Weissbier Bee Cave Brewery Bavarian Hefeweizen

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So, little problem.
Hope someone can help or advise.

Brewed up 6 gallons of this, adjusted the grain to my efficiency and to 6 from 5.5. Used 4.5 of German pilsner and 7.75 of rahr red wheat. Upped the hop addition to accommodate size and taste.

My original grav came out 1.040, much lower than expected. I think I know the culprit, and will be replacing my thermometer. But the question is this:

I have already pitched yeast. About an hour ago...
Should I add some dissolved dme? Or would it be better (safer) to just leave it be and have a "light hef"...

Thanks in advance!
 
Voraus said:
Personally I would just let it ride
Click to expand...

Thanks for the good advice, even though I didn't take it :). I hemmed and hawed for a good hour, and then pitched about 3/4 lb of xtra lite dme dissolved in as little boiling water as possible. I just couldn't stand the thought of a beer that low below 4%. Maybe I made a mistake, but I think it'll be fine.
 
I brewed the NB 5 gal AG version of this Beer, hit all the multistep temps in the mash & fermented at the recommended temps per wyeast 3068. Fermentation went absolutely crazy the first night foam spilled out of the airlock & ended up clogging it, didn't discover this until the next am, so cleaned up the mess, then switched out the airlock. Started bubbling away again for another 5 days, then slowed & stopped. I let it sit for another 4 days the went to keg it up and it smells & tastes very funky ( not the good funky either!) rotting egg kind of funk. I brewed a Dunkelweiss yesterday with the 3068 & that one is currently doing the same thing, I've switched out the airlock 6 times already tonight, & have that frustrated feeling of staying up all night caring for a sick child, I just don't want to lose this one too. If this one goes south too, I'm going to do the next one in a carboy with a blowoff.
 
The funkiness is sulfur, a very common byproduct in weizen yeasts. It will age out. Leave it in the Carboy. And warm it up a bit. This will help reduce the rotten egg smell. When it seems gone, you can bottle. If you keg, you can keg at anytime, and after its carbonated, purge the co2. The beer will foam up, but it helps carry the sulfur out. Repressurize, and carbonate again and it will most likely be good.
 
mcbethenstein said:
The funkiness is sulfur, a very common byproduct in weizen yeasts. It will age out. Leave it in the Carboy. And warm it up a bit. This will help reduce the rotten egg smell. When it seems gone, you can bottle. If you keg, you can keg at anytime, and after its carbonated, purge the co2. The beer will foam up, but it helps carry the sulfur out. Repressurize, and carbonate again and it will most likely be good.
Click to expand...

I hope you're right, I already kegged it, hoping that would cure its ills but I chilled it down when force carbing, I'll purge the Co2 & let it sit for a day or 2 at room temp & see what transpires.
Thanks for the advice, I was preparing a formal funeral for the dumping.
 
:mad: Well, it's been in the keg two weeks; chilled and carbed. The smell is not as pungent, but it's still got a hint of rotten egg and it's still got a bit of that bad taste I think too. Sounds like it's not uncommon with 3068, but these symptoms seem pretty uncommon for this recipe/thread. I'm losing hope. I think I'll give it another week or so before tossing.

fatboy34 said:
This was my first AG batch, I've done dozens of extract brews and several hefe's using extract and the wyeast 3068 but never had one smell like this. It was in the primary for 10 days, last Wednesday I transferred to a keg, then chilled it for a night and then started carbonation. I noticed at the time I transferred it, it smelled horrible but I could detect the wonderful aroma of a good hefe as well so I figured I should stick to the plan and continued w/kegging. A few days ago a pulled a few ounces to get a taste and see how the carbonation level was and it has a very distinctive sulfur rotten egg smell...and taste.
Any advice on what I can do? Should I let it sit cold in the keezer or should I bring it up to room temp and let it condition a few weeks?
Seems like with this recipe and according to the hundreds of posts here this one should be ready to drink pretty quick.

Or since it taste bad, do I toss it out? If there is hope I'll let it sit, but else I'm tempted to toss and move on.
Click to expand...
 
fatboy34 said:
:mad: Well, it's been in the keg two weeks; chilled and carbed. The smell is not as pungent, but it's still got a hint of rotten egg and it's still got a bit of that bad taste I think too. Sounds like it's not uncommon with 3068, but these symptoms seem pretty uncommon for this recipe/thread. I'm losing hope. I think I'll give it another week or so before tossing.
Click to expand...

