Beginner Hefeweizen

Hello, first time post here. I've recently started home brewing. 2 batches: 1 pilsner, 1 amber. Both turned out eminently drinkable, I'm happy to report.

Anyway, now that it seems I won't kill anyone by brewing this stuff, I'm thinking of making something for the wife. She's a fan of German beer, particularly hefeweizin. So I thought I'd ask if anyone had an extract based, beginner-type recipe for 5 gallons of hefeweizen (which doesn't require boiling 5 gallons of water.)

Also, I wanted to ask about aging beer. I don't have a fridge large enough to store beer upright. Previous to storing my own beer, I've always put my store bought beer side ways, in the bottom crisper. Is this acceptable for aging bottle-fermented home brew? Of course, I'd turn each bottle upright a few days before drinking.

Your advice is much appreciated.

Mark

Just bought this today... basically a hefe with some caramel malts and crystals steeped in. They also have a straight up light hefeweizen. It sure is excellent beer!!!

http://www.thegrape.net/browse.cfm/4,11311.htm

I'm going to make 5.5 gallons, add a pound of wheat DME, White Labs WLP300 liquid yeast, and use Hall Hersbrucker and Tettang hops. I'm really happy with thegrape's DME kit beers. Very tastey!!


As far as aging, just keep them in a stable, cool, dark, non-refridgerated area. Basements are great... 65-75°F works. You really want to age upright so the cake collects at the bottom of the bottle, not on the side.

Search on 'extract hefeweizen' and I suspect it'll turn up some good recipes. homebrewer_99 is the resident extract Hefeweizen expert and may chime in. Hefeweizen are quite suitable for extract brewing as the actual grain bill for a Hefeweizen is usually 50/50 or 60/40 wheat/barley and wheat DME is normally 50/50 or 60/40 wheat/barley. This should get you started:

6# wheat DME
noble hops for 12-14 IBU (Hallertauer or Tettnanger should work well)
Hefeweizen liquid yeast

Boil the DME and hops for 60 minutes, cool, and ferment @68-70F.

Here is a great extract recipe for a simple, partial boil Hefe-Weizen.

• Steep in 1 quart of water (150˚F) for 20-25 minutes

4 oz. German Munich malt (use a grain bag)

• To your brew pot add the following:

The strained liquid from the steeped grains
Approximately 2 gallons of water
6.5 lb. Wheat malt syrup

• Bring all of the above to a boil and then add:

1 oz. German Hallertau pellets @ 3.9 % Alpha (bittering hops)

• Continue to boil for another 50-60 minutes and then remove the pot from the stove, and place in an ice bath in the sink.
• Add 2 gallons of cold water to an already sanitized primary fermenter.
• Pour and strain, or siphon the cooled wort from your brew pot into your fermenter and add enough additional cold water to bring the total volume up to 5 - 5.5 gallons.
• As long as your wort temperature is 75˚F or lower you are good to pitch your yeast.

Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephen liquid yeast (starter recommended)

Wyeast 3056 Bavarian liquid wheat yeast (starter recommended)

• Ferment in the primary for at least 1 week, or until there is no air lock activity.
• If using a secondary fermenter, siphon from the primary and leave in the secondary for an additional week. If not using a secondary, leave in the primary for a total of 2 weeks.
• Bottle when fermentation is complete using:

3/4 cup priming sugar (corn sugar) or 1 cup wheat DME

• Or keg and force carb.

Enjoy,
John

looks good... I tend to like hop aroma so I toss in some at the end of the boil. Its really up to you, but I would make hops pancakes if it was at all sane

mphelan said:

...She's a fan of German beer, particularly hefeweizin. So I thought I'd ask if anyone had an extract based, beginner-type recipe for 5 gallons of hefeweizen (which doesn't require boiling 5 gallons of water.)... Mark

Click to expand...

Send me an email ([email protected]) and I'll send you a good easy recipe that I think fits your request. :rockin:

(I can't get the Recipator recipes that I've reformatted into Word to copy and paste into this place).

Thanks Baron. You knew I'd be here.

Thanks for all the replies. I went with a recipe from homebrewer_99, but will try the others in the future.

As for the advice on storing bottled beer: I wasn't sking so much about the second, bottle firmentation. That I'm doing with the bottles upright in my basement. Rather I was wondering about long time storage. I'm fine with doing that oin my basement too, but I wasn't sure how long a home-brewed beer can go unrefrigerated. Any advice?

mphelan said:

...I went with a recipe from homebrewer_99...

Click to expand...

ONLY if you follow it step by step...