It’s Rockit Cup time, dagnabit! Don’t be fooled by my late start on this one—I plan on making it the one beer to rule them all! Not that a 
hoppy wheat beer is that actual beer, but it will be that good. I promise. Or, as the proverbial turn of phrase I am ever so dependent upon goes, something.
hoppy wheat beer is that actual beer, but it will be that good. I promise. Or, as the proverbial turn of phrase I am ever so dependent upon goes, something. Mash:
5 lbs. Breiss White Wheat
4 lbs. Breiss Pale
½ lb. Dingemans Cara 20
½ lb. Rice hulls (rinsed)
Mash @ 153° F for 60 minutes w/ 3 ½ gallons of RO water; collected 2 ¼ gallons @ 1.058
Batch sparge @ 167° F for 20 minutes w/ 3 ½ gallons RO water & 2 g. gypsum; collected 3 ½ gallons @ 1.022
Collected 5 ¾ gallons; added ¼ gallon to bring to 6 gallons, brought to a boil (60 minutes), & added:
FWH: 1 oz Centennial leaf 10.3% AA
w/15 to go: 1 tsp. Irish Moss
w/5 to go: 1 oz. Centennial leaf 10.3% AA
w/0 to go: 2 oz. Centennial leaf 10.3% AA
Chilled, racked to carboy, & pitched White Labs 007 Dry English Ale
Brewed: 7/24/2012
Secondary: 7/29/2012 @ 1.010; dry hop w/ 1 oz. Centennial leaf 10.3% AA
Bottled: 8/3/2012 w/ 3.0 oz. table sugar
OG: 1.040
FG: 1.008
Tasting Notes (8/10/2012): For this Rockit Cup, it was a showdown between Brian Gallow and myself; Brian couldn’t actually be in attendance, so Darren Link got to play the part of Brian. I played myself, and was roundly trounced for not sending a proxy in my stead. My version had tasted
much better 20 hours earlier when I tried a bottle to see if it was carbonated, but those intervening hours allowed the jankiness of my version to shine through, or something like that. Still, second is better than not having brewed it at all. Oh, and Jeffrey did make this beer, but managed to drink all of it before the DRAFT meeting. We’ll give him an honorary third.
(8/24/2012): I’ve given this beer a couple of weeks to come together in the bottle. Whether this strategy is solid or not remains to be seen. Rockit Cup Hoppy Wheat pours a tawny and hazy tan, although when it warms a bit the chill haze starts to disappear. The white head is thin and persistent—it refuses to leave and still sits in the glass once the beer is gone. That’s wheat for you. The nose is more hops than anything else—citrus and orange with some spicy floral resin in the background, coupled with that tang of earthy sourness that is the earmark of Centennial. Behind the hops, there is a touch of wheat and gummy bread dough. A ways behind. Flavors open with spicy orange hop flavor and 
gummy wheat, giving way to hop bitterness with perfume-y resin and earthiness and the with the bread dough malt found in the nose. There is also a hint of caramel, although it does get easily lost amongst the hop flavors. The sour twang hits in the final third, balanced by the lingering lightly chalky and floral bitterness. The carbonation gives the beer bounce and snap; it lightens the beer on the tongue and plays well with the hop flavors. The body easy on the tongue, albeit a bit gummy, and it works well in conjunction with the aggressive hopping. I do like this beer as a whole—it goes down light and easy—but I might like a slightly more distinctive hop to give it a better balance. While the malt does hold up to the hops, it is a bit indistinct, and when coupled with the Centennial, the beer needs a bit more of that intangible something to improve the beer as a whole. Still, good drinking, and another Rockit Cup success.
gummy wheat, giving way to hop bitterness with perfume-y resin and earthiness and the with the bread dough malt found in the nose. There is also a hint of caramel, although it does get easily lost amongst the hop flavors. The sour twang hits in the final third, balanced by the lingering lightly chalky and floral bitterness. The carbonation gives the beer bounce and snap; it lightens the beer on the tongue and plays well with the hop flavors. The body easy on the tongue, albeit a bit gummy, and it works well in conjunction with the aggressive hopping. I do like this beer as a whole—it goes down light and easy—but I might like a slightly more distinctive hop to give it a better balance. While the malt does hold up to the hops, it is a bit indistinct, and when coupled with the Centennial, the beer needs a bit more of that intangible something to improve the beer as a whole. Still, good drinking, and another Rockit Cup success.
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