Hopfenweisen or India Wheat Ale (IWA)

This beer is more of an experiment.  I was curious what my ultimate two "spring" beer styles would be like together, wheat and ipa.  Wheat beers are traditionally very mild.  They are very smooth and have a good mouth feel.  They stand alone, don't need any caramel malt or strong hops, they are very relaxing and just remind me of a cool spring day.

On the other hand, ipa's have a strong hop character that reminds me of all the little green things starting to wake up again and stretch their little heads from the cold wet soil.  The pronounced citrus and candy resin flavors give it a "waking up" taste.  That's why I felt these two styles could be suited to be paired.  A mild wheat back ground and a bright hop flavor.

I decided to stick with one kind of hop and use Amarillo.  It is a good all-around hop.  It has nice floral, citrus, spice, and orange like aroma and flavor and it's a good bittering hop because of it's low cohumulone content.  I also like a mainly wheat grist in my wheat beers so I stuck with a 50/50 wheat to barley mix.

6 lbs. Wheat Malt

5 lbs. 2 Row

1 lb. Caramalt

.25 oz Amarillo Mash Hop

.25 oz Amarillo 60 mins

.5 oz Amarillo 15 mins

1.25 Amarillo 5 mins

1 oz Amarillo 1 mins

2 oz Amarillo Dry Hop 7 Days

Safebrew 33 Dry Yeast

I've never really understood the purpose of a mash hop so I looked it up.  First Word Hopping is said to impart he same bitterness as a 20-minute addition and retain the essential oils that impart flavor and aroma.  This works because alpha acids and compounds that would normally boil off during the 60 minute boil are isomerized and stay with the wort for the most part throughout the boil.  The mash did have a great hop aroma from the very beginning.