Weissbier Simple Hefeweizen

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HOOTER

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2008
Messages
1,653
Reaction score
16
Location
Spokane, WA
Recipe Type
Extract
Yeast
Danstar Munich
Yeast Starter
Rehydrate
Batch Size (Gallons)
5 gal
Original Gravity
1.045
Final Gravity
1.011
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
14
Color
4
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
10 days @ 68f
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
N/A
Tasting Notes
A quick and easy Hefeweizen. Serve with a lemon wedge on a hot summer day.
5 lbs. Briess Bavarian wheat DME

8 oz. Carahell

1 oz. Tettnanger (4%)

Danstar Munich

Steep grains for 20 min. @ 155f. Bring to boil and add 2 lbs. extract and Tettnanger hops. Add 3 lbs. extract with 10 minutes remaining in the boil. Ferment for 10 days, keg at about 4 volumes (or bottle) and enjoy. (Full boil recommended). Nothing fancy here, just a very easy and quick Hefe that manages to disappear rapidly. It's almost too simple to post but My friends and I dig this beer so much I figured it might be worth sharing. Fermenting in the mid 60's makes for a very clean American style Hefe but my last batch fermented around 70 and is much closer to a true Bavarian style. This yeast has always fermented very vigorously for me so use a blowoff tube. Enjoy :mug:

283-035.jpg
 
Had stuff ordered for a similar hefe, but I think I like this one better. How do you think it will work out with Cascade or Saaz hops and six pounds of blackberries in the secondary?
 
Had stuff ordered for a similar hefe, but I think I like this one better. How do you think it will work out with Cascade or Saaz hops and six pounds of blackberries in the secondary?

Not sure about the blackberries. Not really my thing although I'm all for experimenting. Maybe someone with more experience brewing with fruit can comment.

Authenticity aside, bittering hops are not crucial as long as you get around the right AA%. I've brewed this with crystal 10L and Mt. Hood hops and the outcome was pretty much the same. I just prefer to use German ingredients for authenticity sake.
 
Not sure about the blackberries. Not really my thing although I'm all for experimenting. Maybe someone with more experience brewing with fruit can comment.

A friend of SWMBO gave us 12 pounds of fresh blackberries with which to experiment. I intend to put six pounds in a hefe and six pounds in a pale ale and we'll see what happens. I'll put a little (around a pound) in the primary, then the rest in secondary. If it's good, we'll drink it. If it's not, we'll wait a while. If it's never good, we won't drink it. No biggie.
 
would liquid yeast effect this beer much

You could probably achieve a more authentic Hefeweizen by using liquid yeast for sure. Munich doesn't give the banana and clove character to the same extent as something like WLP300 or Wyeast 3068. Using dry yeast is what helps make this a "simple" Hefeweizen, but using liquid yeast is beneficial when trying to make a true to style Bavarian Hefeweizen.
 
Any thoughts on steeping 4oz Crystal 20L and 8oz Carapils? I wanted a slightly sweeter brew than the traditional dry palate of certain versions of the Hefeweizen...
 
Any thoughts on steeping 4oz Crystal 20L and 8oz Carapils? I wanted a slightly sweeter brew than the traditional dry palate of certain versions of the Hefeweizen...

You could do that. I'm not sure 4 oz. C20 will contribute much more sweetness than 8 oz. of Carahell, which is essentially a 10L crystal. The carapils will increase head formation and retention but do very little in the way of flavor. If it's increased sweetness your looking for, you could do the Crystal 20 and the Carahell together maybe. You may want to try the recipe as is though because I find the the grainy sweetness in this brew to be just a bit higher than most Hefe's anyway.
 
Well, If I hadn't already purchased the grains I would've given the 50/50 C20 and Carahells a try. As it is, do you think the grains/ratios I've mentioned will produce a similar brew to your recipe? How do you suppose they would differ?
 
Well, If I hadn't already purchased the grains I would've given the 50/50 C20 and Carahells a try. As it is, do you think the grains/ratios I've mentioned will produce a similar brew to your recipe? How do you suppose they would differ?

I think 4 oz. of C20 will produce a similar outcome and the carapils will give you a nice thick head and good lacing. Certainly not a bad thing in a Hefe. Lots of folks don't use steeping grains in extract Hefe's at all but I like the added color/flavor and foam stability. I think your choice of grains will make a solid brew.
 
Just got back from homebrew shop, with ingredients you used. Gonna brew it this week sometime cant wait, I will let you know how it goes
 
A quick question.

