Recipe

Wheatwine

Wheatwine

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.108 FG = 1.018
IBU = 48 SRM = 9 ABV = 13.2%

Ingredients
13 lbs. (5.9 kg) German wheat malt
2.75 lbs. (1.25 kg) German Pilsner malt
2.75 lbs. (1.25 kg) Simpsons Golden Promise™ malt
13 oz. (0.37 kg) honey malt
1.4 lbs. (0.64 kg) white sugar (15 min.)
14.4 AAU German Magnum hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 14.4% alpha acids)
8.25 AAU Citra® hops (5 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 11% alpha acids)
9.75 AAU NZ Nelson Sauvin hops (1 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 13% alpha acids)
5.25 AAU NZ Motueka hops (0 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 7% alpha acids)
White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or Fermentis US-05 yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
Two or three days before brew day, make a 2-qt. (2-L) yeast starter, aerating the wort thoroughly (preferably with oxygen) before pitching the yeast.

On brew day, prepare your ingredients; mill the grain, measure your hops, and prepare your water. This recipe uses reverse osmosis (RO) water. Add ¼ tsp 10% phosphoric acid per 5 gallons (19 L) of brewing water, or until water measures pH 5.5 at room temperature. Add 1 tsp. calcium chloride (CaCl2) to the mash.

This recipe uses a multi-step mash with a mashout. On brew day, mash in all the grains at 104 °F (40 °C) in 22 qts. (21 L) of water and hold this temperature for 10 minutes. Raise the temperature by infusion or direct heading to 131 °F (55 °C) for 15 minutes, then raise to 146 °F (63 °C) for 40 minutes, then to 158 °F (70 °C) for 15 minutes. Finally raise to 168 °F (76 °C) for 15 minutes to mashout, recirculating. This step mash helps provide a more attenuative wort and improves clarity. Fly sparge with 168 °F (76 °C) water until 6.5 gallons (25 L) of wort is collected.

Boil the wort for 90 minutes, adding the hops at times indicated in the recipe. Add the sugar in the last 15 minutes of the boil. After adding the final hops when the heat is turned off, let the wort stand for 20 minutes before chilling the wort. This technique is called a hop stand and will add flavor, aroma, and some bitterness from the flameout hops. Chill to 66 °F (19 °C).

Oxygenate, then pitch the yeast starter. Allow fermentation temperature to rise to no more than 72 °F (22 °C) until fermentation is complete. Rack and allow the beer to drop bright, using crash cooling or fining if necessary. Prime and bottle condition, or keg and force carbonate to 2 to 2.5 volumes. This is a beer that should age well, as the grainy notes merge with the bitterness and dryness in the aftertaste and the alcohol and fruit smooth out over time.

Wheatwine

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.108 FG = 1.018
IBU = 48 SRM = 11 ABV = 13.2%

Ingredients
9 lbs. (4.1 kg) wheat liquid malt extract
3 lbs. (1.36 kg) dried wheat malt extract
13 oz. (0.37 kg) honey malt
1.4 lbs. (0.64 kg) white sugar (15 min.)
14.4 AAU German Magnum hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 14.4% alpha acids)
8.25 AAU Citra® hops (5 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 11% alpha acids)
9.75 AAU NZ Nelson Sauvin hops (1 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 13% alpha acids)
5.25 AAU NZ Motueka hops (0 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 7% alpha acids)
White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or Fermentis US-05 yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
Two or three days before brew day, make a 2-qt. (2-L) yeast starter, aerating the wort thoroughly (preferably with oxygen) before pitching the yeast.

On brew day, heat 6 gallons (23 L) of water in the brew kettle up to 158 °F (70 °C). Place the honey malt in a mesh bag, and steep in the hot water for 30 minutes. Remove the mesh bag, then turn the heat off. Add the malt extracts and stir thoroughly to dissolve the extract completely. You do not want to feel liquid extract at the bottom of the kettle when stirring with your spoon. Turn the heat back on and bring to a boil. Boil the wort for 60 minutes, adding the hops at the times indicated in the recipe. Add the white sugar in the last 15 minutes of the boil.

After adding the final hops when the heat is turned off, let the wort stand for 20 minutes before chilling the wort. This technique is called a hop stand and will add flavor, aroma, and some bitterness from the flameout hops. Chill to 66 °F (19 °C).

Oxygenate the wort, then pitch the yeast starter. Allow the fermentation temperature to rise to no more than 72 °F (22 °C) until fermentation is complete. Rack and allow the beer to drop bright, using crash cooling or fining if necessary. Prime and bottle condition, or keg and force carbonate to 2 to 2.5 volumes.

Issue: December 2015

Gordon Strong provides readers with a recipe for a wheatwine. “Stan Hieronymus writes in Brewing with Wheat that wheatwine has its origins in modern American craft brewing, but that it was not intentional. A happy accident produced a higher gravity American wheat ale. The first modern commercial version is credited to Rubicon Brewing Company (Sacramento, California) in 1988, but many breweries now produce it as a limited edition winter release. Some examples are vintage-dated and oak-aged, suggesting they likely will continue to improve with age.”