Heffe Question

[NYeric]

This may seem obvious to some, But is a heffewiesen a basic wheat beer using specialty yeast?

 

[the_bird]

Pretty much. Half wheat malt, half pils malt (+/-). Very low hops - no hop flavor or aroma. Use a noble hop for bittering, prolly 12-15 IBUs. You NEED the hefe yeast, that's where the flavor comes from.

 

[NYeric]

Cool....I am starting now, and am using WLP 300..sound good?

(all ready for tomorrow bird)

 

[NYeric]

Oh and I plan on 2 oz of Tettnanger for hops

 

[the_bird]

Cool....I am starting now, and am using WLP 300..sound good?

(all ready for tomorrow bird)

I hope so - that's the one I've got in the fridge for Sunday!

Gotta make my starter in the morning...

 

[grrtt78]

the hops sound good and wlp300 is a great hefe yeast but it depends on the flavor u want. WLP300 gives more banana notes where WLP380 gives more cloves. If you want a more american hefe use WLP 320 which keeps banana and clove flavors and aromas down.

 

[NYeric]

the hops sound good and wlp300 is a great hefe yeast but it depends on the flavor u want. WLP300 gives more banana notes where WLP380 gives more cloves. If you want a more american hefe use WLP 320 which keeps banana and clove flavors and aromas down.

Interesting! I did not know that. I have 300 here so I will use that, and if it comes out good I may experiment with the others

 

[NYeric]

I hope so - that's the one I've got in the fridge for Sunday!

Gotta make my starter in the morning...

What do you have planned? Looks like our weather will be good. Maybe some day I can join you. Y'all out of my league right now:fro:

 

[homebrewer_99]

IMO, a Hefe Weizen (by speaking German you automatically mean a German Wheat Beer with yeast) REQUIRES the use the appropriate German Weizen yeast, is cloudy, has banana overtones and served in the proper glass.

Any other beer with wheat malt and no German yeast is just a wheat beer and NOT a Weizen, this includes variations of, and broken German/Americanese mutations and combinations of words such as an "American Weizen".

To me this animal doesn't exist. Unfortunately, it does announce to the world the ignorance of the brewer of the style and origin.

But, that's just me.

 

[The Pol]

Just bottled my Hugh Heffe today... I used the WLP300 and it was phenominal. I used 40% Pils and 60% wheat with 15 IBUs... OG 1.053, FG 1.011. Fermented at 70F for 14 days in the primary then bottled. It has a very distinct banana smell but has perfectly balanced banana and clove flavors. With each swallow you initially taste banana and it finishes with clove... amazing! Washing my yeast this weekend! Use a blow off, or else....

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Sounds good... I just added my honey to the primary for my Honey Hefeweizen (purists shall howl in protest, no doubt). With a pound and a half of honey malt and a pound of honey, it's should be a touch drier, lighter, and higher in alcohol than a traditional wheat... with some real nice maltiness....

And I just dry-hopped my Dunkelweizen (I couldn't help it, it's almost bottling time and the flavor was insufferably bland).

We will see what we get....

 

[BoxerDog]

IMO, a Hefe Weizen (by speaking German you automatically mean a German Wheat Beer with yeast) REQUIRES the use the appropriate German Weizen yeast, is cloudy, has banana overtones and served in the proper glass.

Any other beer with wheat malt and no German yeast is just a wheat beer and NOT a Weizen, this includes variations of, and broken German/Americanese mutations and combinations of words such as an "American Weizen".

To me this animal doesn't exist. Unfortunately, it does announce to the world the ignorance of the brewer of the style and origin.

But, that's just me.

I would 100% agree, to me there is no such thing as "American Weizen" or "American Hefe". Back a few months ago I went to visit my parents and couldnt find any Hefe, so I bought a 6 pack of Sam Adams Hefe Weizen, I dont know what that stuff is, but it certainly doesnt resemble any sort of German Hefe Weizen. There should be laws against things like this.

 

[NYeric]

Use a blow off, or else....

You trying to scare me??????????????????:cross:

 

[homebrewer_99]

I would 100% agree, to me there is no such thing as "American Weizen" or "American Hefe". Back a few months ago I went to visit my parents and couldnt find any Hefe, so I bought a 6 pack of Sam Adams Hefe Weizen, I dont know what that stuff is, but it certainly doesnt resemble any sort of German Hefe Weizen. There should be laws against things like this.

There probably are, but America seems to ignore all International laws in favor of profit...

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Tree brewing made a limited edition hefe last summer in 650ml bottles. It was pretty good. Not overly strong yeast flavor, but definatley a hefe yeast strain.

Then this spring the released small 12oz bottles in a variety pack. I tried one. Tasted like crap. Not a hefe yeast at all.

Damn. 10g of hefe didn't last long! Brewed it april 12th...and down to about a quarter in the 2nd keg! Inviting friends over for hockey games can get homebrew costly!!

Guess I'll brew one tomorrow and just use the yeast from the other keg. There's probably several inches of slurry in there. It's been in the keggorator so should be fine.

 

[trev]

GO SHARKS!!



-- Trev

 

[NYeric]

OK a week has past....Bottle the Heffe?

 

[NYeric]

I was going to bottle my Heffe yesterday. I drew a sample for gravity and thought there was TOO much stuff in it. So I decided to put it in a secondary for a couple days and let it settle out a little. BOY did it settle out it cleared almost over night.

So now I am a little worried that I may have robbed it of some of that wonderful flavor. So the question here is should I bottle it just as is, or should I maybe stir some of what is settled in the secondary back into it and then bottle?

 

[Kayos]

Kinda up to you. My preference is to leave it clear. There is plenty of yeast for flavor and always enough sediment in a Hefe bottle to be cloudy.

 

[Buford]

I had a glass of my hefe off a keg earlier and it had started to come out a little clear... I kicked the keg and poured a little more into the glass and BAM - instant cloudy. That yeastyness is key to the flavor of a hefe IMHO. Clear weizen isn't as good as the cloudy stuff.

 

[NYeric]

It's all in the bottles.....

Wow what a great flavor! I came up a bottle short, I couldn't stop drinking it while I was bottling it. Even flat it tasted good. I'll be using WLP300 again. I would use it on the next batch, but I want to try the 320 or the 380.

 

[trev]

It's all in the bottles.....

Wow what a great flavor! I came up a bottle short, I couldn't stop drinking it while I was bottling it. Even flat it tasted good. I'll be using WLP300 again. I would use it on the next batch, but I want to try the 320 or the 380.

WLP320 should be good. I used it and will update on how it went. I plan to bottle this weekend.

-- Trev