Weissbier Bee Cave Brewery Bavarian Hefeweizen

I just realized I grabbed the wrong yeast when I was at the homebrew store. I don't know if I can exchange it...

What would be the difference in flavour profile if I used the 3056 Bavarian wheat blend instead of 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen?

stever1000 said:

I just realized I grabbed the wrong yeast when I was at the homebrew store. I don't know if I can exchange it...

What would be the difference in flavour profile if I used the 3056 Bavarian wheat blend instead of 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen?

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You should be just fine, 3068 can get quite banana like above 70F then again, I have a batch going now using 3056 and the airlock reeks of banana and its a constant 63F

Try them both!

Kegged this Wednesday at lunch. Force carbed it Thursday morning. Here is a picture of my first pour. It looks a little light. It only got down to FG 1.013 from OG 1.052. It tastes great already and the head retention is incredible.

bembel said:

You should be just fine, 3068 can get quite banana like above 70F then again, I have a batch going now using 3056 and the airlock reeks of banana and its a constant 63F

Try them both!

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I think I will end up trying them both. Mostly because there is so much talk about the 3068 on this forum!

Thanks

Hit 1.052 on the nose. Went to work, came home, wort was 80F. Pitched and opened a homebrew. Life is good.

I am brewing this tonight and I am looking at the calendar for the finish date. Is it okay to leave this beer longer than the 10 days? Would it be okay to do 16 days or longer (because of easter weekend) ? Or transfer to a secondary after the 10 days?
Thanks!

Finally transferred to keg after 2 weeks in primary. Final gravity reading was 1.10. Very happy with that. Drank the sample, tasted good. Warm and flat but good. More clove than banana but really looking forward to this carbing up.

Did you guys crash cool and decant your yeast starter, or just pitch the whole thing? I’ve read that Hefe yeasts tend to stay suspended so wouldn’t you lost some yeast by decanting? Or maybe losing some yeast is better than polluting that beautiful wort with the starter liquid. Thanks for any advice.

Tasted one today after just five days bottle conditioning. Nice head but it needs more time. Nice banana on the nose but mostly clove and bready yeast on the taste, it fermented cooler than I wanted since I wanted more banana and I used wlp 300 and it only hit a high of 64 during primary fermentation. Still it's a good hefe next time I'm gonna use the wyeast and leave it upstairs to get ferm temps in the high 60's lower 70's and see how that goes. Still not disappointed in this recipe its a great base to start and just play with the yeast to get those esters

I'm cold crashing a bucket now--brewed this recipe quite a bit last year and also Bee Cave's Kolsh recipe same grains in both so I just got a big bag of Pilsner & a bag of Wheat and alternate boils till I've used it up--

Brewed this, kegged after 9 days, drank after 3 days carbonating (12 days total...)

Wow. Just wow. This keg will be gone after my party this coming evening. And, I used 3056 (Bavarian wheat blend) opposed to the 3068 (weihenstephan) due to availability. Zero regrets.

After 2 weeks in the primary, I checked the FG today and got 1.01 with a OG of 1.050

Excited to bottle this tomorrow!!

Fixin to brew this up this weekend, has anyone tried racking it on bananas? I don't have the means to control my ferm temp to obtain banana esters and was wondering if that would be a quick fix to a definite banana flavor. Only planning on trying the bananas on a 1 gallon batch, freezing banana for a week and racking with the secondary. BTW planning 1 # banana for the 1 Gallon batch.
Thanks

I'm not sure if you would get the same flavor. Perhaps just underpitch the yeast and wrap the fermentor in a towel. The stress and increased temp should coerce more esters from the yeast.

Schecter said:

I'm not sure if you would get the same flavor. Perhaps just underpitch the yeast and wrap the fermentor in a towel. The stress and increased temp should coerce more esters from the yeast.

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That's what I'll try to do then!

brewmesomewater said:

That's what I'll try to do then!

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It will definitely help. I'm not trying to dissuade you, I'm just not sure if you would actually get the flavor I think you desire. The compound responsible for the banana flavor from the yeasts is isoamyl acetate, and I don't think it is even found in bananas naturally.

