Hefeweizens are all about the yeast profile. (IMO anyway) If you didn't like the recipe try a different yeast. The hefe 4 from white labs is what they use at one of my favorite breweries in flagstaff for their hefe. A lot of people will use a kolsch yeast to make an american wheat too. As far as recipes the guidelines for a hefeweizen is is not less than 51% wheat.
TopherM said:I'm the Hefewiezen masta!
A traditional Bavarian Hefewiezen is:
5.5 gallon batch
6lbs Wheat
6lbs Pilsner
1.0 oz Hallertau @ 60
Wyeast 3068 yeast
I make pretty much all my Hefe's based on this standard recipe, and will add fruit, honey, and other additions from there. I made one with Camomille and Apricot Honey just last weekend. You can also substitute other NOBLE hops for the Hallertau or add small amounts (0.5-0.75 oz) of nice aroma hops @ 5 min or dryhop and keep a good balance.
My advise would be to make a basic one first to get a taste for the base style, then create your own recipes from there.
Also, subbing RED WHEAT for standard white wheat makes a very interesting Hefe, so try that sometime!
Good luck!
TopherM said:8 ounces - a pound max. My last batch I added 12 oz. When it comes to honey, it's the florals that matter. If you can smell the nector the honey comes from, it will show up in the beer. If it just smells like honey, you aren't going to get much from it. I find that the whole foods store honey that has dedicated floral varieties (orange blossom, wildflowers, apricot, blueberry, etc.) comes through the best (i.e., the honey farms have dedicated nector sources). Much more than a pound, and you're going to start drying out the beer too much and throwing things out of balance.
With almost every other style besides Hefewiezens/Wheats (I like to taste the wheat malt), whenever I add honey I supplement it with 0.5 lbs of honey malt.
I add honey at flameout and stir it in. Honey seems to burn/carmelize really easily, so you really don't want to add it when the burner is on.
Good luck!
TopherM said:8 ounces - a pound max. My last batch I added 12 oz. When it comes to honey, it's the florals that matter. If you can smell the nector the honey comes from, it will show up in the beer. If it just smells like honey, you aren't going to get much from it. I find that the whole foods store honey that has dedicated floral varieties (orange blossom, wildflowers, apricot, blueberry, etc.) comes through the best (i.e., the honey farms have dedicated nector sources). Much more than a pound, and you're going to start drying out the beer too much and throwing things out of balance.
With almost every other style besides Hefewiezens/Wheats (I like to taste the wheat malt), whenever I add honey I supplement it with 0.5 lbs of honey malt.
I add honey at flameout and stir it in. Honey seems to burn/carmelize really easily, so you really don't want to add it when the burner is on.
Good luck!
TopherM said:Hefewiezens are best young. Ferment about 2 weeks, bottle/keg carb for 2 weeks, then drink! If you are good about paying attention to your gravities, it is not unheard of for a Hefewiezen to go grain to glass in 10-14 days with a force carb kegging setup, so just keg/bottle as soon as you reach FG.
acidrain23 said:I just made a batch of this not too long ago and it is STUPID good. You could adjust the timing on the hop additions to make it more traditional, but I like the way this one tastes! The lb of acid malt gives it the slightest tart edge which makes it very refreshing!
For 5.5 Gallons/Partial Mash:
3 lbs Wheat DME
3 lbs German Pils
1 lb Acid Malt
Yeast: Wyeast Weihenstephan 3068
Hops:
20M: 1 oz German Select
10M: 1 oz German Select
Flameout: 1 oz German Select
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