Thomas Coopers Wheat Beer

[ben 10]

 

On another note' date=' just zested 3x crappy yellow looking oranges and squished out the juice, boiled for 5 and mixed into the almost fermented brew. Looking forward to tasting the results

[/quote']

 

I made a wheat a while ago.

I boiled 28g of crushed coriander seed and 56g of lime zest for 5 minutes.

Such a lovely beer, nice and zesty.

[Corksniffer]

Cheers Ben, I'm really looking forward to it!

 

Just sitting here with one now and it's quite good again today. I must sound like a raving looney but I swear beers change day-by-day.. not 'thin' at all today. Maybe I have undiagnosed scitzophernia but then again, after that Blue Moon any wheat's gonna taste good :D

 

I'm just passionate about this. Not much else but for some reason I need to make a great wit bier

[ben 10]

MJ's Belgian Wit is a great yeast.

Used it on a Wit, Dunkle and a White IPA.

 

Don't go two can as a decent wheat is supposed to be very low bitterness.

 

Sorachi Ace is a good lemony hop which may be good in this.

[Corksniffer]

Appreciate the advice Benno'. Will most likely take it on on my quest for the worlds best wheat. I'll get there! But in saying that, the Preacher's Hefe is a good kit as-is.I want to be truthful and transparent as I can throughout the journey so congrats and thanks to Coopers for the excellent base.

[Anzacpaul]

Give a Dunkelweizen a go, and the wyeast 3868 that I used, mine's still improving and I had a good session of it on Saturday (5 longnecks), and they went down a treat. Even got a bit of brown sugar/caramel out of it as time wore on.

 

 

[Corksniffer]

UPDATE : just 2 days in the bottle, carbed due to hot temperature. Not quite cleared but who expects or cares about that anyway in a Wit, specially at 2 days young. Aroma? It's Hoegaarden ish. Although strong on the orange zest front. Flavour! ?.. good! I'd probably say 'great' if it weren't for the overpowering zesty zing. I can't detect any coriander and I used 12g of ground which seemed overpowering before adding the late addition of zest. Do you think the orange will fade with time? You can definitely tell I've used fresh peel, it tastes fresh if that makes sense. I've read of people adding 6-10 citrus additions and saying it was balanced. Ahh, I don't think so...

 

Next will be 18g coriander and 1.5 zests instead of 3x. It's a good beer probably worthy of being on tap in Europe somewhere (takes a giant steamer over Blue Moon!) But personally a tadd too zesty for my taste. Can't detect the crappy Goldings I added luckily. I'm confident a Hoegaarden clone can be made with the kit and the right additions, and not just a 'ballpark close' one. I'm aaalmost there

[Corksniffer]

UPDATE :

 

Tasting notes: So, hows my Hoegaarden clone compared to the real thing? Just bought a 4-pack and the aroma of mine is pretty well spot on, right down to tge smokey red wine aroma some say Halleetau priduces but this seems to be proven myth to me and a yeast aroma. Taste-wise I was unimpressed with Hoegaarden compared to my own brew. Wow.. really impressed with myself! Hoegaarden is a tadd more bitter, drier with a thinner mouthfeel and even has a slight 'commercial' type taste. Extremely pleased with this one. Commercial version has no real detectable orange flavours, just the pre-crushed coriander seed and I do enjoy the extra bite mine. Orange definitely has faded to become balanced. So pleased I've made a beer better than my original favorite. It's a definite house beer now and I make it about every second batch. Had a mate try one to make sure I wasn't being biased and he agrees, better than Hoegaarden

[Corksniffer]

UPDATE : Well I've done probably around 8-10 of these kits now, all slightly different. Lately I've been adding too much seed (20-30g crushed) and it's been too overpowering, to the point where it merges with the yeast to form a ‘sewerage’ type taste and aroma, n that aint' no good.. the sewerage dies off over time and then you just get a coriander seed beer. I've also tried brewing with honey, no different in taste whatsoever because it's so highly fermentable, honey malt would be the go.

