Style: Weißbier
Bentleybrau Brewery's Briskly Brewed Banana Bread Beach Beer: Huit B Wit Beer
A clone of Franziskaner's Weissbier, recipe from Beer Captured, with bananas added. Used unmalted wheat for bulk of grist, enzymes couldn't convert, expected to be grainy/bready. Bananas should add a bit of banana-bread flavor..
Brewed: 02/19/2011
Target OG: 1.053
Strike hit: 157.5F
OG: 1.040
FG: 1.016
ABV: 3.2%
Recipe:
7.0 lb Breiss unmalted wheat
2.75 lb Breiss pilsner
4.0 oz Aromatic malt
2.0 oz Weyermann Acidulated malt
1.0 tsp Yeast nutrient
1.0 tsp whirlfloc
0.75 oz Hallertau hops
0.35 oz Perle hops
0.25 oz Spalt hops
0.4 oz gypsum power
1.0 packet Wyeast Bavarian Wheat 3638 yeast
Mash:
Intentionally using very high grist ratio for BIAB. 100% of water in mash.
*NOTE* Recipe was short, should have used 9 - 9.5 gallons.
2:00: Mash grain in 8 gallons water @ 163F (strike: 155F) (3.2 qt/lb)
0:15: Drain bag into kettle, should have 7 gallons remaining
Boil:
60 minutes: 0.75 oz Hallertau
60 minutes: 0.4 oz gypsum power
15 minutes: 0.35 oz Perle
15 minutes: 0.25 oz Spalt
10 minutes: whirlfloc
5 minutes: yeast nutrient
Fermentation:
Temperature: 65F constant Expected FG: 1.012
Brew Notes:
Brewed on parent's bottom porch.
Water from outside tap (house water)
Rinsed, filled kettle to 8 gallons, brought to 163F
Filled grain bag outside kettle, tied off loosely, placed in steaming basket, lowered into kettle & stirred.
Strike temp after 2 min stirring: 157.5F
Fell to 156F within 5 minutes.
Ran burner once every 20 minutes, kept in 151F - 158F range, mostly right on 155F.
Iodine test (drop of iodophor in small sample):
Unmalted wheat has no enzymes, couldn't convert, gave up. Probably full of unfermentable starch.
Final volume low (didn't fill better bottle, probably exactly 5 gallons)
OG very low considering volume loss.
Cooled to <80F in under 20 minutes, pitched yeast, stored in basement (outside temp in the 40s-60s this week).
High krausen @ 36 hours, bubbling furiously. Switched from blow-off tube to S-lock.
Ambient temperature measured to be exactly 65F.
48 hours: still bubbling frantically, added 3 sliced, boiled, and smushed ripe bananas to primary (still hot).
6 days: SG 1.016, no activity, lifted onto stand so it can settle elevated.
7 days: Bottle with 7 oz corn sugar, estimate 3.4-3.6 volumes CO2
Only 4.2 gallons ended up in the bottling bucket, meaning short by over a gallon. Next time use 1.5 gallons more.
Taste Notes:
03/20/2011 - (21 days) Bottle was chilled for 24 hours. Giant gusher! Film stuck to bottom of bottle. Good aroma of wheat, sweet fruitiness, some banana and flowers. Thin mouthfeel, sweet wheat beer forward with a noticeable banana in the middle, and a lot of grassy, fresh grain taste at the end. A hint of tartness, almost like drinking a lemonade, could be a decent refresher in hot weather. Low carb after sitting for a while, so maybe it just hasn't had enough time to finish carbing.
03/31/2011 - (32 days) Chilled for 7 days. Super carbonated, but bottles aren't gushing anymore. Strong aroma of banana. Pure white foam so dense you can swirl it into shapes. Taste is very mild, lager-ish, slight sweetness, no bitterness, very little fruit flavor. The high carbonation makes it a little too bright. Adding little cluster of craisins and waiting 20 minutes lowers the carbonation to a more reasonable level (and adds yummy craisins!) Refreshing in the blazing hot sun, too sharp for a normal night.