First All Grain - Hefeweizen

Brewed my first all grain last night. I brewed a 2 1/2 gallon batch of hefeweizen. I don't have a lautering tun yet. I just mashed on the stove top, using a grain bag and a big pot. I didn't bother with Ph either. I sparged by holding the bag above the pot and pouring the hot sparge water over the grain cup by cup. I kept my expectations low, and was looking at this as a learning experience.

The resulting wort was very thick with suspended material, to the point I could not filter it. I used moss, did the whirlpool spin too, but literally nothing sang to the bottom. I had to just poor the entire thing into the fermenter. That was a surprise to me.

I don't like the color of this brew at all. Doesn't look like beer really.

Anyway, here's a pic of the resulting wort, and below is the details of what I did. Any comments are welcome!!!

5lb Wheat
1oz Hallertuaer Hops

Mash and Boil Schedule
-Mash Grain 6 qt h2o at 155 for 60 min
-Mash out at 170 for 15 min
-Sparge at 170 with 9 qts
-Bring to Boil
-.5 hops (0)
-.25 hops (30)
-moss (50)
-.25 hops (55)
-Cool (60)

OG - 1.060

First off, Hefeweizens are typically around 50-60% wheat malt with the rest mostly pilsner malt. Because wheat doesn't have a hull, even brews with 50% wheat and 50% pils would benefit from having some rice hulls added to help with lautering. Sounds like you had a big sticky mess on your hands that wouldn't drain because of the lack of hulls. A 100% wheat beer is very unusual.

Since you got an OG of 1.060 you didn't use raw or unmalted wheat, which is good, but you may ahve had incomplete conversion and end up with a starchy or high-protein beer which could cause it to be super cloudy. Wheat beers are usually cloudy from the high protein content (and low-floccing yeast) and this would seem to be even more so.

Thanks for the tips. I took a tip from someone on the forums here who said...

"the best hef's are the simple ones IMO, let the yeas shine through.


1 oz Hallertau or Tettnanger
6 lbs wheat DME
Wyeast 3068 (WLP300)

ferment at about 68 degrees and voila"


Wheat DME is not all wheat? Maybe that's where I got losses.

Never mind that question. So wheat dme is 60/40. Ha, so who knows what kind of thing I'll end up with.

So here's what came of the accidental all wheat Heff... Very very cloudy, a little of a tangy flavor I don't like, but the heff yeast comes though nice. Appearance is awful. Still may be young so we'll see how it develops.

Looks like a nice creamy head and the color looks right. How come you say the appearance is awful?

I didn't expect it to be so cloudy. I guess the color is good, but it's the clarity, but idk. Funny how wrong expectations can really make it hard to enjoy a beer. Maybe I need to change my expectations on this one.

You know, I also think that I made a mistake starting this out at 1.060 and getting an ABV of a little > 6%. For this style, it's too strong maybe. Something less would have made it smoother. I wonder if that is part of the tangy/bite that I am getting, that is the higher alcohol.

Thanks for the encouragement! I will try to not be too critical

Well, if you made it through a 100% wheat mash as your first AG batch, you are pretty much a rock star. Congrats!

stephenabney said:

I didn't expect it to be so cloudy. I guess the color is good, but it's the clarity, but idk.

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Hefe means yeast in German. It's supposed to be cloudy. Kristallweizen is a super clear wheat bear for which Wyeast at least makes a super high flocing strain..but I like the taste of the yeasty one better. I'm pouring my first Hefes this week and I actually swirl the last third of the bottle to gather up the yeast and pour that into the glass. Has the additional benefit of making a super nice 1" thick head that looks like whip cream too.

billl said:

Well, if you made it through a 100% wheat mash as your first AG batch, you are pretty much a rock star. Congrats!

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Thanks!

Yea, that looks like a pretty standard hefeweizen, actually, if a little light. Your appearance appears to be spot on- you'd get 3/3 in a BJCP competition for that aspect of it.