Hefeweizen kit. How can I improve it?

Hello everyone,

Without getting into details, Northern Brewer is sending me a replacement extract Hefeweizen kit. Here are the ingredients:

6 lbs Wheat malt syrup
1 lbs Wheat dry malt extract
1 oz German Tettnang
Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Wheat

What would be the easiest and cheapest way of improving this kit? I would like to add some grains, but am not sure where to begin. Saw a recipe here on the forum calling for bananas in the primary, which sounds interesting. Any help is appreciated.

dry hop it with one of the new german hops, hallertua blanc, melon hull, or mandarina bavaria.

joshesmusica said:

dry hop it with one of the new german hops, hallertua blanc, melon hull, or mandarina bavaria.

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Thanks for the suggestion. I just ordered 1oz of mandarina bavaria to dry hop. If I was to add some orange zest, what would be the best time? During the end of the boil, or just toss it in during primary fermentation.

Thanks

Wiggleplum said:

Thanks for the suggestion. I just ordered 1oz of mandarina bavaria to dry hop. If I was to add some orange zest, what would be the best time? During the end of the boil, or just toss it in during primary fermentation.

Thanks

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end of boil will add a bit of bitterness. if you do a tincture (orange zest soaking in something like vodka) that should just add only the flavor and aroma. personally i have yet to add any kind of peel to the end of fermentation and have it come out extraordinary. i haven't yet tested a tincture, but plan on it for my summer blonde (with lemon zest).

This is one style that doesn't need much more than fermentables and good fermentation conditions. Most of the flavor comes from the yeast. The best thing you can do is shorten the boil to prevent darkening. After that just control the ferm temps and keg it ASAP. Maybe a partial mash of 50/50 pils/wheat will freshen up the malt flavors and improve head retention, but temperature control is more important.

riderkb said:

This is one style that doesn't need much more than fermentables and good fermentation conditions. Most of the flavor comes from the yeast. The best thing you can do is shorten the boil to prevent darkening. After that just control the ferm temps and keg it ASAP. Maybe a partial mash of 50/50 pils/wheat will freshen up the malt flavors and improve head retention, but temperature control is more important.

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Agreed.

Add the bulk of the extract at flameout to keep it from darkening. It's quite good just like it is, with no added ingredients but you could add a bit of the wheat/pils (crushed and mashed at 152) if you felt you needed something.

i would NOT add orange or anything like that with those hops and that yeast strain. You could serve it with a slice of orange on the side if you must, but it doesn't go well with hefeweizen at all.

Yooper said:

Agreed.

Add the bulk of the extract at flameout to keep it from darkening. It's quite good just like it is, with no added ingredients but you could add a bit of the wheat/pils (crushed and mashed at 152) if you felt you needed something.

i would NOT add orange or anything like that with those hops and that yeast strain. You could serve it with a slice of orange on the side if you must, but it doesn't go well with hefeweizen at all.

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Thanks for the information everyone. I will follow the advice here, and just stick with the kit as it is. Will it be OK to dry hop the mandarina bavaria that I ordered? Should I use the full oz?

I just bottled a hefeweizen the other day and I put 1oz of coriander seed in at 5 min boil as well as steeped 1lb of pilsner malt and 8oz flaked wheat for 20 mins, Id say its the best beer Ive brewed so far (out of 6).

I like adding a bit of honey, 1lb or so to white beers to give a nice mild side flavour.

Wiggleplum said:

Thanks for the information everyone. I will follow the advice here, and just stick with the kit as it is. Will it be OK to dry hop the mandarina bavaria that I ordered? Should I use the full oz?

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i think the mandarina bavaria will give it lots of extra flavor for you without having to add any fruit. if it were me, i'd dry hop it. then again, i hardly ever brew to style, and i dry hop almost everything.

New glarus made a weizenbock that was dry hopped with cascade. It was excellent.

I think I'd avoid the zest and just dry hop.

i honestly hadn't tried cascade until a pale ale that i just bottled. everything in the boil was cascade. i actually split the batch and dry hopped half with cascade and half with hallertau blanc. i picked up the bucket with just cascade, siphoned it into the bottling bucket, took a big whiff from the bottling bucket, and had to check my labels twice. great aroma! definitely will be using this more often, as i've been avoiding it because it's been popular for so long. haha

Yooper said:

Agreed.

Add the bulk of the extract at flameout to keep it from darkening. It's quite good just like it is, with no added ingredients but you could add a bit of the wheat/pils (crushed and mashed at 152) if you felt you needed something.

i would NOT add orange or anything like that with those hops and that yeast strain. You could serve it with a slice of orange on the side if you must, but it doesn't go well with hefeweizen at all.

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What Yooper says. For my first hefe, I too had considered some additions like orange, coriander, extra hops, etc., but I'm glad I didn't. A true hefe should be like biting into a loaf of freshly-baked bread: yeasty. Any banana/clove should come from the yeast, not by adding anything , esp. orange which is more akin to a Belgian wheat. Temp control is crucial with a hefe; start cool, stay cool for best results. Oh, and you may want to ditch your airlock and put on a blow-off tube for the first few days of ferm.

Sorry for taking so long to reply everyone. I will be following the consensus and will keep it simple. I will however be dry hopping it with the mandarina bavaria. Can't wait to see how it turns out, since this is the first time I have dry hopped. Did a bit of research and it seems that best results come from 1-2 days. Is this correct? I guess I will pop the lid and drop them in a day or so before I plan on bottling.

Thanks for all the suggestions

Wiggleplum said:

Sorry for taking so long to reply everyone. I will be following the consensus and will keep it simple. I will however be dry hopping it with the mandarina bavaria. Can't wait to see how it turns out, since this is the first time I have dry hopped. Did a bit of research and it seems that best results come from 1-2 days. Is this correct? I guess I will pop the lid and drop them in a day or so before I plan on bottling.

Thanks for all the suggestions

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Sounds good. Since a hefe is traditionally low on the IBU scale, you might want to try brewing a non-dryhopped hefe, too, just to see what it tastes like. I like a fairly hoppy beer, but not a hefe; a wheaty, malty, bready hefe is a nice change of pace from the "usual".

I'll also recommend keeping it simple. I've been drinking my hefeweissen starter for the past couple of days and can't believe how good it is considering it's just wheat + pilsner DME with hops, yeast and water. I'm looking forward to when the all grain batch is ready.

I have been doing coriander in mine as well as some orange peel in the boil. Works well.