First All Grain Bavarian Hefeweizen on tap!

Howdy folks,

I've been busier than a pair of jumper cables at a hillbilly reunion, so I have not had chance to brew or peruse the forum. I just got back in town yesterday and thought I'd give my first AG Hefe a try. It's been in the kegerator and carbing at dispensing temp for 10 days.

WOW, that stuff is freaking AWSOME!

I've lived in Germany and I visit there several times a year, so I get my share of fresh Hefeweizen biers, and I must say that this one that I made ranks right up there. As a matter of fact, I think I just found my Hausbier, (one that will always be on tap right next to Apfelwein).

I got the recipe from Biermann, tweaked it just ever so slightly, fermented it two weeks in a bucket primary, racked it into a keg via the spigot on the bucket, carbed for 10 days at 10 PSI, and just wow. Oh yeah, it's 5.6% abv, so I found out last night that it has a very nice kick. I also have 3 bottles of Weihenstephan yeast (split off from the original mega starter) in the fridge waiting for the next batch.

I'm so stoked as this is truely a masterpiece in my own little world and I have the folks in this forum to thank. Here's to you Biermann and Homebrewtalk.com!

Congrats, and glad you like it!!

Sounds yummy! My 1st weiz is the weizenbock in my sig but I want to do a regular hefe in the next month or so with the saved slurry. Can you point me to the recipe?

thanks!

desertBrew said:

Sounds yummy! My 1st weiz is the weizenbock in my sig but I want to do a regular hefe in the next month or so with the saved slurry. Can you point me to the recipe?

thanks!

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I'll see if I can dig it up later. I'm at work right now, so I don't have it available. I'm always happy to share.

desertBrew said:

Sounds yummy! My 1st weiz is the weizenbock in my sig but I want to do a regular hefe in the next month or so with the saved slurry. Can you point me to the recipe?

thanks!

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7# German Red Wheat
4# German Pilsener
0.5# Rice Hulls
.75 oz Hallertau at 45 min.
.25 oz Hallertau at 15 min.

I batch sparged and mashed for 90 minutes to extract 7 gallons which I boiled down to 5.5 gallons.

I used Weihenstephan 3068 yeast with a good sized starter.

My OG was 1.052 and FG was 1.009

It's a wonderful beer. Hmmm...beer.

didn't step mash either then eh? Seems every time I do a batch with more than 4# of wheat I get crappy efficiency (I don't step yet). Usually around 65%.

My weizenbock which was shooting for 1.070 came in at 1.057 - officially out of range for this style .

I got around 75% if I recall. I use a 10 gallon water cooler with a stainless braid. The key is to do a good stir to get the sugars in suspension. I stir before each vorlauf and that's working for me.

EdWort said:

7# German Red Wheat
4# German Pilsener
0.5# Rice Hulls
.75 oz Hallertau at 45 min.
.25 oz Hallertau at 15 min.

I batch sparged and mashed for 90 minutes to extract 7 gallons which I boiled down to 5.5 gallons.

I used Weihenstephan 3068 yeast with a good sized starter.

My OG was 1.052 and FG was 1.009

It's a wonderful beer. Hmmm...beer.

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That's about right since your grain bill equals 6.6 lbs DME.

I'm a fly sparger but I could see the stirring up might be the ticket. Even though I haven't had a stuck sparge maybe it's channeling with the wheat (yep used hulls in the past) . Hmm... Think I'll step this recipe and see how it goes and batch another time.

I'm amazed at how simple it was and how good it turned out. I did a Haus Pale, but it's not tapped yet, along with a heavy Kolsch from August. I won't get to brew again till next Sunday, but it will be another Hefe. Good Stuff!

I get ~65% efficiency with high-wheat grists, as well...I just plan for it. I have ground the wheat finer and gotten better efficiency, but run-off was painful.

Baron von BeeGee said:

I get ~65% efficiency with high-wheat grists, as well...I just plan for it. I have ground the wheat finer and gotten better efficiency, but run-off was painful.

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Well that's good to know that I'm not the only one. I guess I could adjust the promash recipes for the wheats to a 65% efficiency so I hit my intended target (says duh to self). With only 3 AG's under the belt though I still figured it was me...

Ed & Biermann, Finally got around to making this two weeks ago. Just kegged this Hefe yesterday and the sample taken was awesome! Only diff for me was using WL's 300 yeast. Two weeks in primary and off to the keg. Mmmm, beer.

