How's my Hefe Recipe look?

My own for the first time...kept it pretty simple.

Halloween Hefe
Wyeast 3638 - Bavarian Wheat

Boil size 4 gal
5.5 gal batch
1lb Cara-pils - steeped
7lbs Wheat Extract
1oz Hallertauer - 60 mins
.75oz Sorachi Ace - 5 mins

Expected og was way higher than Recipator said it should be. I'm chalking that up to not mixing it enough in the bucket before going to primary.
OG 1.060
Expected 1.049

Added 1 lb of extract at 40 minutes into the boil.

Fermenting right now at 68F-70F. With that yeast, Wyeast's site says the range is 64F-75F, so I'm shooting for the middle of the range to balance the flavors. Is that correct?

 

I would not have used the CaraPils or Sorachi hops, but that's me.

How much malt did you add to the 4 gal boil? If you used more than 4 lbs then your wort was too dense and your hop utilization way down.

I try to maintain a 1:1 ratio for gals and lbs (of DME). This gives me a potential gravity of 1.040 and very good hop utilization.

I also only use 6 lbs of DME and 3AAs of hops at 60 mins. I've been doing this for years and am very satisfied with the results.

Keep us informed of your results. I'm interested in learning how you think you did.

 

the carapils could be good, but yeah...i'd stay away from the sorachi ace for a bavarian hefe...maybe an american hefe it would be ok. it will give it a lemony-grass flavor.

 

If my utilization is way low, will it be malty, sweet or what? Beer Recipator had me at 18 IBUs with this recipe.

As far as the sorachi is concerned...I used it in a Wit I did a while back and it was great. I know Wit and Hefe are different, but I thought I would give it a shot.

 

After three weeks in bottles, this one turned out decent, but not great.

First, it didn't finish as low as I had hoped. It stuck at .020. It's a little sweet and a little, well, off.

It is much more bitter than I had thought it would be, also.

All in all, I have learned that 7lbs of extract for a 5 gal brew was WAY too much. The bitterness, although out of style for the hefe, I can live with. However, next time I think the Sorachi Ace will be left out.

I can never leave well enough alone...I always have to screw with recipes.

 

s'aight. i had to try the sorachi ace once, too, before i could learn from my mistakes

hefeweizens are always best as very basic recipe with nothing but bittering hops and maybe a few specialty malts in small amounts.