Bevarian wheat beer was hoppy

[hefeweizen94]

Hey Everyone, I got into home brewing because a buddy of mine got into it a few months back and I wanted to take a shot at it. So I ordered a beer making kit through northern brewer, I got a plastic bucket from a local brewing shop (I didn't know about after I ordered the ingredients) and made my very first batch. As the title says I made Bavarian wheat. I followed directions, checked the temp often and poured my soon to be beer in my bucket to ferment for two weeks. However I ran into a few things that concerned me. So I used a 3 piece airlock and what the directions said in my kit, fill it with the disinfectant water you use for sanitizing all your supplies. Which I did but I believe I filled it a bit too much. I filled it to the top fill line and over the course of two weeks I didn't see any bubbling activity but maybe a small bubble here and there in the centerpiece of the airlock. 10 days in I still didn't see any activity so I opened up the bucket for a split second and my beer looked pretty normal, it smelled pretty hoppy too. Day 14 was bottling day and it did go smooth, I used stubby brown bottles I got from Great Fermentations and yielded 10 bottles. another two weeks my beer was done, I put one in the fridge to try for later on and it looked perfect, had a good amount of foam but there was one issue. It tasted similar to a Belgian white or a very mild IPA. I was told Bavarian wheat was supposed to tasted yeasty and not hoppy and I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong in the process. Was ti the Cascade hops they provided me with the kit? Was it from me opening the bucket to look at my beer to see if there were signs of infection? And right now I upgraded toa 5 gallon kit and I ordered a 6.5 gallon bucket and a 8 gallon kettle and I picked up a cherry wheat kit so I'm starting to feel i'm going in too fast. Overall I'm not sure what I did wrong to make it taste hoppy and I would liek to know so I wont mess up my 5 gallon batch. That was the main issue with my beer. the alc content was around 4.5-5% as well

 

[Miraculix]

You need to let us know which yeast was inside. The yeast gives the Hefeweizen the distinctive flavour. Often, these kits are sold with the wrong yeast. Often they use a Witt yeast, which will result in the beer tasting like you described yours.

Also, cascade is an absolutely no no no in a traditional German beer, especially wheat beer. You need noble hops for this like saaz or hallertauer mittelfrüh, or at least something neutral like Magnum or maybe Perle.

For your next attempt, swap the yeast. Buy Lallemand Munich Classic (emphasis on the classic, there are two versions of Munich) and use the hops I listed.

It will be better!

 

[hefeweizen94]

You need to let us know which yeast was inside. The yeast gives the Hefeweizen the distinctive flavour. Often, these kits are sold with the wrong yeast. Often they use a Witt yeast, which will result in the beer tasting like you described yours.

Also, cascade is an absolutely no no no in a traditional German beer, especially wheat beer. You need noble hops for this like saaz or hallertauer mittelfrüh, or at least something neutral like Magnum or maybe Perle.

For your next attempt, swap the yeast. Buy Lallemand Munich Classic (emphasis on the classic, there are two versions of Munich) and use the hops I listed.

It will be better!

Unfortunately the yeast packet the kit came with did not specify what type it was. For this new kit i'm getting and since its coming from a new company I found, I am hoping it will have the proper ingredients. Originally the recipe I got with my kit was American wheat but they sent me Bavarian instead and I thought nothing of it. Below I will be linking the kit I ordered. I thought it would be something new to try. I appreciate your advice!

New recipe kit When Cherry Met Sally Cherry Wheat - Brewer's Reserve (Extract) The yeast I got was the WYeast American wheat since I felt it would be better fitting for this beer. Everything actually shipped today!

 

[Miraculix]

That's going to be an American wheat beer, different from German wheat beer but sounds good to me.

You ordered a liquid yeast, so you might want to do a starter. Depending on the freshness of the pack, it might work without a starter, but liquid yeast can be a bit tricky.

Alternatively, you could buy one pack of fermentis us 05, the Swiss army knife yeast of everything American. Also pretty forgiving regarding everything that can go wrong. Us05 can be thrown in directly, without any further treatment, once the wort has the right temperature.

 

[hefeweizen94]

That's going to be an American wheat beer, different from German wheat beer but sounds good to me.

You ordered a liquid yeast, so you might want to do a starter. Depending on the freshness of the pack, it might work without a starter, but liquid yeast can be a bit tricky.

Alternatively, you could buy one pack of fermentis us 05, the Swiss army knife yeast of everything American. Also pretty forgiving regarding everything that can go wrong. Us05 can be thrown in directly, without any further treatment, once the wort has the right temperature.

Hello sorry for the late reply, I got the wyeast liquid yeast packet where you smack it and it settled for 8 hours before throwing into my brewing bucket. Hardest part was cooling down 5 gallons of wort which took 4 hours and a lot of ice and a few trips to the gas station! i did read about the starter instructions on the back too. I appreciate your help and tips!

 

[Miraculix]

Hello sorry for the late reply, I got the wyeast liquid yeast packet where you smack it and it settled for 8 hours before throwing into my brewing bucket. Hardest part was cooling down 5 gallons of wort which took 4 hours and a lot of ice and a few trips to the gas station! i did read about the starter instructions on the back too. I appreciate your help and tips!

For next time, nothing wrong with letting the wort cool in a sealed container over night. Best would be if you could transfer the wort still hot to your fermenter and then let it cool inside there on it's own.

 

[RM-MN]

For next time, nothing wrong with letting the wort cool in a sealed container over night. Best would be if you could transfer the wort still hot to your fermenter and then let it cool inside there on it's own.

This does work well in a HDPE bucket as the type of plastic used can withstand boiling hot wort. Do not pour boiling hot wort into glass. Other types of plastic may distort with hot wort. Check the type of plastic used and see if the specs will allow the temperature.

 

[Miraculix]

Yes of course, please check before if your container can withstand the heat!!!

I use a speidel and it works for me, although the fermenter is technically listed as 60c.