Hefe with dry yeast?

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BlindLemonLars

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This weekend I'm planning to take a stab at a simple, LME based Hefe. While I see there are several varieties of liquid yeast that are specifically for wheat beers, I'm wondering if there are any suitable dry yeasts. I've got Safale US-05, Munton's and Notttingham on hand.

I should point out that I'm hoping for a beer without a strong banana or clove flavor, just a hint of it. The other day at Dodger Stadium, I drank a Gordon Biersch Hefe that tasted like a banana smoothie....not my cup of tea! That's $11 I wish I had back... :drunk:

Are any of the dry yeasts I mentioned suitable? Or should I clear some time for a trip to the LHBS?
 
Hefe's not a hefe without the right yeast. I wouldn't use any of those, the S-05 and Nottingham are far too clean. There's a new dry yeast that's supposed to be OK for wheat beers (don't know the name or number), but IIRC it's almost as expensive as liquid. Fermentation temperature determines whether the beer comes out more banana-ey or more clove-ey, but I can't remember which way is which (HB_Bill would know).

You could try the American Hefe yeast, which is supposed to have a lot fewer of the banana and clove characteristics - but then you're really just making a wheat beer.

Remember "hefe" = "yeast"; it really is critical with this beer that you have the right yeast.
 
I agree with the bird. I would only add that the temperature you use for fermentation realy affects ester production and the flavours imparted by the yeast. So you could use a German Hefe yeast but ferment cool and have less of the flavours you don't like.
 
I'll third the motion.

You can't get the right phenolics from dry yeast, period. With a true Hefe, it is really very much about the yeast! I use dry yeasts for APA's, IPA's, Stouts, Porters, Browns, etc...but for Hefe's and Belgian styles you need to go the extra mile with the right yeast. Plus you can always harvest it and keep it for a bit to have...
 
I have 5 gallons fermenting now and I kept the temp at 66 or less. I used WLP 3068. I smell banana in the beer but not the bubblegum of which I am not a fan. I would use american wheat yeast if you want to stay away from these flavors.
 
Thanks guys, sounds like good advice. I'll call the LHBS and see if they carry Wyeast 1010 or White Labs WLP320, both of which sound like they meet my needs. If not, I'll order some online and brew something else this weekend. I've got kegs and bottles that need to be filled!!
 
You might want to check out the WLP380. I used it and man it is nice. Apricotlike for sure, almost no Banana. You do get the clove though, but it didn't seem huge to me at least. I fermented around 68 °F.
 
I heard on the jamile show that his secret to a good american hefe (if thats what your going for) is to use a Kolsch yeast and to ferment at 60.

He recomended fermenting all wheat beers at 60 if I remember right. It was in the kolsch show if you want to listen to it.

good luck!
 
At the moment, I'm pretty much limited to fermenting at room temperature or a little below. I've had good luck maintaining 68° or so with a water bath, damp towel and fan, but as summer temps rise it will be more difficult. In July through September, it frequently gets well over 110° here, even as high as 120°!!

In a few weeks I'm getting a spare fridge for the garage, that I can use for lower temperature fermenting. Meanwhile, I've got to make choices based on the temperature range available to me, and I'm afraid the WLP300 may not give me the desired results at those temps.

The WLP380 sounds interesting though. Apricot is a lot more appealing to me than banana.
 
greenhornet said:
I heard on the jamile show that his secret to a good american hefe (if thats what your going for) is to use a Kolsch yeast and to ferment at 60.

He recomended fermenting all wheat beers at 60 if I remember right. It was in the kolsch show if you want to listen to it.

good luck!
he said 64 with WLP300 on his show for the Bavarian weizen. that's my favorite wheat, btw ;)
 
Well, I've learned my lesson. Don't order liquid yeast from halfway across the country in the summer...especially right before a holiday! My shipment from Midwest was delayed a bit over the 4th of July, and when finally delivered the box was quite warm. I refrigerated my tube of WLP-380 and hoped for the best.