What's the harm in just letting it sit? I would rather sit on a keg for a month then dump it immediately.
 
Just brewed this as my first all grain brew. It was a learning experience and some funny things happened. First off I was trying to warm my mash tun about half way through the mash and I guess I heated it too much because I checked it 10 minutes later and the temp was 176 so I threw in some cold water to bring it back down to temp. I did 2 rounds of batch sparging and the first was too cold and I had a hell of a time heating it up using a decoction method. The boil went smooth but I dont think I set the grain bed well enough because I had a ton of trub and grain that caused my carboy to overflow because of the room the trub took up so I siphoned into another carboy after letting the trub settle so I ended up with a little less beer then I wanted to. I learned what to do different next time so that is at least a good thing from all of this..

I scaled the recipe down to 5 gallons and my SG was right at 1.052 just like stated in the original recipe. I hope to enjoy this beer in a little over a month.. Looking forward to it!
 
EdWort said:
I usually get in the 80s as far as inefficiency goes, but the recipe is calculated for 75%. I used modified wheat malt, so a single infusion works fine.

The main thing with this beer is constant fermenting temps. Keep it between 65-68 degrees. It will ferment around 8-10 degrees higher than ambient for the first couple days just from the thermal activity of the yeast working.
Click to expand...

I have had this brew in primary for 5 days now, but have been fermenting in the 62-65 range, what might that change in the final product?
 
Just bottled this tonight. I ended up with a FG of 1.010 but I came up a gallon short. I will post again when I drink the first one.
 
japhillips87 said:
Just bottled this tonight. I ended up with a FG of 1.010 but I came up a gallon short. I will post again when I drink the first one.
Click to expand...

Took a sample with the beer thief yesterday and came up with the same FG as you... in the SG test tube mine looks very light in color though, almost white... this should be better in a wider container but worth noting. how is the color of yours Ja?
 
Hovik said:
Took a sample with the beer thief yesterday and came up with the same FG as you... in the SG test tube mine looks very light in color though, almost white... this should be better in a wider container but worth noting. how is the color of yours Ja?
Click to expand...

Mine was pretty light but not transparent. It was lighter in the test tube but seemed to be the right color in the bottle and in the carboy. I will post a picture of one in a clear bottle when I get home tonight.
Josh
 
Here is a picture of one bottled.
IMG_0554.jpg

Josh
 
Here is what mine came out looking like. I'm sad to say though that I just drained the keg of this great beer on Tuesday :(
Thankfully I have beer supplies on their way so I can brew up another batch next week!

IMAG0538.jpg
 
I am going to brew this next weekend.....I have not brewed a batch of beer since last year when I was brewing every other weekend it seems...I know shame on me!

Anyway....I have a few questions on this particular recipe and also on my planned process...as I am a bit rusty AND my compute had crashed and wiped out all of my brew data and methodology I had written down to a science. :mad:

1) I have nevr used rice hulls. Recipe says use for stuck mash....how do I know if I will need them based on this? Should I just go ahead and use and if so....what is this about soaking etc....like I said never brewed with rice hulls as an adjunct.

2) I use Beersmith...which Mash Profile Should I use for Hefeweizen? I know recipe says 153F for 90 mins.

I was going to use single infusion medium body batch sparge.....

I guess it doesnt really matter on selection as long as I adjust the mash temp and time to match recipe as given?

3) I USED to ferment in my temperature controlled refrigerator until my lovely wife punched a hole in the coil.....by accident or course...anyway....planning on fermenting this one in my basement ...which is currently at ....let me check.....59F....so thats not going to work for an ale.....crap. I guess I would be ok fermenting in living level which we keep in the 68-70 degree range this time of year.

Any ideas on a yeat that would be ok in the 59-60 degree range?

Thanks everyone....looking forward to getting obsessed with brewing again.

Mike
 
Brewed this past Saturday. Everything went well, hit my temps and volumes but SG was a bit high (1.053)...no big deal. I planned to bottle next tuesday or wednesday but I just took a gravity reading and it's really high : 1.020. I fermented at around 65F, bubbled like crazy for the 2-3 first days. It had the rotten eggs smell but it faded quickly.

I know it's early and I will take another reading tommorow and the day after to see if it changed. But what do you guys suggests? Raise the temp, re-pitch yeast or bottle it anyways?

