I've just cracked into my Kristalweizen, and I can say it's a great light summer brew.
It's modeled after SWMBO's favorite beer from back home in Australia, Redback Beer. It has a similar big estery flavor to a true Bavarian hefeweizen, but is slightly more muted (still prominent notes of cloves and more subtle banana). It's completely crystal-clear unless you intentionally swirl up the sediment in the bottle, so for people who are scared of darker/cloudier beers it should pass muster.
A few advantages to this beer:
1. Very simple ingredient list. It's fine as straight extract (I did it as the second brew on a 2-beer brew day), though I'm doing an all-grain for the next batch--the grain bill on it should essentially be a standard hefe choice that's 50/50 wheat/barley.
2. It was incredibly fast from grain to glass. It took 5 days to reach FG, I racked to secondary on gelatin for 2 days, and it was almost fully carbed 10 days later. 3 weeks after brew day we were drinking it.
The recipe as below is formulated to be as close to the public information on Redback as I could get in an extract recipe; I haven't ever seen or tasted the original, so it was research online with help from the aussiehomebrewer crowd as well as people here and at Northern Brewer.
In my case, Pride of Ringwood hops weren't available so I subbed in Clusters for the bittering addition.
Brown Recluse Kristalweizen
This is an Australian-style kristalweizen in the vein of the original Matilda Bay Redback. It should be nearly clear (not cloudy), pale, and relatively low hoppiness, with mild to moderate clove esters and low to mild banana esters. This is going to wind up a bit darker in color than a Redback.
Beer: Brown Recluse Kristalweizen Style: Weizen/Weissbier
Type: Extract Size: 5 gallons
Color: 7 HCU (~6 SRM) Bitterness: 18 IBU
OG: 1.048 FG: 1.012
Alcohol: 4.7% v/v (3.7% w/w)
Boil: 60 minutes SG 1.081 3 gallons
1 lb. 5 oz. Briess Pilsen DME
4 lb. 5 oz. Briess Wheat DME
Add the Pilsen DME and a touch of the wheat DME before the boil; add the majority of the wheat DME with 15 minutes to go in the boil.
Hops: .8 oz. Pride of Ringwood (8% AA, 60 min.)
.4 oz. Saaz (3.75% AA, 5 min.)
Yeast: Wyeast W3638 Bavarian Weizen yeast. Pitch a 3l starter cake. Ferment at 62F (over 65 skews toward banana esters in lieu of cloves).
Carbonation: 3.5 volumes Cane Sugar: 6.49 oz. for 5 gallons @ 62°F
3.5 volumes is a touch on the low side for the beer, but on the high side for bottling. If you're kegging, go to 4 volumes.
EDIT: Research notes if you want some background:
Help A Yank Clone Redback - AussieHomeBrewer.com
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/cloning-redback-australian-wheat-beer-105929/
The Northern Brewer Homebrew Forum - Need help cloning Redback Weizen (Australian)