hefeweizen recipe

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boognishmn

boognishmn

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I've brewed around 7 or 8 kits beers over the past couple years. I've been extremly busy over the last year and only brewed once in that time period. A friend of mine who works at a brew supply store gave me some equipment and liquid yeast for my birthday. One of the items I recieved was a WP300 liquid yeast. I wanted to use this and I was looking to make a Hefe, like Widmer and given my limited experance, I was looking for a detailed recipe that uses a process similar to what I am familar with (Steeping grains, malt extracts,etc). Any help would great, thank in advance. Cheers!
 
You could just use 100% Weyermann wheat extract. It has wheat, pilsner, and carahell in it.
 
Thanks I will look into that. What type/ amount of hops would you use? I know that they are not "hoppy" beers, but I am not sure what I'd go with. I am looking to move on from the kit beers and gain a better understanding of how the inputs affect the tastes, colors, head, etc.
 
I'd go with a German hop - hallertau is what I've been using with wlp300.

Do some research about the fermentation temp and under pitching. You can get all sorts of different flavors with wlp300. I've always under pitched and fermented on the warmer side to bring out the banana flavor of the yeast.
 
I'm just finishing up a hefe now. Per 5 gallons, I pitch a 1L starter of wlp300 at 58*. I let the fermentation temp free rise to 64 (I use temperature control). I hold at 64 until finished and then bottle. I get nice banana and clove flavors and aromas. Also get a bit of bubblegum flavor in the background that plays well with the spritzyness of this beer.
 
You'd probably want to use WLP320 if you are looking for a more American/Widmer type hefe, since it ferments cleaner and doesn't give the big clove/banana esters that WLP300 does, which is more typical of the Bavarian style hefe. This probably doesn't help you much since you already have the WLP300, but thought I would mention it. I've got the opposite situation of you, where I have all my ingredients for a hefe and need to decide which yeast to use, 320 for a more American version or 300 for a more Bavarian version. Good luck. And, yes, do a yeast starter using MrMalty as a guide for size, or it will be a banana bomb.

Just FYI, my grain bill includes 6lbs of Wheat DME, 1lb flaked wheat and 1/2lb caravienne for a little sweetness.
 
If you use the 1 litter stater Mr. Malty will say you wont get as much banana as with a 500ml starter. Pitch rate in an important control we have over the yeast character of beer. If the yeast is fresh I would not even make a starter (I like the banana esters.)

All you really need is 5 pounds dry wheat extract or six pounds liquid wheat extract. You could steep a half pound of a crystal malt like carahell, caravienna or caramunich if you want. One oz. of a low AA noble hop like Hallertau or Tettnanger boiled 60 minutes should get you 10-14 IBUs and be to style.
http://hopville.com/recipe/1302242/weizen-weissbier-recipes/german-weissbier

Widmer has more hops, a little munich malt and has to be WLP320. I use WLP320 a lot and there is no way to mimic it with 300 (or anything else.) More like this.
http://hopville.com/recipe/1302388/american-wheat-or-rye-beer-recipes/widmer-clone
 
Thanks for all the suggestions; unfortunately I will have to use them next time around. I was itching to get brewing and went for it. I said Widmer, simply because my wife likes that brand. To be honest I am more of a pale ale and lager drinker so I am not as familiar with the different tastes along the hefe spectrum. I ended up using a recipe I found online that sounded similar to blue moon and modified it based on the limited amount of ingredients I had available at my local O home brew supplier. I used 6 lbs. of liquid wheat extract, ½ oz. of East Kent Goldings, and ½ oz. of Saaz to finish. I also steeped some orange zest and the fruit and roasted some coriander seed into the. wort. Never did the yeast starter so we'll see what happens. O.G. was right around 1.05
 
boognishmn said:
Thanks for all the suggestions; unfortunately I will have to use them next time around. I was itching to get brewing and went for it. I said Widmer, simply because my wife likes that brand. To be honest I am more of a pale ale and lager drinker so I am not as familiar with the different tastes along the hefe spectrum. I ended up using a recipe I found online that sounded similar to blue moon and modified it based on the limited amount of ingredients I had available at my local O home brew supplier. I used 6 lbs. of liquid wheat extract, ½ oz. of East Kent Goldings, and ½ oz. of Saaz to finish. I also steeped some orange zest and the fruit and roasted some coriander seed into the. wort. Never did the yeast starter so we'll see what happens. O.G. was right around 1.05
Click to expand...

Huge diferences between the wheat styles (American, German/Bavarian, Belgian, etc) that mostly come from the yeast used and how you pitch and ferment it. I prefer American style hefes myself, but do enjoy a nice banana-y hefe once in a while.

Looks like a good recipe to me. You will definitely get a decent amount of banana and clove on this one considering your yeast strain and the lack of a starter. You may be able to minimize it by fermenting on the cool side, but either way you are going Bavarian all the way, mein freund.
 

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