Adding complexity to a hefeweizen??

Hey guys, just brewed a hefeweizen, spent 14 days in the primary and then kegged it, tastes great!!

This was a recipe kit, and probably one of the easiest I have ever done

6.6 lbs of wheat LME and Willamette hops, that was about it. Yeast was #300

Wondering how I can add a little complexity to my next round of hefe...

I was thinking about some spices or "special ingredients" like bitter orange peel, some sort of seeds, I don't know (if anyone has a link about all those type things that will be helpful too) ... or maybe doing a grain steep before I add the LME with some honey grains??

I am really a recipe noob, so if you have links to "how to create a recipe" that will be awesome too...

I have a LB of each of the following hops too:

Cascade, Willamette, Magnum, Centennial, Perle

Any help will be appreciated!

Try 1/2 oz Bitter Orange Peel and 1/2 oz cracked corriander in the boil for the last 10 minutes. If you're not doing a flavoring hop addition, use 1/2 oz of the Willamette in the last 10 minutes of boil too. That should kick things up a bit. I've used a pound of honey in the boil too, but that makes a drastic flavor change and really drags out the fermentation time.

If you're serious about recipe formulation try the book "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels. It's divided by style of beer and lists the top ingredients and range of amounts used by brewers that made it to at least round 2 of competition with their recipes. It gives great guidelines without being too specific to stifle creativity.

Let me start by saying you ALMOST brewed a Hefe Weizen.

You went off track with the hops and used American hops instead of German ones.

If you take the previous suggestion and use orange and coriander you should use the Belgian Wit yeast to make a true Wit.

With the hops you mentioned you can make an American Wheat very easily. just use an ale yeast.

switch yeasts. wyeast 3068 weihefenstephaner sp? is a great yeast, use it on all my hefes. also try steeping some crushed wheat malt. that should get you a liitle more grainy taste.

homebrewer_99 said:

Let me start by saying you ALMOST brewed a Hefe Weizen.

You went off track with the hops and used American hops instead of German ones.

If you take the previous suggestion and use orange and coriander you should use the Belgian Wit yeast to make a true Wit.

With the hops you mentioned you can make an American Wheat very easily. just use an ale yeast.

Click to expand...

Although he does have Perle which is a German Hop! If it was me, I'd keep my grains the same, just change your hopping with Perle (keep IBUs the same, adjust for AA's) and switch to WYeast3068.

Try fermenting at a different temprature to bring out other flavors in the yeast. You can add a hell of a lot of complexity by just manipulating this. With both WL300 and WY3068.

But I am with you- the recipe you used is about as simple as it gets and you can drink it as soon as its carbed!