Kristallweizen

When living in Germany, I always enjoyed a Franziskaner Kristallweizen, but unfortunately I can't seem to find it nearby here in the states.

Anybody brew their own kristall (extract)? If so, I would love to hear what you use and how you make sure that it is, in fact, crystal clear.

Thanks guys!

Franzi said:

how you make sure that it is, in fact, crystal clear.

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I haven't tried this yet, but you will need to use a fining agent like gelatin to settle out the yeast and proteins. Using a filter should help as well.

Kai

I posted over in the extract brewing section, then realized my question might better fit here.

Does anybody have a good kristallweizen recipe? I guess the hard part is getting it crystal clear. Which yeast would work best? What finings would you need?

Any tips, thoughts, and/or recipes would rock.

Thanks!

Commercial examples use plate filters, etc. You're going to be very hard-pressed to get a true kristalweizen without filtering---fining will only do so much. You could use gelatin, though, and see what happens, along with extended cold-crashing. I don't have a recipe, but my guess is that you can go with a standard hefe recipe. See my steffiweizen in my recipe pulldown under my avatar. It makes a great hefe, and then you could just fine and cold-crash it and see what happens---but my guess is that it'd take months of cold-conditioning to get it anywhere near as clear as the commercial versions. And even then...you'd still have to worry about chill haze.

I dunno how long it really takes. My Dunkelweizen (brewed in dec) is pouring very very clear from a keg now, been in the cold for maybe two months.

Just make a weizen and let it sit in the secondary for 2 weeks. It'll be clear.

I do it most of the time, but I add the amount of yeast I want in the bucket/bottle at the end of the syphon.

You can also use gelatin in the secondary.

Yeah, finings, cold crash then filter with a two or three stage filter system. I filtered a hefe once and it almost clogged my 2.5 micron abs pre filter.

The 2.5 will get the yeast out but not any haze. The .3 works pretty well for that if the beer is really cold before you filter. Some Stabifix mixed in a few minutes (like 5) before filtration works wonders for pulling chill haze out.

Do you think the flavor and body of the beer will be worse since all the tasty yeast will be settled? Should I compensate for that by adding more extract/steeping grains/etc?

I know some resouces say there is little effect on the final product doing it naturally, but I haven't seen/tasted any differences.

The BIG difference is when you use a .5 micron filter...it strips out almost all the yeast.

Franzi said:

Do you think the flavor and body of the beer will be worse since all the tasty yeast will be settled?

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Really, that's the idea, and I don't know that I would call it "worse." The idea is to have a crisper, cleaner wheat beer.

Saint Arnold makes a good one here, in Houston. I go for that stuff fairly often during the summer months.


TL

Actually 2.5 will strip out almost all the yeast. A .3 will strip out bacteria and even a bit of hop flavor.

TexLaw said:

Really, that's the idea, and I don't know that I would call it "worse." The idea is to have a crisper, cleaner wheat beer.

Saint Arnold makes a good one here, in Houston. I go for that stuff fairly often during the summer months.


TL

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Texas Wheat? They use a kolsch yeast for it......

You might try adding a highly flocculant yeast towards the end of the primary fermentation. I did this once and it seemed to work pretty well. I did also add gelatin when kegging. The beer ended up being quite clear.

When/where did you live in Germany?

I checked your profile and you were born 9 months after I left Germany the first time...just curious...

Alamo_Beer said:

Texas Wheat? They use a kolsch yeast for it......

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Yep. It's a Kristall Weizen, and a good one. I imagine you know, but just to clue in the others, it was called that until just a little while ago, when Brock realized it didn't sell because too many people were afraid to say it. Change the name to "Texas Wheat," and sales go through the roof. It was one of the two original beers that St. A produced.


TL

I have made one twice. I used White #400 both times.

Second time through I used on Whirlfloc tab with 5-10 minutes left in the boil. I whirlpooled in my bottling bucket. I fermented in a cornelius at room temp.

On day 4 I took off the airlock, turned the keg on its side and rolleed it around a little to stir the yeast back up. I out the airlock back on for another few days.

Then I stuck it in the fridge and crash cooled for 3-5 days. Then I stuck a tap and gas on it. I pushed sludge through the tap (into the kitchen sink) until I had clear beer running, changed tubing and pushed clear beer into a serving keg. Don't jiggle the source keg during this procedure. Worked great.

The recipe is the only wheat beer I have ever liked.

maybe this goes without saying, but avoid anything like unmalted wheat in the recipe.

homebrewer_99 said:

When/where did you live in Germany?

I checked your profile and you were born 9 months after I left Germany the first time...just curious...

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I lived in Braunschweig from September 2002 to about April 2004, doing a semester abroad, 6 month internship at Siemens, and 6 months of putzing around before entering the real world. I thank Braunschweig and Germany on the whole for introducing me to real beer.

Thanks for all the tips guys!

Franzi said:

I lived in Braunschweig from September 2002 to about April 2004, doing a semester abroad, 6 month internship at Siemens, and 6 months of putzing around before entering the real world. I thank Braunschweig and Germany on the whole for introducing me to real beer.

Thanks for all the tips guys!

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OK, I'm safe...never been to Brauschweig...love their liverwurst though.

I was also in Bamberg from Feb 1999-2004.