First batch of extract Hefe-Weizen and acidic after-taste

I am new to the home brew scene. I've been reading and learning all kinds of tips and techniques. I know I am going to enjoy this down the road. Ok, I brewed my first ever batch of Beer. All extract "kit" style. It is a Hefe-Weizen using Muntons Wheat extract, strissel-spalt hops, wheat beer yeast, etc... the typical you get in this kit. My processes where exact and very tolerant. After fermentation, my OG and FG came out perfect according to the recipe and my ABV was a perfect 4.9% where it should be for a good wheat beer. I've waited 2 weeks now since bottling and I've finally opened a few. The head and color look good, a bit cloudy like it should be, and carbonation is excellent. Good aroma of bananas and hints of cloves. It tastes great up front, like a wheat beer should, but the finish leaves a bad acidic taste. What would be the #1 reason for this? Do I need to let this sit longer in the bottle, lets say another 2 weeks? Just trying to learn from my mistakes or learn new techniques so I can eliminate this after taste. All in all, this beer tastes really good, minues the acidic aftermath.

Welcome,

No true answer from me. I was an idiot and put my hefe in a secondary, which lost the cloudiness, and also had a strange off flavor. I think it was that it fermented too hot. We had 90+ and I am not sure what our storage unit was at.

I drank that batch, and it was strong nonetheless, and now am on to the next wheat that I left longer, didn't secondary and it is great.

I have two kits from Austin Homebrew, one in primary and one in the secondary, that I am looking forward to.

Relax..and you know the rest...

SMC

It could be astringency, which can be caused by steeping your specialty grains too hot and/or over crushing them. Were there any specialty grains?

DizzyPants said:

No true answer from me. I was an idiot and put my hefe in a secondary, which lost the cloudiness

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I did the same thing and just bottled on Monday. Mine was clear also and it tasted different from when I pulled it from the primary. The primary tasted much better and had the distinct cloudiness. Now it almost looks like a light beer and the flavor when I bottled was not as good. It kind of lost its 'clove' flavor.

Hefeweizens are generally considered beers to enjoy younger, and should definitely not be racked to secondary unless you're going for a krystal weizen. I have done 3 weeks primary, 3 weeks bottle for both my wheat beers. Once in the fridge they are fine for longer term, I've not had the ability to let them sit out in the bottles longer to see how they change, we always drink them too fast

I am new to this, but my Hefe recipe I used stated primary fermentation should be 4-7 days, and after bubbling slowed down considerably after 6 days, I measured the F.G. and it was good to bottle. What advantage do you get if you let it ferment longer such as 3 weeks? More flavor? Clarity? How do you know when it's truly done even if the F.G. states it is done after 6 days?

Weiser78 said:

I am new to this, but my Hefe recipe I used stated primary fermentation should be 4-7 days, and after bubbling slowed down considerably after 6 days, I measured the F.G. and it was good to bottle. What advantage do you get if you let it ferment longer such as 3 weeks? More flavor? Clarity? How do you know when it's truly done even if the F.G. states it is done after 6 days?

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On a cloudy beer like a Hefe, once it is done it's done. Done means FG is the same three days apart. As to the acidic tasted, are you sure you aren't tasting extract "Twang"? Does the can look like it sat around a while? Although Hefewezien is good young try it in a week. By the way you choose an excellent style to start with. It was my first too, but I got mine as a bulk kit from Northern Brewer.

So you've done 1-2-1 from start to finish? I agree on drinking wheats young but maybe you just set it aside for another couple weeks and revisit it. Next time let your beer go at least 2 weeks in the fermenter no matter what the hydrometer says so the yeast can do some cleanup work on your beer. General consensus on the minimum is 2-2-2.

-OCD

1-2-1, 2-2-2???? I'm lost, sorry.

Read till your head hurts....
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/faq-please-read-before-asking-question-7909/#post74765

-OCD

Any time you're given a string of numbers it will be weeks in primary - weeks in secondary - weeks in bottle.