Lime Wheat Beer

[joeskidmore]

This was my third ever AG brew, and first time lone brewing, so pretty chuffed that most of it went to plan. Brewed this yesterday whilst listening to the rugby.

The Recipe

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Weizen/Weissbier
Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 23 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 27 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.044
Efficiency: 72% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.052
Final Gravity: 1.015
ABV (standard): 4.9%
IBU (tinseth): 14.87
SRM (morey): 4.57

FERMENTABLES:
0.3 kg - Torrified Wheat (5.7%) (ebc 3)
2.5 kg - United Kingdom - Wheat (47.2%) (ebc 4.4)
2.5 kg - Belgian - Pale Ale (47.2%) (ebc 7)

HOPS:
28 g - Hallertau Mittelfruh, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 4.4, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 13.03
8 g - Hallertau Mittelfruh, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 4.4, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 1.85

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Sparge, Temp: 65 C, Time: 90 min, Amount: 13.5 L
Starting Mash Thickness: 2.5 L/kg

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
10 g - Kaffir Lime Leaves, Time: 15 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil
10 g - Kaffir Lime Leaves, Type: Spice, Use: Secondary

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - Safbrew - Wheat Beer Yeast WB-06

The Ingredients

The Mash

The Hops

The Boil

All was good up until this point where my elements decided to keep turning off just at boiling point. Did not get a good rolling boil and subsequently did not boil off as much liquor as I needed - I have a much lower OG than predicted! At least all the hops and the kaffir lime leaves look cosy together.

Rapid cool, baby

Our custom built immersion chiller took the wort from 93/94 degrees to 20 in under 30 mins.

FV

Aerate the wort as it goes into the FV ready for the yeast to be pitched. With the lower OG (1.042) I'm looking at closer to 4% ABV than the original 4.9%.

The FV is now sat happily in the bedroom at 19/20 degrees and smells absolutely gorgeous!

 

[MPLMPL]

Looks an interesting one. I'd be keen to hear how the kaffir lime comes through in the flavour. Did you use fresh leaves? I have a kaffir lime tree that does well, so long as it gets to spend the winter in the conservatory. I'm tempted to use some in a small batch at some point, or split a batch after a few days of fermentation and add some to a demijohn.

 

[joeskidmore]

Not fresh, dried from eBay, but they still pack a very pungent smell. Still early days yet but I will keep you posted.

 

[Cactus Jack]

Sounds like it'll be a great brew. :drink: Also interested in the leaves. Have them earmarked for one of my brews in the future. Would like to know how much zestyness remains after fermentation, as at the mo I am considering steeping the leaves and racking onto the liquor when bottling. Keep us posted. :

 

[joeskidmore]

8 days after fermentation and there is still a very nice limey smell coming from the FV - tastes quite fruity too!

Can anyone advise me as to whether I should add the dextrose at the same time as transferring to 2nd FV?

 

[MPLMPL]

Any news on this?
I'm planning on getting a wheat beer on in the next week or so and my kaffir lime tree is looking in good shape after a mild winter.