Redwood Hefeweizen ABV Question

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McKBrew

McKBrew

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Here is the recipe for the Hefeweizen I made. I put it into secondary today after taking a hydrometer reading. I came up with an ABV of about 2.7%. I would appreciate it if one of you more experienced types would take a look at it, and see what may have contributed to my low reading. My initial theory is that I might have needed more malt extract.

7Lbs Wheat Liquid Extract

Steeped Grains (1hour)
1/2 lb Crystal 60L
1/2 lb Wheat Malt
1/2 lb Dextrin

1oz Hallertau Pellets @ 60
1oz Tettnang @ 40
1/2 oz Tettnang @ 5.

Yeast- White Labs American Hefeweizen

One thing I noticed with the grains, was that their seemed to be a fairly poor crush on them (especially the wheat). (How much does specialty grain add to actual fermentability?)


I am not into super high alcohol content beers, but would like to see a minimum of 5-6% on most. :confused:
 
Your crushed grains add little to fermentability.

?old yeast maybe??


Not sure without plugging it into ProMash--what was your original gravity, and where did it finish??

What does it taste like--does it taste too sweet??
\
Did you rack it too early?

There are a lot of possibilities here, and more details about your process would be helpful.
 
I'm also assuming this is a 5 gallon batch--the LME would give you a OG of 1.052 alone according to promash, so there's something up with the fermentation.

Also, what kind of weizen were you trying to make?

The Dextrin isn't needed (wheat gives great body and head retention in and of itself), and the Crystal isn't authentic for a Bavarian or German Weißbier.

Your recipe looks more like an American Amber weizen.
 
Biermann,

Your right. I don't know enough yet to name things right, but I was going for a more reddish colored wheatbeer. My OG after boiling was 1.045, and today I was at 1.025.

Maybe I should have waited to rack until I measured it another day, but the airlock hasn't bubbled in a couple of days, and the top was pretty much clear of foam. (Only a few light areas still floating.)

The yeast was supposed to be good until February of next year.

As far a flavor, didn't detect much at all when I sipped my test sample, It tasted like water with a slight alcohol taste.

I suppose I'll just have to wait it out and see what happens in the end. Likely I'll just end up with a Low ABV beer.
 
1.025 seems wayyy high for a normal gravity beer to finish. Looks to me like your fermentation never completed...

I definitely wouldn't bottle a 1.025 beer in many cases... if any...
 
1.025 is definitely too high. This beer needs to ferment some more.

Are you sure it is really finished? Airlock activity doesn't always tell a good story. The best way to ensure your beer is complete is to take a reading at least a day apart. If it is still changing then it is finished. However, if your reading do to change from 1.025 then my guess is you have a stuck fermentation.

If the reading are changing then just be patient. Good things come to those who wait! If it is stuck at 1.025, try moving it to a warmer location and give it a good stir. If that doesn't do the trick, pitch some additional yeast.

But no mater what.... Don't bottle it at 1.025 unless you like exploding beer bottles!
 
Since I already X-ferred to secondary, should I take a reading over the next day or so and see what happens or re-pitch right today. (Since I have aready cleaned my primary) Would their be enough residual yeast floating in secondary to complete fermentation?

Also, what should I be looking for as a FG with this type of beer?

Thanks for all of your assistance.
 
Desiree said:
1.025 is definitely too high. This beer needs to ferment some more.

Are you sure it is really finished? Airlock activity doesn't always tell a good story. The best way to ensure your beer is complete is to take a reading at least a day apart. If it is still changing then it is finished. However, if your reading do to change from 1.025 then my guess is you have a stuck fermentation.

If the reading are changing then just be patient. Good things come to those who wait! If it is stuck at 1.025, try moving it to a warmer location and give it a good stir. If that doesn't do the trick, pitch some additional yeast.

But no mater what.... Don't bottle it at 1.025 unless you like exploding beer bottles!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree.

I never rush the primary fermentation. If there's still a bubble in the airlock every 60 seconds, I leave it. I use the FG to guide the end of the primary phase.

Also, depending on what you are fermenting on, you may have a leak in your bucket, your bung, etc, which may not show airlock activity, especially if the fermentation has slowed.

Also, racking too early can screw up and stall the primary fermentation (I've seen this a couple of times).
 
McKBrew said:
Since I already X-ferred to secondary, should I take a reading over the next day or so and see what happens or re-pitch right today. (Since I have aready cleaned my primary) Would their be enough residual yeast floating in secondary to complete fermentation?

Also, what should I be looking for as a FG with this type of beer?

Thanks for all of your assistance.
Click to expand...