Thanks
 
mgortel said:
I am going to brew this next weekend.....I have not brewed a batch of beer since last year when I was brewing every other weekend it seems...I know shame on me!

Anyway....I have a few questions on this particular recipe and also on my planned process...as I am a bit rusty AND my compute had crashed and wiped out all of my brew data and methodology I had written down to a science. :mad:

1) I have nevr used rice hulls. Recipe says use for stuck mash....how do I know if I will need them based on this? Should I just go ahead and use and if so....what is this about soaking etc....like I said never brewed with rice hulls as an adjunct.

2) I use Beersmith...which Mash Profile Should I use for Hefeweizen? I know recipe says 153F for 90 mins.

I was going to use single infusion medium body batch sparge.....

I guess it doesnt really matter on selection as long as I adjust the mash temp and time to match recipe as given?

3) I USED to ferment in my temperature controlled refrigerator until my lovely wife punched a hole in the coil.....by accident or course...anyway....planning on fermenting this one in my basement ...which is currently at ....let me check.....59F....so thats not going to work for an ale.....crap. I guess I would be ok fermenting in living level which we keep in the 68-70 degree range this time of year.

Any ideas on a yeat that would be ok in the 59-60 degree range?

Thanks everyone....looking forward to getting obsessed with brewing again.

Mike
Click to expand...

Mike,
Your wife must have a heck of a punch :D. I would stick to the WLP300 or Wyeast 3068 for an authentic Hefe. These strains of yeast ferment vigorously and as stated earlier in the thread can produce 10ºF of heat when fermenting. If you put it in the basement it would probably get you to the 68ºF mark that you are looking for. If you want more banana flavors you can keep it upstairs. I started out fermenting at 68ºF for a week and then the temp dropped suddenly. The second week was more like 64ºF. I don't know what effect it had on the beer. I am going to test out one sometime this week to see how it is.
Josh
 
mgortel said:
1) I have nevr used rice hulls. Recipe says use for stuck mash....how do I know if I will need them based on this? Should I just go ahead and use and if so....what is this about soaking etc....like I said never brewed with rice hulls as an adjunct.
Click to expand...

I asked the same question at my LHBS and was told the Rice Hulls are only stocked in store for the people who insist on using them for some reason. The owner added that perhaps at one time they were beneficial to add when brewing with a lot of wheat so that it doesn't coagulate and end up in a stuck sparge but with "today's wheat" that is not an issue. I took his word for it and had no problems while sparging though I did notice it was slower...

BTW I fermented at 62-65F and had no problems...
H
 
Hovik said:
I asked the same question at my LHBS and was told the Rice Hulls are only stocked in store for the people who insist on using them for some reason. The owner added that perhaps at one time they were beneficial to add when brewing with a lot of wheat so that it doesn't coagulate and end up in a stuck sparge but with "today's wheat" that is not an issue. I took his word for it and had no problems while sparging though I did notice it was slower...

BTW I fermented at 62-65F and had no problems...
H
Click to expand...

I used rice hulls in a punkin clone this morning and wish i had used some more. The roasted pumpkin turned into cement in my mash tun while sparging. Without the rice hulls i certainly would have had a stuck mash. It was slow going durng the end of the sparge (with water still above the grain bed) but i hit my volume so it didnt matter. It may be all opinion and not help but for $2/lbs it eases my mind :mug:
 
Rice hulls are cheap, I use them when brewing anything that has more than 50% wheat just for insurance.

Do rinse them before though because they will absorb some water and cause your first runoff to be less than anticipated. Also keep in mind to adjust for the temp drop you will create by adding cold rice hulls to the mash.
 
Do rinse them before though because they will absorb some water and cause your first runoff to be less than anticipated. Also keep in mind to adjust for the temp drop you will create by adding cold rice hulls to the mash.
Click to expand...

Good points....thank you for pointing that out. I use Beersmith so I can use that to calculate for temp adjustment for mash.

How long do I need to soak the rice hulls for??

Thanks!
 
Can someone that brewed this tell me if I should use a blowoff for this or is an airlock ok? I remember reading somewhere that Hefs can have some pretty quick fermentation initially.

If I am using an airlock I would just use an Ale Pail for this....
Obviously for a blowoff setup I would use a carboy....



Thanks!
 
BTW....for those of you who have brewed this what temperature are you pitching your yeast at?

Also, I guess no secondary required for this since a Hefe (wWheat) ...?? Gonna (and supposed to) be cloudy either way.

