Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Wedding Wheat 2

So my wife and I have had a big week.  We are now parents.  Our first son, Wilder Kirby was born at 8:59 on the morning of July 3rd.  He and his mama are doing great and I couldn't be prouder.  He is a great little boy who loves to eat and sleep.  He also has a ton of blond hair.  I eventually want to make an Imperial IPA in honor of him, but in the mean time, I am making three different wheat beers for my friend Matt's wedding over Labor Day Weekend.
Wilder is about 10 hours old.  The beginning of a great new chapter
My first wheat beer was a Hefeweizen, and it is still fermenting.  I transferred it over to secondary fermentation on Thursday and the airlock keeps bubbling, even today.  I haven't taken the gravity to see if it's finished, but I have some time before I need to rack.

I decided the second wheat beer was going to be my favorite Witbier.  I've made this one a few times before and I always seem to forget to add the acidulated malt after I mash, but I remembered today and got a great original gravity.  I wanted 1.045, and ended up with 1.052!  I named this brew Salt Creek Wheat because of the salt in the recipe, and I also cross Salt Creek everyday on my way to work.  This isn't like your normal Witbier.  It doesn't use bitter orange like most, but it uses acidulated malt to achieve that bright, citrus flavor.   It also uses sea salt to give it a crispness great for summer.  

5 lbs. White Wheat
3 lbs. 7 oz 2 Row
2 lbs. Acidulated Malt

.7 oz Tettnang 60 minutes
1 oz Corriander
.75 oz Sea Salt
Safale S-04 Whitbread

I mashed in the white wheat and the 2-row at 150 for 60 minutes.  I then added the acidulated malt and about half a gallon of water to bring the mash temperature back up to 148.  I sparged and collected about 7 gallons of sweet wort.  I boiled for 60 minutes adding the Tettnang as soon as I saw my first bubble.  I added Irish moss with 15 minutes left, and ended with corriander and sea salt with 10 minutes left.
I was happy to fill my wait time during my brewday with Wilder.  I'm always excited to try a new brew, and sometimes waiting is so hard.  But finally, after waiting 9 months for this one to mature, I get to enjoy this new creation called Wilder.  
Two Wheats down, one to go...