When to bottle Hefeweizen

[DBONES]

I'm on my third brew, a Hefeweizen kit from Home Brewers. My first brew, a Wheat Ale kit has been bottled and will be ready for tasting in about a week. (Boy, its been a long wait). My second brew, a Red Ale kit is in the primary for 3 weeks now, and I will be bottling next weekend. The Hefeweizen is in the primary for about a week. It is my understanding from reading on this forum, that the longer you leave the beer in the primary, the better and clearer it will be. However, I don't want my Hefe to be clear. There was no Irish Moss included in the kit for clearing. So, when is a good time to bottle the Hefe, when it is finished fermenting in about 10 - 14 days, or should I leave it longer.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[anemic]

I've made a Hefe: 10 days in primary, 3 days in the bottle, done! It depends largely on your ferm temp. Most recently I had colder temps in the house (wintertime) and I went about 15 days in primary, then bottled. It took a week for carbonation to happen. With the Hefe you don't need bottle conditioning per se, you just need carbonation and it's done, it doesnt continue to improve. By the way, I find that the shelf life on the Hefe is about 4 weeks at peak flavor, then it trails off a touch.

 

[geebert74]

Good luck, I love a good hefe!

 

[DBONES]

Thanks guys. I also read somewhere on this forum that when racking to the bottling bucket you should swipe the racking cane on the bottom of the fermenting bucket once or twice to kick up some yeast. A good hefe should have some yeast chunks in it.

 

[elmetal]

definitely don't leave a hefe more than 10-12 days in the primary.

 

[bknifefight]

I've made a Hefe: 10 days in primary, 3 days in the bottle, done!.

I hope you meant 3 weeks in the bottle:cross:

 

[anemic]

3 days! I tried it because a brewer friend was coming over and I had just bottled this, so I chilled one, opened it, shared it w/him (22 oz bomber) and we were both shocked as can be that it was 3 days old, carb''d and peak flavor!

Yeast / trub dustup; by all means yes, stir up some yeast from the primary into the bottling bucket! Although it's not really necessary as the yeast doesn't really want to settle out anyway, plus its young so it hasn't had the chance to settle out, so you'll have yeast. I wonder why my second hefe took longer to carb - may have been that I left the yeast more settled after the first one.

 

[Nukesquad]

you can definitely stir up some yeast, given that you aren't oxidizing any of the beer. However, all the hefe yeasts I have used have low flocculation, so there is always quite a bit left in suspension during bottling.

 

[Grinder12000]

My hefe was fantastic with 3 weeks in the primary and then bottled - got much better after 3 weeks in the bottle also.

Your Hfe will never clear.