6 Essential Tips for Brewing a Wheat Beer
For a practice as old as beer brewing, it might surprise some new brewers to learn that the idea of a wheat beer is a rather new concept, at least here in the United States. Compared to other styles of beer, wheat beers haven’t been around all that long outside of the places they originated—Germany and Belgium. Only within approximately the last century did demand rise for this beer outside of those regions.
Brewing a wheat beer can throw a brewer off their game if they’re not careful. Using wheat in the brewing process changes things and might not be the best place to start if you’re new to the practice.
However, wheat beers are often huge crowd pleasers, so it makes sense that so many large-scale and microbrewers now turn to them when they need something new. If you want to learn how to brew one yourself, this article has a few essential tips for brewing a wheat beer that will help you achieve a great result.
What To Look For in a Wheat Beer
What exactly makes a beer a wheat beer? There are a few things you want to shoot for when brewing your first wheat beer. If you want to add your own flavors or experiment, you’re welcome to. First, though, we want to examine what a typical wheat beer looks and tastes like so that your creation remains within the realm of a wheat beer’s taste profile.
Scent
If you make a product that uses a lot of wheat, you can expect it to smell a lot like whatever wheat you use. Wheat beers tend to smell grainy or bready, and some would even say they smell like bread dough or crackers. Wheat beers can smell slightly sweet, but you don’t want to go overboard in this regard.
Appearance
Wheat beers usually fall into the middle of the beer color scale. You’re looking for a strong yellow color—think something like hay or straw. However, they can have a deeper golden color as well. Your head should be nice and white, preferably with the ability to last a long time.
Taste
Suitable for a heavily wheat-based drink, you’ll experience a lot of notes of bread or crackers in its taste. The bitterness can vary slightly depending on your brewing method, but it shouldn’t be as bitter as something like an IPA. A little bit of sweetness is also normal for many wheat beers.
Texture
Similar to their flavor and appearance, the texture of wheat beers typically falls somewhere in the middle of the scale. They usually have a medium body but can also skew slightly lighter. The bready flavors often leave you with a creamier mouthfeel, but there is still noticeable carbonation, unlike the smoother feel of something like a stout.
Tips for Brewing Wheat Beer
Now that we have a better idea of what the end product should look, taste, and smell like, we can start to get into the essential tips for brewing a good wheat beer. As with all brewing tips, these are general guidelines that will help you get the kind of beer you’re going for. However, you don’t have to take them as rules written in stone. Experiment as much as you feel comfortable! But if it’s your first time brewing wheat beer, consider using these six tips as a guideline for the process.
Know Your Yeast Inside and Out
Wheat beers rely on their yeast strain to really pull the right flavors out of your mash. You may want to investigate the strains you plan to use to see if they would suit producing a German-style wheat beer or an American one. Most wheat beers use ale yeast, but overall, you want something less flocculant that lends itself to more neutral characteristics.
Understand Different Grain Types
Given the name of this beer, it’s worth it to choose a grain that will produce the beer you want to make. Some grains, such as white wheat grain, create a cleaner, lighter, and softer flavor. Red wheat, on the other hand, will impart more bready and doughy flavors into your beer. Explore your options for grain before committing to ensure you achieve the taste you want.
Plan for Stuck Mash
Wheat malt doesn’t have husks like many other kinds of malt. This creates an issue that you may need to deal with during brewing: stuck mash. To prevent this issue, you may want to grind your wheat malt on a coarser setting than you would your barley. You can also add rice hulls to your mash, which can help prevent this issue.
Consider Your Water’s Acidity
While you may only have access to whatever water you can get a hold of, water with a lower pH tends to be a better bet for producing high-quality wheat beer. You want your mash to be somewhere between 5.2 and 5.6 on the pH. Chloride can be a good mineral addition if you need it, as it will help produce the right texture in the final product.
Find Balance With Your Hops
Wheat beers aren’t the most bitter, but they do still require a decent number of hops. Ideally, you want the flavor of your grain to be the star of the show. This means that it’s OK to show a little restraint when using your hops.
Ferment at Slightly Higher Temperatures
For most wheat beers, you’ll want to stick with a slightly higher temperature during fermentation—somewhere in the range of 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. This slightly higher temperature will ensure that your fermentation process goes off without a hitch. Just make sure you’re keeping an eye on the temperature gauge as you wait.
When you’re planning to brew a wheat beer for yourself, Craftmaster Stainless has everything you need to get your operation off the ground. Whether you need yeast kegs, unitanks, or keg cleaners, we have all the brewing equipment any brewer would need to find success.
