Hefeweizen mash process for better head retention?

[Bayern1987]

Right here is the deal lads and ladettes...

First Hefe I brewed had brilliant head but a lot of trub and other protein particles floating around...

On the 2nd one I decided to use the biab bag to filter the wort (used the no chill method) as I was transferring to the fermenter... it has great carbonation and head initially however dissipates after a minute or so...

I have been doing plenty of reading on head retention and have changed pr considered altering my brewing practices in terms of soap residue, proteins, mash schedule etc. And it got me thinking about the filtering before pitching the yeast maybe removing a lot of protein...

I have used the hochkurz method in all of my hefes and it seemed to work perfect on the first one...

See my idea is to counterbalance the filtering with more protein "head forming" compounds during the mash schedule... and my idea is waiting to add a significant percentage of my wheat malt until later in the mash around 68 - 72 degrees celicius to ensure the results of mashing this amount of the wheat will lead to improved head retention in the beer.

Are there any implications of this and what do you think?

 

[Bayern1987]

Anybody out there?

 

[Yooper]

A protein rest will degrade the proteins and cause poor head retention, especially a long one. What temperatures are you using for the step mash?

 

[Bayern1987]

A protein rest will degrade the proteins and cause poor head retention, especially a long one. What temperatures are you using for the step mash?

62C for 30
70C for 30 (where I add 20% of wheat malt as a late addition)
77C for 20

What do you think?

 

[Yooper]

62C for 30
70C for 30 (where I add 20% of wheat malt as a late addition)
77C for 20

What do you think?

Adding wheat malt as a late addition? What in the world is that about? Adding starch to the wort for some reason, like to keep the wort hazy?
That's a pretty routine step mash and should be fine. I wouldn't do a late addition of grain, as that can cause a pretty bad starch haze and cause some other problems, though. Do your mash, with all of the grain.

 

[Bayern1987]

Adding wheat malt as a late addition? What in the world is that about? Adding starch to the wort for some reason, like to keep the wort hazy?
That's a pretty routine step mash and should be fine. I wouldn't do a late addition of grain, as that can cause a pretty bad starch haze and cause some other problems, though. Do your mash, with all of the grain.

Too try and up the protein...

What about a protein rest?

I filter before transferring to the fermenter and thought this would maybe counterbalance that as the first hefe I made without this step was hazy (which didn't bother me dud to the style) but had a great head retention...

I'll give it a try cheers

 

[ducati]

I always start my Hefe mash with a protein rest at 50C. The main reason for me is I use German Pils and wheat malt for my hefe's, which IMHO tend to be less modified than other grains I typically use.

Filter before transferring a hefe to fermentor isn't something I would do. That might be a contributing factor to your issue.

This is the only style I like to do a single decoction from 50C to about 65-67C, then straight to mash-out.

Hope this helps,

 

[BandonBrewingCo]

Bit of carapils could also be an option