Sunday, my Hefe finally worked it's way into the brewing lineup, and I pitched the yeast around 4:00PM, with the wort @ 80°. I'd read about the ferocious activity this yeast is capable of, so I had a blow-off tube ready to go, if needed.

Monday morning...nothing.

Tuesday morning...nothing.

Wednesday morning...nothing.

By Wednesday night, I still had no airlock activity so I popped the lid and peered inside the bucket. The surface of the wort was calm and pristine, not a single bubble or speck of krauzen. At this point, I gave up on the Hefe yeast and sprinkled in an envelope of Safale S-04.

Now it's Thursday morning, and the airlock is happily clanking away. Looks like my Hefe is actually going to be a simple wheat beer. Oh well...should be good anyways. Still, I was looking forward to those "refreshing citrus and apricot notes." :rolleyes:
 
Starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter.....

Sorry... but one of the main reasons TO make a starter is to ensure that the yeast is, in fact, viable. This would seem to be ESPECIALLY important when you've got a question about whether it's dead or not (i.e., you ordered it from halfway across the country and it arrived really, really warm). Glad to hear that it'll work out for you in the end, but I cannot recommend strongly enough to anyone else reading this that you really SHOULD have made a starter.
 
the_bird said:
Starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter, starter.....
I hear you, and of course you're right! In fact I even started to make a starter (boiled a bit of DME & H20) but abandoned the process as my day got more and more hectic. I shouldn't have even been brewing that day, I had too much going on. (Cleaning pool filter, repairing broken wiring in the garage, rebuilding a keg and kegging my IPA, smoking 20 pounds of ribs and chicken for an evening BBQ, a million errands, etc.) I tried to sneak a brew session into the schedule, and ended up cutting corners.

So yeah...always make a starter with liquid yeast, especially when it's already suspect. I'll go ahead and write it on the blackboard a few hundred times. :eek:
 
FYI, I have done a few brews with WLP380 and find the bananna flavor overpowering, although I fermented pretty high. Keep it 65*F or below with that yeast strain.
 
ColoradoXJ13 said:
FYI, I have done a few brews with WLP380 and find the bananna flavor overpowering, although I fermented pretty high. Keep it 65*F or below with that yeast strain.
Wow, good to know. I specifically chose that strain because it was described as having "minimal" banana flavors. In the summer, it's a struggle to get cooler than 68°.
 
yeah, I know, went down to my basement on tuesday, 70*F ambient temp, and the carboys of the 10-g batch I did were reading 80*F on the fermometers...smelled like banannas....dunked those carboys in some tubs of cold water for a few hours.
 
Although I'm hesitant to revive an old thread, I thought this one was worth an update.

The hefe I attempted to make in early July has been sitting in my garage brewfridge for two weeks now, with 10 PSI of co2. To recap, this is the batch I made with hefe yeast that spent a long HOT week in transit over the 4th of July holiday, and apparently arrived dead. After several days with absolutely NO signs of fermentation, I repitched with Safale S-04 and lowered my expectations accordingly.

Cut to present...tonight I plugged in the old picnic tap, and poured myself a pint. What do you know, it appears some of those WLP-380 yeasties survived and made their presence known! I was expecting a simple wheat beer, but I've got a very decent hefe-like brew on my hands. It's blonde, somewhat cloudy, and has a very nice touch of both banana and clove. Nothing overwhelming (I can't stand those banana daiquiri hefes!) but very pleasant and refreshing. Actually, the banana seems to be more of an aroma thing, with an aftertaste of clove a few seconds later.

It just goes to show how hard it is to completely screw up a homebrew! Sure, I bungled this one from the start, and I've got a Franken-Hefe on my hands, but it tastes damn good! This is one mistake I'll be enjoying for some time.

I'm off to the garage to grab another pint!
 
It's always good to have a follow-up.

By the way, Brewferm now has a dried Blanche yeast for Wits.
 
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