maztec

Recipes 

I attempted to make a hefeweizen for my second beer. The recipe I used was from my local brew shop. At the time I thought it seemed a bit off, especially on the amount of hops used. I wanted to make a German Hefeweizen. However, I think this might be more like an American Hefeweizen? Except, I haven't spotted any recipes for an American Hefeweizen.

So, my opinion is this has far too much hops in it - and according to BeerTools calculations it is definitely too much tops. Plus, on tasting it is too much hops (it is still in the primary). However, the local shop insisted this was a German Hefeweisen. I am fairly certain that was incorrect. So, what did I make?

Recipe below --

5 gallons -

Steep:
12oz Malted Wheat
8oz Aromatic Malt
6oz Cara-Pils Malt

Boil:
Results from steeping plus
6.6lbs Bavarian Wheat LME
1.75oz Northern Brewer (pellets) @ 60 min
0.5oz Hallertau (pellets) @ 30 min
0.5oz Hallertau (pellets) @ 15 min

Yeast:
WYeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen

My OG: 1.049

----

So, my belief is that the 1.75oz Northern Brewer hops was far too much. The local homebrew shop insisted that it was necessary to make a true Hefeweizen ... but, the few recipes I have found all use significantly less hops.

Oh, and, anything I can do at this point to make this one better? Or should be patient and see what the results are once bottled? I am sure my friends who are hop fanatics will love it ...

Thanks for the help!

Now, to find a good Hefeweizen recipe or summer wit or something ...

bennychico11

Recipes 

I'm still new to all this (been brewing for a few months only)...

but I plugged your numbers into Beer Tools. It looks to be pretty close to a Weissbier. OG I get recommended between 1.044-1.052 as a guideline...the expected with your recipe is on the high side at about 1.053.
Final gravity expected hits it's mark at around 1.013.

Color is on the high side at 7.95* SRM...but still a wheat.
ABV as expected.

Like you guessed, the bitterness is off the charts. I'm not sure exactly what AA yours were at since you didn't say, but Beer Tools guesstimated a 65.9....when the recommended max was 15.0
The Northern Brewer hops seemed to do you in.


I'd just say wait and find out what it tastes like, though. No point in worrying about it now. Just wait until it's bottled and see what it tastes like.


From a newbie to another one...here's what my first Bavarian Wheat had in it (I called it Sunnydock, btw):

Cara-Pils .5lb steeped for 30 min.
Wheat LME 6lb boiled for 60 min.
Hallertau 4.1% 1oz for 60 min.
Hallertau 4.0% 1oz for 2 min.
Corriander seeds 1oz for 2 min.
Danstar Munich Dry Yeast


I liked it. The GF didn't as much because she's more partial to American Wheats...I had to fight her not to put a lemon in it (German wheat's aren't supposed to). Not the best Bavarian Hefe I've had, but not bad for my first try.

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BarleyWater

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Hefes will generally have one hop addition at the beginning of the boil and that's it. The hops should be of the German noble varieies, and are really only there to provide a little balance for the malt. Typically these varieties don't add much in the way of bitterness due to their low AA%. You should not expect to have any hop character in a Hefe, as most of the character is yeast derived, so a good hefewiesen yeast should be used.

So to answer your question, you made a beer.

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Cheeto

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A wheat IPA !

or list it under style 23A (kind of a catch all)

and call it a HopfenWeizen

-Jason

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maztec

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@Cheeto: Woo! Wheat IPA, that made me laugh. I think I am going to go with Hopfenweizen.

@BarleyWater: True true... Beer it is. I was in Munich for a few months last year and spent a lot of time drinking by the liter. When I saw the call for Northern Brewer I cringed, but figured what the heck. I guess I should have gone with my gut on that.

So, it doesn't even qualify as an AmeriWeizen. Oh well.

@Benny: I really don't understand putting lemon in a weizen, American or not. What still blows my mind is when a local pub gets Hacker-Pschorr and sticks an orange slice in it. I have given up explaining not to put it in and drink it anyway, but it always boggles me.

My only problem is I'm not a huge fan of hoppy beers, so this one might just end up being consumed by friends more than myself.

Thanks for the laughs and tips chaps.

EoinMag

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In Germany they tend to put a slice of lemon and a sprinkle of dried rice into a Krystal weizen, but not into a normal Hefe.
This is up North by the way, so the Bavarians may not appreciate how we treated/mistreated their beers.

syd138

Recipes 

You are right.. that is a ton of hops.

Heres a partial mash recipe that tastes exactly like Hacker Pschorr. It has 0.75oz Hallertaur and thats it. Your recipe is about 2oz too much.

3.00 lb Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 42.86 %
2.00 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 28.57 %
1.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 14.29 %
0.75 lb Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM) Grain 10.71 %
0.25 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 3.57 %
0.75 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 13.2 IBU
1 Pkgs Hefeweizen Ale (White Labs #WLP300) Yeast-Wheat

syd138

Recipes 

In Austria and Bavaria Weisses are huge.. but they definitely do not put any fruit in it.. at all.

Whiskey

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I don't know, the 7 years I spent in Bavaria I did see some Hefe's served with a lemon slices, maybe it is a brewery specific thing. However, typically only Kristalls have it. Then again I have seen Hefe's served mixed with bannana juice, or coke, like mixed into the beer, horrid looking stuff. Pilsners are also commonly served with sprite or 7-up as a Radler (i.e. shandy).

On a side note, unless the hops included in that kit were oddly low AA%, that is way too high IBU's.

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maztec

Recipes 

@syd138: You rock my friend. I will be trying that recipe next time.
@Whiskey: Nope, not way too low AA%. I have learned to go with my gut. That, and cross-check with things like BeerTools [I actually got it after prepping this recipe...]

As for fruit .. Yah, I did see them once in a while, but usually it was Americans that had the fruit added, not the Bavarians. And the Bavarians I hung out with usually pointed and laughed at them, but that could be just them.

On the other hand, Radler was interesting. Traditionally it was mixed with lemonade. These days they mix it with way too sweet lemonade. From my understanding, it used to be mixed with a nice tart, sour lemonade - and I managed to get that in one place and it was good - I like tart - but not something I am going to go out of my way to get. On the other hand, I went to another place and they were mixing it with sour grapefruit juice - that was awesome! And I wish I could get the grapefruit version more often.