Thoughts on a Vienna Hefe?

I need to brew a Vienna Lager and a Hefe at about the same time and was thinking about a Partigyle with the second runnings becoming the Hefe.

Any thoughts on how the Vienna grain bill would turn out with a Hefe yeast? Something is telling me not to try it LOL

I want to use Revvy's grain bill for the Vienna.

Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 84.21 %
Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 10.53 %
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.26 %

You really should have some wheat in there if your going to call it a hefeweizen. Traditionally I believe the use 60-65% of the grist is wheat I. A hefeweizen. I think the Vienna would be good. It will certainly be beer. But not sure I'd call it a hefeweizen with no wheat in the recipe. Just my .02. That's the glory of homebrewing. As long as you're happy with it. Relax, Don't worry.

I would be looking more for the clove/banana esters from the Hefe yeast and not care as much about the "wheatiness" - I guess I dont know if actually having wheat in the grist would make a difference in that respect? How much affect does the grain bill have on the ester production?

Very little I believe. From what I understand the clove/banana flavors come from stressing the hefe yeast. Higher temps is supposed to give more banana flavor while cooler temps are supposed to lean more towards Clive flavors.

That is kinda what I thought, thanks for the input! Now I have to decide if I think that grain bill will play nice with those esters.

I think the term you are looking for might be: Vienna mit Hefe.

I've not brewed with Vienna much. The Vienna I have going is my first and it is overly hoppy for the style.

So, in my head I'm trying to imagine a dark Oktoberfest with cloves and esters.

It will be unique. I'm thinking along the lines if a dunkleweizen but toasty and nutty instead of creamy.

Sounds similar to a dampfbeir. It's basically pils, caraminich, or carafa with noble hops and heffe yeast. It's pretty good.

Awesome, I think I will go for it!

BYO has a story on dampfbeir here.

I think I found the 2nd beer to make along side this summer's hefeweizen.

I've brewed several dampfbiers..... They are excellent. The closest I have brewed to what you are talking about had 6 lbs vienna, 2 lbs 2-row, and 2 pounds bohemian pils malts with 2 oz spalt hops.

What yeast did u use with that one?

I've been on a HUGE Vienna kick as of late, so I'll all about this recipe. I just posted my Vienna Old Ale in the recipe section. The chewy, biscuity taste of Vienna just reminds me of home. Delicious stuff.

The only hefe I've brewed was a kit, so sorry I can't be more help with your yeast selection. What hops were you planning to use, and at what times where you thinking of using them at? I had great results with a Kent Golding/Hallertau combination (more Hallertau than KG) when using Vienna.

The BYO article recommends Wyeast 3068 (Weihenstephan Weizen) or White Labs WLP380 (Hefeweizen IV) yeast.

Just another reason I love HBT! I had never heard of Dampfbier before this post, and the style really seems like something I would love! Looks like most recipe's call for the base malt to be Pils, but what the heck, I'm going Vienna. So I think what I will end up with will be an Imperial Vienna Lager from the first runnings, and a Dampfbier from the second runnings. I <3 brewing!

mrphillips said:

What hops were you planning to use, and at what times where you thinking of using them at? I had great results with a Kent Golding/Hallertau combination (more Hallertau than KG) when using Vienna.

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Just one 60 minute addition of Hallertauer is what I planned on.

I think that the toasty, nutty character of Vienna would go really well with some banana esters. If I were doing it, I'd ferment it warmer to emphasize those, and consider this a bit of a "banana bread" beer!

I love that idea! You could use a Belgian yeast and get some REAL nice banana flavors. I personally don't care for belgian yeast, but I do like the prospect of a banana bread brew! BREW ON!

Here's my first draft at a recipe for 5.5 gallons. I haven't settled on the hops yet. I have Citra as a place holder, but I'm thinking I want something rougher on the edges. I'd also like to darken it from 4.5L to about 12L - 14L. But no good ideas for it are coming to mind.

7lb Pilsen
2lb Light Munich
8oz CaraPils

0.5oz Citra @ 45 min
0.5oz Citra @ flameout

Wyeast 3638 - Bavarian Wheat

Infusion Mash @ 148F for 60 - 90 minutes

1 hour boil

OG = 1.046
FG = 1.012
ABV = 4.4%

I plan to slightly underpitch and ferment at +70F. Brewday will likely be in March.

EDIT: Finally settled on the hops - Columbus, because I want it pungent, resiny, and have a more wild hop character. I briefly thought about ordering Comet, but what would I do with the other 15.5oz?

0.35oz Columbus for 60 minutes (15 IBU target).

I wanted to send a shoutout to davekippen. I just bottled my dampfbier and this was the thread that introduced me to the style. It's tasting awesome right out of the fermenter.

The Columbus gives it a nice dank, earthy flavor.

My recipe for 6 gallons ended up at
3.5lb Munich 10L
3.5lb Pilsen
3.5lb Vienna
8oz Carapils (to maintain body on a low ABV beer)

Mash @ 147F

90 minute boil

0.4oz Columbus for 60 minutes

White Labs 300 - Hefeweizen Ale using a 75% pitch rate compared to a normal beer.

OG = 1.044
FG = 1.011
ABV = 4.3%
IBU = 18
SRM = 7

Awesome! Mine tasted really good too at the end of fermentation, then I decided to rack it on to some raspberries so I cant really judge it to style. May brew another batch this summer!!

I just tried my first bottle. It's about 1/2 carbed.

It tastes like an fruity/estery Oktoberfest.

davekippen said:

What yeast did u use with that one?

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my bad..... i didn't see this until just now. I used weinstephen yeast a few times, Danstar munich a few times (not my favorite results), and wlp 300 a few times.

Wlp 300