[newbrew]

Hello All! I am very new to brewing so my recipe repertoire is very limited and I was hoping you experienced guys could help me out. I am looking for an easy-drinking, clean, refreshing beer to brew for the scorching summers we get here in Eastern NC. I am thinking a witbier so my girlfriend, who isn't a fan of big hop-forward beers can enjoy. I realize I can pull many recipes from the vaults here and online but was hoping I could get someone to offer up a favorite of theirs.

FYI I only have a couple of batches under my belt and have always used LME and some specialty grains (partial mash? hope I'm using the right terms here), partial boil, and am limited to 5 gal recipes so if we could stick within those confines that would be perfect.

Thanks so much!

[JJeffers09]

Newbrew, I would say you walk in to your LHBS or online retailer and grab yourself a kolsch kit.  The rest will work itself out.  As for the gf, well... if she wants a witbier, then grab a witbier kit too, more reasons to brew right?!?

[santoch]

IMO, you really need to be able to mash in order to do a witbier right.  Those with the wheat dme but no unmalted wheat just don't turn out the same as one with the real deal.

I like the idea of a Kolsch too, if you can get the fermentation temps down to the low 60's and then have a chance to lager it in the 50's. 

If not, I'd suggest you do either a German Wheat, or an American Wheat.  Both are great for the hot weather, and they are amongst the easiest to make with extracts/steeping grains.

For the German and American wheat:

6 lbs of Wheat DME
1 oz Hallertaur @ 60
1 oz Cascade @5 (American only)
Wyeast 3068/WLP300 for the German or Wyeast 1010/WLP320 for the American

These are as simple as it gets.

My .02

[erockrph]

Does she not like hops at all, or does she just not like bitterness? I find that among my friends who are not die-hard craft beer enthusiasts, the women gravitate to my IPA's more than the men. I am pretty sure this is because I emphasize hop flavor over hop bitterness, leading to a lot of tropical/citrus character in the beer.

I mention this because this type of beer is a great summer refresher, and is very well-suited to extract brewing.

Here's a good recipe in this style:

Put as much water as you can boil (without getting it all over the place) in the biggest pot you have. To this add:

6 lb Pilsner DME
10 ounces Table Sugar

Stir until dissolved, then add

8 ounces CaraRed steeping grains (you could use American Crystal 20 or 40 if you can't get CaraRed)

Turn on the heat. When the temp hits 160F, remove the steeping grains.

When this hits a boil, let it go for about 10 minutes, then kill the heat. Once all boiling activity has stopped, add:

X ounces Citra hops
X ounces Galaxy hops

Where "X" is the number of ounces gallons of water you added to your pot. Give it a good hard stir until all the hop pellets are broken up and incorporated, then stir a bit longer to creat a whirlpool effect. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Stir the pot every minute or two to get another whirlpool going.

After the 10-minute timer goes off, chill/top-off to 5.5 gallons like you normally do. For yeast, any neutral strain will work. I use US-05, fermented in the mid 60's F.

You can dry-hop with another 1-2 ounces each of Citra and Galaxy if you'd like, but it's not necessary. The short whirlpool at hot (but not boiling) temps gives a lot of hop flavor, and just enough bitterness for balance without being harsh or abrasive. This one should finish in the 5.5-6% ABV range, which is in range for an IPA but on the low end so you don't get sloppy too quickly in the hot summer sun.

[newbrew]

  As for the gf, well... if she wants a witbier, then grab a witbier kit too, more reasons to brew right?!?

I really like your thinking here...I think a double batch is definitely in order! Maybe we will have "His" and "Hers" fermenters.

Santoch, a Kolsch is a great idea but with my current situation, lagering in the 50's would be difficult. I do like the idea of an American wheat and would enjoy a nice simple recipe if I'm going to have a couple of brews going at once. Thanks for the recipe and I'll give that one a try!

Does she not like hops at all, or does she just not like bitterness?

Great point, I think the bitterness is really what it comes down to. I really dig the idea of an IPA with all hops added at the end of the boil. Couple of questions on your recipe though because I think I'm going to try this one as well:
1. You say remove the steeping grains after temp hits 160F. This seems like a pretty short steep, about how long am I looking at steeping here?
2. A 10 min boil also seems really short. Seems like 60 min is more typical.
3. I'm not sure I'm understanding your hop calculations. I have a 12 qt (very small, but it's all I've got) kettle so if I start with 8-10 quarts (leaving a little bit of room for grains or boil overs) that would be 256-320oz of water. If I add an amount of hops equal to the amount of water in the boil, that's a lot of hops!