Full boil recommended. If being forced to use a smaller boil kettle (14 liters at best, with 12 liters being 3 gallons) do I just boil the full DME in the 3 gallons of water, hop it up, etc, and add 2 gallons of water, or literally split the ingredients in half and do two 2.5 gallon boils?
 
A quick question.

Full boil recommended. If being forced to use a smaller boil kettle (14 liters at best, with 12 liters being 3 gallons) do I just boil the full DME in the 3 gallons of water, hop it up, etc, and add 2 gallons of water, or literally split the ingredients in half and do two 2.5 gallon boils?

I'd probably just add 1 lb. of extract at the beginning of the boil and the rest with 5-10 minutes remaining. You can top off the fermenter with the remaining water to get to 5 gallons.
 
Shoot, I had some nice grains that I was going to steep with my hefe I should have made a few weeks ago! I'm finally am getting around to it and am going to just toss what I got out :-(. I guess I'll just have to go with the extracts this time.
 
So my OG was 1.044 and FG wound up being 1.012-1.013 (target FG was 1.010). Is this going to drastically affect my brew? Also, it came out quite a bit darker than your picture because I did a 2 gallon boil and I didn't do the late addition extract. My ferm temp was about 70 (at your suggestion). When I tasted the residual in the bottling bucket it seemed like sweet banana. I wasn't getting much clove, but it was close to room temp. Thoughts, suggestions for future Hefe's?
 
So my OG was 1.044 and FG wound up being 1.012-1.013 (target FG was 1.010). Is this going to drastically affect my brew? Also, it came out quite a bit darker than your picture because I did a 2 gallon boil and I didn't do the late addition extract. My ferm temp was about 70 (at your suggestion). When I tasted the residual in the bottling bucket it seemed like sweet banana. I wasn't getting much clove, but it was close to room temp. Thoughts, suggestions for future Hefe's?

Your gravity is pretty much spot on. A point or two here and there really won't make much of a difference. The darker color is standard for partial boils, although the late addition would have helped a bit. No worries, it should end up being a very drinkable beer. Let me know how it is after a few weeks in the bottle and a nice chill down in the refer.
 
Not sure about the blackberries. Not really my thing although I'm all for experimenting. Maybe someone with more experience brewing with fruit can comment.

Authenticity aside, bittering hops are not crucial as long as you get around the right AA%. I've brewed this with crystal 10L and Mt. Hood hops and the outcome was pretty much the same. I just prefer to use German ingredients for authenticity sake.

I went ahead and made a batch with the Saaz hops I had on hand. I racked it over six pounds of blackberries last week. The full five gallons didn't fit in my fermenter with the berries, so I bottled a six-pack. There was about a half bottle left over, and I don't like to bottle partials, so I had to drink it. Bummer, I know. :D The hefe's great, and I'll likely make it again without the blackberries. After I bottle the part that's with the blackberries, I'll let you know how it turns out. I have high hopes.
 
I went ahead and made a batch with the Saaz hops I had on hand. I racked it over six pounds of blackberries last week. The full five gallons didn't fit in my fermenter with the berries, so I bottled a six-pack. There was about a half bottle left over, and I don't like to bottle partials, so I had to drink it. Bummer, I know. :D The hefe's great, and I'll likely make it again without the blackberries. After I bottle the part that's with the blackberries, I'll let you know how it turns out. I have high hopes.

I just got done with a hefe and added four pounds of fresh blackberries. It was way too much. It is like syrup. Probably have to throw it out. I did the bee cave hefe and racked in secondary on the 4 pounds. I would probably try 1 or 2 next time. They were powerful little buggers.
 
I just got done with a hefe and added four pounds of fresh blackberries. It was way too much. It is like syrup. Probably have to throw it out. I did the bee cave hefe and racked in secondary on the 4 pounds. I would probably try 1 or 2 next time. They were powerful little buggers.

I'm hoping to get time to bottle next week some time. I'm hoping your blackberries were more powerful than mine.
 
Thanx for the pick, looks like a good and easy recipe.
I've never added extract late in the boil like that.
I'm assuming you took the pot off the heat while adding the second dose of extract.
When I take the pot off the heat and add the extract(10 prior to end of boil),
sometimes it takes 5-10 min to come back to a boil.
Do you count that extra time it takes?
Or do you wait for it to get back to a boil, and then finish 10 min after that?
 
