Brewferm Blanche DRY Wheat Yeast?

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RoaringBrewer

RoaringBrewer

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So, I ordered a package of this fairly new (i believe) dry yeast from MidwestSupplies and I'm looking to see if anyone has experience with it. I've had good luck using the WhiteLabs Hefeweizen or Wit strains prior, but I really like dry yeast on a lot of occassions for ease of use and reliability. Has anyone used this Brewfirm Blanche dry yeast yet? If so, what are your impressions?

For those who haven't heard of the product:
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=7119
Product Description:
Brewferm Blanche (12 grams): The new dried brewing yeast from Brewferm has arrived! Brewferm Blanche is a top fermenting yeast suitable for producing Belgian-style Witbiers and other brews where light banana and clove aromas are desired.

If noone has input (I have't seen any feedback on the site), then I believe what I'm looking to do is test this out by brewing a small batch (2-2.5 gallon) in a 3 gallon carboy I have. I have 4lb. of wheat DME sitting in my brew supplies (60/40 wheat/barley) and would like to use some of this up for the "experiment".

What I do not have is a simple Wit, Hefeweizen, or American Wheat recipe that I can brew a 2-2.5 gallon batch of to test out dry wheat yeast. Preferably something with only Wheat DME, Hops (1-2 kinds max), and of course Water/Yeast. I don't want the trouble of steeping grains, adjuncts (no corriander/orange), hop additions at 3-4 times, etc. that I've used in previous Belgian Wits I've brewed. Especially if I'm only brewing 2 gallons...

So, if anyone has any inputs on a recipe I should try, let me know!
 
Never tried it, but keep us posted. It seems fairly expensive though, which imho is one of the nice things about most dry yeasts.
 
Yes, at 4.50 a pack it is nearly as expensive as $6-7 white labs or wyeast liquids...

I'm not sure why, but I just feel the dry yeasts store easier (no glass vile to store or smack pack to be careful with not bustin the sack) and are easier to use (I don't really ever make a starter with dry yeast and I get fairly quick [8hr.] startups a lot of the time).

I do use liquid yeasts when I believe it is necessary (all my prior wheat-beers, specialty beers such as steams, etc.) but I like to use Safale US-56, Nottinhgam, Windsor, etc. or other dry strains whenever a fairly generic "american" or "english" yeast is called for...
 
If anyone would like to prescribe a fairly simple hefeweizen or american wheat recipe for 2 gallon, I'd love to get started on this within a week or two; I have some hallarteu, hersbrucker, cascade, saaz, perle, and other hops on hand as well, so preferably something I don't need to run out and pick up...
 
SilkkyBrew said:
Yes, at 4.50 a pack it is nearly as expensive as $6-7 white labs or wyeast liquids...

I'm not sure why, but I just feel the dry yeasts store easier (no glass vile to store or smack pack to be careful with not bustin the sack) and are easier to use (I don't really ever make a starter with dry yeast and I get fairly quick [8hr.] startups a lot of the time).

I do use liquid yeasts when I believe it is necessary (all my prior wheat-beers, specialty beers such as steams, etc.) but I like to use Safale US-56, Nottinhgam, Windsor, etc. or other dry strains whenever a fairly generic "american" or "english" yeast is called for...
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Yeah I pretty much follow the same philosophy. I bought a belgian once. The rest is things like Coopers, Windsor, Nottingham, Safale...etc. Easy to use and my LHBS carries them for good prices.
 
zoe - Do you go to Scotzin Bros. by chance in Lemoyne, PA? That is the shop I use the most (carry a good mix of dry and liquid yeasts though IMO [white labs only that I've seen]).

I consider "Central PA" to be Harrisburg area (which is where I'm from), however others consider that to be State College or surrounding areas...
 
For ease of concocting this small batch, here is what I have tentatively planned. Let me know if this will be unlike the style or anything critical I may be missing. This is from Beersmith software.

Batch Size 2.00 Gal Boil Size 2.25 Gal
Boil Time 45 Mins (I don't see any reason to go longer?)
Estimated OG 1.049 - Estimated FG 1.009
Estimated % ABV 4.7%

Ingredients:
Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.25 lb Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 100.0 % (55/45 Blend)
0.33 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00%] (45 min boil) Hops 10.5 IBU
0.25 oz Hallertauer [4.80%] (30 min) Hops 8.0 IBU
Brewferm Blanche Dry Belgian Wheat Yeast - 11g Packet Rehyrdate and Pitch

Ferment and let settle (~10 days) in glass 4 gallon carboy. Bottle with DME.
 
