Problem with first Hefeweizen

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Hoppylikerabbits

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So last Sunday i brewed my first Hefeweizen with a "reclamed" yeast from a bottle of 1543 hefeweizen that i brought back from Germany. I started off with a 1 cup starter with the reclamed yeast then pitched it up to a 2 liter starter and it took off in the starter phenomenally (extremely violent.. almost had an overflow). The problem im having now is it seems to be stuck. I brewed up the hefe with
5lb wheat malt
3lb pale malt
1lb munich malt
.5 oz Hallertauer 60min
.5 oz Saaz 30 min
.5 oz Hallertauer 10 min
(154 mash temp)
and i added orange zest and orange flesh to a gallon of 170 water for 1hr and added it all to primary after cooling of course (like the blood orange hefeweizen).

The only thing different i did this batch was this is the first time i did the 100% O2 aeration method. I blasted it with the O2 for about 50 seconds. It took off well and Krausen started to rise. Almost all of my beers get around 3-5 inches of Krausen prior to reaching FG. This beer got about 1/2-1inch of Krausen and just stopped. I ferment in my ferm-chamber around 60-65deg. This beer the yeast went dormant and are already building up a yeast cake on the bottom of the fermenter and the beer is nowhere near done. I went ahead and removed the carboy from the chamber and moved it to my spare room which is at 74 deg. Im wondering if anyone else has any ideas as to how to get this guy active again.
 
What's the current SG and expected FG? Hefe yeast is the least flocculant strain out there. I'm sure there are plenty in suspension still. The "yeast cake" you see is probably a lot of proteins coagulating and falling. Wheat is full of protein
 
I guess there's a reason you grew the yeast from a bottle but I would suggest using weihenstephan 3068 from wyeast which is probably the same yeast strain you got from your bottle, and if not it will still make a great weissbier. Make a starter (depending on you SG) and repitch. Even though the starter you made from the yeast from the bottle seemed active it may not be healthy or have gone through some mutation. (correct me if I'm wrong here anyone)

And if you don't mind me asking, are you trying to making a wit or adding a twist to your beer? Your recipe suggests that it's not a typical weissbier/hefeweisen you're aiming at.

Good luck!
 
Well to update this tread.... I dont know what strand of yeast this was but it fermented a bit odd.. The OG of this beer was 1.049 and i just took a hydrometer reading to see if i should pitch another hefeweizen yeast on top and it has finished fermenting... the FG hit 1.008 putting it at a 5.38% ABV beer. Whats extremely odd is that it only put out about 1/2-1 inch head of Krausen. I have read that some of the German brewery's filter out the hefeweizen yeast and bottle condition with lager yeast...however... this yeast put out the bananna/clove smell in the beer. It smells awesome and has a slight orange flavor to it. Im actually impressed!!
 

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