First tasting: Home Sweet Home Hefeweizen

I’m a little late on finally writing this review. I haven’t been sitting on these bottles though; in fact I’ve probably polished off about a case. The hefewizen that I brewed came in under my anticipated gravity, rather than hurting the beer it only made it easier to drink. You might be wondering, how an already easy drink can become easier? Decrease the alcohol so you can drink two.  There are a few things I’ll change for the next time, along with not being horribly inefficient so I can hit my target OG.

Appearance: Very light, opaque pale yellow to white with a large fluffy white head about 2 fingers thick that lingers and leaves a nice lacing on the side of the glass. I was hoping for a little more orange in the beer so I might up the Munich malt next time.

Aroma: Huge peach aroma with a touch of pineapple and guava. I was really surprised with the peach. In the back ground there is a touch of spiciness from the yeast.

Taste: A touch of citrus and spicy yeast. I would honestly say it is a touch too bitter, but that is probably because I hopped it for a 1.050 beer and ended up with about 1.030 so the IBUs are much more apparent. The spiciness helps balance it out and it’s only about 20 IBUs to begin with. I would say it’s between a regular Hefeweizen and a white IPA.

Mouthfeel: Spritzy and refreshing, with a dry, slightly bitter finish. Very easy to drink and enjoyable.

Overall: Very easy to drink, great aroma, and refreshing. Everything I was targeting, besides the OG. The reason my efficiency was so off was because I miss calculated my mash/sparge water. I ended up using too much sparge water, which in return, watered down my beer. Luckily this is an easily correctable situation. I’ll definitely brew this beer again. Perhaps when I get my keggle finished I’ll brew a double batch for next Summer (assuming I can find more citra hops) and do a regular batch and a dry-hopped batch.