 

I've stopped adding peel and settled on 10g coriander seed, 15g pride of Ringwood (very short boil) a bit of Hallertau or similar (again, very short boil) and sometimes some specialty ‘pale ale’ fruity aroma hops (all thrown in to the fermenter) but to tell you the truth I can never even detect these. They have massive effects on ales I brew with clean ale or lager yeast, but the Belgian style yeast provided within the kit is so good these are undetectable. I always use 1.5kg wheat malt extract and the Pride of Ringwood helps bring the final product up to ‘Redback’ clone territory. Another favorite of mine. Always brewed under 22 degrees but finally have one in the fridge at 24 so see if I can detect more banana this batch

 

 

 

 

[Corksniffer]

Some light reading on all grain vs. A few differing wheat kits (includes Coopers)

 

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/zymurgy/extract-wheat-beer-experiment-confessions-of-an-all-grain-brewer/

[Corksniffer]

UPDATE : Well I'm really pleased with my Redback type clone. It's the best beer I've ever made and is always reliably consistent. I find that carbonation is yet another key point to get right. While many weiss biers are high in carbonation, Redback is not so. The Pride of Ringwood hops are also a trademark hop added before fermentation on a short boil. They have a very 'organic' subtle taste that is pleasant and distinguished in any beer I use them in. This latest wheat I've used a hop bag made of stocking (Razzamataz to be precise) but am now thinking it may be more of a hinderance than step forward because the hops themselves have less free contact with the beer and I'm worried about the bag being an attractant for mould just sitting there on the surface for so long. Probably won't do this again. A recent pale ale I made using this method was pretty lame to say the least and ended up with a really weak hop flavour and aroma compared to normal. It was helpful at bottling however. I'm not a fan of hop teas for flavour or aroma. Bittering is great but definitely not what we're looking for in a European wheat

 

Edit. I do believe there is a slight flavour change from higher temp fermentation. Only very slight but possibly there

 

The flavour change ride is definitely rather 'wild' in nature within the first 4 weeks. One day it's the greatest beer you've ever drank, the next it's lackluster. . But after 3-4 weeks it's very consistent and just excellent. I keep hearing wheats are best drunk 'young' (interpret that how you will) but this is not consistent with my findings at all

[porschemad911]

Some light reading on all grain vs. A few differing wheat kits (includes Coopers)

 

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/zymurgy/extract-wheat-beer-experiment-confessions-of-an-all-grain-brewer/

Thanks very much for the article link, good to hear that Coopers Wheat LME can make a really nice Weizen on it's own.

[PaleMan1525228941]

Just reading through this great thread, thanks all for sharing. I'm about to put down a coopers preachers hefe wheat along with 1 kilo liquid wheat malt and saf wheat yeast. I'd like to go down the orange zest / coriander addition path, can anyone advise on quantities?

 

Without being too overpowering, but also being able to taste in the beer. 23 litre brew. Anyone thought of using marmalade?

[DuffBeer]

I am about to make this up too, I have:

 

1x Thomas Coopers Preacher's Hefe Wheat can

1x 1.5kg Coopers Wheat Malt Extract can

 

I have a question about alcoholic content for the expert brewers out there, what should I add to boost the alcohol content of this particular brew?

 

Would a KG of Dextrose be the best bet to boost alcohol without affecting the flavour? I have a KG of raw sugar at home too, I like malt flavours but not sure it's a good idea with Wheat beer?

 

All of my brews in the past, except for one Apple Cider, have been disappointingly low in alcoholic content. I guess it's something I'm doing or environmental, but even the "Mosaic Ale" kit from Coopers I just did was meant to be 5%+ and it was barely 3%. The APA's I've done are <2.8% which is really disappointing, they taste fine but I like a little kick in my drink

[DuffBeer]

Well I had a Brew Enhancer #2 on hand so I put that in too, I'll see how that goes! :-)

[Kradmelder]

I am about to make this up too' date=' I have:

 

1x Thomas Coopers Preacher's Hefe Wheat can

1x 1.5kg Coopers Wheat Malt Extract can

 

I have a question about alcoholic content for the expert brewers out there, what should I add to boost the alcohol content of this particular brew?

