Hefe brewing differences...

I am going to begin my 2nd batch of beer and decided on doing a Wheat beer. From what I've been reading, everyone is telling me to leave the beer in the primary for the fermentation and the conditioning, only bottling after the gravity has remained constant for 2 reading over 3 days. But, the only thing I feel is that if I do this, there will be to much cloudiness in the beer.
I have always though that it was a good idea to move the beer from the primary to get it away from the trub and all the extras at the top, into a secondary, and here I could cold shock it at 50F for a week and then rack it again into the bottling bucket and add the sugar and bottle.
I love wheat beers, I truly love frankenskoner (sp), and blue moon (yes, i know). I don't prefer the pyramid Hef's though, cause the flavor isn't as strong as i would like. I just want to make sure that this batch comes out tasty.

I'm using the Bavarian Wheat from NothernBrewery . .

Bavarian Hefe Weizen - Extract Kit

OG: 1049 / Ready: 6 weeks

Extremely popular in its homeland of southern Germany, Weizenbier (wheat beer) is now being enjoyed all over the world. Medium-bodied, refreshing, and tolerant of high fermentation temperatures, weizen is a fantastic summer brew. Northern Brewer's Hefe-Weizen is 100% traditional—cloudy, tart, a bit sour, with a phenolic and banana-clove character imparted by the yeast. To serve authentically, "mit hefe" (with yeast), pour almost all the beer into a tall glass, swirl the bottle, and add the rest.

Ingredients :
Ferms
6 lbs. Wheat Malt Syrup
1 lbs. Wheat Dry Malt Extract

Boil Additions
1 oz. Sterling (60 min)

Yeast
Wyeast #3333 German Wheat Yeast. Optimum temperature: 63-75° F.

Any input would be appreciated, as I truly want this to be a delicious beer!

It is a hefe... the yeast is the STAR player.
Just leave it in the primary for 2 weeks, rack it to bottling bucket and enjoy it after 2-3 weeks..
You may want to add more sugar to give you more carbonation to fit the style.

With the kit that i am purchasing from this northernbrewry, do you think I should make a starter for the yeast? The last one that I did I didn't make a starter and it seemed to ferment fine. I have never made a starter, because I have always used ( I have done more then 1 batch, but by myself, I've only done 1 so far ) an aquarium pump with a aeration stone/whatever on the end, and have run it for about 25 minutes in the wort (at 75F) before pitching the yeast. (that has been sitting in the fridge; which I shake ever so gently first to get everything moving)

By the way this is liquid yeast. I've never purchased from them before, so I don't know how good (fresh) their yeast is, but I hear they are pretty good.

It seems like when I've used a starter it has started bubbling in just an hour or two. Everything I have read has said to little yeast is a bigger problem than to much yeast. I mix a cup of of DME and 4 cups of water that I've boiled and let cool to the right temp, I let it sit for 48 hours.

But I'm still pretty new at all this. I have a Belgian Wit in primary now and it is bubbling away. I had to replace the airlock with a tube and a growler.

Nick

pnh2atl said:

It seems like when I've used a starter it has started bubbling in just an hour or two. Everything I have read has said to little yeast is a bigger problem than to much yeast. I mix a cup of of DME and 4 cups of water that I've boiled and let cool to the right temp, I let it sit for 48 hours.

But I'm still pretty new at all this. I have a Belgian Wit in primary now and it is bubbling away. I had to replace the airlock with a tube and a growler.

Nick

Click to expand...

Are you referring to the setup where you run a 1/2" ID tube from the top of the fermenter into a bucket of water to allow the blow-off to escape without allowing any air in? I figured I would be doing this as well, since wheats are usually pretty strong fermenters.

The one thing I don't get, is that the kit I'm getting only comes with 1 lbs of Wheat DRE, and taking a cup of the DME from this might not be so good for the wort when I begin brewing it. Should I buy some extra wheat DME?

