with 0.9 g gypsum and 2.6 g calcium chloride. I heated the strike water to 134°; once the grains were added, I held the temperature at 131° for 5 minutes, before heating to 147° for 40 minutes, raising to 161° for 30 minutes, and then mashing out at 168° for 10 minutes.
  • Because I had such a low volume of grains, I had exceptional mash efficiency at 1.034 with 6.9 gallons, for 89% mash efficiency.
  • As the main runnings were coming to a boil, I boiled the saurgut prepared earlier and added it to the kettle, getting a pre-boil gravity of 1.035.
  • I brought the kettle to a boil, adding hops, BrewTanB, coriander, and salt per the recipe. After a full 90 minute boil, I turned off the heat and chilled to 72° before transferring to the fermenter.
  • I chilled the wort to 64° in the fermenter, holding it at that temperature for initial fermentation.
  • I brewed the beer on 5 April 2025, and had a starting gravity of 1.043.
  • I kegged the beer on 18 May 2025, with closed transfer. Final gravity was 1.009, for 4.5% abv.
  • My tasting at the time of kegging showed it to be an exceptional beer–the coriander flavor and aroma were perfect, as was the salt balance. After the initial carbonation and tastes, I decided to up the carbonation to about 3.2 volumes.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • A light yellow, moderately hazy beer, pouring with a fluffy white head of excellent persistence; the head leaves lacing down the side of the glass.
  • Aroma
    • Bright, medium-light aroma of coriander and fresh sea breeze; a light bread dough aroma behind that
  • Flavor
    • Lightly and pleasantly tart; a light lemony coriander flavor alongside fresh sea breeze from the salt. “Doughy” malt flavor of medium intensity. Low bitterness, with no hop character to speak of.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Rounded mouthfeel, high level of carbonation, dry mouthfeel on the finish, medium-light body. Very drinkable and very refreshing!
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • Yes! This is an amazing beer and a solid first attempt at a gose. I had to adjust the carbonation upwards a bit, because it was a bit flabby on my first few pours, but once that was dialed in it notched the beer to perfection. The coriander and salt balance are spot-on, as is the level of tartness. I might use K-97 next time around, to retain the haze at a slightly higher level for longer, but this is just an awesome beer as is. I especially like the partial kettle sour method, so that I was able to hit a low level of acidity with minimal fuss.
  • Overall
    • 10/10

Otter-Squatch Wheat Ale

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A light wheat ale is an American homebrew classic, but it has been awhile since I last made this style. I threw together a simple recipe, which is upside-down from my usual blend of 60/40 wheat/2-row. There was no particular reason for this, other than it just seemed like the thing to do. I had a hop variety on-hand called Sasquatch, and decided to use those up here. My preference on American wheat ales is a little fruity/citrusy yeast character, rather than super clean or super phenolic. Lutra kveik seemed like a perfect yeast choice along those lines; clean-ish, but not overly clean, and potential for some interesting flavors. “Lutra” is also the scientific name for a genus of otters; along with Sasquatch hops, I ended up calling this batch “Otter-Squatch Wheat Ale.”

Otter-Squatch Wheat Ale

  • 6 lb. 2-row malt (Great Western)
  • 4 lb. white wheat malt (Briess)
  • 4 oz. rice hulls
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, added to mash
  • 1 oz. Sasquatch hop pellets (7.5% alpha), 20 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Sasquatch hop pellets (7.5% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Lutra kveik (Omega OYL-071), dry

Target Parameters

  • 1.046 s.g., 1.009 f.g., 23 IBU, 4 SRM, 4.9% abv
  • Full volume mash, 60 minute mash at 152°, 10 minute mash-out at 168°
  • RO water with added minerals to hit target of 78 ppm Ca, 86 ppm SO4, 74 ppm Cl, -55 ppm RA

