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Honey wheat beer what yest to use, us 05 or wyeast 3942

davecj7

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creating a new recipe with wheat malt 4.3lbs , Maris Otter 4.3 lbs and honey malt 9 oz  with bitter orange in the boil also using Nelson Sauvin for bittering and aroma..
I'm looking for opinions on yeast to use I know US-05 will give a good clean flavor and this is a lawnmower brew for sure. and may be good with the hops im using.
Any opinions welcome
 
More of the flavor associated with a wheat beer comes more from the yeast than the grain. Use US-05 and it will taste like a clean ale with some wheat in it. It won't taste like a hefe.

Last wheat beer I used Munich. Got one of the local health food stores with a homebrew alcove to order it for me. Fermented on the low end of the temperature range.

http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/munich-wheat-beer-yeast

It smelled terrible going into the keg. I mean bad. I thought it was a loss, but went through the process anyway.
After the last kegs were dry I reluctantly tapped it, and it was awesome. One of the best beers I've ever made.
Don't have any experience with wyeast 3942.
 
Do you think the esters from that yeast would impair the hop notes and fruit in the beer? it looks like that yeast has lots of DMS and banana flavors.
 
Seriously though, if you want it to taste like a wheat beer, then you really need to use a yeast that's specifically for one. Otherwise you'll get a clear and crisp ale with a hint of wheat, but it won't taste like a wheat beer.

You want those esters. You want it to be cloudy with yeast. Otherwise it just isn't a proper hefe.
 
Maine Homebrewer said:
You want those esters. You want it to be cloudy with yeast. Otherwise it just isn't a proper hefe.

To play devil's advocate here, a proper hefe may not be what he's going for.  That said, the recipe does look like it's leaning in that direction.  What say you Dave, what are you going for with this one?  Looking back on Maine's input, I agree... US-05 will be clean with a hint of wheat, but a proper hefe yeast will give you more of the banana, clove, haze, etc that you'd expect from a more traditional wheat beer.  It's all about what you want.
 
I guess what im tryin g for is not a traditional wheat beer, or Hefe. Im not too keen on the banana esters. I wanted a wheat that was clear like a dunkelweisen. so I may have just made a lighter bodied dunkel..
 
davecj7 said:
I guess what im tryin g for is not a traditional wheat beer, or Hefe. Im not too keen on the banana esters. I wanted a wheat that was clear like a dunkelweisen. so I may have just made a lighter bodied dunkel..

sounds tasty. glad to hear you're not limiting yourself to traditional styles.  it's your world, brew and drink what suits you... which yeast did you go with?
 
I went with the US-05 cause thats what I had onhand, Its been kegged and waiting for it to get aged enough and carbed enough to drink, had a taste last night cause im impatient its good crisp and ahs a hint of the wheat nice and lawnmowery:)
 
US 05 is tried and true turn to yeast for me.  I just recently tried the Fermentis S 33 safe brew.  I have to say this is a good yeast too, Fermentis sells it as a Bavarian wheat style yeast, but it doesn't really act like one.  It did not put up and fruity esters, it brewed a clean ale like 05 but flocculated a little better and seems like it's not quite as lazy as 05 can sometimes be.  You may want to try it in the future if you brew this recipe again.
 
I just may, I like this beer quite a bit, its got a nice little edge to it that makes it very refreshing, could be the dry fermenting yeast. it almost tastes like it has a pilsner edge to it.
 
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