If you have the means, see what the temperature is once fermentation is underway and with the towel. Are you using the yeast suggested in the recipe (3068)? If you are, the tolerable range is up to 75F, however I'd say 68-70F would be ideal. It can produce overpowering banana and bubblegum flavors beyond that. Start lower and increase next time around if you'd like, but I am drinking mine now (I used a similar yeast) and I fermented in the mid 60s...dare I say the balance is perfect? For me, anyways.

Best of luck,
Cheers :rockin:

Edit: For what it's worth, I totally lied -- isoamyl acetate is present in bananas particularly when ripening, but I believe primarily in the skins. Not sure why I was thinking it wasn't present, but then again, I am drinking a nice bottle of cab...

Schecter said:

It will definitely help. I'm not trying to dissuade you, I'm just not sure if you would actually get the flavor I think you desire. The compound responsible for the banana flavor from the yeasts is isoamyl acetate, and I don't think it is even found in bananas naturally.

If you have the means, see what the temperature is once fermentation is underway and with the towel. Are you using the yeast suggested in the recipe (3068)? If you are, the tolerable range is up to 75F, however I'd say 68-70F would be ideal. It can produce overpowering banana and bubblegum flavors beyond that. Start lower and increase next time around if you'd like, but I am drinking mine now (I used a similar yeast) and I fermented in the mid 60s...dare I say the balance is perfect? For me, anyways.

Best of luck,
Cheers :rockin:

Edit: For what it's worth, I totally lied -- isoamyl acetate is present in bananas particularly when ripening, but I believe primarily in the skins. Not sure why I was thinking it wasn't present, but then again, I am drinking a nice bottle of cab...

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man I appreciate all the help I can get. I'm trying to get my wife into the homebrewing and she likes Weis I think it is who has the banana beer. Everyone knows happy wife happy life and happy homebrew could mean a kegging system in my future :cheers:

Tried a bottle today after about a week in the bottle. Can't really taste the banana or clove, but it's delicious nonetheless!

Can someone help me with a water profile for this recipe. This is my second all grain batch, and I don't wanna get it wrong. Thanks!

How much for mash?
How much for sparge?

MelsBigOleBrew said:

Can someone help me with a water profile for this recipe. This is my second all grain batch, and I don't wanna get it wrong. Thanks!

How much for mash?
How much for sparge?

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There are plenty of people who will be able to assist you more than me but I think it honestly depends on your brew system.

Do you know your boil off rate? How much wort is left after the mash? Do you BIAB all grain or use mash-tun?

I use BIAB All-Grain system and get within a half gallon my boil volume and use 170 deg. water to sparge with til I reach pre boil volume.

Boil off can be figured out by just taking the time to boil water for a hour and mark your kettle and know how much your putting in and how much your losing.

Good luck, hope this helps until one of the HBT guru's comes to help.

brewmesomewater said:

There are plenty of people who will be able to assist you more than me but I think it honestly depends on your brew system.

Do you know your boil off rate? How much wort is left after the mash? Do you BIAB all grain or use mash-tun?

I use BIAB All-Grain system and get within a half gallon my boil volume and use 170 deg. water to sparge with til I reach pre boil volume.

Boil off can be figured out by just taking the time to boil water for a hour and mark your kettle and know how much your putting in and how much your losing.

Good luck, hope this helps until one of the HBT guru's comes to help.

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Thank you for that. I'm honestly being lazy. I know there are a few calculations and such that I can do to basically figure it out. The main thing is that I am batch sparging, like Ed does, and I know that he has probably adjusted the grain bill to account for that.

I tried using beersmith on Ed's kolsch, and the beer came out a little low on the alcohol content because I diluted it too much and didn't boil it down enough.

I was hoping to get some input in order to avoid that problem again. For what it's worth: 10 gallon igloo coolder tun with braided mash tun filter. No boil in bag. Hops in mesh bags.

Thanks for any help!