Any benefit to a secondary otherwise....?? Or just go with the 10 days primary and bottle/keg?

Excited about this....ingreedients are on the way....I havnt brewed all year due to a gazillion obligations (brewed like crazy last year)...but its finally my time!!!!
 
mgortel said:
BTW....for those of you who have brewed this what temperature are you pitching your yeast at?

Also, I guess no secondary required for this since a Hefe (wWheat) ...?? Gonna (and supposed to) be cloudy either way.

Any benefit to a secondary otherwise....?? Or just go with the 10 days primary and bottle/keg?

Excited about this....ingreedients are on the way....I havnt brewed all year due to a gazillion obligations (brewed like crazy last year)...but its finally my time!!!!
Click to expand...

I typically pitch once the wort hits 68. Others recommend different pitching temps for multiple reasons, but this has always worked just fine for me.

Also, I don't believe there is any good reason to secondary in this recipe. For the most part, i don't secondary for most beers, but a hefeweizen has even less reason to worry about it.

Lack of bacterial and oxygen exposure are reason enough to ignore a secondary on this beer.
 
mgortel said:
Good points....thank you for pointing that out. I use Beersmith so I can use that to calculate for temp adjustment for mash.

How long do I need to soak the rice hulls for??

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I typically soak the rice hulls for 20-30 minutes. I use the hot water from my tap to help keep the temp up. My tap can output at 140 F, so temp issues aren't a huge concern for me.
 
Heya Ed...or anyone else that might be able to answer....

I see in the original recipe post says to ferment at 68F...also, I read that this beer can end up 8-10 F over ambient......sooooooo....my question is this.....what ambient temp should I shoot for in my fermentation chamber.???

I am thinking that maybe I should set it for 65 F to start.....since the yeasties will be bumping up the actual beer temp in the the process by several degrees F.....

Any advice on this is appreciated....as I am brewing this bad boy this Saturday....and i know temperature during fermentation for a Hefe is very important.
 
Got a question here on this guys:

The hops I got from Northern Brewer are Hopunion "German Tradition"....which are supposed to be their hallertau (or "similar").

They have 6% Alpha......quite a bit higher than the 4-4.5% I was expecting.

Anyway, I know I can plug in the 6% value into Beersmith and adjust the boil time and/or amount of Hops to get in the Correct IBU range.

My question....is it better to keep the same weight of hops and adjust the boil times for each hop addition or is it better to adjust the weight of hops and keep same boil times......OR does it not matter as long as I get the right IBU range and maintain the same ratio of bittering to aroma?

Any thoughts, opinions, experiences?

Thanks!
 
mgortel said:
Can someone that brewed this tell me if I should use a blowoff for this or is an airlock ok? I remember reading somewhere that Hefs can have some pretty quick fermentation initially.

If I am using an airlock I would just use an Ale Pail for this....
Obviously for a blowoff setup I would use a carboy....



Thanks!
Click to expand...

Definitely use a blowoff. The first day I had a half gallon of blowoff come through the tube with a gallon of head space.
 
Finally drinking this now. It is an awesome hefe. Flavor is spot on with a hint of banana. I feel that I nailed it especially since this is my first ever brew.
Josh
 
mgortel said:
...is it better to keep the same weight of hops and adjust the boil times for each hop addition or is it better to adjust the weight of hops and keep same boil times......OR does it not matter as long as I get the right IBU range and maintain the same ratio of bittering...
Click to expand...

Just use the IBU range.
 
I fermented around 64 and did not even come close to needing a blowoff, about 1" of Krausen max...
 
Just to update my post from 11-14...after two weeks in the keg banana flavor and aroma has definitely subsided to become more balanced.
 
Not sure where people are getting that its 5-10 degree's hotter during fermentation?

I have mine in a water bath and with my house set at 62 expecting it to shoot up i woke up with it at 62 and fermenting.

This is with a thermowell directly in the middle of the wort so i know its accurate.

Im now cranking my h ouse up to 70 in hopes i can get it up to 65ish in the next few hours.
 
That is because you have it in a water bath. Heat transfer rate from your ferm bucket to water surrounding it is much higher than if the bucket was just surrounded by ambient air. If bucket was in 62F ambient air your ferm temp would be higher.

Try taking it out of the water bath....it will heat up. Is it fermenting yet? Fast airlock activity yet?
 

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