Lemon Wheat

[Squirrels]

Asking for input on a summer brew I plan on doing:

Type: All grain
Size: 10 gallons
Color: 3 HCU (~3 SRM)
Bitterness: 11 IBU
OG: 1.043
Grain:
7 lb. American 2-row
9 lb. Wheat malt
Hops:
.75 oz. Cascade (5.0% AA, 60 min.)
.25 oz. Citra (13.9% AA, 10 min.)
.25 oz. Sorachi Ace (10.5% aroma)
Yeast:
Wyeast 1010

Mash:152
Mash length 90
Boil:60
Lemon zest of two medium lemons added at flame-out

My goal is a nice wheat with lemon flavor, but where you still can taste the beer. Does anyone think that I have too much wheat in the recipe?

I've never brewed a wheat so any input is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[mux]

Your hop schedule is throwing me off. Cascade and citra would play nice together but, not sure about a wheat beer. What if you single hop use only sorachi? Also- 11 IBU?

 

[lumpher]

that looks good, but i'd probably add zest of 3 or even 4 lemons ( depends on if it's marble-sized or decent-sized lemons) for 10g. what abv are you looking for? that will make about 4.4

 

[HellBentBrewCo]

I brewed something similar. I would ditch the cascade, increase the citra and sorachi to at least an ounce each and move citra to 60 minutes. I also added an ounce of cut orange peel and 1.5oz of lemon zest at 5 minutes. Should be ready to drink next week.

 

[msa8967]

You probably already thpught of this but you might want to add some rice hulls to the mashtun to help prevent a stuck sparge with that much wheat. Some books say that wheat should not be more thatn 40% of the grain bill but I think your recipe looks good for the grains. I usually like to add 1/2 lb of honey malt to complement any lemon I put in my wheats for summer beers.

 

[tgmartin000]

I'd up the ibu to 20ish. I plan on zest of 3 lemons, a pound of honey, and noble hops for a wheat I'm doing next week. Also rice hulls are a good suggestion. .

 

[Squirrels]

I like the idea of upping the amount of zest. I don't think I'm going to change the hops as I really am going for a middle of the road American wheat with bitterness (no more than 15 IBUs).

The single hop idea is intriguing, but the first 45 minutes will do not much more than bittering (little flavor or aroma). The Citra is being used to add a citrus bite, the cascade will finish clean. The Sorachi is just there for the lemon aroma.

ABV is targeted around 4ish percent - I want something I can drink a few of!

Rice hulls might be a good idea. I BIAB - so I'm not sure if it would matter. I'll have to research into this.

Thanks for the thoughts!

 

[mux]

No need for rice hulls for BIAB. I like brewing single hop beers, they can be more complex than you'd think.

 

[D3ling]

I always hear that Wheat's don't take as long in primary.
I've got a similar 5g recipe batch in primary right now. I'm sitting at 10 days right now with temps 66-70 and still has a slow bubble coming out of my airlock. I haven't checked gravity yet since I was planning on waiting 2 weeks before checking. For my ales I've been waiting till the 3rd week to rack to 2ndary and let it sit 1 more week/cold crash and bottle.
Since this is a wheat, I was planning on 2 weeks primary, 1 week 2ndary and bottle without cold crashing.
Is my thought process flawed? How long did you wait? OR How did it turn out/where are you in the process?
Any suggestions?
D3

 

[Squirrels]

I would skip the secondary and just let it sit 1 more week in the primary. The yeast will clean up the beer a bit more. I think you just need to use your hydrometer over a few days and see if it drops. If it doesn't you're done, if it does wait.

I waited 3 weeks for one batch and 4 for another because they fermented out at different rates. Both worked.

 

[D3ling]

So it's the bottle/keg aging that is better off "young," that makes a little more sense. You'll have to forgive me, I'm still finding my way in the homebrew world.