It's summertime, so I would imagine a lot of people out there are looking for a light, refreshing beer to sip on, but one that still has a little more flavor than a mass produced lager.
Enter wheat beers, the perfect summer sippers. Wheat adds a little bit of weight to the body, especially if the beer is served unfiltered (most are), but also adds some refreshingly juicy citrus and fruit flavors.
Below is a little break down of some of the more popular wheat beer styles.
Hefeweizen is a German beer style, kind of the classic wheat beer. Hefeweizen literally means yeast and wheat. As far as wheat beers go, they are actually pretty full bodied, but their refreshing banana, citrus, and clove flavors make them still very drinkable, and a great summer beer. Hefeweizens are traditionally unfiltered, meaning there is a haze from the yeast left from brewing, and if served in a bottle, there may actually be a sediment left at the bottom of the bottle. Although hefeweizen is one of a handful of styles with exemptions to the (in)famous German beer purity laws, the exception allows them to be made with wheat, but not other additives. So all of those delicious orange, banana and clove flavors are actually coming from the combination of the wheat in the mash and the particular yeast strains used. There isn't actually any fruit or other extra flavorings added!
Wit Bier is a Belgian style wheat beer. Wit bier actually translates to white beer, not wheat beer as many people assume. Wit beers tend to be pretty light bodied, with orange, coriander, and sometimes even anise flavors. They are also served unfiltered, but because of the higher proportion of wheat, and the particular yeast strains used, they are usually a very pale off-white to straw color, as opposed to the bright orange to dark brown color of a hefeweizen. Unlike the Germans, the Belgians are not bound by law or tradition to limit what they brew with, so many wit beers are actually brewed with orange peel, coriander, star anise, or other adjuncts to add flavor.
Berliner Weisse is a sour wheat beer originally from Berlin. They are very low in alcohol, and have tart, lemony flavors. They are traditionally served with a sweet syrup from either raspberries or woodruff. If you don't mind a very tart flavor, these are great summer beers as their low alcohol and crisp acidity make them super refreshing (and you can have a few). Traditional berliners are not brewed with any fruit, so the tartness comes from the particular yeast strains used to ferment the beer.
American Wheat is kind of a catch-all phrase. It can either mean a wheat beer in any of the styles above (or any other style, for that matter), which is brewed in America, or it can mean a unique wheat beer (again, brewed in America), which doesn't really fit into a traditional European style box. Some tend to be hoppier than the traditional styles, but again, there are no hard and fast rules.
Hopefully this helped you understand the world of wheat beers. Now get out there and refresh yourself with one. As always, please feel free to leave questions or feedback in the comments, or let me know if there is a specific topic you'd like me to cover!
Showing posts with label wheat beer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wheat beer. Show all posts
Monday, July 18, 2016
Friday, January 9, 2015
Why is my beer hazy, or even muddy looking?
So, you've probably read my post on sediment in beer, but if not, that's okay.
Every once in a while, the sediment or haze gets extreme, or, if you've had the beer before, unusual even for the particular beer you're drinking.
This is usually the case in draft beers which are unfiltered or undergo secondary fermentation in the keg, and there's a few reasons this happens.
First of all, it is perfectly natural, and perfectly normal, and not a sign of a flaw in the beer, and definitely not that the beer is unsafe to drink.
As the post above discusses, sediment or haze is usually caused by the dead yeast cells remaining in an unfiltered or bottle/keg conditioned beer. This is why unfiltered beers, such as hefeweizens, wit beirs, and various Belgian beers are usually hazy and opaque.
On the other hand, sometimes the haze goes beyond opacity to actually make the beer darker, or almost muddy in appearance. While in hefeweizens, these beers usually pour within the normal color range for the style, and unless you are familiar with the particular beer you're drinking, you might not even notice, it can be particularly alarming in Belgian wit beers, golden ales, tripels, etc.
The reason this happens is fairly simple. Dead yeast cells are heavier than water and the other things that make up the majority of your beer. If a keg of beer sits stationary for a while, the yeast will start to make its way toward the bottom of the keg and become concentrated there, causing a darker, more murky appearance.
