Cloudy Hefeweizen - let it sit in secondary, or bottle??

Hi all, I've been lurking around here since I started brewing in December, and I'm on my 6th batch now, brewing partial boils with extract, fresh hops and grains.

My first Hefeweizen is now in the secondary, and I need to decide if I should wait the full 2 weeks (1-2-3 has been my mantra).

I'd like it to be a cloudy hefe once bottled, and am worried too long in the secondary will let it settle too much and it'll end up clear.

Hefeweisen O.G 1.045-1.050 7.25 lbs wheat Malt Extract, 0.65 lb Wheat malt, 0.65 lb pilsner malt, 0.65 oz Perle whole hops (60 minutes)

Yeast is 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen smackpack

OG was 1.050 and at day 7 was 1.010. I racked it to secondary on day 9, and now on day 12 the FG is still 1.010.

Can I bottle on day 12 to keep some of the cloudiness, or is that asking for trouble? Should I mix up the yeast that's in the bottom of the secondary to bump up the cloudiness?

Thanks!

One thing I did notice is that day 9 the krausen was still on the surface of the primary when I racked it to secondary. Next time, should I wait till the surface is clear?

give it 2 weeks at it's fg then bottle. hefeweizens dont need a ton of aging time. They don't really need a secondary either but it's at the brewers discretion. after bottle conditioning (which i assume you're doing) you'll have plenty of yeast in suspension and at the bottom of the bottles that you can swirl up for some haziness

There is no need to secondary a Hefe... with that said, you don't have to worry about it clearing in the secondary as Hefeweizen yeast don't clear well. I keep most beers in primary for 3 weeks however, with wheat beers I do 10 to 14 days.

yup, bottle conditioning - 3 weeks at 70 F, which has worked perfectly so far.

the other catch is that my primary bucket is also my bottling bucket, although I have two secondary carboys on the go.

If I let the hefe sit in the carboy and brew my next batch today, it'll be day 21 that I can bottle the hefe, which works OK, but I had read hefe's are quick to be ready to bottle (thus 10-14 days in primary as SgtLynn says). I'd love to be drinking it a week sooner (wouldn't we all).

bottle it now...hefe's aren't supposed to be clear unless it's a krystal version. it'll look semi=clear in the bottle, but a simple swirl of the trub and you're back in hefe normality. it'll be carbonated in around a week and tasty as all hell. keep anything past carbonation stage somewhere cool (~50F) to maintain their freshness.
i'm drinking one of my hefe's that i bottled at day 8 and started drinking a week later - delicious and crisp. enjoy!!

gtlaw - sold. sanitizing my bottles now.

tastybrew priming calculator says to use 6.6 oz of priming dextrose to get 3.45 CO2 volumes for a Berliner Weisse and 8.1 oz for a Bavarian Weissen. My other beers have all been 4 or 5 oz of dextrose, but were IPAs and pale ales.

Is 1.5X to 2X the priming sugar right for a Hefe?

heckler73 said:

tastybrew priming calculator says to use 6.6 oz of priming dextrose to get 3.45 CO2 volumes for a Berliner Weisse and 8.1 oz for a Bavarian Weissen. My other beers have all been 4 or 5 oz of dextrose, but were IPAs and pale ales.

Is 1.5X to 2X the priming sugar right for a Hefe?

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yea i was shocked when i used tastybrew at bottling time!! so i did some searching around the forum and while what tasybrew tells you is stylistically correct - it's also potentially dangerous since 12oz bottles are rated for only 3 volumes of CO2, compound that with the fact that a lot of us homebrew folk use recycled bottles with questionable integrity - it's just not something i was willing to do. people here seemed to suggest that just priming as close to 3 volumes as possible was the safe and logical choice. so i did just that, primed to 3 volumes of CO2. my hefe is quite effervescent and petty close carb-wise to german examples i've had.

gtlaw10 said:

yea i was shocked when i used tastybrew at bottling time!! so i did some searching around the forum and while what tasybrew tells you is stylistically correct - it's also potentially dangerous since 12oz bottles are rated for only 3 volumes of CO2, compound that with the fact that a lot of us homebrew folk use recycled bottles with questionable integrity - it's just not something i was willing to do. people here seemed to suggest that just priming as close to 3 volumes as possible was the safe and logical choice. so i did just that, primed to 3 volumes of CO2. my hefe is quite effervescent and petty close carb-wise to german examples i've had.

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yeah i'd only carb that to about 2.8 myself. I've seen some of those ones that get bottled at 4-5volumes and they have to be in a thicker bottle. usually something like a swingtop or wine bottle.

