The Bar Towel

Ok, so I ordered 6.6 pounds of Briess Bavarian Wheat LME and the Weihenstephan Weizen yeast from Wyeast. I was getting BRUTAL attenuation with 100% DME (from a LHBS in Kingston) so I decided to try this LME.

The specs on the Briess website say that the LME is made of 75% fermentables.... so if I'm using the LME as 100% of my fermentables should I expect this brew to finish pretty high (sweet)?

So many kits are sold with 100% LME with some steeping grains and people seem to have a lot of success.... so I'm hoping this will attenuate enough.

I'm going to steep some flaked oats and maybe a little wheat malt, but I haven't decided 100% on the recipe yet.

I'm going to do a late LME addition to the boil to try and avoid any carmelization as well...

Any other tips?

If you use the 6.6 lbs of the wheat LME, and it's 75% fermentable and let's say you get around 75% attenuation, that should net you close 50 points (~4.8% abv) for your 5 gallon batch. If you want to go a little higher, you can add some DME (if you have it) towards the end of the boil.

I'm not sure you stand to gain much by adding some of the LME at the end of the boil. I would recommend to add the full 6.6 lbs and boil in 3.5 or so gallons of water for 60 min.

As you have probably noticed already, there are a ton of HW extract recipes available.

The only tip to ensure a good beer are to prep a starter for that liquid yeast in advance to ensure you get at least that 75% attenuation.

The only all-DME weiss I did was 3 Kg of Wheat LME, 3 Kg of Regular LME, and Weihenstephaner yeast from WYeast.

It turned out pretty darn good for a no-hassle, lazy-ass brew. Fermented super fast (48 hours) to 5% alcohol. 1 week of secondary, then kegged and served fresh to friends on the beach. Finished pretty dry.

No regrets, though I felt lazy as hell while brewing it. Oats would be a good idea I guess. I would also add a bit of orange peel if I would have to redo.

Awesome, thanks guys.

5% abv is exactly what I'm hoping for. I suppose I could add a little bit of sugar to bump it up a little...

I'll be sure to create a starter, and I do have orange peel. Bitter and sweet. What should I use?

This recipe is turning out to be nearly exactly the same as a Belgian Wit I'm brewing this weekend. The only difference is the yeast!

I took a good whiff of the Forbidden Fruit Wyeast I'm using when I made the starter, and it smells amazing. I could have just sucked back the yeast pack. Disgusting.... I know.

JesseMcG wrote: This recipe is turning out to be nearly exactly the same as a Belgian Wit I'm brewing this weekend. The only difference is the yeast!

this sounds like a good experiment. brew the exact same recipe twice pitch a wit strain in one batch and a hefe strain in the other.

you could always just split a 5 gallon batch to try this as well.