Berry Weizen

5 gallons, extract with adjuncts; OG = 1.044; FG = 1.013

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs. Premier wheat malt extract
• 1 lb. light dry malt powder
• 1 lb. wheat dry malt powder
• 1 lb. flaked wheat
• 1 oz. Tettnanger hops (5% alpha acid), for 60 min.
• Wyeast 3056 (Bavarian weizen) liquid yeast
• 3/4 cup corn sugar for priming
• Fruit extract of your choice to make a fruit ale (optional)

Step by Step:

Steep 2 gals. of hot water (about 130° F) with flaked wheat for 30 minutes with the heat on low (150° F). Strain out most of the flaked wheat, leaving some to give the beer its cloudy appearance. Bring to a boil. Remove the pot from the burner, add the malt extracts and hops. Boil for 60 minutes. When boiling is done, transfer the beer into 2 gals. cold water in your sterilized carboy, then top off to 5 gals. Add yeast when beer is cooled below 74° F, then ferment at 68° F.

If you want to make a fruit beer, add the natural fruit extract at the same time you add the bottling sugar. Raspberry, apricot, and boysenberry are great. Transfer the beer into your bottling vessel, then add the fruit extract to taste. One bottle of extract will give a hint of fruit flavor; 1.5 bottles will give a strong flavor.

You may also bottle a few gallons without the fruit flavoring, then add the fruit extract and bottle the rest. If you want to use raw fruit, the best way is to add 3 to 5 lbs. of crushed fruit into the wort when you are done boiling, and let the fruit steep for 15 minutes to extract color and flavor. Don't boil the fruit, because it will tend to give a very cloudy beer. You then strain out the fruit as the beer goes into the carboy.