Weihenstephaner Vitus?

I've been lookin for a recipe for vitus, and since i havent been able to find one, i made this one up.

i measured the final gravity of degassed vitus at room temperature, and, using the alcohol content, used beersmith to come up with the gravity and bitterness parameters

how do you think it looks? im thinking of adding a quarter pound of german acid malt to lower my pH a little, since its been reading high at around 5.8


Vitus Clone

10 lbs german wheat malt
4 lbs german vienna malt
2 lbs caravienne malt

3 ozs hallertau mittelfrueh 2.7 % AA @ 90 min

wyeast 3068, from starter

this doesnt fit into BJCP parameters, but neither does Vitus itself- the light, bright yellow color is unusual

Their website has some details:

A light-coloured, spicy single-bock wheat beer, for both beer lovers and the beer connoisseur. Extra long and cold storage in our monastery cellars makes this single-bock a really special beer with full body and a distinctively great mouthfeel. Prost!

Original wort: 16,5 % weight
Bitter value: 17
Alcohol content: 7,7 % vol.
Calories: 260 kcal / 0,5l

I would back down on the caravienna, seems like it would leave too much residual sweetness (16.5P to 7.7% ABV is very good attenuation). I’d also suggest fermenting really cool, I did a hefe with 3068 a few months back at 58 ambient and it came out fantastic.

wow, i dont know how i missed all that info on the website

im surprised that the beer is that well attenuated- it seems to be very heavy in body

i already brewed it with this recipe, we'll see how it comes out- its much higher in OG, like 1.075

also, i used 1/4 pound of the acid malt and the mash pH tested to be 5.2- good stuff

I'm sure it will still be a very tasty beer. Remember to post how it turns out eventually. Good luck.

Grow the yeast up from the bottle, though after making several batches I wouldn't be surprised if WY3638 (Bavarian wheat) is the same/similar yeast.
So use that, if you can't grow it from the bottle dreggs.

Pitch well, under-aerate and use a wide fermenter covered with a large plastic bag instead of a lid. (Rack off to a regular fermenter when the krausen drops).
I did a vitus clone with the yeast from the bottle and got the same attenuation and character as Vitus. I fermented at 24c (top of the range for 3638) and got a decent banana flavour and aroma, but also a tonne of clove and some vanilla. (I did a half hour rest at 43c at a high PH, probably too long).
Lots of complexity, .. hard to describe .. (apart from tasting like Vitus). The fruit character might have been like apricot.

For vitus you need as much attenuation as you can wrangle out of your yeast. It's about 80% attenuation. (16.5 plato -> 7.7%)
I've had no luck in the past using WY3068 for a Vitus like beer. Never got the same drinkability or flavour profile.

Bottle condition with 10% of the original wort for priming.
Saaz like hops work well with this style. Vitus is 18 IBU. I used motueka with a large 10m addition, tasted great,
or just use your favourite hefeweizen hops but with 18 IBU.