Brewing this today. Already had a blow up with my starter. This should be an interesting fermentation. This is my first solo weizen beer. Brewed a dunkelweizen last year with a buddy but he kept the fermenters at his house.
Weissbier Bee Cave Brewery Bavarian Hefeweizen
- Thread starter EdWort
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Medbrewer,
You could pull a gravity sample at 60 and adjust to see if when you sparge if you'll hit the preboil OG. If you hit your target you should be able stop the mash at 60 mins.
Or you could up the grain and sacrifice efficiency in order to cut the time down.
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You could pull a gravity sample at 60 and adjust to see if when you sparge if you'll hit the preboil OG. If you hit your target you should be able stop the mash at 60 mins.
Or you could up the grain and sacrifice efficiency in order to cut the time down.
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Livendadream
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Just brewed this on Saturday. First all-grain, looks and smells good! Had a yeast volcano kind of like marshalls but caught it before disaster struck.
kwgriz
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Brewing this right now. Efficiency was higher than normal - 82% according to BS with a pre-boil gravity of 1.051 and a 75 minute mash. Should be interesting what the gravity ends up at after the boil.
nmarshall87
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Just tasted and took a gravity reading today. This beer tastes great! Gravity is down to 1.015 from 1.057. I'm going to bottle in a couple days and see if I can squeeze another point or two out of it. It's definitely still blowing off CO2. I can't wait to try it cold and carbed! This could be the best brew I've made yet.
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MarsingRedneck
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Just now getting into BIAB. So does this recipe mean to add 5.5 gallons of water at the beginning? Won't there be some boil off down the line? Thanks.
smyrnaquince
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5.5 gallons + grain absorption (e.g., 0.12 gal/lb) + boil-off (e.g., 1 gal)
Your boil-off in gal/hr will depend on your equipment.
I recommend going to www.biabrewer.info and getting the latest copy of the BIABacus, which will do the calculations you want. Those guys are the BIAB experts. Tell them smyrnaquince sent you.
showmebrew
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EdWort thank you for the great beer. I actually hit all the numbers spot on! My only question is head retention. It looks great out of the tap but head fades really quick. Normal or is there something I can change in the next batch ( there will be another very soon also)? 
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nmarshall87
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Turned out fantastic, my best brew yet. I actually exceeded my expected efficiency, so it ended up finishing at 5.56% ABV, which almost bumps it into Weizenbock category. Taste is outstanding with a great balance of slight wheat sweetness and a lemony acid bite. Smells of fresh baked grainy bread and bananas, with a touch of phenolic cloves. Thanks to EdWort for the outstanding recipe. 
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Any opinions on whether I would be wasting my time going through a decoction with this?
*Edit - meh, I'll forget about it for now and stick with the recipe as is, which is certainly proven (and easier)
*Edit - meh, I'll forget about it for now and stick with the recipe as is, which is certainly proven (and easier)
Richard-SSV
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Just cracked one open and I must say this is one better beers I've made. I stuck to the recipe 100% except that I added 0.25 oz. coriander the last 15 minutes of the boil. The beer just plain tastes great!
Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the recipe!
Brew day was solid (other than the wind - ugh). The mash was smooth, the boil was vigorous, the chill was fast, and the yeast are partying. You know you're in for a treat when the starter smells awesome and requires its own bit of blowoff cleanup. Sitting at 62 right now. Thanks EdWort!
*edit - Aaaand one day later a blowoff tube is required. Rotating ice bottles in swamp cooler a little more than usual.
*edit - Aaaand one day later a blowoff tube is required. Rotating ice bottles in swamp cooler a little more than usual.
Irreo
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Hey,
First, thanks for sharing this.
Just wanted to say I'm brewing this today. At this moment, doing the mash.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4gx1gvbvb0uitdy/2014-05-24 08.54.19.jpg
At 6am I was picking water from a mountain spring. I have no idea about it's properties, but I'm just giving it a try, to see how it goes.
I'll report back in about 3-4 weeks.
I only changed one thing, that I hope doesn't ruin this. I didn't order Pils because I didn't have much money (a new chiller on this order, so budget was a bit tight), and I already had Maris Otter Bohemian Pils, which I hope is very similar, or maybe even better.
Cheers!
First, thanks for sharing this.
Just wanted to say I'm brewing this today. At this moment, doing the mash.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4gx1gvbvb0uitdy/2014-05-24 08.54.19.jpg
At 6am I was picking water from a mountain spring. I have no idea about it's properties, but I'm just giving it a try, to see how it goes.
