This is a loosely based recipe on a fantastic hoppy German wheat beer called Hopfenweiss from Schneider & Sohn. Yes, it is actually hoppy and made right there in Munich. Who woulda thunk it, right? The original version is a BIG beer that comes in around 8.2% ABV, so this version is slightly scaled down to get the alcohol level to fall into the mid 6% range, which will speed up the turnaround time, and make grabbing a second pint a little easier ;-)
Hopfenkuss - brewed on 10/13/2012 Weyermann Pale Ale Malt - 3 lbs, 4 oz Weyermann Pale Wheat - 3 lbs, 4 oz Hallertau Pellets - 0.75 oz @ 60 mins Perle Pellets - 0.25 oz @ 60 mins Saphir Pellets - 1 oz @ 20 mins Saphir Pellets - 0.5 oz @ Dry Hop for 5 days Wyeast Labs Weihenstephan Weizen yeast slurry
The guy at the LHBS seemed to have a bit of a rough time today with the grain mill, but who knows, maybe I had a "bad" mash myself. either could certainly happen! so I had been shooting for a slightly stronger beer, however the numbers are: based on 69% efficiency: OG 1.062 - IBU 39-40 - ABV 6%
ferment through 10/23 between 68-70°, then dry hop
bottle on 10/28 and warm condition through about 11/14, first test around Thanksgiving
taste notes: the sip starts out with a citrus tang, not too far from the sensation one would get from a sour patch kid, but nowhere near as potent. make sense? it's a little tough to actually put into words I suppose. anyway! that slides into a clementine-tangerine-candy-esque flavor. that is what was difficult to distinguish. it wasn't grapefruit, nor FL orange, but definitely leaning towards the latter. that's when it hit me that it was in the smaller citrus fruit family. and the way this hop goes from tang to citrus to candy is truly unique to my palate, but I am certainly enjoying it. the flavor of this beer also contains some grassy notes (thinking due to the long-ish dry hop period) and that typical German "noble" character that is kind of spicy-outdoorsy and unique to hops like hallertau/tettnang.
all in all, the Saphir hop is a great alternative choice for a wheat beer, and I will definitely be adding this recipe into the rotation