SilkkyBrew said:
zoe - Do you go to Scotzin Bros. by chance in Lemoyne, PA? That is the shop I use the most (carry a good mix of dry and liquid yeasts though IMO [white labs only that I've seen]).

I consider "Central PA" to be Harrisburg area (which is where I'm from), however others consider that to be State College or surrounding areas...
Click to expand...


Yeah, close to State College. I take it you have toured Troegs then? [:D]

There is a place in Rebersburg, which is about 45 minutes drive. So my heavy orders (50 lb malt) is much cheaper to drive down and pick up. It is a nice drive.
 
Sounds good zoe; I actually work in State College ~5 months a year.

I've never toured Troeg's yet (missed my chance a month or two ago with some guys from the board), but they make some good beers. I frequent Appalachian Brewing and Lancaster Brewing Co. the most though... :)

I enjoy Otto's micros when I'm in the state college area (like this week!)...
 
Bump; so it appears noone has yet brewed a batch with the Blanche dry yeast? Should be here by this weekend, but I won't be able to brew until next, so... In the meantime, if anyone has feedback on this yeast, fire her up here.
 
SilkkyBrew said:
Bump; so it appears noone has yet brewed a batch with the Blanche dry yeast? Should be here by this weekend, but I won't be able to brew until next, so... In the meantime, if anyone has feedback on this yeast, fire her up here.
Click to expand...

From the description, it sounds like it should work for a decent hefe.
 
I brewed a Wit and a Dunkel with it last summer and it did a decent job. My only gripe with it was the lack of phenols/esters it produced, even after fermenting at a higher temp (about 75 deg.). Overall, it has a nice clean taste and I think you'll enjoy it.
 
SilkkyBrew said:
Sounds good zoe; I actually work in State College ~5 months a year.

I've never toured Troeg's yet (missed my chance a month or two ago with some guys from the board), but they make some good beers. I frequent Appalachian Brewing and Lancaster Brewing Co. the most though... :)

I enjoy Otto's micros when I'm in the state college area (like this week!)...
Click to expand...

Actually, I recently wrote Charlie at Otto's telling him his quality had dropped and his consistency was gone. He really didn't deny it, but rather offered an explanation. They have been selling their stuff to bars and their volume has gone way up. I mentioned that his customer service had gone down the tubes too. The last few times I went, we were basically standing there looking around at each other until the people at the counter finally 'noticed' us standing there. No kidding. Kinda peeved me. So they are going through growth now, hopefully they can pull it off without losing the quality. It has suffered since they opened (and they lost the other guy...forgot his name who was more of the people-person), so hopefully they can bring it back. All in all he was responsive and friendly, but I just really hope they can bring back consistency and good customer service, cause after all I really do like the place. The beer and food are (were?) very good.

ok sorry bout the sidetrack all...back to the regularly scheduled program....:D
 
So, the test of the Brewferm Blanche Yeast is on... Brewed this recipe this morning.

2.5 Gallon Recipe - 1.5 Gallon Boil
2.5lb. Wheat Extract (55/45 Blend)
1oz. Hersbrucker Hops (3.3%AA) 60 Mins
.33oz. Hallarteur Hops (4.8%AA) 10 Mins
And of course the 11g Packet of Brewferm Blanche

OG was 1.042 and I should be around 19IBU with the hop schedule...

I wanted to use the yeast without starter and I am glad I did. I rehydrated it 30 mins in 1 cup water. Pitched into 75F wort in a 3 gallon glass carboy.

Well, I finished brewing at 10AM and by 3PM (yes, only 5 hour lag time with no starter!!) I have fermentation at about 6 bubbles per minute and 70 degrees. Krausen starting to form, so I got my 1" blowoff hose into a jar...

I'll keep y'all updated on the results.
 
Well, I finally bottled this recipe brewed with the brewferm blanche dry wheat yeast on Sunday after 2.5-3 weeks in a primary (no secondary). I must say the yeast did exactly what a wheat yeast should do...

It provided a very similar banana-clovey flavor to the brew as when I used the White labs belgian wit vile... Honestly, this batch actually tastes better than the wit I brewed using the white labs (although that recipe also had corriander added which may have overwhelmed some of the banana/clove)...

So, I highly recommend this $4 dry yeast after experimentation. A 3-4 hour lag time with no starter (just rehydrating), a vigorous and quick fermentation to 72.5% attenuation, and most importantly imparted the flavors of a bavarian/belgian wheat-beer just as it should. Not to mention it probably stores better than a glass vile of white labs or huge smack pack of wyeast (and is 2-3$ cheaper).
 