I'm sure I'm misunderstanding some of this but it sounds like a good aromatic IPA and I can use my gf as a guinea pig for those bitterness haters out there.

[erockrph]

Does she not like hops at all, or does she just not like bitterness?

Great point, I think the bitterness is really what it comes down to. I really dig the idea of an IPA with all hops added at the end of the boil. Couple of questions on your recipe though because I think I'm going to try this one as well:
1. You say remove the steeping grains after temp hits 160F. This seems like a pretty short steep, about how long am I looking at steeping here?
2. A 10 min boil also seems really short. Seems like 60 min is more typical.
3. I'm not sure I'm understanding your hop calculations. I have a 12 qt (very small, but it's all I've got) kettle so if I start with 8-10 quarts (leaving a little bit of room for grains or boil overs) that would be 256-320oz of water. If I add an amount of hops equal to the amount of water in the boil, that's a lot of hops!

I'm sure I'm misunderstanding some of this but it sounds like a good aromatic IPA and I can use my gf as a guinea pig for those bitterness haters out there.

Sorry, I corrected my post above. There was a typo - number of ounces of each hop = number of gallons of water in your kettle. Basically 2 oz total hops per gallon in the kettle. In your case I'd round up and do 3 and 3.

Regarding the short boil, in extract beers you only need to pasteurize your wort, the hot break and so on was handled by the extract producer. Technically you don't even need a boil in this recipe (I've done that myself), but for newer brewers I usually play it safe and recommend a short boil. Since there are no boil hops in this recipe, that isn't a factor, either.

As far as the steep goes, the 20-30 minutes it takes to get from room temperature to 160 is more than enough time for steeping grains. You can bob the bag up and down every so often for better mixing if that is a concern.

[newbrew]

Ah, that makes sense. It's amazing how simple brewing can be when you use extracts, gives me more appreciation for all grain guys.

 I think I'll do 3 and 3 citra and galaxy and try dry hopping as well. This will be my first foray into dry hopping so we'll see how it goes. Thanks so much to everyone for your patience and help!

[erockrph]

Ah, that makes sense. It's amazing how simple brewing can be when you use extracts, gives me more appreciation for all grain guys.

 I think I'll do 3 and 3 citra and galaxy and try dry hopping as well. This will be my first foray into dry hopping so we'll see how it goes. Thanks so much to everyone for your patience and help!

Yep, I still brew a handful of extract batches every year (including IPAs similar to this one), just for sake of simplicity/time. It's a great option to have in your toolkit, even if you're usually an all grain brewer.

Good luck, and please report back to let us know how it turned out!

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[santoch]

Here's a good recipe in this style:

Put as much water as you can boil (without getting it all over the place) in the biggest pot you have. To this add:

6 lb Pilsner DME
10 ounces Table Sugar

Stir until dissolved, then add

8 ounces CaraRed steeping grains (you could use American Crystal 20 or 40 if you can't get CaraRed)

Turn on the heat. When the temp hits 160F, remove the steeping grains.

When this hits a boil, let it go for about 10 minutes, then kill the heat. Once all boiling activity has stopped, add:

X ounces Citra hops
X ounces Galaxy hops

Where "X" is the number of ounces gallons of water you added to your pot. Give it a good hard stir until all the hop pellets are broken up and incorporated, then stir a bit longer to creat a whirlpool effect. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Stir the pot every minute or two to get another whirlpool going.

I think I'm gonna try this next batch.  This is ridiculously quick and simple.

[erockrph]

Here's a good recipe in this style:

Put as much water as you can boil (without getting it all over the place) in the biggest pot you have. To this add:

6 lb Pilsner DME
10 ounces Table Sugar

Stir until dissolved, then add

8 ounces CaraRed steeping grains (you could use American Crystal 20 or 40 if you can't get CaraRed)

Turn on the heat. When the temp hits 160F, remove the steeping grains.

When this hits a boil, let it go for about 10 minutes, then kill the heat. Once all boiling activity has stopped, add:

X ounces Citra hops
X ounces Galaxy hops

Where "X" is the number of ounces gallons of water you added to your pot. Give it a good hard stir until all the hop pellets are broken up and incorporated, then stir a bit longer to creat a whirlpool effect. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Stir the pot every minute or two to get another whirlpool going.

I think I'm gonna try this next batch.  This is ridiculously quick and simple.

I've tried this with heating only to ~170 and doing the whirlpool at that temp. Basically, pull your grain bag and then add your whirlpool hops. That's even quicker, but there isn't enough bitterness for balance (at least for my tastes, YMMV). A whirlpool at 170F is more than enough to pasteurize the wort, but hotter temps are going to give you some IBU's to go along with it.