Mel

MelsBigOleBrew said:

Thank you for that. I'm honestly being lazy. I know there are a few calculations and such that I can do to basically figure it out. The main thing is that I am batch sparging, like Ed does, and I know that he has probably adjusted the grain bill to account for that.

I tried using beersmith on Ed's kolsch, and the beer came out a little low on the alcohol content because I diluted it too much and didn't boil it down enough.

I was hoping to get some input in order to avoid that problem again. For what it's worth: 10 gallon igloo coolder tun with braided mash tun filter. No boil in bag. Hops in mesh bags.

Thanks for any help!

Mel

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Okay sounds like you just need to trouble shoot your system, being that the variables vary so much there is no way you could just plug that into any beer software and it spit out the answers.

It only takes one time, and once you know how much you lose to the mash, how much you need to sparge with to reach the proper boil volume/how much is boiled off/your efficiency then you will be able to brew the beer and predict the outcome right on.

As for the lower abv, I think you were meaning your OG came in low. I wouldn't mess with the grain bill too much though until you are getting your prewort volume, and your boil loss correct/consistent efficiencies.

Cody

EdWort I need to thank you! I have used this recipe ( and slight variations) to make 8 batches thus far and the last batch won 1st place in the 2015 Boston Homebrew Competition in class and took 2nd in Best of Show out of 351 other entries! I filter it to make it a Krystal but everything else is pretty much the same. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1431355186.801419.jpg

How long are you boiling this for? Does it need to be longer to get rid of DMS from the Pilsner? Sorry if this has been gone over already, I'm at work and the app isn't as easy to scroll through as my computer.

This is mine 4 days into the kegs. Not fully carbed just yet, but very, very tasty. I used WLP300 for my yeast and fermented in the mid to upper 60's. I also mashed/recirced at 149 for the full 90min and boiled for 60 as noted in the orig recipe.

This one fermented like a demon and had to put in blowoffs on both fermenters.
Ended up landing a bit higher on the ABV due to me getting much better efficiency than I had expected. I ended up with right at 6.5% ABV.

Initial tasting notes are that I got alot of clove on the front end and banana on the back end taste wise with this one.
One of the better hefe's I have brewed and true to the bavarian style as I made sure to only use german malts on this one.
This batch will be making the trip to the beach with me and I expect it to go very quickly.

I have brewed this 3 times over the past year (last batch just got bottled). Wheat beers have never been my favorite, but a friend wanted to start brewing and really loves wheat beers, so I brewed a wheat beer with him.

Great recipe, great beer! My family and friends have enjoyed this very much!

EdWort said:

68 degrees ambient will be 75-78 degrees during fermentation due to the heat generated unless you have some method of temp control at the fermenter. I tape the sensor of my Love Controller to the bucket. Other folks use a thermowell.

The Weihenstephan strain is a banana intensive strain, truly from Germany and it makes a great Hefe.

This recipe is pretty close to a Franziskanner or Paulener Hefe.

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I don't have the palate to discern the differences between various German Hefe's, but I want to brew a batch for a friend who does. Ayinger is his favorite. I've tried to find a clone recipe, but I keep coming back to this thread since it is such a popular recipe. If I wanted to start with this and make a few mods to make it more like Ayinger, what could I try?

Thanks.

I will crack open an Ayinger later today and do my best to advise

bembel said:

I will crack open an Ayinger later today and do my best to advise

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So bembel, any thoughts yet on this vs Ayinger?

quik_sk8 said:

How long are you boiling this for? Does it need to be longer to get rid of DMS from the Pilsner? Sorry if this has been gone over already, I'm at work and the app isn't as easy to scroll through as my computer.

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I only boiled mine for 60 mins (vigorously) and could not detect any DMS. Mine also picked up a gold medal at the Alabama State Homebrew Competition.

TxBigHops said:

So bembel, any thoughts yet on this vs Ayinger?

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Sorry TxBigHops, I got distracted by my cider, ill open one as soon as I finish work today and let you know!

bembel said:

Sorry TxBigHops, I got distracted by my cider, ill open one as soon as I finish work today and let you know!

