German or American Wheat?

[BenTheBrewer]

I'm going to brew a Wheat Beer this week. My question is "Which Style?" I like them both but can't decide. I would like to take a quick poll and see what the BN Army thinks.

American Wheat or German Wheat. Kristal or Hefe?

[mabrungard]

I like a German Hefe, never a Kristal. The yeast is an important part of the flavor profile in my opinion.

American Wheat is refreshing, but I prefer it as a base to fruit flavored beer. Apricot, Peach, maybe even a light lemon flavor is really refreshing.

Either of these beers need to be crisp and bordering on tart. Knocking out the bicarbonates is imperative to making good wheat beer.

[BDawg]

You can brew the same wort, split it, and ferment 1/2 with the 3068 and the other with the American wheat yeast.
I did that and they both turned out great.

Recipe went somethign like this:

(10 gallons)
14 lbs wheat malt
6 lbs pilsner malt
2 oz Hallertaur @ 60

Ferment 5 gallons with Wyeast 3068, the other half with WLP320.
OG - 1.055
IBUs - 16

(If you are doing extract, just use 11.5 lbs of Wheat DME instead of the 2 malts.)

[Oktober]

American Wheat. Just my $0.02.

-Okt

[BenTheBrewer]

You can brew the same wort, split it, and ferment 1/2 with the 3068 and the other with the American wheat yeast.
I did that and they both turned out great.

This is a great idea, but as of yet I'm restricted to a 7.5 gal boil. I could split that but 2.5 - 3 gals of beer seems to be a waste of keg space (which is also limited at this time). I do however have a friend who can get me a couple kegs for free. But i'm still waiting on him to fulfill that promise.

[SacoDeToro]

You can brew the same wort, split it, and ferment 1/2 with the 3068 and the other with the American wheat yeast.
I did that and they both turned out great.

This is a great idea, but as of yet I'm restricted to a 7.5 gal boil. I could split that but 2.5 - 3 gals of beer seems to be a waste of keg space (which is also limited at this time). I do however have a friend who can get me a couple kegs for free. But i'm still waiting on him to fulfill that promise.

You could also brew 7.5 gallons of higher gravity wort and water it back in the fermenter with cold sterile water to get 10 gallons. A number of good lower-alcohol commercial beers are brewed this way.