The way kegs work is that the beer being pulled from the tap is actually coming through the stem of the barrel from the bottom of the keg. This means that, depending on how long a beer has been sitting in a color, and how it was stored, the beer can be darker at either the beginning or the end of a keg.
If a keg has just been tapped, and is pouring with a muddy color, it is likely a sign that the beer has been in the bar's cooler for a while, and has been stored upright. Luckily for us, most unfiltered beer styles are not harmed, and may actually get better, from aging. On the other hand, if the keg gets darker toward the end, it is usually a sign that the beer has been on tap for a while, or was stored upside down before being tapped. In fact, many brewers recommend that their unfiltered beers either be stored upside down, or are agitated just before serving. The reason is that this way, the yeast is concentrated at the top of the keg. If the keg is on tap for a reasonable amount of time (a few weeks), the yeast will slowly settle, and the beer shouldn't pour "muddy" at all. On the other hand, if the beer is particularly popular, and moves quickly, the yeast concentrated at the top of the keg won't have time to settle/spread throughout the keg, and when the end of the keg is reached, the beer which was formerly at the top of the keg will have a high concentration of sediment, and will pour with a murky/muddy appearance.
As mentioned in my sediment post, I have heard (from very unscientific sources, of course), that the dead yeast cells are actually very nutritious. In most draft beers, they may affect the mouth feel of the beer, but honestly, if you were to blind taste the "bottom of the barrel" against a glass from the middle of the keg, you wouldn't know the difference.
So don't let the dirty/muddy appearance of that beer scare you. Enjoy it!
Every once in a while, the sediment or haze gets extreme, or, if you've had the beer before, unusual even for the particular beer you're drinking.
This is usually the case in draft beers which are unfiltered or undergo secondary fermentation in the keg, and there's a few reasons this happens.
First of all, it is perfectly natural, and perfectly normal, and not a sign of a flaw in the beer, and definitely not that the beer is unsafe to drink.
As the post above discusses, sediment or haze is usually caused by the dead yeast cells remaining in an unfiltered or bottle/keg conditioned beer. This is why unfiltered beers, such as hefeweizens, wit beirs, and various Belgian beers are usually hazy and opaque.
On the other hand, sometimes the haze goes beyond opacity to actually make the beer darker, or almost muddy in appearance. While in hefeweizens, these beers usually pour within the normal color range for the style, and unless you are familiar with the particular beer you're drinking, you might not even notice, it can be particularly alarming in Belgian wit beers, golden ales, tripels, etc.
The reason this happens is fairly simple. Dead yeast cells are heavier than water and the other things that make up the majority of your beer. If a keg of beer sits stationary for a while, the yeast will start to make its way toward the bottom of the keg and become concentrated there, causing a darker, more murky appearance.
The way kegs work is that the beer being pulled from the tap is actually coming through the stem of the barrel from the bottom of the keg. This means that, depending on how long a beer has been sitting in a color, and how it was stored, the beer can be darker at either the beginning or the end of a keg.
If a keg has just been tapped, and is pouring with a muddy color, it is likely a sign that the beer has been in the bar's cooler for a while, and has been stored upright. Luckily for us, most unfiltered beer styles are not harmed, and may actually get better, from aging. On the other hand, if the keg gets darker toward the end, it is usually a sign that the beer has been on tap for a while, or was stored upside down before being tapped. In fact, many brewers recommend that their unfiltered beers either be stored upside down, or are agitated just before serving. The reason is that this way, the yeast is concentrated at the top of the keg. If the keg is on tap for a reasonable amount of time (a few weeks), the yeast will slowly settle, and the beer shouldn't pour "muddy" at all. On the other hand, if the beer is particularly popular, and moves quickly, the yeast concentrated at the top of the keg won't have time to settle/spread throughout the keg, and when the end of the keg is reached, the beer which was formerly at the top of the keg will have a high concentration of sediment, and will pour with a murky/muddy appearance.
As mentioned in my sediment post, I have heard (from very unscientific sources, of course), that the dead yeast cells are actually very nutritious. In most draft beers, they may affect the mouth feel of the beer, but honestly, if you were to blind taste the "bottom of the barrel" against a glass from the middle of the keg, you wouldn't know the difference.
So don't let the dirty/muddy appearance of that beer scare you. Enjoy it!
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