Hefeweizen Recipe

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Wort_Cleaver

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I'm putting together a hefeweizen recipe, thought I'd throw it up here to see if anyone had any suggestions. I'm aiming for a golden colored bavarian-style hefe with a nice, thick white head. I like a good amount of banana, so I'll probably ferment around 68 F.

5.25 gallon batch, 3 gallon boil

Base Malts
3 lb Wheat DME (65% wheat, 35% barley)
3 lb Wheat DME (Late addition - last 15 minutes)

Specialty Grains - Steep around 155 for 30 minutes, rinse with water at 170
1 lb Pale Wheat
1 lb Flaked Wheat
0.5 lb Munich Malt
0.5 lb Vienna Malt

Hops
0.75 oz Whole Leaf Hallertau, AA 4.1% at 60 minutes
0.25 oz Whole Leaf Tettnanger, AA 6.3% at 15 minutes

?Irish Moss - 1 tsp at 15 min?

Yeast - 2 packs Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Wheat

OG = 1.056, FG = 1.014, ABV = 5.55%
IBU = 11.96, SRM = 4.76


How does this recipe look? Appreciate any comments...
 
Why two packs of wyeast? I used one pack and it blew the top off my fermenting bucket.
 
I'm not going to be making a starter so I figured it's best to go with 2 packs. Mr. Malty suggests 205 billion cells for 1.056 OG, and each pack has 100 billion - so 2 packs should do it. I'll be using a blow-off tube on a 6 gallon carboy and hopefully won't have any issues.
 
I want to keep the color light. I've heard that adding extract later in the boil can help keep the color lighter, although I'm not sure if this applies only to liquid malt extract. But in any case, splitting the addition of the DME increases the hops utilization and keeps the ibu's around 12, instead of 8, which is what it would be if I boiled all 6 lbs for the entire 60 minutes.
 
3068 is a BEAST!! A 6.5 gallon carboy has BARELY enough headspace for a 5 gallon batch using that yeast at 68F. May I suggest a blow off tube, or even better a Burton Union collection vessel.

Recipe looks tasty. I'd drop the Moss, too. No need for it.
 
I'd like to also chime in with regards to 3068....I barely had enough head room in my bucket. Lid almost blew off. Luckily I caught it in time and was able to replace the air lock.

I'm also curious about the 15 min malt addition. If you are seeking a lighter color, I don't think that's necessary with DME. I could be wrong. Either way, please share your results!
 
wyeast's website for that yeast says overpitching will result in near complete loss of banana esters. the cheat sheet the wyeast rep gave out says one smack pack for beers up to ~1.060. pitching 2 packs will mean almost no banana.
 
My .02, if looking for a banana note 3068 should actually be under pitched and fermented at about 68F so you can actually get away with 1 pack as long as it's fresh and yes, definietly use a blow off tube, 3068 is a huge top cropper that will fill an air lock repeatedly during active fermentation and potentially blow the lid!
 
As for the DME, Northern Brewer has Breiss Wheat DME with a 65/35 ratio.

I will be definitely using a blowoff tube. And if it means I can save the 6 bucks and only pitch one pack to get some banana esters going, even better. How about throwing some yeast nutrient in there? Would that counteract the desired stressed-yeast-ester effect? Just don't want to end up stalling out at the dreaded 1.020 mark.

I wasn't really planning on adding the irish moss- hence the question marks. I like my hefeweizen nice and hazy. But I've seen others who add it to their hefes and was curious whether there was any benefit. I'll save the tsp for my next batch.

Thanks for all the responses. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
 
I use moss in mine. I get haze from low-flocculating yeast instead of unprecipitated cold break.
 
I used Whirfloc in mine and I let my hefe ferment two weeks in primary, two weeks in secondary and it the clearest hefe I had ever seen. I loved it. Slight banana/citrus aroma and a clove taste on the back end.
 
Interesting point - since you brought up MrMalty. Jamil recommends fermenting at 62°F for well balanced esters and phenols (from his book brewing 80 classic styles).

Now, I've not done that myself; I usually do the 68-70°F for the esters. Just thought I'd throw it out there.
 
I'll throw this out there...

I've had fantastic results slowly ramping my hefe temp.

Day 1: 64°
Day 2: 65°
Day 3: 66°
etc...

I realize most flavor happens day 1, but somehow I think I'm getting the best of both worlds (phenols cold, esters warm).

I don't know, it tastes good and sounds impressive to my friends.
 
