recipe for widmer hefeweizen clone?
 

i like widmer hef and would like to make something similar to it. any recipes you could give me so that i might be able to achieve my goal?

Don't know about the grain/hops, but I read somewhere that they use the German Duesseldorf Altbier strain to ferment which explains the clean, almost lager-like flavor as opposed to the usual banana/clove you find in a hefe. Wyeast 1007 is the one to use. The White Labs offering (WLP036) seems to be out of season.

Hmm Widmer actually gives a lot of details about their beers. I put together a Broken Halo clone a few weeks ago which I am planning to do soon (another topic).

http://www.widmer.com/beer_hefeweizen.aspx

For the grist they give 11.7*P as the gravity (OG 1.045). 30 IBU. 4.9% ABV so it finishes low (fully attenuated). Pale, Munich, Wheat, Caramel 40 malt. Sounds like a Bavarian hefe but darker. I remember the color being around 5-6 SRM though I haven't had too many. Bittering is Alchemy (from what I have uncovered is a blend of Horizon, Magnum, Columbus, and maybe Summit). Willamette and cascade for aroma. They are in Oregon after all. :)

The thrill of the hunt continues..

A stab in the dark:

All-grain recipe, 70% efficiency:

4# Pale 2-row
4# Wheat malt
1# Munich
.25# Crystal 40

Mash 75 @149.

.5oz Horizon or Magnum or Columbus 45
.5oz Cascade 10
.5oz Willamette 10
1Tbsp white flour at flameout

OG 1.044 .. SRM 6 .. IBU 30

Ferment w/ Wyeast 1007 as cool as possible (60-64 is ideal).

Partial mash recipe:

6.5# Wheat LME
1# Munich
.25# Crystal 40

.5oz Horizon or Magnum or Columbus
.5oz Cascade
.5oz Willamette
1Tbsp white flour

Steep Munich and Crystal malts for 45 minutes at 152*F in 2 quarts of water. Add malt extract, 2.5 gallons of water, and bring to a boil. Add Horizon hops and boil 35 minutes. Add extract, Cascade hops, and Willamette hops, boil another 10 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in flour. Add to 2 gallons of chilled water and cool before pitching yeast. Ferment w/ Wyeast 1007 at 62*F.

All-extract recipe:

6.5# Wheat LME
1# Munich LME

.5oz Horizon or Magnum or Columbus
.5oz Cascade
.5oz Willamette
1Tbsp white flour

Bring 3 gallons of water to a boil. Add Horizon hops and boil 35 minutes. Add malt extract, Cascade hops, and Willamette hops, boil another 10 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in flour. Add to 2 gallons of chilled water and cool before pitching yeast. Ferment w/ Wyeast 1007 at 62*F.

I just stumbled across this looking for something similar and am curious why the white flour? I've never seen that in a recipe before... Cloudiness?

Yup, guaranteed to get a hazy, cloudy beer.

I think I'm giving this a run tomorrow... Had some Widmer over the holiday and really enjoyed it. Very easy drinking...

I picked up -
6.6 lbs Wheat Malt Extract
2 lbs Munich
2oz Liberty
1oz Saaz
Wyeast 1007

Thinking -
1oz Liberty 60 mins
1oz Liberty 30 mins
1oz Saaz 5 mins or flameout

Unsure about the flour addition...

Thoughts suggestions?

What do you guys think of this recipe? At least, those of you that have tried it...

Also, how important is the yeast? I have a cake of Wyeast 2565 (Kolsch) and tons of dry yeast (Notty and US-05), I'd rather use one of those.

I did the extract a while back and am enjoying it very much. it came out darker than I would have liked but I blame that on having used extract.

I think I'm going to give the AG version of this a try soon. I really like the Widmer wheat and would love to find a suitable clone.

On the same topic, has anybody tried to regenerate yeast from a bottle of Widmer Hefe?

(I, too, love Widmer. East coast hefes taste like formaldehyde to me, by comparison.)

Here's a recipe I'm working on, inspired by Widmers.

Extract:
6lb Wheat LME
.75lb Munich
.50lb Crystal 40
1 Tbsp flour

Just use an American Hefeweizen style yeast