Hefe flavors

Made the AHS Bavarian Hefe a couple weeks ago, fermented between 68 and 72, used Wyeast 3068 (weistephan, sp?). I checked the FG last night (1.011) and tasted it...seemed to have a fair amount of clove & spice tone to it. Not too bad, but pretty prominent...will this settle down over the next few weeks? Am going to bottle tonight or tomorrow...I'm thinking it should tone down a bit at least...am I correct?

Most flavors that "should" be in the brew will mellow over time. Hefe's should be consumed fairly young though, but a few weeks conditioning might be enough to calm down your flavor profile.

If your ambient hit 72'F, the internel temp would of been slightly higher. Which obviously makes sense that you got more clove out of that yeast.

I had the carboy in water with a wet towel wrapped around the top of it...I didn't have enough ice packs to actually make a big difference, but the sticky thermometer floated between 66-68 to 72-74 (during the heat wave)...I can live with the clove/spice tone, but it would be better if it toned down just a bit...

illin8 said:

Made the AHS Bavarian Hefe ...seemed to have a fair amount of clove & spice tone to it...pretty prominent...

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That thar is a hefe...

That flavor ain't going away. Lots of people want to brew hefe's unaware of the significant banana/clove flavor. They are an acquired taste. I like them...but anyone thinking of brewing a batch for family or friends needs to beware.

If you would have kept the temperature of the beer itself around 66F to 67F during primary fermentation then you would have less clove or clove/bananna essence in the hefe. I brew hefe every summer and it is really good on a hot day but as Biermuncher said the clove/bananna is an acquired taste that you will grow to like if you drink enough of it.

BierMuncher said:

That thar is a hefe...

That flavor ain't going away. Lots of people want to brew hefe's unaware of the significant banana/clove flavor. They are an acquired taste. I like them...but anyone thinking of brewing a batch for family or friends needs to beware.

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I have to agree with this. I do not like hefe. That being said, I think that many of us were exposed with beers claiming to be hefes that are in fact american wheat. I think Pyramid and others do not have a lot of banana/clove and when we do brew a hefe we think something went wrong. However, I have recently tasted a flying dog In Heat Wheat ( what a great name) and a Gordon Biersch Dunkel, both very banana clovey.

If you are like me and are not crazy about that taste I would brew a few american wheats and see the difference. my 2 cents.

I would recommend fermenting it even lower. The traditional fermentation regimen follows the "30C rule" where the pitching temperature + the fermentation temperature adds up to 30C. I use 56F (13C) and 62F (17C) and get just a hint of those flavours. Jamil has a podcast for German hefes that describes this approach.

GT

My wife had a Hefe in a brew pub that was so heavy in banana flavor that it tasted like liquid banana bread. Be glad you didn't get that much flavor!

This is one of my fav brews a nice banana,clove flavoured HEFE
You are meant to get these flavours so enjoy and if you dont like a hefe make a diff wheat beer next time and use a dry wheat yeast it wont give you these flavours

Matt Foley said:

I have to agree with this. I do not like hefe. That being said, I think that many of us were exposed with beers claiming to be hefes that are in fact american wheat. I think Pyramid and others do not have a lot of banana/clove and when we do brew a hefe we think something went wrong. However, I have recently tasted a flying dog In Heat Wheat ( what a great name) and a Gordon Biersch Dunkel, both very banana clovey.

If you are like me and are not crazy about that taste I would brew a few american wheats and see the difference. my 2 cents.

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My first American wheat was "In Heat Wheat" and now I don't like any other American wheats, but love Hefe's and Wits

Thanks for the replies...yeah, come to think of it, this is my first 'german' hefe. I've only had american wheats most likely (certainly not anything spicy like this). Like I said earlier, it isn't THAT bad, just something that will probably take some getting used to. I'm hoping that it will meld just a bit more and that a cold, carbed one will change it a bit. I like all kinds of beers, I can't imagine that this one would be any different!