 

Would a KG of Dextrose be the best bet to boost alcohol without affecting the flavour? I have a KG of raw sugar at home too, I like malt flavours but not sure it's a good idea with Wheat beer?

 

All of my brews in the past, except for one Apple Cider, have been disappointingly low in alcoholic content. I guess it's something I'm doing or environmental, but even the "Mosaic Ale" kit from Coopers I just did was meant to be 5%+ and it was barely 3%. The APA's I've done are <2.8% which is really disappointing, they taste fine but I like a little kick in my drink[/quote']

 

Well an extra 500 g of LDME would have worked on top of those tins, or 500 g dextrose, but with the BE2, I assume it is a mix of dextrose and maltodextrin? I am not sure of the Cooper BE kits since I don't use them. You put in 1 kg of BE2? That will be over 500 g dextrose so you should get a kick from that. Did you get a OG reading? It should be 1.05 with all that in there.

 

I tried something similar a while back. 1 coopers wheat and 1 wheat malt and 1 kg of dextrose for a quick easy beer. It came out strong and sweet. Needed some extra saaz hops in there. I really like weissbier but don't often use the kits. Just the malt with extra malt additions and only about 50 g of hops so it remains malty rather than hoppy.

[DuffBeer]

Hello! Thanks for your reply.

 

So in the end I ended up just adding what I had at home, which was a powder mix from my local brew supplier very similar to Coopers Brew Enhancer #2. It was made up of malt 250g, dextrose 500g and corn syrup 250g.

 

I was doing a lot of reading online prior but then I sort of just gave up, I enjoy brewing but I have very limited time with the twins toddling now. I learnt that dextrose was good to boost alcohol content alone but could sacrifice "mouth feel", where as malt will affect the flavour (neither good nor bad). So I figured the mix I had was the best of both worlds.

 

That said, would I have been better off just doubling up on the wheat malt extract can in order to stay true to the wheat-beer flavour?

 

I did an OG and it's 1.065, but I only filled until 20L too! I know it's high but all my brews have been so very low in alcohol I'm probably compensating this time around...

 

My next brew is the Coopers Canadian Blonde, I was thinking of doing the same thing and just doubling up on the Brew Enhancer #2. Is that an idea or should I do as you suggest and just add 500G of LDME.

 

I do like my drinks quite alcoholic so higher the better, but for now I'd be happy to land a mid-strength. Yesterday I had a couple of ciders then switched to my APA and literally sobered up while drinking it. Tastes good though so no complaints there :-)

[PaleMan1525228941]

Ive nailed this one brilliantly. Coopers wheat can, coopers liquid wheat malt i used the whole 1.5 kilo, fermentis dry wheat yeast. Bottled it two days ago and drinking one as i type. How is it possible for a homebrew to head up in the bottle after two days? Its bloody delicious. Everything i want in a wheat beer. Tart, banana, clean.

 

I was very paranoid in every step with this one, as i usually am any way, because i wanted a shoffer look alike. Well this has surprised me. I'd pass this off as one of my best ever brews. I'm delving into partial mashing at the moment but this is now a staple for me. Even my wife agrees.

[DuffBeer]

Bottled it two days ago and drinking one as i type.

 

I thought beers had to be bottled for a minimum of two weeks to allow for secondary fermentation to carbonate the bottle?

[PaleMan1525228941]

Bottled it two days ago and drinking one as i type.

 

I thought beers had to be bottled for a minimum of two weeks to allow for secondary fermentation to carbonate the bottle?

 

To be honest the one i cracked open was the last one bottled so a bit more yeast in it than the others. Also the weather has been warm here. But yeah poured with a frothy head, i doubt most of the other bottles would be as carbed up so soon.