Wheatwine 2 Brewday

Recipe: BJCP Wheatwine
Style: Wheatwine
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.64 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.51 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal 
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.116 SG
Estimated Color: 12.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 47.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 73.9 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU       
5.50 gal              Boston, MA                               Water         1        -           
8.00 g                Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   2        -           
5.00 g                Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins)        Water Agent   3        -           
2 lbs                 Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM)                     Adjunct       4        7.3 %       
6 lbs                 Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)                Grain         5        22.0 %      
4 lbs                 Triticale (3.0 SRM)                      Grain         6        14.7 %      
4 lbs                 Wheat Malt, Dark (9.0 SRM)               Grain         7        14.7 %      
3 lbs                 Munich (BestMälz) (7.6 SRM)              Grain         8        11.0 %      
3 lbs                 Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)            Grain         9        11.0 %      
1 lbs                 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)    Grain         10       3.7 %       
1 lbs                 Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)                    Grain         11       3.7 %       
1 lbs                 Wheat - Red Malt (Briess) (2.3 SRM)      Grain         12       3.7 %       
8.0 oz                Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)                  Grain         13       1.8 %       
4.0 oz                Acid Malt (3.0 SRM)                      Grain         14       0.9 %       
1 lbs 8.0 oz          Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM)         Sugar         15       5.5 %       
0.25 oz               Warrior [15.00 %] - Boil 45.0 min        Hop           16       7.0 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Cascade [9.30 %] - Boil 10.0 min         Hop           17       6.8 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Centennial [9.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min      Hop           18       6.6 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Pacifica [5.20 %] - Boil 10.0 min        Hop           19       3.8 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Cascade [9.30 %] - Boil 5.0 min          Hop           20       3.8 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Centennial [9.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min       Hop           21       3.6 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Pacifica [5.20 %] - Boil 5.0 min         Hop           22       2.1 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Cascade [9.30 %] - Boil 1.0 min          Hop           23       0.8 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Centennial [9.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min       Hop           24       0.8 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Pacifica [5.20 %] - Boil 1.0 min         Hop           25       0.5 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Cascade [9.30 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  15.0 Hop           26       4.7 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Centennial [9.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  1 Hop           27       4.5 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Pacifica [5.20 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  15. Hop           28       2.6 IBUs    
2.0 pkg               California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35. Yeast         29       -           
1.0 pkg               Safale American  (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)  Yeast         30       -           


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 27 lbs 4.0 oz
----------------------------
Name                    Description                                          Step Temperat Step Time   
Mash Step               Add 31.61 qt of water at 108.7 F                     104.0 F       10 min      
Mash Step               Add 0.00 qt of water and heat to 131.0 F over 10 min 131.0 F       15 min      
Mash Step               Heat to 146.0 F over 10 min                          146.0 F       40 min      
Mash Step               Heat to 158.0 F over 10 min                          158.0 F       15 min      
Mash Step               Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min                          168.0 F       15 min      

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 4.07gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------

Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11/8/17: 2L starter with the liquid yeast/

Brewed 11/11/17

Direct heat on oven, constantly recirculating with March pump. Some problems w/ clogging pump. Problematic in terms of keeping the entire mash at the right temperature, stirred occasionally with mash paddle. But more or less seemed to hit temps within a couple of degrees after stirring the mash. This is a time consuming process.

Collected 7.4 gallons of pre-boil wort, 1.077 SG, before sugar addition.

Began boil, added sugar after 45 min.

At knockout, my counterflow chiller got clogged with the large volume of hops. Stirred the wort a bit with my big spoon, then went to Plan B - using my immersion cooler. Chilled to 80F by using near freezing cooling water.

Racked about 5.25 gallons to carboy. Wort looked kind of ruddy brown color - not appealing. May have gotten some darkening from the direct heat mash and / or the long boil. Or maybe the triticale gives the beer a grayish color.

OG was ~ 1.106. So, not great efficiency. Brew day did not go well.

Allowed to cool to 62F. Around 10pm, oxygenated 90s, pitched decanted starter and rehydrated dry yeast.

11/10/17: 8am, fermentation starting. By the morning of 11/11, very active fermentation.

1/5/18: Wheatwine has been in secondary for about a month, with about .75 gal of headspace. Brewed a 1.25 gallon top up with a similar grain bill and pitched some champagne yeast and US-05. Once the fermentation on that was slowing, racked it on to the wheatwine, leaving very little headspace. There was some continuing fermentation as the fresh and alcohol tolerant yeast consumed the remaining simple sugars.

1/19/18: Gravity was 1.020. Sample had a wheaty, malty taste, with thick body, definite alcohol bite, moderately sweet taste balanced by alcohol. I found the booze a bit sharp. Hoping it will melow as the beer ages.

Partigyle Meta-Hefeweissen:

Added 3.25 gallons of 155F water to the mash, collected ~ 3 gallons. Boiled 30 minutes, adding .25 oz of Cascade at start of boil.

Naturally cooled in the winter air overnight. Oxygenated 30s, pitched recycled WLP380 yeast directly from the decanted mason jar.
 

Wheat Wine Review

Appearance: Deep amber and red body. Off white head that dissipates fairly quickly. Light haze despite the enormous wheat content. Pretty good-looking beer.

Aroma: Dominated by malty sweetness. Smells a bit like malt candy, but with added fruity notes from hops. Malt and hops are both intense, but the hoppiness less so; they blend pretty well.