You might have enough to finish fermentation. Let it sit for a few days and take a reading. If it isn't dropping, I would repitch.

FG on my wheats have been around 1.010--1.014.
 
I'll give it until Saturday then. If nothing I will pick up some more yeast at LHBS before the Sunday and Monday closure.
 
The FG on my 1.050ish wheat was around 1.010. I also brewed a 1.064 OG wit before and even it finished around 1.015.

Move the secondary to a warmer place (if not around 70) asap and give a swirl. See if anything happens. Also take readings to see if its changing or not. If not, as mentioned its probably stuck, and you should repitch some yeast to finish it out.
 
SilkkyBrew said:
The FG on my 1.050ish wheat was around 1.010. I also brewed a 1.064 OG wit before and even it finished around 1.015.

Move the secondary to a warmer place (if not around 70) asap and give a swirl. See if anything happens. Also take readings to see if its changing or not. If not, as mentioned its probably stuck, and you should repitch some yeast to finish it out.
Click to expand...

yeah, moving it to a warmer temp may help jump start it again. If it takes off, though, I'd get it down to the mid 60's, as it turn to banana juice if fermented in the 70's. :ban:
 
Looks like it is a stuck fermentation. My brew still reads 1.025 corrected for a temperature of 73 deg.

As far as repitching, would I want to use a full vial of the same yeast (WLP 320) or a partial amount? Also what would be the effect if I switched over to the White Labs WLP 300 yeast in order to add a little more true Hefe character to my brew. (The sample from my hydrometer tube seems kind of bland)

Are there going to be enough fermentable sugars remaining to complete the job? I do detect some sweetness in the sample.

Thanks again for all of your assistance.
 
I had a similar problem with my dunkelweizen, 6.9lbs DME...I fermented in the primary at too low a temp and racked too early to the secondary, OG was 1.040 (not too sure on this, my friend who wasn't very sober took the reading), but racked after 5 days and it was only 1.027. No activity in the secondary. I added 4 crushed beano tablets and re-pitched more of the same yeast, spun the fermenter to roust the existing yeast, and moved it to ~72*F, and am still fermenting 6 weeks later, it is down to 1.010 now, going to bottle as soon as my assistant gets back in town. It has a strong bananna flavor, oh well, its still beer!
 
Just added more yeast to the mix after shaking the carboy well. Now, all I can do is pray to the beer gods that everything goes O.K.

:rockin:
 
Going on thirteen hours now and still nothing. So I am theorizing that my central air conditioning is too effective, as it was about 68deg in the house this morning.

Thought about putting a heating pad next to the carboy, but couldn't find it. SWMBO is still sleeping, and I think waking her up to ask her where it is, declaring a "Beer Emergency" is probably not a good idea.

I have a ghetto cardboard box that I drop over the top of my carboy (now with a blowtube running out the side), so I threw a couple bottles of hot water in the box with my brew. Hopefully it will warm things up a bit until I can get that heating pad.
 
I read the original post a couple of times after reading some of the comments thinking I was missing something here then it dawned on me that we are all missing the guys point...

As I see it, he just did a gravity reading when racking to the secondary and calculated his "present" ABV. This, in itself means nothing because his brew's not done fermenting.

The ABV he calculated just tracks the fermentations progress.

IMO, he just racked too soon and did a ABV calculation.

If you noticed, he didn't tell us his OG or his present gravity.

You start off with the OG (for simple math I'll use 1.050 because it's easy). When your brew's 75% fermented it's about done. Divide 50 by 4 and you get 12.5 (read that as 1.0125). When your brew is about 1.014 it's ready to rack to the secondary for a continued fermentation, mellowing and clearing.

Just don't rack too soon in the future. Fermentation is a natural process. Natural processes can't be rushed without consequences.

BTW, can you tell us what those gravity readings were? They are the key to your question.:D
 
I shook the carboy several times, until it was quite foamy then re-pitched. I know the WLP300 I used stated that in order for fermentation to begin it needed to be above 70, so I really don't know if 2 deg would make a difference.

Any other aeration recommendations if this could be a problem. I know people use stones with air hoses, etc but I am sure my LHBS doesn't stock anything like this.

Would I be taking too much risk if I just poured everything into my bottling bucket and re-filled the carboy from it?

I'm looking at any viable option to save this brew, because in Hawaii higher prices make a batch cost about $35.
 
homebrewer_99 said:
I read the original post a couple of times after reading some of the comments thinking I was missing something here then it dawned on me that we are all missing the guys point...

As I see it, he just did a gravity reading when racking to the secondary and calculated his "present" ABV. This, in itself means nothing because his brew's not done fermenting.

