hefeweizen

I am making my first hefeweizen tonight. To be true to style, should i use whirlflock or irish moss? i am kegging so will probably have much less yeast in the draft than when bottling.

thanks for the support.

jaa2m

Hefeweizens are supposed to be cloudy and yeasty so the Irish moss doesn't fit. Maybe in a krystalweizen?

A fining agent isn't necessary for wheat beers. They're supposed to be cloudy. It's the wheat malt that lends to the cloudiness, not the amount of residual yeast.

excellent. didn't realize it was the malt. thought it was the yeast...

thanks!

jaa2m said:

excellent. didn't realize it was the malt. thought it was the yeast...

thanks!

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I believe they both contribute to the cloudiness, actually.

From the BJCP guidelines:

The high protein content of wheat impairs clarity in an unfiltered beer, although the level of haze is somewhat variable. A beer “mit hefe” is also cloudy from suspended yeast sediment (which should be roused before drinking). The filtered Krystal version has no yeast and is brilliantly clear.

ohiobrewtus said:

A fining agent isn't necessary for wheat beers. They're supposed to be cloudy. It's the wheat malt that lends to the cloudiness, not the amount of residual yeast.

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A bit of both..most true Hefe's use a low floc yeast that stays in suspention..Hefe's are cloudy from both wheat and yeast..I would be curious how cloudy it would be if you removed the wheat malt and used a low floc yeast??

Jay

If you remove the Wheat malt it's no longer a Wheat beer

zoebisch01 said:

If you remove the Wheat malt it's no longer a Wheat beer

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True and if you remove the yeast it is no longer a hefe..

this is why it needs both..LOL yeast wheat "Hefeweizen"
I would still be curious as to how cloudy it would be..(how much the wheat imparts and how much the yeast imparts to the cloudy look.

I know what wheat can do(american wheat beers) but what about the yeast?

not sure of any beer styles like this..

J

jaa2m said:

To be true to style, should i use whirlflock or irish moss?

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To be true to style no German beer can be made with whirlflock or IM. The purity law doesn't allow these particular fining agents.

Aside from that the other posters are correct, you don't have to worry about the beer being cloudy

Kai