Homebrew Session: Drop it Like it’s Hopped Hefeweizen

Inspired by the success of Kong’s Hefeweizen, I decided to take the same recipe and modify it. Kong’s Hefeweizen was already pretty hoppy for a hefeweizen but I wondered what the resulting beer would be like if I really pushed the hop character of the beer. So I did.

I suppose I should explain the name a little bit. I normally like to listen to rock music but lately, I’ve found rock music to have stagnated. There hasn’t been a “new sound” that’s captivated my attention. So I decided to give hip-hop another shot. While I find most of hip-hop/rap music to be very derivative of each other and utterly devoid of any sort of messaging outside of I-have-a-lot-of-money-and-you-don’t, or I’m-a-gansta-taking-what’s-rightfully-mine, or I-wanna-have-sex-that-demeans/objectifies-women, or I’m-a-gangsta-with-a lot-of-money-and-you-don’t-so-I’m-taking-what’s-rightfully-mine-by-having-sex-that-demeans/objectifies-you-lady-RESPECT!, there are a few mainstream rap artists that are just fun to listen to. Snoop Dogg is one of them. Fond of smoking marijuana and of repeated consonants, Snoop Dogg gained critical acclaim as part of the early “gansta rap” genre of the early 90s. That is neither here or there, what is relevant though is his hit song “Drop it like it’s hot“. I had often wanted to brew up beer that was inspired by music and I guess my Drop it Like it’s Hopped Hefeweizen is the first one.

Ingredients

Malt

• 6 lbs – Bavarian wheat extract

Specialty Grains:

• 1 lbs – Bamburg Wheat (1.6L)

Hops

• 1 oz – Magnum (13.1) bittering
• 3 oz – Citra (?) finishing
• 2 oz – Citra (?) dry-hop

Yeast

• Hefeweizen Ale Yeast (WLP300)

Original Gravity: 1.060

Final Gravity: 1.016

ABV: 5.775%

Process

1. Steep all Bamburg Wheat for 30 minues at 150° F.
2. Bring to a boil, add 1 oz Magnum hops for bittering.
3. At 30 minute mark, add 6 lbs Coopers Light DME.
4. At 40 minute mark, add in wort chiller to sanitize in boil.
5. At 50 minute mark, 1 oz Citra.
6. At 57 minute mark, add 2 oz Citra.
7. Flame out, chill to 65° F – 70° F.
8. Pitch yeast and aerate.

Tasting Notes (wort) — 5/15/10

Opaque, gold color with green-ish tint. Soapy, white head. Wort-ish, wet grain cereal aroma with wet grass hop notes. Assertive bitterness that lasts into the finish. Grain flavor is sweet. Full-bodied, slight hop astringency.

Tasting Notes (primary) — 5/29/10 (Added 2 oz Citra hops for dry-hopping at this time)

The beer pours out a cloudy, yellow/dark gold with lots of yeast still in suspension. No head. The aroma is a mix between lemony citrus notes, yeasty banana esters and pungent/citrus/piney hop character with slight wheat malt notes. There is a moderate level of hop flavor, followed up by yeasty, banana flavor and wheat malt flavors in the finish. Hop bitterness is medium-high and lasts into the finish. Grapefruit? Medium body, no carbonation.

Tasting Notes (final) — 7/27/10

Hazy, dark gold color with a lasting, thick, off-white head. The aroma has strong citrus hop character, light yeasty lemon and low banana and clove character. This is a hop forward beer; hop flavor is grapefruity with lemony citrus yeast flavors and light wheat malt character. Hop bitterness is medium-high intensity and lasts well into the finish but isn’t harsh. There is a slight tartness in the finish. This is a medium/medium-high carbonated beer with medium-low/medium body and a slight hop astringency.

Overall

By no means is this a traditional hefeweizen, American or otherwise. It is also not a balanced beer with the hop character definitely in the forefront. That being said, I really liked how this turned out. With the name “Drop it Like it’s Hopped”, this needed to be a hoppy beer. Surprisingly, this was also a very refreshing beer. I tapped this beer in time for my birthday party a few weeks ago and I didn’t think anyone would really like it because of it’s assertive hop character but I think this was the most consumed beer of the evening. I’m nursing what’s left because I like it so much.

At one point during the evening’s festivities, my friend Diane and her husband Michael brought out their growler of Russian River’s Pliny the Elder. We had been drinking “Drop it Like it’s Hopped” all evening and I though it would be a pleasant change to have a hoppy IPA. After taking a swig of Pliny the Elder from my pint glass, I commented on how malty it was. The growler was fresh, no more than a couple of days old; we all just snickered at how hoppy “Drop it Like it’s Hopped” really was.

In any event, I look forward to brewing this beer up again. I’ll probably experiment with the hop combination a little bit more to try for more hop complexity and layers, but even if I did nothing else to it, I’d be satisfied.

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