TyTanium said:
I'll throw this out there...

I've had fantastic results slowly ramping my hefe temp.

Day 1: 64°
Day 2: 65°
Day 3: 66°
etc...

I realize most flavor happens day 1, but somehow I think I'm getting the best of both worlds (phenols cold, esters warm).

I don't know, it tastes good and sounds impressive to my friends.

I do the same with great results as well although I start at 62 and ramp up slowly over the first week and finish at 66 as well. I like the clove and really don't care for anything more than a subtle hint of banana.
 
This Hefe is in the fermentation chamber at 64/65°. Making it was pretty easy. I did do the late addition, more because I have conditioned myself to do it now. We will see if it makes a difference.

Not too happy with the Wyeast Wheat yeasts. Was going to brew last weekend and smacked the pack on Thursday. Nothing was happening 24 hours later. OK, no problem, I was going to make a starter anyway and I could brew on Sunday. And, again no activity 24 hours after making the starter. This happened about 6 weeks ago when I was using the Wyeast Wheat 1010 for a Honey Klosch. Nothing with the smack and no activity in the starter. Northern Brewer did replace both at no charge and indicated that they have been having a number of problems and replacements with that spring batch from Wyeast.

Will update this thread when I have significant news with this batch.
 
I brewed this recipe as initially outlined (without the Irish moss). Pitched one pack of Wyeast 3068. Fermented most of the time around 68, but did drop it down to 65-66 for a few days mid-fernentation, then brought it back to 68 to finish. Was done fermenting at 11 days, bottled after 2 weeks primary. Cracked the first one last Thursday about 2 weeks after bottling.

The color came out a little darker than I would have liked - more like a Schneider Weisse Original than a Weihenstephaner. I attribute this to my 3 gallon stovetop boil as opposed to a full boil. Had a decent head after only 2 weeks of carbing, but retention was a bit lacking at this point.

BUT - the aroma and taste were spot on with what I was going for. It smelled and tasted amazing, and I can't wait to share this one at my Oktoberfest blowout in 3 weeks. I'm just hoping I can restrain myself from sneaking bottles in the meantime as hefe's are one of my personal favorites.

I'll try to attach a picture of the final product. Not the best taken with my phone, and the flash makes it look a little darker than in person. In any case, I would definitely brew this again with the only change being a full volume boil if I ever decide to spring for the turkey frier. Hope yours turns out just as good for you.

image-1166084888.jpg
 
So here is a rather comical (unless you're me) situation. As a noob one of my favorite beers is hefe. So for my first ever batch I searched for a recipe and went with the poster's recipe. As expected some errors here and there, but one in particular stands out as embarrasing. Instead of 6.6 lbs of extract I only did one can (don't ask me how I interpreted the 2nd as optional), all else remained pretty much steady with the recipe aside from safbrew WB06 yeast instead of the Wyeast. Anyhow, aside from a post to get a good laugh out of, QUESTION #1- can anyone take a crack at a ballpark outcome here in terms of taste/palatability, if say all else was done properly? I mean obviously the ABV plummets big time, (down to like 3-3.5 at best from what ive read). Curious if it even has the potential of turning out a decent "Extra Light Wheat" or something. QUESTION #2- Live with it/finish it out, or attempt tossing in some sugar/extract/honey 3-4 days into fermentation to get ABV up and even it out? Thanks guys, I know this is all pretty silly
 
So here is a rather comical (unless you're me) situation. As a noob one of my favorite beers is hefe. So for my first ever batch I searched for a recipe and went with the poster's recipe. As expected some errors here and there, but one in particular stands out as embarrasing. Instead of 6.6 lbs of extract I only did one can (don't ask me how I interpreted the 2nd as optional), all else remained pretty much steady with the recipe aside from safbrew WB06 yeast instead of the Wyeast. Anyhow, aside from a post to get a good laugh out of, QUESTION #1- can anyone take a crack at a ballpark outcome here in terms of taste/palatability, if say all else was done properly? I mean obviously the ABV plummets big time, (down to like 3-3.5 at best from what ive read). Curious if it even has the potential of turning out a decent "Extra Light Wheat" or something. QUESTION #2- Live with it/finish it out, or attempt tossing in some sugar/extract/honey 3-4 days into fermentation to get ABV up and even it out? Thanks guys, I know this is all pretty silly

got a couple options. I wouldn't add in sugar since that will dry out and thin your beer while adding ABV. what you COULD do is sanitize and add in about 3 lbs of LME to the mix since you're only 3-4 days in the process, plenty of yeasties to eat through that much... OR you can just have a nice light hefe
 
thanks i kind of inadvertently jacked this thread and didnt mean to. i started a new one in beginners beer forum yesterday about my problem in detail. titled "ABV tampering advice, what do you think?". the consensus i'm gathering is for the most part pitch in some boiled dme, and the yeast will kick up the ABV in the end, to a reasonable %.
 