The ABV he calculated just tracks the fermentations progress.

IMO, he just racked too soon and did a ABV calculation.

If you noticed, he didn't tell us his OG or his present gravity.

You start off with the OG (for simple math I'll use 1.050 because it's easy). When your brew's 75% fermented it's about done. Divide 50 by 4 and you get 12.5 (read that as 1.0125). When your brew is about 1.014 it's ready to rack to the secondary for a continued fermentation, mellowing and clearing.

Just don't rack too soon in the future. Fermentation is a natural process. Natural processes can't be rushed without consequences.

BTW, can you tell us what those gravity readings were? They are the key to your question.:D
Click to expand...

It is quite possible I did rack too soon. This is the first time I used a secondary system. My OG was 1.045, at racking it was 1.025. Mostly I racked to secondary, because I wasn't ready to bottle and based on visual observation it really looked like it was done. There was absolutely no activity at the airlock for a couple of days.

Plus before re-pitching I did hydrometer readings over two days @ 1.025 with no change.

I really don't know what is going on with this batch, but am hoping for the best.
 
Thirteen hours after re-pitching and SG is @ 1.024. Looks like nothing is happening. Can detect some residual sweetness in the sample, and some alcohol. Doesn't taste bad or anything, so if I could get this batch to work, I think I would have a decent beer.

What about adding some extra sugar (boiled with some water and cooled to the mix). Maybe the yeast don't have enough sugar to work with? Is it possible that my extract might have been old. (I don't know much about how LHBS handles their items, but I know the extract comes out of large drums, so maybe it has been sitting awhile???)

Appreciate any advice.
 
I think you need to take a chill pill...:D

Adding more sugar to 7 lbs of malt is not going to do anything for your brew but make it sweeter and possibly (but not necessarily) lead to contamination.

Since your gravity was 1.025 for several days then you should have just shaken the primary a bit to roust the yeast. Sounds like a stuck fermentation.

Adding another vial of yeast without making a starter is going to take some time to get going. Apparently you didn't make a starter either time.

I HIGHLY recommend making a starter 2 days PRIOR to brewing because the starter lets you know that the yeast is good and it reduces your lag time...you already know what lag time is...those 13 hours you've been WAITING (WASTING) since you last pitched. Understand? ;)

If you pitch a live yeast starter your lag time reduces to hours...only a couple of them (based upon pitching temp and the temp of your wort).

Oh, and NEVER - EVER pour a batch down the drain before consulting us first. We don't want you wasting any beer just because you think it's gone bad. I'm not naming names, but that's happened here before.

Now go get 'em...:D
 
homebrewer_99 said:
I think you need to take a chill pill...:D

Adding more sugar to 7 lbs of malt is not going to do anything for your brew but make it sweeter and possibly (but not necessarily) lead to contamination.

Since your gravity was 1.025 for several days then you should have just shaken the primary a bit to roust the yeast. Sounds like a stuck fermentation.

Adding another vial of yeast without making a starter is going to take some time to get going. Apparently you didn't make a starter either time.

I HIGHLY recommend making a starter 2 days PRIOR to brewing because the starter lets you know that the yeast is good and it reduces your lag time...you already know what lag time is...those 13 hours you've been WAITING (WASTING) since you last pitched. Understand? ;)

If you pitch a live yeast starter your lag time reduces to hours...only a couple of them (based upon pitching temp and the temp of your wort).

Oh, and NEVER - EVER pour a batch down the drain before consulting us first. We don't want you wasting any beer just because you think it's gone bad. I'm not naming names, but that's happened here before.

Now go get 'em...:D
Click to expand...

You are probably right, I need to relax, don't worry, and drink alot of beer on New Year's Eve. It's just frustrating not understanding what is happening, or why. (Definately need more experience)

The reason I didn't make a starter is because the White Labs yeast says basically just to pour it in. But it looks making a starter should be the way I do business.

As for shaking the primary the first time around, I did, and waited a day. Maybe I have waited longer. I just really do not have an understanding yet of yeast mechanics.

Barring some unforseen situation I think I'll take your advice, chill out and just leave it alone for a few days and see what happens. Just from sampling alone, I think it will turn out OK in the end, if I can ever get it to finish.
 
homebrewer_99 said:
I think you need to take a chill pill...:D

Adding more sugar to 7 lbs of malt is not going to do anything for your brew but make it sweeter and possibly (but not necessarily) lead to contamination.

Since your gravity was 1.025 for several days then you should have just shaken the primary a bit to roust the yeast. Sounds like a stuck fermentation.

Adding another vial of yeast without making a starter is going to take some time to get going. Apparently you didn't make a starter either time.