Hey all. New to the forums, and fairly new to brewing, but it's a serious addiction. I came across this thread because I was looking for some good info about Brewferm Blanche. There really isn't that much info about it on the web or in this forum, so I decided to put in my two cents. I picked up ingredients for a hefeweizen from my LHBS, and this was to be my first time brewing with liquid yeast. Well, they were out of the White Labs hefeweizen, but the owner said she had some dry hefe yeast. She then produced a packet of said Brewferm Blanche, which I purchased (kinda expensive for dry, so I'm gonna culture some of this for future use!) I brewed my hefe with it yesterday afternoon and this morning it is bubbling away happily. The scent from the airlock is decidedly banana/clove, so that's a good sign. I will post the results as soon as it's ready to drink. Happy brewing!
 
SilkkyBrew said:
So, the test of the Brewferm Blanche Yeast is on... Brewed this recipe this morning.

2.5 Gallon Recipe - 1.5 Gallon Boil
2.5lb. Wheat Extract (55/45 Blend)
1oz. Hersbrucker Hops (3.3%AA) 60 Mins
.33oz. Hallarteur Hops (4.8%AA) 10 Mins
And of course the 11g Packet of Brewferm Blanche

OG was 1.042 and I should be around 19IBU with the hop schedule...
I'm curious, how did it taste?

It looks like too many hops. Interestingly enough, your recipe uses less than 1/2 the malt and more hops than my Paulaner-style HWs.

I only use 3% AA for 6 lbs of malt for 5.25 gals which keeps it sweet.

Also, HWs usually only use bittering hops.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hey Sikkybrew,I've got a sachel of the stuff too,rest of the ingredients are still bagged in the mash-tun and awaiting mash day.Was gonna brew today but yard work got the better of me.
My LBHS in Wilkesbarre was also out of any of the other yeast strains for Heffe.the day I picked this stuff up-He said that many of his customers have used this yeast with very good results and that I should have no problems either(as He's gottenrave revues at this point).
Now with your input to the use(although only 3wks.into the ferment) I'm phsyc'd !
I'll have to remember this post and input again after my batch is underway-I do plan on brewing one night this week. Shane
 
OK, time for an update. Day 9 of fermentation. This yeast fermented very hard for three days - at an astounding 45 bpm - after which there was a definite decrease in airlock activity. The airlock was stuck in the "up" position, so there was definitely some gas being expelled by the yeast, but not enough to cause a bubble, even after watching it for at least 5 minutes. After a week in the primary, the airlock had no sign of activity. Yesterday I decided to take a gravity reading, and it was done. Here's the catch - there was about a 1/2 inch layer of kraeusen on the top of the beer - kinda unsettling as I have never seen that before after so long in the primary. Which brings me to the present. I'm not going to open up the fermenter until Saturday, when I plan to bottle this batch. There was a hell of a lot of wheat in my recipe(6.6lbs. Northwestern Malt Weizen LME, 1lb. wheat malt!), which I have heard might cause this buildup of kraeusen on the top, so I read up on it and I found out that shaking will cause it to fall. So I did. Hope I didn't screw anything up by doing that. I don't have any homebrew, but I'm not worrying, I'm having a craft beer!:cross: When I did open the fermenter, It smelled like bananas and clove. Hooray! Smells great, but the taste is what matters.....Anyway, as soon as I bottle this and it conditions I will have another update then! :mug:
 
Time to report on my experience with Brewferm Blanche. My hefeweizen is ready, and I must say for the most part, this did what it was supposed to. The beer has that banana/bubblegum aroma and taste that you would expect from a German Hefe, but it is not very pronounced. I like estery hefeweizens, so this was a tad disappointing, especially because the delicious smells I was getting out of the airlock got me all excited about the possibilities. I fermented this beer at a pretty high temperature, from about 72-76F, hoping to coax more esters out of the yeast. I think I might try underpitching to deliberately stress the yeast to produce more esters, but I will probably just spend the extra $2 to get liquid yeast for my next hefe. This turned out fine, but as expensive as this yeast is ($4.50 a pack at my LHBS) I will probably just use the tried and true liquid strains. If you are in a pinch and can't get the liquid yeast, this is an acceptable substitute, though, certainly much better than using plain dry yeast. It would also be good for someone looking for a mildly estery hefeweizen. I have bottled a "Drunkel"weizen (6.9% ABV) that I pitched onto the yeast cake from this hefe, so the saga continues.....I will report on that when the time comes. Happy Brewing!
 

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