Wort_Cleaver said:
I brewed this recipe as initially outlined (without the Irish moss). Pitched one pack of Wyeast 3068. Fermented most of the time around 68, but did drop it down to 65-66 for a few days mid-fernentation, then brought it back to 68 to finish. Was done fermenting at 11 days, bottled after 2 weeks primary. Cracked the first one last Thursday about 2 weeks after bottling.

The color came out a little darker than I would have liked - more like a Schneider Weisse Original than a Weihenstephaner. I attribute this to my 3 gallon stovetop boil as opposed to a full boil. Had a decent head after only 2 weeks of carbing, but retention was a bit lacking at this point.

BUT - the aroma and taste were spot on with what I was going for. It smelled and tasted amazing, and I can't wait to share this one at my Oktoberfest blowout in 3 weeks. I'm just hoping I can restrain myself from sneaking bottles in the meantime as hefe's are one of my personal favorites.

I'll try to attach a picture of the final product. Not the best taken with my phone, and the flash makes it look a little darker than in person. In any case, I would definitely brew this again with the only change being a full volume boil if I ever decide to spring for the turkey frier. Hope yours turns out just as good for you.

Did you end up waiting for the last 15 min to add the second half of the DME? Or did you add it all at once?
 
I waited to add the second half of the DME in the last 15 minutes. Color still came out darker than I'd like. I guess that's common with extract brewing, especially partial volume. But other than that, I gotta say it's pretty good. We'll see what others think this weekend when it's consumed in mass quantities along with a homebrewed Oktoberfest and Kölsch.

If anyone else brews the recipe, especially with a full volume boil, I'd be interested to see a picture for color comparison.
 
I did a full volume boil with a late addition in the last 15 mins three weeks ago. I will be racking to the secondary today after I bottle the Honey Kolsch and free up a carboy and will update on the color.
 
This Hefe is in the fermentation chamber at 64/65°. Making it was pretty easy. I did do the late addition, more because I have conditioned myself to do it now. We will see if it makes a difference.

Not too happy with the Wyeast Wheat yeasts. Was going to brew last weekend and smacked the pack on Thursday. Nothing was happening 24 hours later. OK, no problem, I was going to make a starter anyway and I could brew on Sunday. And, again no activity 24 hours after making the starter. This happened about 6 weeks ago when I was using the Wyeast Wheat 1010 for a Honey Klosch. Nothing with the smack and no activity in the starter. Northern Brewer did replace both at no charge and indicated that they have been having a number of problems and replacements with that spring batch from Wyeast.

Will update this thread when I have significant news with this batch.

I will, likely NEVER use WYEAST again. I was making a Spotted Cow clone and it never did it's thing. Lesson learned!
 
Hmmm, I pitched one pack of Wyeast 3068. Was a little worried about it stalling, especially since it was shipped from MN to FL in the middle of summer and got here warm. But it fermented fully. Last week I brewed a saison and pitched 2 packs of Wyeast 3711 and it was chugging away in about 12 hours. Maybe just lucky, but so far I haven't had a problem.
 
TBrady26 said:
I will, likely NEVER use WYEAST again. I was making a Spotted Cow clone and it never did it's thing. Lesson learned!

Odd... I brew about 200 gallons a year and only use WYeast, never had a bad pack.......swollen, flat, hot, cold, every starter has taken off and every beer has been fermented:)
 
I did a full volume boil with a late addition in the last 15 mins three weeks ago. I will be racking to the secondary today after I bottle the Honey Kolsch and free up a carboy and will update on the color.

Racked to secondary and had a taste. Young and uncarbed and it is already amazing. I will agree that the color is a little darker, but I'm not complaining. I'll drop a quick note on bottling day.
 
This recipe turned out very nice and I will make it again in the spring. Here is a pic of the beer. A little slow to carb, but the color and taste are spot on. Thanks Wort!

2012-12-07_20-14-04_1031-57569.jpg
 
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