I see you keep apple wine on tap. What kinds of apples do you use?
I have 5 gallons of apple wine that I am about to bottle.
Also your Hefewiezen sounds great! I just planted two Hallertau rhizomes
in the back yard and am looking forward to using them in my beer later this
year.

Re: Ed's Apfelwein. There's a little thread on his Apfelwein here. You'll need some time to scour through it

one thing that amazes me about Hefes is that 3 weeks after brewing they taste great. I usually do about 10-12 days in the primary then straight to kegs.

and they are so simple. I do a 60:40 Wheat to Pils with 5% dark munich. I did one not too long ago with wlp 300, and Im doing another one this weekend with 380 just to see what the differences are.

desertBrew said:

Ed & Biermann, Finally got around to making this two weeks ago. Just kegged this Hefe yesterday and the sample taken was awesome! Only diff for me was using WL's 300 yeast. Two weeks in primary and off to the keg. Mmmm, beer.

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This is a great recipe-- one which I will undoubtedly reproduce--

When I came up with it, I wanted to keep it simple and authentic, which it is.

Let us know how it is on tap!!

I normally dont do this (link to that other site)

but heres a bit of good reading

http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?t=40751

I made this same recipe for my 2nd AG, and just did it again last weekend... I did 50%/50% for the ratios and ended up getting pretty low efficiencies both times with batch sparging/SS braid...

The end product still turned out great, and it fermented down quite a bit more than I expected, 1.006, which made up a bit for my unplanned low efficiency..

I work for a German company and we always have Germans about, so I tested it on them and they thought it was great... Only other comment they made was that it was so clear.. I used WL300, but after about 1 month kegged, it was the clearest beer I've made yet... odd..

Baron von BeeGee said:

I have ground the wheat finer and gotten better efficiency, but run-off was painful.

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Ugh yeah, tell me about it. The last thing I did had lots of wheat and raw wheat to boot. I changed my roller setting for the first time (I had already mixed the grains together pre-crush....never do that again when dealing with different average size kernels). Needless to say I did a step batch sparge with a wort collection that took about 6 hrs. I just went to sleep. lol.

Ed sounds great! I find with the simple recipes it is all about quality of the ingredients and the process.

Jer said:

I used WL300, but after about 1 month kegged, it was the clearest beer I've made yet... odd..

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did you do a secondary? The first one I did I used a secondary for the usual 2 weeks. And like you said it was the clearest beer I made to date at that point.

did you do a secondary? The first one I did I used a secondary for the usual 2 weeks. And like you said it was the clearest beer I made to date at that point

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Nope, 2 weeks in primary then straight to keg for forced carbonation/refrigeration...

Jer said:

they thought it was great... Only other comment they made was that it was so clear.. I used WL300, but after about 1 month kegged, it was the clearest beer I've made yet... odd..

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Not odd, normal. Weizens of all types will eventually clear as the yeast settles to the bottom.

Weizens are never (never say never) served on tap in Germany, always in bottle so that you can re-suspend the yeast at pouring time.

I have a hefeweizen on tap at home, but pull the keg out of the fridge every week to invert it and resuspend the yeast.

Bierstube owners in Germany do the same thing with certain Landbiers.

EdWort said:

I'm so stoked as this is truely a masterpiece in my own little world and I have the folks in this forum to thank. Here's to you Biermann and Homebrewtalk.com!

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EdWort - I would love to make a brew like this... how about breaking off the recipe for a "beggar" :rockin:

Hops-4-Life said:

EdWort - I would love to make a brew like this... how about breaking off the recipe for a "beggar" :rockin:

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Post #5 of this thread.

Mikey said:

Not odd, normal. Weizens of all types will eventually clear as the yeast settles to the bottom.

Weizens are never (never say never) served on tap in Germany, always in bottle so that you can re-suspend the yeast at pouring time.

I have a hefeweizen on tap at home, but pull the keg out of the fridge every week to invert it and resuspend the yeast.

Bierstube owners in Germany do the same thing with certain Landbiers.

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yeah, the clarity is normal. My last batch was kegged, and put on tap (still have some on tap). I will have to say that kegging this style is a detriment to the beer, and in the future, i will likely bottle this one exclusively, purely for the clarity/lack of yeast taste that you get with bottle conditioning. This last batch was a 12 gallon batch-- so I kegged 10, and bottled 2, and my beer snob friends all agreed that the botted version was better, and tasted more authentic.

