Brews and Blues Beer and Smokin’ Blues

Homebrew – Yellowjacket Hefeweizen

Brewery: Homebrew - Brews and Blues Beer Co.
Where: Hickory, North Carolina
Beer: Yellowjacket Hefeweizen
Style: Hefeweizen
IBU: 12 IBU
ABV: 6.5%

After brewing my Orange Blossom Special wheat beer back in January or February of last year, I knew I wanted to try an all-grain version to improve the color and flavor to something closer to a real Barvarian Hefeweizen, so I set out to do that back in October.  Today's sampling is the resulting Yellowjacket Hefeweizen.  This beer pours with a rich golden and cloudy color with a foamy head.  This pour is immediately followed by the traditional banana/clove aroma created by the hefeweizen yeast.  I also used a little orange peel in this recipe to add some citrus bitterness to balance the sweetness of the malted wheat and two-row pilsner malt used to create this beer.  A very light bill of hallertauer hops also help balance the malty sweetness without playing a specific role in the flavor or aroma of this beer.  

This is the second time I have brewed a hefeweizen, and I believe that this recipe will become a regular after I make one more minor adjustment.  In this recipe, I soaked some sweet orange peel in a little vodka and added the resulting extract to the beer before I bottled it.  The citrus flavor in this beer is just a tad more obvious than I would prefer, so I'm going to add the orange peel directly to the boil for the last 5 minutes or so the next time I brew this beer....