Taste: Complex. Malt candy like sweetness, good bitterness melding with significant alcohol bite and warmth. Alcohol may be slightly harsh. Honey malt comes through. Perhaps a little too sweet. Hoppy flavors in the dank-fruity style are there but definitely dominated by malt. I do not get a super fruity or juicy character. To me, doesn't taste quite like any other beer I've had or made, since it has so much malt candy character.

Mouthfeel: Very thick and chewy. Carbonation is light to medium. Aftertaste is alcoholic.

Overall: Really not sure what to think. Is it to style? Is it underattenuated and too sweet? Really I have no idea. I like it but think that it's probably too sweet - maybe that's why it has the candy-like aroma and taste. Or maybe that's because of the honey malt and potential caramelization during the long boil and direct-heated step mash.

I compared it against the Smuttynose Wheatwine, both a 2016 and 2012 vintage. Mine is sweeter and hoppier, and maybe a bit more alcoholic. 

 Would brew again - next time making sure to hit a low mash temp for maximum attenuation, and to pitch enough health yeast to get a drier beer.

Wheatwine & Brett Table Saison Brew Day

I've been wanting to brew a Wheat Wine Ale for while, ever since seeing the recipe in Modern Homebrew Recipes. Of course, I made some substitutions for the hops and grain that were available to me. And, since 24.5 pounds of grain is a lot, I decided to get a batch of Brett Saison with the partigyle batch.

Wheat Wine ferments

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Wheatwine
Style: Wheatwine
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.64 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.51 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal  
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.121 SG
Estimated Color: 12.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 48.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 73.9 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU        
5.50 gal              Boston, MA                               Water         1        -            
8.00 g                Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   2        -            
5.00 g                Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins)        Water Agent   3        -            
2 lbs                 Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM)                     Adjunct       4        7.1 %        
10 lbs                Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)                Grain         5        35.7 %       
4 lbs                 Wheat Malt, Dark (9.0 SRM)               Grain         6        14.3 %       
3 lbs                 Munich (BestMälz) (7.6 SRM)              Grain         7        10.7 %       
3 lbs                 Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)            Grain         8        10.7 %       
1 lbs                 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)    Grain         9        3.6 %        
1 lbs                 Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)                    Grain         10       3.6 %        
1 lbs                 Wheat - Red Malt (Briess) (2.3 SRM)      Grain         11       3.6 %        
1 lbs                 Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)                  Grain         12       3.6 %        
8.0 oz                Acid Malt (3.0 SRM)                      Grain         13       1.8 %        
1 lbs 8.0 oz          Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM)         Sugar         14       5.4 %        
1.00 oz               Equinox (HBC 366) [14.20 %] - Boil 10.0  Hop           15       10.1 IBUs    
1.00 oz               Simcoe [12.90 %] - Boil 10.0 min         Hop           16       9.1 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Equinox (HBC 366) [14.20 %] - Boil 1.0 m Hop           17       1.2 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min          Hop           18       1.1 IBUs     
2.00 oz               Galaxy [14.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  60.0 Hop           19       27.4 IBUs    
2.0 pkg               California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35. Yeast         20       -        

1 oz each of Centennial, Calypso, Simcoe and Azacca, dry, 7 days  


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 28 lbs
----------------------------
Name                    Description                                          Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash Step               Add 31.80 qt of water at 108.9 F                     104.0 F       10 min       
Mash Step               Add 0.00 qt of water and heat to 131.0 F over 10 min 131.0 F       15 min       
Mash Step               Heat to 146.0 F over 10 min                          146.0 F       40 min       
Mash Step               Heat to 158.0 F over 10 min                          158.0 F       15 min       
Mash Step               Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min                          168.0 F       15 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 3.82gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:

Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brewed 11/16/16.
Wheat Wine
Not completely sure I got the right temp on the rests. Even stirring the mash constantly there seemed to be variation around 5F-10F in the temperature of the mash.

Ended up with about 5.75 gallons of wort into the fermenter at 1.110 OG, lower than hoped both for gravity and volume. But given this is a very high gravity beer a low efficiency is expected. And, there was a lot of trub that got into the fermenter.

May use DME to brew some top-off beer to get up to the right volume.

Made a starter with 1 pack of dry yeast. Added that and a second pack of dry yeast when beer was 65F. After ~12 hours, good activity. After 36 hours, very rapid fermentation. Ambient temps in the 62F - 65F range. Tomorrow will move been to warmer place.

Color of the wort was beautiful deep amber. It tasted like malt candy. Very sweet and very malty.

Racked to secondary in mid-December.

Added dry hops on 2/25/17, will crash cool, keg and force carbonate in a week.

Hydrometer sample read the FG as 1.030, a bit over the predicted final gravity of 1.027 or so. Taste was a perhaps a bit too sweet. The recipe in Modern Homebrew Recipes had an FG of 1.018, significantly lower than my beer here. Maybe will taste a few samples of the carbed beer then if needed pitch a small starter of US-05 to dry it out a bit more, but would really prefer not to do that.

Brett Table Saison ferments

Brett Table Saison
Same mash as above but with no sugar, partigyled with ~6.5 gallons of 180F water.
Hop schedule was 1oz Tettnanger, 4%, at 60 min, 1oz Tettnanger, 4% at 10 min.

Got 5.1 gallons into fermenter at 1.030 OG. So, around 18% mash efficiency.

Shook to aerate, then pitched left over Tart Cherry Brett left over from a previous beer. No starter.

Wort was light amber color. The taste was fairly bland. Not sweet, and not much malt character. We'll see....

After around 36 hours, active fermentation has begun, with thin white krausen forming on the top of the beer.