That said, it was still a pretty danged good beer.

Biermann said:

my beer snob friends all agreed that the botted version was better, and tasted more authentic.

That said, it was still a pretty danged good beer.

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Mine does not last long enough to clear. Just juggling kegs in and out of the kegerator keeps things suspended.

I have about 8 cases of German half liter bottles and the plastic racks in storage waiting for the day my Brauhaus becomes a reality. Perhaps I'll bottle a batch then.

just got my grains for saturday

6.5 lbs German Wheat
5.5 lbs German Pils

I have one ounce of hersbrucker which Ill probably split up to a 3/4 ounce 60 and 1/4 ounce 15

WLP 320

If I can get close to 80% attenuation, this is going to be a fun beer

WLP 320 said:

Large clove and phenolic aroma and flavor, with minimal banana. Refreshing citrus and apricot notes. Crisp, drinkable hefeweizen. Less flocculent than WLP300, and sulfur production is higher. Apparent attenuation: 73-80%. Flocculation: low. Optimum temp: 66°-70° F

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I just did one with WLP 300 and its tastes fantastic. This is almost the same recipe except omitting the 1/2 lb of dark munich this time. It will be interesting to see the difference. Hopefully the sulfur isnt going to be too overpowering.

EdWort said:

Mine does not last long enough to clear. Just juggling kegs in and out of the kegerator keeps things suspended.

I have about 8 cases of German half liter bottles and the plastic racks in storage waiting for the day my Brauhaus becomes a reality. Perhaps I'll bottle a batch then.

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I've been cutting back on my drinking, and ramping up my production (I know, doesn't make sense), so I usually have a surplus of stuff in kegs. Currently I have 3 on tap, and 3 in storage, and soon to have 20 gallons in fermenters.

My first keg of weizen went really quick though--- family and friends loved it when it was first tapped, and they sucked that first one dry in less than 2 weeks.

EdWort said:

7# German Red Wheat

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What's Red Wheat. Who makes that?

Kai

Kaiser said:

What's Red Wheat. Who makes that?

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Cargill does, I think Weyermann does too. It's what Austin Home Brew sells.

I'm guessing any German Wheat Malt will be fine. My next one will be with wheat malt from Canada Malt.

EdWort said:

Cargill does, I think Weyermann does too. It's what Austin Home Brew sells.

I'm guessing any German Wheat Malt will be fine. My next one will be with wheat malt from Canada Malt.

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No, Weyermann doesn't make a red wheat. It might be of a color that is between pale and dark wheat. One could also add some CaraMunich or Munich to get some red hue into the beer.

Kai

Kaiser said:

No, Weyermann doesn't make a red wheat. It might be of a color that is between pale and dark wheat. One could also add some CaraMunich or Munich to get some red hue into the beer.

Kai

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I looked it up and Red Wheat and White Wheat have the same color rating.

It's just wheat malt.

The red wheat threw my HBS for a loop too. They only had "german wheat".

BTW, I sampled a pull from this 3 days onto the tap/co2 last night. Still relatively flat but couldn't help to have 2 samples it was so tasty. My hefe interest is renewed as this is by far the best (tapped) I've had since I left Milwaukee. I'm making this again after my IPA as it's not going to last long.

I used Durst Wheat for mine. I've never come across red wheat either.

desertBrew said:

The red wheat threw my HBS for a loop too. They only had "german wheat".

BTW, I sampled a pull from this 3 days onto the tap/co2 last night. Still relatively flat but couldn't help to have 2 samples it was so tasty. My hefe interest is renewed as this is by far the best (tapped) I've had since I left Milwaukee. I'm making this again after my IPA as it's not going to last long.

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Cool! It's a great beer. I'm getting low on the keg, so I'll have to get my last bottle of yeast propagated which will give me 8 batches on one vial. That and my bulk malt and hops will bring my batch price down to $6.20 a batch. Here's the breakdown.

$3.22 for 7# Wheat Malt
$1.64 for 4# Pils Malt
$0.53 for 1 oz. Hallertau Hops
$0.81 for Wyeast 3068 (1 pack split 8 ways)
=================================
$6.20 Total for 5 gallons of Wonderful Bavarain Hefeweizen.

That's just over 11 cents per 12 oz. serving.