Weissbier Hank's Hefeweizen

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razorbuck

Active Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2012
Messages
25
Reaction score
5
Location
Neosho
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
WLP300
Yeast Starter
no
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
no
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.05
Final Gravity
1.009
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
11.4
Color
3.2
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14
Tasting Notes
After aged had a very nice balance between banana and clove.
I was surprised that this recipe hadn't been posted here before. It is a kit that Midwest Supplies sells and I used the recipe for my first Hefe.

I fermented this one at around 72 degrees. It ended up having a ton of banana aroma for the first month which has slowly faded to a good balance between banana and clove. I am a big fan of Sweaty Betty (about the only hefe that I can regularly get where I'm at) and this turned out much more flavorful than ol' betty. My friends and family went "bananas" over this beer. Didn't last long. I was curious who else has tried this recipe and how precisely they went about mashing and what-not. The following is how I treated my first attempt at this recipe.

*5 lbs. Pilsner (2-row) German
*4 lbs. Flaked wheat
*8 oz. Cara-Pils
Protein rest @ 122 for 30 minutes
Saccharification @ 148 for 30 minutes
Mash Out @ 168 for 10 minutes
1/2 oz. Tettnang for 60 minutes
1/2 oz. Tettnang for 10 minutes
White Labs WLP300 yeast

Anyone else tried this recipe and done anything differently? Results?
 
razorbuck said:
I was surprised that this recipe hadn't been posted here before. It is a kit that Midwest Supplies sells and I used the recipe for my first Hefe.

I fermented this one at around 72 degrees. It ended up having a ton of banana aroma for the first month which has slowly faded to a good balance between banana and clove. I am a big fan of Sweaty Betty (about the only hefe that I can regularly get where I'm at) and this turned out much more flavorful than ol' betty. My friends and family went "bananas" over this beer. Didn't last long. I was curious who else has tried this recipe and how precisely they went about mashing and what-not. The following is how I treated my first attempt at this recipe.

*5 lbs. Pilsner (2-row) German
*4 lbs. Flaked wheat
*8 oz. Cara-Pils
Protein rest @ 122 for 30 minutes
Saccharification @ 148 for 30 minutes
Mash Out @ 168 for 10 minutes
1/2 oz. Tettnang for 60 minutes
1/2 oz. Tettnang for 10 minutes
White Labs WLP300 yeast

Anyone else tried this recipe and done anything differently? Results?
Click to expand...

I havent tried it yet but ive already done 4 hefe's this spring. Im interested in how 4lbs of flaked wheat will work out. How was the mouthfeel? Was there a bittery/clove bite to it after the banana faded from your palate after each drink?
 
Back when first starting out brewing all grain when I didn't formulate my own recipes, I brewed this kit. From what I remember it didn't last long either. I recall I followed the kit directions and did a single infusion mash at 154 for 60mins. I believe a decoction mash really is the only way to go with this style but that is my opinion.
 
Wheatmeister, it turned out very light and smooth. Fair head retention. There is nothing even partially bitter about how this beer turned out. As the banana flavors fade it reaches a nice balance between fruit and spice. It is only mildly spicy. If you're into hefe's i would recommend trying this recipe out. This is the only hefe I have ever done so I can't compare it to other recipes.

DangerRoss, i didn't have the instructions since I didn't buy the kit so I just punched everything into Beersmith. What yeast did you use?
 
DangerRoss, that is the yeast I will be using next time. I have since converted to using wyeast exclusively, mainly because the LHBS that i prefer only carries wyeast. I may give a decoction mash a try, thanks for the input.
 
Anyone happen to know what grains are used in the Hank's extract recipe? I know that otherwise it is 3.3 lbs of wheat malt, 1 lb of DME and Tettnang hops.
 
Just a little update, I saved one bottle of this along with another Hefe recipe I tried last year (Bee Cave Brewery Hefeweizen) and had a few friends do the blind taste test. Everyone agreed that the Hank's Hefeweizen was their favorite of the two. I will be doing my first decoction mash of this recipe in the next two weeks as a 10 gallon batch.
 
Did my first decoction mash of this yesterday morning and it seems to have gone quite well. I used the mash schedule found in the book "brewing better beer".

Dough in at 113 and rest for 15 min, raise to 131 and rest for 10 min. Pull thick decoction and raise that to 158 and rest for 20min, while simultaneously bringing the original pot up to 149 and holding i there. Then, bring the decocted mash to a boil for ten minutes. Finally, combine both pots to reach 158. Then up to 168 for mash out.

Got a measured efficiency of 86.2%. I did a three stage batch sparge instead of two just due tue the fact that it was a an 11 gallon batch and I had to break it up that many times just so it would fit in my lauter tun. Took a gravity reading of the last runnings from the lauter and got a gravity reading of 1.000. I'd say I got about everything she had in her.
 
Here is how the 11 gallon decoction turned out. OG was 1.058 and FG was 1.013. I overshot the OG by six points. I got a little over 86% efficiency which was a first for me. Im going to guess this is because of the decoction? I have been averaging right around 80%. I compensated for the higher OG by upping the hops a bit to keep the balance similar. I also fermented it at 62-64 degrees which I had never done before. Much less banana and much more clove. Also, keeping it that cool seemed to keep it from drying out as much as when I have fermented above 70 degrees. I kegged half of it and bottled the rest. Just now starting to drink it and already have requests for more. Head retention isn't as good as I have seen this recipe produce before. Maybe that is due to the decoction? Anyways, here is a pic
 
I wasn't a fan of this recipe when I did it. I didn't decoct though either, just a protein rest the bringing it up to sacch rest. I also fermented this mid 60's
 
I have only done the decoction one time and have recently starting fermenting in the low to mids 60's. The corny keg of this I served at a crawdad boil lasted less than an hour. Definitely only doing decoctions from now on for hefe's. I'm sold
 
razorbuck said:
I have only done the decoction one time and have recently starting fermenting in the low to mids 60's. The corny keg of this I served at a crawdad boil lasted less than an hour. Definitely only doing decoctions from now on for hefe's. I'm sold
Click to expand...

Decoctions are the only way to go with this style.

Next time for added complexity, skip a starter and just pitch 1x vial of WLP300 Hefeweizen ale yeast and 1x vial of WLP380 Hefeweizen IV ale yeast into a 5 gal. batch. Ferment around 65F. I did it this spring based off what I read in Jamil's Yeast book. Mind was blown.
 

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