Hefeweizen: Hops or No?

Ok, I'm going to make an all wheat Hefeweizen. My question is whether or not to add a hops at all. I'm looking to make a sweet malty beer that my wife can enjoy just as much as me. What do you guys think? maybe a little 1.5 AA Halertau? What inspired me to try this was the incredibly sweet, fresh, Heavenly smell of the wheat malt I just made myself. I made 50 pounds of it and put it all inside of my mash tun for storage last night and when I woke up and checked it earlier today the smell almost knocked me to the ground. Much better than anything offered by my LHBS.

You definately need some German hops in there. Hallertau or maybe some Tettnang(er) to balance out the malt. Not much, just 10-20 IBU will do the trick.

you absolutely need hops for balance. shoot for 8 IBUs if you want to go low.

+1 on needing the IBUs to balance the maltiness. Then, this is just me, but I feel like I need some of the hop aroma when drinking a hefe.

yeah, it's just you

i've tried many hefeweizens with late addition hops. i've never preferred it.

I am a low-hops person (opposite of a hophead), and I always aim for the low end of the acceptable range for any given style.

I figure 8-10 IBU will put you in the right range. I don't expect hop flavor in weizens but some mild hopping is nice.

For a 5 gal batch I only use 3%AAs at 60 mins...

My traditional Hefe's are always only bittering with Hallertau and around 15ish IBU. It is a must really, as for the reason already mentioned.

Is it technically even still beer if it doesn't have hops?

yes. it's not "ale", tho

EDIT: i think i have that right...

For my next Hefe I will be using the steps proscribed by Menschmachine. He says that today's highly modified grains benefit more from a rest in the 130's then the high 150's. I will be trying that.

ohiobrewtus said:

Is it technically even still beer if it doesn't have hops?

Click to expand...

I guess not lol, Althought the first beers were bittered with gruit instead of hops. I am going to bitter it now though. Seeing as how Hallertau is the traditional hop used in hefeweizen, and I have a pound of Hallertau on its way I think I should use them on my hefe.