I just got a batch of this on gas. I fermented at room temperature to get a good ester profile. It's not carbed yet but it's really tasty. My only complaint is I will probably drink it too fast!
 
I just ordered the stuff for this one. I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
After several glasses of this, I'm starting to detect a lack of body. I'm going to up the PSI and see if that affects the overall mouthfeel.
 
my room mates and i just brewed a batch of this last night! we started steeping our grains and getting all the other ingredients set out when we noticed that we had bought a 3 pound bag of extract instead of the 5 pound. whoops! scaled the recipe down to 3 gallons so it should be fine. the only question i have is this. because we had already started seeping the grains we had a five gallon amount in the pot already so instead of scaling the grain amount down we scaled the grain seep time down to 12 min (3/5 of 20 min). was this the right thing to do/what would you have done?
this is our fist batch of beer ever! we are brewin our second batch tonight! i'll let you guys know how the noobs did their first shot when we get all done!
 
my room mates and i just brewed a batch of this last night! we started steeping our grains and getting all the other ingredients set out when we noticed that we had bought a 3 pound bag of extract instead of the 5 pound. whoops! scaled the recipe down to 3 gallons so it should be fine. the only question i have is this. because we had already started seeping the grains we had a five gallon amount in the pot already so instead of scaling the grain amount down we scaled the grain seep time down to 12 min (3/5 of 20 min). was this the right thing to do/what would you have done?

It might be a bit maltier from the steep. That's not necessarily a bad thing.
 
alright. i figured thats what would happen. i guess we shall see how it turns out! ha ha man, waitin for it to fermint and bottle condition is killin us. ha ha comes with the territory i guess
 
just bought the stuff for my brew of this today and i am excited to get this under way. My only problem is i have bottle shortage and might have to wait since i have 5 gals of cider and 5 gals of mint chocolate oatmeal stout that would be ready about the same time as this. Too much beer happening at once....man the things i go through:D
:mug:
 
I went ahead and made a batch with the Saaz hops I had on hand. I racked it over six pounds of blackberries last week. The full five gallons didn't fit in my fermenter with the berries, so I bottled a six-pack. There was about a half bottle left over, and I don't like to bottle partials, so I had to drink it. Bummer, I know. :D The hefe's great, and I'll likely make it again without the blackberries. After I bottle the part that's with the blackberries, I'll let you know how it turns out. I have high hopes.

txcoyote,
How did the blackberries work out?
 
I did a variation of this as my LHBS only had these and I was in the mood to experiment anyway.
I steeped 1lb of wheat malt at 155
3lb of pilsen LME @ 60
3lb of wheat LME @15
1oz Hallertau @60
WLP300 ( this yeast is a beast ) it actually cracked the plastic lid off my airlock and pretty much destroyed it, it was shooting 3 feet in the air by the time I realized it as evidenced by the stains on the wall. I had it in a closet in the main house which is always around 68-70. I usually ferment in the basement but this time of year its in the low 60's if not lower.
It's day 8 in the primary and after some furious action the first 2 days it seems to have died down but there's still a hefty foam on top. I think I'll just leave it for another week or two to let it settle.
OG was 1.048 and it's down to 1.014
It smelled awesome, can't wait to try as this is my first Hefe.
I haven't tasted it yet but I'm sure I'll be brewing this again ( probably with original ingredients this time ( if they have them :mug: ))
 
probably with original ingredients this time ( if they have them

If you can't find Carahell just substitute Crystal 10L. I just like using German ingredients in a Hefe as much as possible but C-10L is pretty much the same thing. You can also substitute other Noble hops. Heck, you can use a different yeast if you want to also. There's quite a few great Hefe yeasts available. I just use dry yeast because it's "simple". Plus, I like the characteristics of Danstar Munich.
 
Just bottled this. I did change the orginial recipe a bit with some american wheat yeast...all the store had at the time.

Here's to hoping for a tasty brew. :tank:
 
Im a little confused on the ferment temps for danstar munich yeast ive read 55-65 degrees for this yeast.
 
Just brewed this yesterday. Was going to try WLP300 but they were out of it. So I looked for Wyeast 3068. They only had a starter. I wanted to brew. So i used safeale S-33. Prob more along the lines of a plain wheat beer? Its fermenting at about 72. Im hoping for some banana and cloves but i dont im going to get any.
 
Took a grav sample the other day. Only 3 days after brewing. Gravity was where it needed to be, and it tasted amazing. Def more of a wheat with the yeast I used.
 

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