A good friend of mine originally exposed me to an amazing beer from New Glarus Brewing called Dancing Man Wheat. This beer, while outside of the OG specification for a traditional hefeweizen is an amazing example of the style. New Glarus’ weizen yeast strain and their processes restrain the over-the-top banana and bubblegum character that dominate most homebrew versions of the style. Instead, it has a great spice character of cinnamon and clove which complement its smooth and creamy mouth feel. In addition, I pick up an almost tropical fruit note, likely a yeast derived flavor.

For this recipe I started with a few things I knew about the beer (like the percentage of oats I took from Brewing with Wheat by Stan Hieronymus) as well as other theories about the way New Glarus brews. I then critically tasted the beer, researched hefeweizen brewing techniques, and brewed my initial batch. After the initial batch, I made a few recipe tweaks, lowered the OG to better fit the style guideline, and then rebrewed using a yeast culture I grew from the bottle dregs of Dancing Man. While not a spot on clone, this beer is very much in the same family as New Glarus’ beer, and is absolutely delicious.

Specifications

Volume: 5.74 Gallons
Original Gravity: 1.054
Terminal Gravity: 1.007
Color: 8.97 SRM
Alcohol: 6.11%
Bitterness: 14.1
Efficiency: 68% (tweak recipe to match efficiency of your brew house)
Boil Length: 90 Minutes

Ingredients

6.5 lb (56.5%) Pale Wheat Malt; Weyermann
14 oz (7.6%) Unmalted Wheat
3 lb (26.1%) Bavarian Pilsner; Weyermann
12 oz (6.5%) Oats (Pregelatinized Flakes); Briess
2 oz (1.1%) Caramel Malt 40L; Briess
4 oz (2.2%) Honey Malt
Rice Hulls as Required
30 g (100.0%) East Kent Goldings (4.7%) – added during boil, boiled 60 m
1 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 15 m
.75 tsp Wyeast Nutrient – added during boil, boiled 10 m
1800ml starter of New Glarus Weizen Yeast – User Wyeast 3068 as a replacement

Water

Carbon-filtered Seattle water which is very soft.  All salts added to grist before mashing in.
2.0 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)
6.0 g Calcium Chloride (Calcium Chloride)
2.0 g Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulfate)

Mash

15 Minute Ferulic Acid Rest at 110° F
Pull Decoction to Raise to Saccharification Rest
40 Minute Saccharification Rest at 156° F
Pull Decoction to Raise to Mashout Rest
10 Minute Mashout Rest at 170° F
Sparge at 170° F and collect sufficient runnings to hit pre-boil volumes.

Fermentation

1. Chill wort to 58° F and pitch yeast slurry.
2. Set temp controller to 60° F and allow to rise to this temp.
3. Ferment at 60-62° F until beer is 2-6 points from terminal gravity then raise temp to 68° F.  Hold at 68° F for 2 days.
4. Chill fermenter to 34° F and package.  Bottle conditioning adds an authentic feel to this beer.

Awards

The beer brewed from this recipe has won as a BJCP Category 15a. Weizen/Weissbier:

• 2012 NHC First Round – 1st Place

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