I HIGHLY recommend making a starter 2 days PRIOR to brewing because the starter lets you know that the yeast is good and it reduces your lag time...you already know what lag time is...those 13 hours you've been WAITING (WASTING) since you last pitched. Understand? ;)

If you pitch a live yeast starter your lag time reduces to hours...only a couple of them (based upon pitching temp and the temp of your wort).

Oh, and NEVER - EVER pour a batch down the drain before consulting us first. We don't want you wasting any beer just because you think it's gone bad. I'm not naming names, but that's happened here before.

Now go get 'em...:D
Click to expand...


I couldn't agree more. Sounds like a stuck fermentation, that may have been brought on by premature racking. That said, it will take awhile for a "vial" of yeast to get going. Remember, the yeast you get in vials is in a state of dormancy, and if you produce starters in the future, it will go faster. All yeast has to undergo a lag phase to get up to speed and do its job. I think your yeast may be in this phase.
 
McKBrew said:
You are probably right, I need to relax, don't worry, and drink alot of beer on New Year's Eve. It's just frustrating not understanding what is happening, or why. (Definately need more experience)

The reason I didn't make a starter is because the White Labs yeast says basically just to pour it in. But it looks making a starter should be the way I do business.

As for shaking the primary the first time around, I did, and waited a day. Maybe I have waited longer. I just really do not have an understanding yet of yeast mechanics.

Barring some unforseen situation I think I'll take your advice, chill out and just leave it alone for a few days and see what happens. Just from sampling alone, I think it will turn out OK in the end, if I can ever get it to finish.
Click to expand...

I make a starter on every white labs vial, and even Wyeast smack packs. I learned this hard lesson after having a batch of doppelbock take a whole week to get going. And I pitched two packages of Wyeast.
 
Yep, I am going to listen to you all and hope for the best. I'll give it another week and see what happens. And I definately will be making a starter from now on.
 
After 4 days of leaving it alone, I finally took an SG reading 1.024 (No change).

Re-pitching didn't have an effect. So I took the risky route and added some crushed Beano Tabs to the fermenter.

I am going to give this batch a little more time, then if nothing changes, time to make something new.
 
Beano works. Within about two hours it was fermenting again. Nothing spectacular, but a nice 2-3 (maybe more) burps a minute. Still hoping for the best, but definately not sweating it anymore.

BTW: Need a recommendation for a good porter or stout. Looking for something with chocolate, maybe some vanilla, and a minimum of 7% ABV.
 
McKBrew said:
BTW: Need a recommendation for a good porter or stout. Looking for something with chocolate, maybe some vanilla, and a minimum of 7% ABV.
Click to expand...

McBrew I like the way your thinking. Thats sounds like something I could go for next.
 
G-E-R-M-A-N,

Have you started on your hefe yet? Let us know how it works out.
 
McKBrew said:
G-E-R-M-A-N,

Have you started on your hefe yet? Let us know how it works out.
Click to expand...

No not yet, I cant wait. I am going to buy an expensive brew pot and waiting on that. (I do not want to buy anything 2 times)

I am also wanting to make me an immerision chiller also.
I am going to get me some 1 inch tubing today also.

I am taking my time cause I want to whoop some A$$ when I make my first batch.

I will be taking pics and all of that later.
 
While Beano does restart activity, it doesn't necessarily do much to bring down the SG. I really think I jacked up somewhere in the process of making this brew. Might give it a few more days, but with the taste it has, it isn't going to amount to anything spectacular.

I think I'll whip up a batch of Cheesefood's Caramel Cream next. Sounds pretty damn good.

Getting ready to put my brewing on hold soon, since i am moving in June and am not likely to be able to transport a bunch of excess brew. I just don't drink it fast enough, and don't want to give too much away, because I am hanging onto the bottles.
 
For the first several days after adding Beano, nothing. Now SG @ 1.018 (4.1%ABV). Amazing. Now I just need to get the beano to stop working. I plan on dry hopping with pellets soon to adjust the flavor a bit, but now it looks like I might have something salvegable. It doesn't really taste like any sort of hefeweizen, but has potential.

My only concern still is the Beano and potential bottle bombs, I think I am going to go light on the priming sugar just to be on the safe side. This is one scenario where a keg set-up would be really nice.
 
Today I took a hydrometer reading on the brew. 1.010. The taste was something else. Something like a dry beer-wine that was definately not going to be something I could drink or give away. Down the drain it went.

I can say that it was a wonderful $40 learning experience though, and I will never make another homebrew without a starter. And as far as the beano goes, I don't see myself using it again.

Hoping for alot more sucess on my next brew.
 

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