Procedure

  • I started with 7.3 gallons of RO water, adding 4.25 g of calcium chloride and 4.25 g of gypsum to hit my target water profile. Then, I heated the water to 157° before adding the grains, to hit a mash temperature of 152°.
  • I held the mash with recirculation at 152° for 60 minutes, before raising the mash to 168° for 10 minutes.
  • At the end of the mash, I removed the grains and heated to a boil. In total, I collected 6.6 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.039, for 69% mash efficiency.
  • I heated the runnings to a boil, boiling for 60 minutes and adding hops per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat and chilled 85° before transferring the beer to the fermenter and pitching the yeast.
  • Starting gravity was 1.044, and I brewed the beer on 28 February 2025. I fermented the beer at room temperature ambient, between 60 and 65°.
  • I kegged the beer on 24 March 2025. Final gravity was 1.009, for 4.6% abv. I added 3.25 oz. of corn sugar to get some natural carbonation and scrub any oxygen from the transfer process. At the time of kegging, the beer had a very mild flavor and was quite drinkable! I finished up things with a bit of force carbonation, after the beer sat for a few weeks.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Lightly hazy, light yellow beer, which pours with a creamy and long-lasting white head.
  • Aroma
    • Doughy and tart, lemony aroma, at a moderate level of each.
  • Flavor
    • Moderate doughy malt character, light tartness to yeast and a very slight phenolic note (peppery, perhaps?). The latter is almost imperceptible; I can’t quite describe it. Medium-low bitterness.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Light bodied, moderately high carbonation, slightly dry finish. Crisp!
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is a tasty beer! It defies styles a little bit; it’s probably closest to an American wheat ale, but not quite on target. It’s very drinkable! The kveik flavors probably aren’t for everyone, but work well in this particular batch.
  • Overall
    • 9/10

Humboldt’s Hefeweizen 2024

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I have made weissbiers (hefeweizens) a few times previously, with decent but not consistent results. This is a style that can be quite enjoyable or quite awful, so I invested some time into learning more of the underlying ingredients and techniques for a tasty, traditional recipe. An article at brau!magazine was incredibly useful, with lots of detailed suggestions. I reformulated my previous Humboldt’s Hefeweizen (because I like the name) for this batch.

My first big decision–perhaps the most important–was yeast choice and fermentation control. Without a good yeast character, you don’t have a good hefeweizen (in my opinion). I am fairly committed to using dry yeast whenever possible because the convenience can’t be beat, and I wanted to give Lallemand’s Munich Classic another chance. My previous attempt was okay, but had little of the yeast character I wanted. That batch was fermented cool (~65°), and I knew I should up the temperature a bit to get more “oomph” to the yeast. So, I aimed for 67°. Working backwards, I decided a ferrulic acid rest would be critical–my previous batch didn’t use that, and I think that factor also set back beer quality.

My second decision concerned the grist. Past beers were ~45 to 55 percent wheat, and I wanted to increase that. This time around, I aimed for over 60 percent wheat, in hopes that it would 1) be more true to style; and 2) tilt the head quality in a positive direction.

I had fun formulating the batch and figuring out what would give the best results. The end product was definitely worth it!

Humboldt’s Hefeweizen 2024

  • 6.75 lb. red wheat malt (Briess)
  • 4 lb. pilsner malt (Rahr)
  • 0.5 lb. rice hulls
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB (mash)
  • 1 oz. Sterling whole hops (4.5% alpha estimated), 45 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. yeast nutrient (White Labs WLN1000)
  • 1 pkg. Munich Classic Wheat Beer yeast (Lallemand)

Target Parameters

  • 1.049 o.g., 1.010 f.g., 5.2% abv, 14 IBU, 5 SRM
  • Full volume mash, no sparge, 113° mash for 20 minutes, 145° mash for 45 minutes, 162° mash for 30 minutes
  • RO and Claremont tap water, mixed to hit 10 ppm Ca, 4 ppm Mg, 18 ppm Na, 16 ppm SO4, 19 ppm Cl, 3 ppm CaCO3, RA=-7, effective hardness=10 ppm.

Procedure

  • I collected 2.5 gallons of Claremont tap water and neutralized it with 1.76 mL of 88% lactic acid and a small bit of Campden tablet. Then, I added 5 gallons of RO water, to hit my mash water profile.
  • I started the mash at 113° for 20 minutes, to enable a ferulic acid rest. Then, I raised the mash to 145° for 45 minutes, and finally ended at 162° for 30 minutes. Once the mash was done, I pulled the grains and heated the runnings to a boil.
  • The kettle had 6.6 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.040, for 65% mash efficiency. This was a touch lower than I anticipated, but that may be due to the high amount of wheat.
  • Once the kettle was boiling, I added finings per the schedule and then turned off the heat after 60 minutes. A slightly greater boil vigor was used to increase gravity. I chilled the wort to 66° and then transferred to the fermenter.
  • I brewed this beer on 14 April 2024. Starting gravity was 1.048, nearly exactly to target.
  • After pitching the yeast, I started fermentation at ambient for a few hours, and then transferred the fermenter into my fermentation chamber set for 67°. Fermentation seemed to take off pretty quickly!
  • I kegged the beer on 24 April 2024. The beer had an amazing aroma–a decent amount of spicy phenol and a hint of banana; exactly what I was looking for! I carbonted to a higher level, around 3.5 volumes of CO2.
  • Final gravity was 1.014, for 4.4% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Pours with a merangue-like, tall, gorgeous white head that sticks around for ages and leaves gorgeous lacing on the glass. The beer itself is straw yellow and hazy beer. It’s exactly as a fresh hefeweizen should be!
  • Aroma
    • Yeast at the forefront, with a medium-high level of yeast character–primarily clove plus a touch of banana.
  • Flavor
    • Even balance of clove and banana, and a light dough malt character behind that. Low level of bitterness.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Light body. medium-high carbonation, smooth, lightly dry finish (from the hops?).
  • Would I brew this again?
    • This is the best hefeweizen I have made. Everything ran perfectly, and I wouldn’t change a thing. The yeast quality is perfect, head is perfect, all is amazing. It had a sulphur aroma and flavor early on; this faded in a few days.
    • Overall
      • 10/10

