Anybody have any tasty recipes for a partial mash honey wheat beer? I'm a newbie (to brewing and the forum - hi everybody!) and I've been looking around for one that includes correct ingredient proportions for a 5 gallon batch. I listed what I have below, but I'm curious to see if anyone has any favorites or suggestions. Here is what I am thinking, although I could be terribly off the mark:

Mash or steep 2 lbs milled malted wheat, add 5 lbs. Munton's wheat DME, 1 oz of Hallertau @ 60 minutes, and 1 oz of Hallertau @ 5-10 minutes, and pitch the W3638. Would this be too sweet? Should I also steep or mash the honey malt or just add 1 lb. honey at flame-out? Holler at me with any suggestions or favorite recipes... Great to join the forum!

Josh

*5 lbs Munton's Wheat DME (55%/45%), 5 lbs milled malted wheat, 2 oz Hallertau hop pellets, and 1 lb. Gambrinus honey malt, 1 packet Wyeast 3638 Bavarian Wheat*

Your recipe looks fine, except that I probably wouldn't do the 1 oz late hop addition. I'm not a fan of hoppy wheat beers.
You can mash your honey malt right along with your wheat malt. That should get the most extraction of flavor and color from it. You could also add a pound of honey at flame out to boost your ABV a bit, and give that Bavarian yeast a few extra fermentables to munch on.
Hope it turns out well, and welcome to the forum!

I'm not sure I fully understand the recipe but I think there are a few points to consider.

(1)When mashing wheat you should allways have about %20-%30 barley in the recipe because of the wheat's low enzyme content.

(2) I don't know what Honey Malt is, but actual honey loses its flavour when boiled so the best time to add it to a brew is just before flame out (here I'm following what some writers have had to say about Meade making.)

(3) For economical reasons I'd personally use a higher alpha acid hop for the 60mins boil, maybe Perle.


The only Honey Wheat Beer I really know is 'Beez Neez', I used to be addicted to it and then started makeing a few replicas myself because it was too expensive to keep buying.

To imitate Beez Neez is fairly simple: 1 can of liquid amber malt, 1kg (2.2 pounds) of dry wheat malt extract, 250grams (0.6 pounds) of honey and 25grams (1 oz) Pride of Ringwood hops boiled for half an hour - the yeast could be any ale yeast really, I used to use Muntons Gold because it dealt with fermenting the honey well.

If I were to do a Beez Neez inspired brew now I'd probably keep all that the same but add to it a 50/50 mini-mash of pilsner grains and malted wheat (probably about 2.5 or 3 pounds total) and add far more hops at all stages. It would be a bigger beer than the original, but that's what I'd be after anyway,

Joseph.

Joseph wrote:When mashing wheat you should allways have about %20-%30 barley in the recipe because of the wheat's low enzyme content.

I've seen many homebrewers quote this very thing, but the maltsters and professional brewers are proving this to be incorrect. Wheat malt has easily enough diastatic power to convert itself in a mash.

From Palmer;

"Wheat has been used for brewing beer nearly as long as barley and has equal diastatic power. Malted wheat is used for 5-70% of the mash depending on the style. Wheat has no outer husk and therefore has fewer tannins than barley. It is generally smaller than barley and contributes more protein to the beer, aiding in head retention. But it is much stickier than barley due to the higher protein content and may cause lautering problems if not given a "Protein Rest" during the mash."

Of course, adding a little crushed barley malt never hurt anybody. And usually I would be recommending a protein rest in your mash schedule when using wheat. Still, for this recipe, I don't think you'd need to go that far. This is a simple partial mash recipe with the design of the partial mash to give a bit more complexity to the beer. We're not talking about mashing 10 lbs of the stuff in a mash tun, which would be a sticky proposition indeed! I would put the wheat and honey malt in a steeping bag and do a stovetop steep/mash for an hour or so, keeping the temp between 145 and 155 degrees. A beer like this doesn't need to get too technical IMHO. Keep it simple, and above all have fun!

GuitarLord5000 wrote:I've seen many homebrewers quote this very thing, but the maltsters and professional brewers are proving this to be incorrect. Wheat malt has easily enough diastatic power to convert itself in a mash.

Well it looks like I'm out of the loop when it comes to modern wheat theory!

Well I guess at least I've learned some now

It's also worth mentioning that malted wheat has the same caveats that malted barley has. Crystal wheat malts and heavily kilned wheat malts (chocolate wheat, for example) will have no enzymes present for starch conversion. Unmalted wheat also has no conversion ability.

I think it's worth noting as well, that "wheat malt extract" is usually made from a barley-wheat mash in the first place. The percentages vary, but either way this should turn out to be a delicious, refreshing beer!