+1 last months byo had a recipe for a heffe and I tried it out and they said carb 2.5 to 3 and I went with 2.75 and it turned out perfect

well, I went with 3.45 priming dextrose, but I have some nice swingtops that came with a hefe from Germany.

I did find this interesting read. Has anyone primed with the wort and fresh yeast "Speisse" as suggested?

Next, siphon 2 qts. (~2 L)) of hot wort (for Speise) into a container. Let the wort cool, then seal the container and refrigerate until needed. Chill wort and rack to a clean, sanitized fermenter. Aerate, pitch yeast and ferment at 68 °F (20 °C). Prime with Speise and bottle.


On bottling or kegging day, take the Speise out of the refrigerator and let it warm up to room temperature. Because at home you are dealing with just a single batch, you must inoculate your saved “unpitched” wort before using it as a Speise. Thus, pitch the second package of yeast into your Speise, close the container and shake it vigorously to aerate it. Then pour the Speise into a clean carboy or a Cornelius keg and rack the fully fermented brew into it for a thorough mix. Transfer the inoculated beer into bottles or keep it in the closed Cornelius keg

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I think I'll give that a go on my next hefe.

around the forum i've seen that technique referred to as 'krausening.' lots of members have done it, i believe it's also documented in the wiki. very traditional german technique - do it up.

Well, here she be! It's awesome. Perfectly good head, and wonderful fruity hefe smell. Thanks for the advice!

Simple, yet very effective!

Hefeweisen O.G 1.045-1.050
7.25 lbs wheat Malt Extract
0.65 lb Wheat malt
0.65 lb pilsner malt
0.65 oz Perle whole hops (60 minutes)
3068 yeast smackpack

6.6 oz of priming dextrose with 1-1/3 cups boiling water

i've seen that some brewers add flour to the boil to ensure cloudiness. 1/2-cup per 5 gal if i remember correctly.

Not sure bout adding flour. I would only worry bout tasting it; like how you have to 'saute' flour when making a roux. My hefes get quite cloudy on their own with 3 week primary & no secondary. SWMBO likes the kristall so she doesn't rouse the yeast.

I think speise is different from krausening. I tried the speise technique but did not add yeast to it. I figured its kind of like adding DME as a primer so I don't bother anymore. It worked just fine though. Make sure you reboil it at bottling time.

BTW looks great!

Don't worry about the look,unless you are entering it in a contest.

That's encouraging. I made a 30 liter batch of Weisse, and I confess i'm not much of a fan, but i made it for friends who insisted. The recipe called for approx 4 liters of "Speisse" to be added at bottling.
The recipe called for 5-7 days in the primary then rack into the bottling bucket with inoculated Speisse.
Laziness got the best of me (combined with the lack of enthusiasm for the Weisse), and the wort is now three weeks in the fermenter, and the Speisse just as long in the fridge.
Is it still safe to use that unfermented wort for bottling?
I don't have liquid yeast for inoculating, can I just pitch dry yeast or should I make a starter?
To complicate matters I missed the target OG, so I'm thinking I may need to add some sugar at bottling to get the right CO2 level. Seems like this beer's going to be a mess!

Brazbrew said:

That's encouraging. I made a 30 liter batch of Weisse, and I confess i'm not much of a fan, but i made it for friends who insisted. The recipe called for approx 4 liters of "Speisse" to be added at bottling.
The recipe called for 5-7 days in the primary then rack into the bottling bucket with inoculated Speisse.
Laziness got the best of me (combined with the lack of enthusiasm for the Weisse), and the wort is now three weeks in the fermenter, and the Speisse just as long in the fridge.
Is it still safe to use that unfermented wort for bottling?
I don't have liquid yeast for inoculating, can I just pitch dry yeast or should I make a starter?
To complicate matters I missed the target OG, so I'm thinking I may need to add some sugar at bottling to get the right CO2 level. Seems like this beer's going to be a mess!

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5-7 days in primary is too little, 3 weeks is just fine - in fact it's the minimum that i leave my beers in primary. nothing bad will happen to your wiesse because it's been in primary for 3 weeks (assuming you had good sanitation, of course).

as long as the speisse has been refrigerated all that time, you should be fine using it. the cold temps kept any nasties at bay and as soon as you add it to the beer the yeast in there will rapidly consume it. and speaking of which, you don't need to add more yeast. if you had a healthy primary fermentation, there is still plenty of yeast left to consume the unfermented wort and carbonate the beer. adding some dry yeast will work, but it's over-kill in my opinion.