Dry hopping a wheat? Am I crazy?

[lpstudio18]

So I just brewed up the following recipe, my second all-grain brew.

5.5lbs 2 Row
4 lbs White Wheat
1 lb Munich
0.5 lbs Caramel 40

0.5 oz Tettnang @45min
1 oz Czech Saaz @30min
1 oz Cascade @ flame out
0.5 oz Czech Saaz @ flame out

1.5 oz Orange peel @ 5min

We're considering dry hopping it, inspired by 3 Floyds' Gumballhead. We were thinking probably do 1 oz of Cascade for the dry hop.

I'm only ~7 batches in, so I'm no expert on recipe construction. I'm just wondering what others' opinions are on doing this and if anyone else has had success. I know that Gumballhead has a much different hop schedule and overall character, so I just want to make sure I'm not going to make it horrible. Also, not looking to stay within any sort of style guidelines.

 

[wdwalter]

Crazy. Can't say I've ever had a wheat that was overly hoppy so I can't say it would be terrible. I think I just prefer a subdued hop character in my wheats. It would be interesting though

 

[rossi46]

I've dry hopped a wheat, it was good. I used 1 oz of cascade for 7 days, room temp.

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

Hoppy wheat is probably one of my most common summer beers. My favorite is probably amarillo followed by sorachi ace.

 

[Bennywisest]

What yeast do you plan to use? Dry-hopping would work alright for an American wheat, but doubt it would work out well with the banana/clove flavors of a Hefe.

 

[Xpertskir]

What yeast do you plan to use? Dry-hopping would work alright for an American wheat, but doubt it would work out well with the banana/clove flavors of a Hefe.

this is good advice.

I make American Wheats frequently. A gumball head type beer is a house staple, everyone loves it, even people who dont like beer.


I dryhop most of my AW with 2ish oz of hops.

A neutral ale yeast is IMO critical to the success of the beer, hefe or wit yeasts are a no go. The yeasts I have used with success are WLP001, US05, Conan, and my new personal favorite WLP029(kolsch).

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

Sounds like a great idea i would just sub out some citrusy american hops over those spicy nobles...
Cascade DH might clash with that saaz and tettang

 

[ammo]

I don't think it sounds crazy! I have a Belgian Wit IPA that is 7 days in the carboy. During the boil I added a total of 3 oz. of hops: Columbus, Cluster, and Centennial, at 60 min, 15 min, and 5 min respectively. I am adding 1 more oz. of Cascade after the fermentation slows, probably at week 2, and then will dry hop it for two weeks before bottling time! I have not done this before, but I am trying to make something like Collaboration No. 2 from Boulevard Brewing... one of my favorites.

 

[Jayslay]

Ammo, that beers sounds like a tranny, haha! Could be good though, but in my head Im thinking IPA= hops + malt balance and Wit = yeast flavors and spice balance... Not sure the hops would let your coriander..bitter orange shine, and I think it might also smother the yeast. But I've been proven wrong, regularly even. Let me know how it turns out! I just brewed a Belgian Wit yesterday and bottled my IPA as well so they are fresh on my mind!

It just seems to me like a bighorn ram attacking a baby goat. Adventurous!

 

[danebramaged]

Deschutes has a good example of beer like this.
http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/brew/chainbreaker-white-ipa

 

[Spartan1979]

Are you crazy? No. But it also sounds like you don't get out much.

 

[Beernik]

Dry hopped my imperial hefeweizen with Williamette. I used Wyeast 3068 yeast.

 

[HomebrewNate]

My last batch was a dry hopped Apricot Wheat beer... I wanted that floral citrusy aroma without a lot of the bitterness. I dry hopped with an ounce of Falconner's Flight in the secondary and it came out great! My only advice would be to not overdo the hops, as they can quickly overpower your wheat attributes and leave you with a wheaty-IPA instead of a hopped-wheat.

And just remember, nothing is too crazy when homebrewing!

 

[drainbamage]

What yeast do you plan to use? Dry-hopping would work alright for an American wheat, but doubt it would work out well with the banana/clove flavors of a Hefe.

+1. Try an American hefe yeast. They ferment a little cleaner (not quite as cloudy and fewer esters) than the German hefe strains. Other than that, it should turn out fine. Gumballhead is a very surprising but good beer.

 

[GuldTuborg]

Not unheard of, but as stated above, it all depends upon what yeast you use. Use of wheat malt by itself doesn't really tell us much. It's the yeast that counts.

 

[beergolf]

Gumballhead is a great example of a highly hopped wheat. Lose the noble hops and use something citrusy. I am doing one tomorrow with a lot of Amarillo in it.

Use a clean yeast and you are good.

 

[passedpawn]

<-- El Dorado Wheat, in my Recipe pulldown. Dry hopped with El Dorado hops. Or, here.

 

[L1truckie]

Deschutes has a good example of beer like this.
http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/brew/chainbreaker-white-ipa

+100 !!! Great beer! I would go for something like this.......

I would also add.. have a simple all grain wheat you can brew consistently, if your just starting all grain, then start making minor changes, with so many ingredients in a big recipe its tough to know what you want tweaked...just a humble opinion from a nobody Best of luck!!

 

[smalliewader]

I've done quite a few and they are tasty. As others said, American Wheat yeast and stick to citrus hops. I've made very good wheats dry hopped with Citra and Galaxy. I keep my bittering hops, usually Cascade on the low end during the boil (around 30-35 ibu) and then dry hop.