2 week fermentation for hefeweizen too short?

[JSGT09]

Still a little new here as this is only my second batch of beer, but I have a quick question:

I have a hefeweizen going in my 6.5 gal bucket with Wyeast 3068 which took off like crazy for the first 48 hours but the airlock activity now has settled down quite a bit. It's only been fermenting a week and I know the yeast still need some time to cleanup, but if the FG at week 2 is in range, should I bottle at that point and let it bottle condition for 3 more weeks? Or should I ferment a full 3 weeks in the bucket and 3 more weeks in the bottle?

I've also heard not to transfer hefeweizen to a "clarifyer" (or that bad word, secondary) but I'd like to free my bucket up for an Irish Red. Or do I just brew the Irish Red in my 5 gal carboy? Thoughts?

 

[ayoungrad]

I would check a gravity now. Then check it in a week and bottle it if the gravity has been stable. A normal gravity hefe does not need 3 weeks. And it does not need a secondary.

 

[Cambone]

The general rule is: 3 days of constant gravity readings = beer done.

 

[Yooper]

A hefeweizen isn't clear, so clarity isn't an issue, but I would only bottle if there weren't any floating debris. Two weeks should be fine for bottling, but I usually wait until my beer is clear most of the crud has settled, so I have less crud in the bottles. Since a hefeweizen is hazy with proteins from the wheat and from the non-flocculant yeast, I wouldn't get hung up on clarity but if it looks like mud, I'd wait until it looked "right" before bottling!

 

[JSGT09]

The only thing is it's hard for me to judge clarity (floaters) because its in a 6.5 gal bucket. I'll check gravity now though. I assume that even if I'm at FG now that I should still leave it another week for the yeast to cleanup?

How long does a hefeweizen generally need to bottle condition?

 

[poley]

If the gravity is stable (3-4 days), go ahead and bottle it. The yeast will continue clean up in the bottles, you just don't want bottle bombs or overcarbonated beer.

 

[solbes]

I'd go by taste and fermentation conditions. If the yeast got stressed, pitched too warm, underpitched, etc you might need 3 weeks. If everything was to plan then you will likely be great with 2. My last german wheat was 2 weeks in primary and 3 in bottles. It tasted the best the first month, and has slowly but steadily declined in taste.

Taste your hydrometer sample after two weeks and make your decision then. An extra week is certainly not too long to wait. If there are some off flavors present you will want that extra week on the cake.

 

[huge1s]

Assuming you get the same gravity reading a few days apart, you should be fine to bottle. Yooper brought up a good point with floating crud though. One way to take care of it is to put a nylon or paint strainer into your bottling bucket with the syphon hose in the bag. I did this a couple weeks ago with a peach hefewiezen and it took out all the peach crud but left the nice haze associated with a hefe. One thing I would do if you strain into your bottling bucket.... is give the wort a stir to mix up your priming sugar. The bag restricts the flow and doesn't mix the sugar as well. I didn't stir when I did this and the last bits of wert tasted almost like pure sugar. No bottle bombs so far... but I may have a few under carbed bottles to deal with. Don't be afraid to try a bottle after 2 weeks either... hefes (at least mine) seem to carb up quickly and the first bottles tend to taste better than the last (IMO).

 

[daksin]

It sounds fine to bottle, and many wheats are better young, but hef yeast isn't very flocculant so if for some reason in the future you need to transfer to a secondary, I wouldn't worry about it clearing up. While there isn't usually a reason to transfer a hef to secondary, if you need to free up a fermentor, it's not going to make the beer magically clear up- it'll be fine.

 

[JSGT09]

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys. I'm going to check the gravity this weekend and then again in another week. If all checks out I'm going to bottle after 2 weeks in the fermenter and then bottle condition for 3 weeks.

PS...wort temp has been at a stable 65 degrees for the last 4 days which should make for some nice balanced flavors from this crazy yeast. Excited to try this batch!

 

[Damian13]

Hey JSGT09, I know its been a while, but do you remember what ended up happening with this batch? I'm in the same situation right now.

 

[JSGT09]

Ah man, that hefe was one of my very first batches but I remember it coming out pretty well. I have an all grain batch of hefe in the fermenter right now and am planning on only a 2 week fermentation again.