As for starter, It depends on the flavor profile that you want to achieve.
For banana flavor hefe, pitch small and ferment at 70s.
For clovey flavor hefe, pitch big and ferment at mid 60s.

The temperature will determine the amount of ester you produce in your beer.

I make a small (2 cup) starter for my bavarian hefe, pitch and ferment at 67-68 for 2 weeks and bottle/keg it from there (no cold crash). Great banana esters without being over the top, and still a bit cloudy as it should be. It's usually fully carbonated and drinkable after 2 weeks in the bottle, presumably because of the large amount of yeast still in suspension. Delicious, very much like Franciskaner.

ifishsum said:

I make a small (2 cup) starter for my bavarian hefe, pitch and ferment at 67-68 for 2 weeks and bottle/keg it from there (no cold crash). Great banana esters without being over the top, and still a bit cloudy as it should be. It's usually fully carbonated and drinkable after 2 weeks in the bottle, presumably because of the large amount of yeast still in suspension. Delicious, very much like Franciskaner.

Click to expand...

Do you add the sugar to the wort before bottling it? Or should I just bottle it direct after the 2-3 weeks? ( I would only move the wort to bottling after I had taken the SG readings 3 days in a row and they show consistent for those 3 days.) I'm only thinking of not adding sugar because how how much yeast will still be in the beer since leaving it in the primary for so long.

You need to have sugar to bottle carb.. if primary fermentation is done, you have no more sugars and hence no more CO2 development. Bottle without sugar and youll have flat beer in 2-3 weeks.

GLoBaLReBeL said:

Do you add the sugar to the wort before bottling it? Or should I just bottle it direct after the 2-3 weeks? ( I would only move the wort to bottling after I had taken the SG readings 3 days in a row and they show consistent for those 3 days.) I'm only thinking of not adding sugar because how how much yeast will still be in the beer since leaving it in the primary for so long.

Click to expand...

You add the sugar to your bottling bucket and rack on top of that.
If you dont use any sugar you wont have any carbonation.

Ok, just making sure.

Thank you everyone for your help, hopefully this batch goes well. I'm sure this won't be the last you hear from me regarding this batch! If anyone has anything else to add to this, please do as I'm always trying to learn more and more along the way.

A side question : How should I sanatize my aeration device? the pump itself has a hepa filter in it, but how should I sanatize the stone on the end of it? The device I am using uses a stainless steel diffusion stone.

GLoBaLReBeL said:

there will be to much cloudiness in the beer.

Click to expand...

It's hard for a hefe to be too cloudy; that is the style. That, as the homies say, is how we roll.

fratermus said:

It's hard for a hefe to be too cloudy; that is the style. That, as the homies say, is how we roll.

Click to expand...

+1 to this. With a Hefe I intentionally stir up a little extra yeast with the siphon when racking into the bottling bucket, just so I have good bottle sediment to swirl up and pour into my glass. Mit Hefe as they say...

No secondary necessary. 2 wks in primary is fine. Ferment at 70 or higher for more banana.
Before siphon, boil 3/4 cup corn or table sugar with 2 cups water and put in bottling bucket (for a 5 gal batch). No need to cool. Siphon beer into that sugarwater, then bottle. There will be plenty of yeast still in suspension to finish carbonating those bottles using the sugar you just added. Start drinking in a week. Wheats finish quick are are great when young.

If you really want the beer to clear, refrigerate the bottles for a week before opening them. The cold will help clear them. Also, you can investigate using unflavored gelatin to clear it... the kristall hefes are very clear and gelatin is one way to achieve this. You would add the gelatin (after dissolving in some water) to the carboy at 2 weeks and let it sit for one more wk before bottling.

If the aeration stone is all metal, you can boil it for a bit I think. I don't have one myself, but it seems logical...

I don't know if it is all metal . . . hmm. Maybe I should e-mail northernbrewer and ask them if it is all metal. I would think that it is since it will be used multiple times and needs to be sanitized over and over again.