hefeweizen

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jjphillybrew

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Did a Northern Brewer Bavarian Hefeweizen today, this is only my 2nd batch overall. A few general questions:

My original specific gravity is 1.054, which is slightly higher than expected (1.040-1.045). What are some possible causes for my specific gravity to be slightly elevated?

Are there basic things about Hefeweizens in particular that I should know? (Fermentation time, conditioning, etc)

I added some orange peel at 15 min and then put it all into carboy. My plan is to let it ferment 2-3 weeks until 3 consistent SG readings anyway before bottling.

Thanx!
 
Just brewed a wheat tonight also.Used orange zest& corriander in after boil steep.
Did you top off with water before your reading you can get false hydro readings .Also did you hit your voulume? Wheat beers are suppose to be the ones you can drink sooner than normal.
Any issuses with bitternes adding the pith of the orange peel with it?
 
First thing I would recommend is to make sure you're getting the most accurate reading that you can get given the circumstances. Temperature can affect your gravity readings (hydrometers read most accurately around 60 degrees F). Try giving the hydrometer a spin in the cylinder to make sure it's not clinging to anything that might mess up the reading. If that still gives you the same readings, then something in the process was off. Maybe an amount of extract that was added was measured incorrectly -- or like Jon said, maybe the test wort wasn't the stuff that was topped off.

In either case, it'll come out delicious I'm sure! Lower grav beers tend to be ready to rock pretty soon after fermentation winds down and it carbs up -- especially ones that aren't heavily hopped. Hefes can do with a little extra oomph in the carbonation department (but don't overdue it and end up with bottle bombs!). Cheers!
 
Ferment at 62-64. That's my preference to get the great balance between clove and banana flavor. That is if you used a Hefe yeast.
 
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