I'll report back in about 3-4 weeks.
I only changed one thing, that I hope doesn't ruin this. I didn't order Pils because I didn't have much money (a new chiller on this order, so budget was a bit tight), and I already had Maris Otter Bohemian Pils, which I hope is very similar, or maybe even better.
Cheers!
Last time I did this recipe I dumped some yeast I had saved from a Dunkel without getting it started two days later it hadn't took off so I dumped Safale US-05 in it--On the 10th day I dry hopped it with some Opel for 5 days--turned out pretty tastie didn't taste as good as Boulevard 80 Acre but wasn't bad at all
MarsingRedneck
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Did this one today. Followed to a tee (I think) but I've only done a couple BIAB's and I don't have a wort chiller (YET) so I put my kettle in the tub and threw what ice I had from the ice maker and ran cold water into the tub with the ice. After awhile, my arm was giving out from swirling the water around the kettle and the temp came from over 200 to down about 100 degrees. I thought what the heck been at this since 11am this morning I'll just transfer from the kettle to the primary since it is plastic and not stainless steel, it will probably cool off quicker. WRONG! after I don't know how long I finally said heck with this and carried it into the "Man Cave", I looked at the temp, 90 degrees. Geeze! Is it ok to pitch the 3068 Starter I made at this temp? Or just wait until it's down in the 70's? Could be awhile.
Thanks
Thanks
timcadieux
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Place your sanitised airlock and wait for it to cool
Not sure what others think, so take this FWIW. This yeast is an aggressive fermenter. I'm thinking a single smack pack into a 1.052 beer is not going to be a problem. The other reason I say this is that folks (apparently) intentionally underpitch this into Hefs in order to bring out more banana esters. Here's a quote from Wyeast's website:
"The classic and most popular German wheat beer strain used worldwide. This yeast strain produces a beautiful and delicate balance of banana esters and clove phenolics. The balance can be manipulated towards ester production through increasing the fermentation temperature, increasing the wort density, and decreasing the pitch rate. Over pitching can result in a near complete loss of banana character. Decreasing the ester level will allow a higher clove character to be perceived. Sulfur is commonly produced, but will dissipate with conditioning. This strain is very powdery and will remain in suspension for an extended amount of time following attenuation."
https://www.wyeastlab.com/com_b_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=135
Just my opinion. Usually I'm a big fan of starters and have never been concerned about overpitching. I may try this again with just a smack-pack for comparison's sake.
By no means am I an expert, but this is my experience with starter vs no starter.
I almost always make a starter for all beers, but especially this beer since as was pointed out, under pitching leads to banana/clove flavors. Only once that I remember did I pitch directly from the pack and it was banana overload (at least for me), and many people I served to referred to it as "banana bread" beer.
I haven't made this beer since then (almost 2 years) because I've been brewing for friends almost non stop, or it's been out of season for a hefe, but it's still by far my favorite beer. I will forever use a yeast starter, especially with this beer. There may have been other circumstances (basement was a bit cold during the ferment in question) that lead to "banana bread" beer, but I will always use a yeast starter going forward.
Just my .02 on this beer and yest starters.
I almost ALWAYS do a decoction with this beer. I think it helps bring out a hint of caramel like sweetness that I enjoy, and absolutely bumps efficiency.
It definitely makes for a long day, but most German styles get a decoction on brew day.
Goolsbymd
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Sitting in ferm chamber to lower temp before pitching yeast. 1.048 OG. Will do two weeks at 63 then keg. Looks good so far.
MarsingRedneck
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After 11 days and using a starter for the 1st time I took a gravity check and it was down to 1.008 What I usually do and this time was no exception was taste the test beer and I noticed it had a strong yeast taste to it. I hope that goes away before bottling. My plan is 3 weeks primary 1 week secondary then bottle for 30 days.
So I made the starter last night, and I'm brewing Monday. I was going to crash cool it and decant it before pitching, but I'm concerned that I'll be wasting a lot of yeast still in suspension. What do you guys think?
brewista_may
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Is it absolutely necessary that we mash this at 90 minutes as opposed to the normal 60 minute mash time?
Goolsbymd
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Don't pour it all out leave like 2" worth, just enough to swirl around and break up the yeast cake that has formed on bottom. You will lose some but not a lot.
No, brew it how you want. Use iodine if you want to check conversion.
