[gmac]

I have 5 lbs of Golden Promise that I bought on a whim, figuring that I'd come up with something to use it in.  I was wondering about making a wheat beer for a friends party in February.  My friend wants me to make some beer but he's not a big beer drinker in terms of his range of tastes.  He likes California common styles which I can do but he also like light beers like wheat beers and light lagers.  I don't really have time right now to make a good lager.

How would the Golden Promise be in a wheat beer?  I've never used it before and I know it's characteristic of Scottish and Irish beers but what character does it bring to a beer?  I was thinking of:

50% GP
50% malted wheat
25 GDU with a bit of hop flavour but not a lot.  Maybe 1/2 an ounce of citra at 10 min.  Or would a German or English hop work better?
WLP001 yeast
Fermented at about 62F

Would this be a waste of the GP?  Would it be better with pilsner malt?

[morticaixavier]

I think the british summer ale 'style' includes wheat and I would not be suprised to see GP in there as well. I think it would be good.

[euge]

It's a decent base malt. Try the wheat and German hops.

[gmac]

I made beer with it, we will see how it is.
5 lbs Golden Promise
5 lbs Pale Wheat malt
1 lb Light Munich
1/2 lb home-made Amber Malt
20 g Magnum@ 13.9% AA
20 g Citra @ 12% AA
Whole lotta rice hulls
OG 1.056

Pitched onto a cake of WLP001 ( I was gonna wash it but I may have been distracted by guests and started drinking before I finished...)

Euge, I would have use Hallertau but I only have a 1 lb bag that is still sealed and I didn't want to open it for 20 g.  So, I used the open Citra. 

[hopfenundmalz]

That should be a good beer, let us know how it all works together.

Golden Promise is a good base malt that I find to have a sweetness with the malt flavor.  The sweetness is more pronounced in Simpson's (~1.9L) , and less in Thomas Fawcett (2.5-3L).  

The Timothy Taylor Landlord clone I have been working on uses GP.  Really like what that brings to the final product.

[gmac]

Thanks Jeff.
I should have mentioned I also included 1/2 oz of roasted barley that I added for colour.

This won't win any competitions since it will be too dark for a true wheat beer style.  My intent was to make a "Winter Wheat" for my friends who don't like porters and IPAs but will be drinking my beer in January/February.  I'd leave out the roast and maybe the amber if I was making this in April.

[gmac]

This turned out pretty good.  Obviously a bit darker and a bit more bitter than a traditional wheat beer but I wanted it that way since it is winter and I wanted a wheat with just a touch more presence. 
The beer is very nice, actually surprisingly bitter given how little hops I used and I know Euge was right, the citrus aspect of the Citra hops is quite present.  Not bad, just not exactly right for some reason.  Tastes a bit like a pale ale.  Next time I'm going with different hops because I now have some.  It still has a definite cloudy appearance but I bottled some and they are now pouring fairly clear since they've settled while the keg hasn't settled yet.  Since it's a wheat beer, I'm actually rousing the dregs and adding them to the glass anyway to get the cloudiness back.

I'm gonna make this again for sure although I won't bother to order Golden Promise specifically for this beer.  I don't find much to say about it but then again, I have nothing to compare to either.  I may make the next one with simple pale malt or perhaps Maris Otter and leave out the roast barley that I added for colour.  I will ramp up 10 gals next time to have some kegged for summer so we shall see how it turns out.