I finned my with gelatin and it took almost all the banana clove flavor out of mine. I have to say I was pretty upset afterwards, but it was the clearest beer I have ever brewed. I guess if you decided to finn, you should not be brewing a hefe.

modenacart said:

I finned my with gelatin and it took almost all the banana clove flavor out of mine. I have to say I was pretty upset afterwards, but it was the clearest beer I have ever brewed. I guess if you decided to finn, you should not be brewing a hefe.

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You added finings to a Hefe,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,why?

I fermented mine with the same yeast at 62 F ambiant and I find it very clovey (if that's a word). I actually like my Hefe's more bananay (I'm positive that's not a word.) I thought I was fermenting at the bottom end of the range thus ending up with the cloves and planned on next time trying to hit 70 ambiant. But it seems like that's what you did and you still have the clove dominating.

Any ideas on having more banana? High 70's? White lab? An other Wyeast?

Thanks

Rudeboy

what yeast are you people using? i get very nice banana and clove flavor from fermenting my weisse-biers at 62°F using WLP300. Temps in the low 70s give it a large banana, bubble-gum flavor, and it's rather unpleasant.

the flavors you get all depend on the yeast. the temperature and environment come into effect, but really the yeast is the main thing to look at.

i also age my hefes for some time before serving. they are good "young" but still are best at about 6 weeks after bottling, possibly a week or two after kegging.

after about 2 months, they start get more bland with time.

DeathBrewer said:

what yeast are you people using?

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Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan.

WLP300 here, and the first hefe I made is almost gone after three weeks in the bottle. The primary sat in a water bath and read 62-64 for the duration. The dominating flavor is clove with this one. I bottled the same recipe with the same yeast (washed) last night fermented @ 68-70. The hydro' sample didn't taste that different, but we'll see. I'm enjoying working with this yeast.

niquejim said:

You added finings to a Hefe,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,why?

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because I am an idiot. It looked like mud after one week in my keg and my brother was coming in about 3 days and I wanted it to clear up, and that it did.

modenacart said:

because I am an idiot. It looked like mud after one week in my keg and my brother was coming in about 3 days and I wanted it to clear up, and that it did.

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Not to worry. There is a subcategory of hefes called "crystal" that are filtered and are clear.

GT

Just an update, had my first conditioned bottle of this yesterday...still carried the clove taste, but wasn't bad just different. Today we went out for pizza and I ordered a Flying Dog Dog in Heat Wheat thinking it was an American Hefe...when she gave it to me and I read the label I thought 'interesting' as it said it was a German Hefe...I took a nice swig of it, BINGO...the Hefe I made tasted EXACTLY like it without any deviation. After the first few sips the taste becomes less noticeable but at first its kinda weird. At least I know I didn't screw anything up in the process...thanks everyone for your input.

I brew my German-style Hefe Weizens at 70-72F for that nice banana flavor.

I also do a secondary for a couple of days to allow most of the yeast to drop out of suspension. I then add only some of the yeast back into the brew when racking to the bottling bucket/keg.

I did the same, came out pretty clear for a hefe with some cloudiness that is controllable by the beer drinker

BierMuncher said:

That thar is a hefe...

That flavor ain't going away. Lots of people want to brew hefe's unaware of the significant banana/clove flavor. They are an acquired taste. I like them...but anyone thinking of brewing a batch for family or friends needs to beware.

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So true. Tons of friends like my American Wheats, but hefe is not a preferred drink for them.

My first batch was an AHS Bavarian Hefe. I actually split it into 2 fermenters and fermented at different temps.

1: fermented around 62
2: fermented at room temp (75)

The first one had a more subdued flavor with a hint of clove; it tasted good.

The second one had a nice banana taste with little to no clove, i LOVED it.

Some people here claim that they have had TOO much of a banana taste in their hefe's and i can't begin to comprehend this...bring me the banana!

BTW both my hydrometer sample i had taken tasted HORRIBLE, like watery bitter malt extract...but the finished product was great.