...
kegged it yesterday currently at 38* with 30 psi for another 12 hours then will drop to 12 psi for a week and am planning on entering it in my clubs german wheat comp. Will keep you updated.
One 5 days in and it had dropped to 1.010 and held steady for 2 additional days. Total fermenting time of 1 week. Faster racking to keg than I like but crunched on time.
This was my first all grain batch with my own equipment and by myself. Needless to say, I had some issues. Overall, it went good.
Strike water
Transferring
Mashing
Measuring out hops. I used 1.25oz Willamette at 60 minutes only.
That thermometer is nice. I can set the temp I want, and when it reaches that temp the alarm goes off to let me know.
Vorlauf
Transferring wort to keggle
Boiling
60 minute hop addition
Chilling
Transferring wort to fermenter
Everything in ferm chamber
Brewmasters Warehouse was out of rice hulls when I ordered, so I had a stuck sparge right away. Luckily I was using a bag, so I just lifted it up and everything was good. I only got 6 gallons in the fermenter instead of 7 like I was expecting. My OG was 1.048. Overall, I think everything went pretty well for my "first" all grain batch.
Strike water
Transferring
Mashing
Measuring out hops. I used 1.25oz Willamette at 60 minutes only.
That thermometer is nice. I can set the temp I want, and when it reaches that temp the alarm goes off to let me know.
Vorlauf
Transferring wort to keggle
Boiling
60 minute hop addition
Chilling
Transferring wort to fermenter
Everything in ferm chamber
Brewmasters Warehouse was out of rice hulls when I ordered, so I had a stuck sparge right away. Luckily I was using a bag, so I just lifted it up and everything was good. I only got 6 gallons in the fermenter instead of 7 like I was expecting. My OG was 1.048. Overall, I think everything went pretty well for my "first" all grain batch.
Any opinions?
HB Store did not have reg wheat on hand...
total 5 gals
7# white wheat
4# 2 row
0.5# rice hulls
1oz Willamette leaf @ 20 mins
*I am using Willamette because I am growing them, and I want to see how a hefeweizen turns out with them
wlp300 (2 vials)
mash 153 for 75 mins
90 min boil
ferment 68 for ten days
kegging
HB Store did not have reg wheat on hand...
total 5 gals
7# white wheat
4# 2 row
0.5# rice hulls
1oz Willamette leaf @ 20 mins
*I am using Willamette because I am growing them, and I want to see how a hefeweizen turns out with them
wlp300 (2 vials)
mash 153 for 75 mins
90 min boil
ferment 68 for ten days
kegging
Hey Ed,
Is this beer supposed to have a lot of banana and clove flavors and aromas? When I took the gravity reading I tasted the sample, and I got no banana at all and just a little clove flavor. The smell was sulfur, which I know will go away with time, but I couldn't pick up any banana or clove at all. Any thoughts? Did I overpitch?
*edit* Nevermind, I pitched way too much yeast because my efficiency was so bad. According to Mr Malty, I needed a 1.5 liter starter, but I pitched a 2.5 liter starter. Oh well...
Is this beer supposed to have a lot of banana and clove flavors and aromas? When I took the gravity reading I tasted the sample, and I got no banana at all and just a little clove flavor. The smell was sulfur, which I know will go away with time, but I couldn't pick up any banana or clove at all. Any thoughts? Did I overpitch?
*edit* Nevermind, I pitched way too much yeast because my efficiency was so bad. According to Mr Malty, I needed a 1.5 liter starter, but I pitched a 2.5 liter starter. Oh well...
Took another gravity reading last night, and it's down to 1.009. The sulfur is completely gone now, but still no banana or clove character. It tastes like an american wheat, which is kinda disappointing. I'm debating whether or not I should dry hop it with cascade to make it more interesting. It's kinda bland, and I'm not sure I want 6 gallons of it. Thoughts?
go for the dry hopping; no point in wasting 6 gallons. I have been doing all grain for about a year now and am still working out the bugs, so keep at it.
No one sucks the life from my penguins except me... and maybe polar bears, because that's just nature Gunter.
MrNic,
Sorry to hear the batch didnt come put as you hoped. I know you mentioned that maybe the pitch rate was too high? And that may be why you didnt have the desired banana and clove flavors? Any other ideas??
"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."
Yep, my efficiency was a lot lower than I expected, so I ended up pitching almost twice as much as I should have. I didn't even think about it on brew day. I fermented at 68 like the recipe said to, so I know that's not it.
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