Opinions on Midwest's Hank's Hefeweizen

I drink a lot of Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen and was considering Midwest's Hank's Hefeweizen extract kit with the White Labs WLP300 liquid yeast. I'm looking for banana and clove notes in the finished result.

I'll be using a Coopers 6.5 gallon fermenting vessel.

Anyone thats brewed this kit, is a blow off tube essential? Would I have the head space to do without a blow off tube in the Coopers 6.5 gallon fermenting vessel?

Also has anyone compared the final result of Midwest's Hank's Hefeweizen to a commercial Hefe?

I'm brewing it tomorrow with the WLP300 and fermenting in a 6.5 gal bucket for primary and potentially a 6 gal better bottle for secondary (if I need to free up the primary for a St Pat's stout).

I'm not sure about how the flavor will turn out, but I'm definitely looking for the same banana/clove profile. I'm sure you'll want to start before I can actually report, but from what I hear it's pretty good if you can ferment at the the right temps...from what I can gather, the right temp is between 65-68.

Also, I understand the first 2-3 days of fermentation with the WLP300 can be pretty aggressive. I've made a 1 liter starter, so just for fun I think I'll use a blow-off tube. You could do it something like this rather easily: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/airlock-bubbling-over-95581/

I used that as a starting point and made included a activated charcoal scrubber inline since I live in a condo and ferment in a shared basement. The scrubber will supposedly control some of the fermentation odors...we'll see about that.

Best of luck!

I have brewed it before in a 6.5gl glass fermenter and used WhiteLabs Hefe yeast and did not need a blowoff.
This beer turns out great, by they way!

Thanks to all for all of the replies!

Since folks on this thread have experience with this kit, I was wondering whether I should single or double pitch with the white labs 300? Also ... I don't have the equipment for a starter, so that's out of the question.

A hefeweizen is an exception where I'd consider only pitching one vial. Do a search on the Northern Brewer website. I think there's a recent video with a guy from White Labs or Wyeast who said that you can control the amount of banana or clove you get by adjusting your pitch rate. I think he said you could emphasize banana esters by underpitching (i.e., one vial w/o a starter). Most of the information I had read prior to that focused on fermentation temp as a way to control esters, so I thought that was interesting.

Fwiw, I made Hank's Hefe with WLP300 about a year ago and it turned out pretty good. I didn't have temp control and it developed huge banana flavors with some undesirable minor bubble gum flavors. I also bottled too soon (2 weeks) and wound up with way more sediment in my bottles than I wanted, maybe 3/8 of an inch. Three weeks in primary or two with a cold crash would have been better. Live and learn.

dtmnuclear said:

Since folks on this thread have experience with this kit, I was wondering whether I should single or double pitch with the white labs 300? Also ... I don't have the equipment for a starter, so that's out of the question.

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All you need is a growler. After having two Wyeast Wheat Smack Packs show up DOA over the sumer, I don't think I will ever not make a starter.

opus345 said:

All you need is a growler. After having two Wyeast Wheat Smack Packs show up DOA over the sumer, I don't think I will ever not make a starter.

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I've found this is best way to make a starter as well. I just use a growler, and a drilled #6 stopper with an airlock. Works well, and I don't have to buy a piece of gear just for starters.

Help! air bubbles are cominhg out of the top of my airlock is this bad?

micksphoto said:

Help! air bubbles are cominhg out of the top of my airlock is this bad?

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No its a great thing! Congrats. this just means your beer is at a very active point in the fermentation. If the bubbles coming through have just started I would suggest, as many others do, to replace your airlock with a blowoff tube. If you aren't sure what a blowoff tube is. It is simply a piece of vinyl hose where you place one end into the hole of your bucket or carboy and the other end should be placed in a bowl of water/sanitizer solution to keep anything from going in but allowing the excess pressure and perhaps even krausen over flow out into your bowl without any mess and preventing any blowouts and a big mess and possible ruined batch. It happened to me once and now I will always use a blowoff tube for primary fermentation.

Good luck

Dave

Mick,

Welcome to HBT.

Here is a pic of the blowoff tube configuration that Dave is talking about:

Just kegged my batch of Hank's Hefeweizen and its delicious. Got some nice banana notes on the front and a hint of spice on the finish. Very session-able beer, will definitely be making this one again.

Xantus954 said:

I've found this is best way to make a starter as well. I just use a growler, and a drilled #6 stopper with an airlock. Works well, and I don't have to buy a piece of gear just for starters.

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Can you go into more detail? I'd like to do this, but have no idea how to....

digglr said:

Can you go into more detail? I'd like to do this, but have no idea how to....

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Starters are pretty easy and let you know the yeast is viable before you pitch.

Ingredients
1/2 Cup DME
2 cups of water
1/4 tsp yeast nutrient

Bring water to a boil, add DME and boil for 10 minutes.
Let it cool until under 80 degrees.
Move wort to flask or bottle
Add nutrients and yeast, shake to mix & Cap with airlock
Let sit for at least 24 hours.

Here's some more info on starters
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/how-make-yeast-starter-pictorial-76101/
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html