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No rush. I just thought you forgot about me.

I'm not brewing this until late summer/early fall.

I am mowing through my 10 gallon batch I made about a month ago on this waaaaaaaaaaaaay too quickly..this one is very good and everyone is requesting it when they stop by the watering hole. I am about to tap into the second 5 gallon keg already. I dont think any of this will make it to July.

Highly recommended for this time of year if you love Hefe's.

Great recipe. I used wlp300 hefe yeast and fermented cool in the mid to low 60's and the esters were not overly estery, prob more clove than banana and I think I'd like a little more of the banana/bubblegum flavor like a franziskaner but after the beer bottle conditioned I noticed the last few def had that so maybe I drank it a little soon or I'll ferment a little warmer next time. Still solid recipe I'm planning on brewing again soon as my wife and I love hefes in the summer.

TxBigHops said:

No rush. I just thought you forgot about me.

I'm not brewing this until late summer/early fall.

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Your friend is going to be PSYCHED!!!! This recipe is dead on if you ferment at 62 and pitch properly. I would pitch at 62 as well, I pitched low at 55 last batch thinking to follow the 'rule of 30', wanting to ramp it up to 62 and had a hard time getting going, even with a nice starter, until I warmed things up into the mid 60's, and by then the temp swing had freaked out the bugs and I got a banana explosion followed by a stuck fermentation at 1.025 when I tried to cool it back down. Mosher's book to the rescue, made a half liter starter and let if go just PAST high krausen, then added it to the stuck and had nice little bubbles a day later at 62F, now its dried out down at about 1010.

Ironically

I have made 11 attempts brews in the past 4 months using this recipe, all chasing Weihenstephaner with slight variations to dial it in, but can't quite get the clove forward enough nor mimic the lingering malt sweetness. However this bottle of Ayinger is much more subtle in both clove and banana and finished crisper without the maltiness. If this is your friends favorite beer, you found your clone!

Incidentally, I also drank a Weihenstephaner Dunkel last night, which was very bananna forward vs. their Hefewizen

Included a shot of the bottle cap, which is pretty cool, you can make a label from it if you like

Cheers!

bembel said:

Your friend is going to be PSYCHED!!!! This recipe is dead on if you ferment at 62 and pitch properly. I would pitch at 62 as well, I pitched low at 55 last batch thinking to follow the 'rule of 30', wanting to ramp it up to 62 and had a hard time getting going, even with a nice starter, until I warmed things up into the mid 60's, and by then the temp swing had freaked out the bugs and I got a banana explosion followed by a stuck fermentation at 1.025 when I tried to cool it back down. Mosher's book to the rescue, made a half liter starter and let if go just PAST high krausen, then added it to the stuck and had nice little bubbles a day later at 62F, now its dried out down at about 1010.

Ironically

I have made 11 attempts brews in the past 4 months using this recipe, all chasing Weihenstephaner with slight variations to dial it in, but can't quite get the clove forward enough nor mimic the lingering malt sweetness. However this bottle of Ayinger is much more subtle in both clove and banana and finished crisper without the maltiness. If this is your friends favorite beer, you found your clone!

Incidentally, I also drank a Weihenstephaner Dunkel last night, which was very bananna forward vs. their Hefewizen

Included a shot of the bottle cap, which is pretty cool, you can make a label from it if you like

Cheers!

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You are awesome bembel!!! :rockin:

I will be sure to follow this recipe to a T. I just hope I can control the ferment temps, as this is probably the biggest weakness in my brewing process. Been using swamp cooler method which does fine in the winter and with the styles I normally brew. Probably be a bigger deal with this beer and the time of year I'll be brewing it in Houston. Time to start looking for a freezer to convert.

Finally got a decent picture. Good Beer - Thank Edwort!

Can the pis be substituted to Vienna? I don't care about authenticity

Mine has been in the keg for over a month now and its cleared up quite a bit. Still tastes great!

I did this with canadian grains and wheat it turned out amazing. I suggest serving it with a slice of orange while sitting on the deck.