Short-Boil/Steep-Only Extract Beer

[Pehlman17]

I have been playing around with the idea of doing an all extract beer, which I have not done in quite a long time. I thought it might be fun to do a sort of modern hoppy wheat in the vein of Modern Times Fortunate Islands, but a tad higher abv. Here is the basic recipe I had in mind along with some of the numbers I'm seeing in BeerSmith.

• 4.25 gallon (16L) batch size. Fermented in a corny keg.
• 6 lbs Muntons Wheat DME ~ 1.059 SG
• 4oz Citra T-90 (steeped @180-185F for 30 min.) ~ 48 IBU
• Lallemand Bry-97 (@ 68F/20C) ~ probably 2 packets.
• 4oz Citra T-90 (Dry hop) ~ probably on day 3 until gravity has stabilized for at least 48 hours. I don't mind the longer contact times personally and Im not in a rush to free up fermenter space. Then cold crash to 35 and transfer a day or two after.

This is quite a departure from the way I typically brew. All extract and little-to-no boil are both very foreign to me, but I'm hoping to experiment a little this year. The main questions I have are:

1. How is Muntons Wheat DME? Im more familiar with Briess, but Muntons is the only wheat DME that Yakima Valley Hops has currently. Would I be best off using distilled water with no salt additions, or would a touch of calcium salts be appropriate? I tend to still like a bit of sulfate in my hoppy beers. I find the chloride heavy IPAs to be a tad too soft for my taste.
2. Would I need to bring this to a boil at all, or would I be ok just taking it up to that 180-185F range and leaving it there? I typically boil with my immersion chiller in the kettle and a large stainless steel hop spider sitting inside the rings of the chiller. My thinking was 30 min @ >180F would likely be enough to sanitize things.

Any other thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

How is Muntons Wheat DME? Im more familiar with Briess, but Muntons is the only wheat DME that Yakima Valley Hops has currently. Would I be best off using distilled water with no salt additions, or would a touch of calcium salts be appropriate? I tend to still like a bit of sulfate in my hoppy beers. I find the chloride heavy IPAs to be a tad too soft for my taste.

My limited experience with Muntons DME suggest that the information in this Brewers Friend topic (link) is a good starting point for flavor salt additions.

With Briess DME, my personal tastes limit gypsum (CaS04) to 0.5 grams / gallon. With Muntons (limited experience), I would start at that level and experiment with adding gypsum "in the glass".

Would I need to bring this to a boil at all, or would I be ok just taking it up to that 180-185F range and leaving it there? I typically boil with my immersion chiller in the kettle and a large stainless steel hop spider sitting inside the rings of the chiller. My thinking was 30 min @ >180F would likely be enough to sanitize things.

180F for 30 min will cover pasteurizing the DME.

Any other thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

When all-grain brewers get delightful results (link) on their first batch brewing with extract, follow them (link) to get more information.

 

[Pehlman17]

Thanks for the info! I may end up brewing something like this toward the end of winter so I can have it on to kick off spring weather.