2022 Orange Summer Wheat Ale

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This was a quick brew to serve at a homebrew festival…I roughly followed past recipes, and used zest from 5 Valencia oranges soaked in 4 oz. of vodka for the orange flavoring (added at kegging). It was my first brew back on my batch sparge system (while my Anvil Foundry was temporarily down). I had some major efficiency issues–I suspect maybe a poor crush for the grains–and thus had to improvise heavily with extract. The brew definitely didn’t go as planned, but at least it got done. My subsequent brews in the old mash tun went much better, thank goodness, and now I’m back on the Foundry!

2022 Orange Summer Wheat Ale

  • 6.5 lb. red wheat malt
  • 3.25 lb. 2-row pale malt
  • 6 oz. Viking dextrin malt
  • 8 oz. rice hulls
  • 0.8 oz. Sterling hop pellets (7.5% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. WLN1000 yeast nutrient (White Labs)
  • 1 pkg. German Ale Yeast (SafAle K97)

Target Parameters

  • 1.043 s.g., 1.011 f.g., 4.3% abv, 21 IBU, 4 SRM
  • Full volume mash, no sparge, 152°
  • Claremont tap water, Campden tablet added to remove chloramines

Procedure

  • I added 8 gallons of water to the mash tun, letting it settle to 157° before adding the grains and 8 mL of 88% lactic acid to adjust pH. The mash settled around 152° initially, and I let it sit for 75 minutes before vorlaufing and collecting the runnings.
  • In total, I collected 6.3 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.027, for barely 45% mash efficiency. This is some of the worst efficiency I have ever had, and I’m not sure why. I suspect either I had a poor crush with the high volume of wheat malt, or perhaps the wheat malt didn’t have the enzyme potential expected (which doesn’t make complete sense to me), or some other factor. In any case, I had to improvise major-time and add 1.5 lb. of extra light Briess DME to bring the gravity into a tolerable range.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, boiling for 60 minutes and adding hops and finings per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the flame and chilled down to ~70° before transferring to the fermenter.
  • I brewed this beer on 10 April 2022. Starting gravity was 1.044. Once I pitched the yeast, I fermented at ~65°.
  • Prior to brew day, I zested 5 fresh-picked Valencia oranges and put the rind into a 4 oz. bottle topped up with vodka. On kegging day, I strained out the zest.
  • I kegged the beer on 23 April 2022, and added the orange tincture at that point.
  • Final gravity was 1.010, for 4.5% abv.
  • I force carbonated, and it was served at a beer festival on April 30. I couldn’t attend, and got the keg back. Two weeks later, I transferred to a pinlock keg for serving. I didn’t have my usual ball lock quick disconnect handy, so I had to do the less-than-desirable task of transferring directly into the keg and then purging it with CO2 via the pressure relief valve.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • The beer is cloudy and a sort of muddy reddish orange color. The head is white and persistent.
  • Aroma
    • A fairly pleasant orange and orange blossom aroma is prominent, but not much else.
  • Flavor
    • Orange and doughy malt flavors, with a moderate level of bitterness.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Light body, moderate carbonation, dry finish. There is a somewhat unpleasant astringency on the finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This was a very disappointing version of my normally likable orange wheat ale. The orange character is nice, and K97 is an awesome American wheat ale yeast, but the astringency and muddy coloration keep this from being a winner. So many things went sideways on this brew that I have no doubt my next iteration will be far superior. All blame goes to technique flaws, not the recipe itself. This batch is not a complete dumper, but it comes very close.
  • Overall
    • 3/10