Abita Purple Haze (21A) - ALL GRAIN Homebrew Ingredient Kit

One of my friends called it a cross between Abita Purple Haze and Shocktop Rasp Wheat. Its okay, but the raspberry extract gives the beer a very fake taste. It mellows out over time, but that really fake 'tart' persists and nearly kills the beer for me.

Bottled yesterday F.G. reading was 1.012 corrected so with the math provided by AHS and it comes out to 4.9 a little higher than my estimate of 4.4 to 4.5. when adding the extract the smell going into the bottles was very nice. I am not sure I can wait the two weeks.... And as the first reviewer stated this was very close to the commercial product in color/clarity.....I can't wait to try it...next up Smithwick Ale AHS Style....

Brewed this on August 6th 2011. Color was a nice nuetral light straw/brown. Definately smelled the wheat when steeping and then adding the extract. I used Wyeast American Wheat and brewvint yeast food. bubbling began in about 12 hours out of the fermentor. Went very strong for almost 5 full days before slowing down. Have maintained 68-70 for fermentation temperature. O.G was 1.050 at 75 degrees F. Will post results when bottling time comes around.

Had the first one last night....( I confess I couldn't wait the full two weeks) came out great. My Mrs. who is not a huge beer drinker liked it a lot. Said the raspberry ending was great...Did a side by side pour of the commercial version and mine. The AHS recipe was a little darker and my wife said tasted better...she said it seemed to have more character. I thought it held the head well.....tasted great with some Lou Malnati's Pizza as well...This one will age out great.

I've tried this recipe several times, and it is OK, but the real Abita Purple Haze is actually a lager. The WLP320 adds quite a lot of yeast flavor to the brew, and doesn't keep it with the style of the real thing. Not sure how cold you can ferment the WLP320 at, but if I was to do this again and NOT lager it, I'd try to ferment as cold as possible within the restrictions of that yeast strain.