Hefeweizen all wheat DME?

[strangebrew]

Hello all… I am considering the following recipes:

6.6lbs LME Wheat extract (I will use DME conversion)
0.85 oz Tettnager hop pellets
WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale yeast

1 lb. Extra Light DME
5 lb. Wheat DME
Hops: .5 oz (½ oz.) Hallertau Hersbrucker
WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale yeast

But I want to know why some Hefe recipes call for all wheat extract and others blend non wheat and wheat extracts. Is there a flavor difference with the all wheat recipe? I want to make something close to a Paulaner Hefeweizen.

Thanks for the help!

 

[CaptYesterday]

Generally, wheat extracts are 50-50 or 60-40 wheat to barley ratios. The recipes that call for a little light malt extract are likely doing so to keep the color of the beer on the lighter side.

You can make some very good extract hefes, but the key is to treat your yeast correctly. Fermenting lower, around 62 F will accentuate the clove characteristic, and fermenting higher in the low 70s with give you more banana esters. Go too high, upper 70s-low 80s and you will get tons of banana and gumball flavors.

 

[FishinDave07]

As far as asthetics go, If you do a Late-extract addition you will have a lighter colored beer because it won't caramelize as much. Just make sure to scale the hops back a bit, because you get better utilization.

Go with the all wheat extract.

 

[strangebrew]

Thanks for the great information guys. For whatever reason I was thinking that a mix of wheat and barley could change the flavor profile significantly. I guess the yeasts are the real heroes when it comes to Hefe flavor.

I think I will do the all wheat extract recipe and keep my fermentation temps down. I am not really concerned about the color. From what I have read DME doesn’t change color during the boil as much as LME so that should be a fairly acceptable result.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Check your wheat LME. If it's 100% wheat then you may want to split it for 2 batches...then use the Extra Light DME (XLDME) pale for the other 50%.