Weissbier Bee Cave Brewery Bavarian Hefeweizen

[magnj]

brewed this beer, this past weekend, got a newer grain mill so still working out my eff. i ended up with 4 gallons at 1.070...... pitched a smakpak 3068 straight into the carboy no starter..... used a wine stir on a drill for oxygenation.... the thing is going mad.... ive got like 8 inches of foam...... would have needed a blowoff if i had put 5.5 gallons in..... i hope it finishes out and isnt too sweet, we shall see...... wyeast's website says 3068 has a 10 percent alcohol tollerance...... but i did under pitch.... i am fermenting at 68 to 70 ambient temp..... any thoughts guys? any guess's to how low it will finish out?

I also hit close to 1.07, it's a little sweet but could be from a range of other variables including not stirring my priming sugar too well :-/.

 

[Opherman47]

just so everyone knows.... i pitched only one smak pack into 4.5 gallons on 1.070 wort..... welp it fermented vigorously for 7 days straight..... and my house got cold cause the wife left the windows open...... ill take a gravity reading later today..... but has anyone else had this kind of seemingly never ending fermentation?

 

[AnonyBrew]

Going to brew a 10g batch of this on Sat. What's a good water profile to use? Munich's?

 

[bierhaus15]

I brewed this hefe again for the second time and have run into the same problem - the beer has a very unpleasant sulfur aftertaste. I followed the recipe to the letter and fermented as per WY3068 specs... 68' for 15 days then bottle carb'd for 2 weeks.

I know 3068 is notorious for rhino farts but what is up with the sulfur taste in the beer - Has anyone else had a similar problem? I have brewed other hefe recipes using 3086 and have not had this problem.

 

[springer]

had my first pint last night... followed by two more . Ed this is fantastic I am brewing this again in the next few weeks as this keg isn't going to last long.

 

[EdWort]

I brewed this hefe again for the second time and have run into the same problem - the beer has a very unpleasant sulfur aftertaste. I followed the recipe to the letter and fermented as per WY3068 specs... 68' for 15 days then bottle carb'd for 2 weeks.

I've never had that problem. Are you fermenting at 68 degrees ambient? If so, then the hefe is really fermenting at 78 degrees for the first day or two due to the violent process generating heat.

I ferment in a chest freezer with a digital LOVE controller. I tape the sensor to the side of my bucket and set the temp to 68 degrees. There will be a 10 degree delta in ambient (ie, 58 degrees in the chest freezer) for the first few days, then it will equalize as it settles down, but it does ferment at 68.

 

[bierhaus15]

I've never had that problem. Are you fermenting at 68 degrees ambient?

I ferment in a chill box set at 60 degrees. The actual ferm temp usually is somewhere between 65-70, so I don't think the temp went too high. Though, might I have stressed the yeast by fermenting too low? My first batch of this also fermented at 60 ambient, though I dumped the batch after three weeks in bottles due to the same problem.

I'll just let it sit a while longer and see if improves, or just drink it with lots of lemon to cut the sulfur bite. Thanks,

 

[jamest22]

does anyone have any advice in regards to bottling this beer? I bottle my beer and this will be my first hefe. Should I let the beer spend some time in a secondary before bottling? Or could I crash cool and bottle it after ten days in the primary? Any advice would be most appreciated.

 

[jamest22]

I brweed some of this last weekend. Also pictured is an extract Porter i am brewing.

This is my second attempt at beer brewing. As you can see I came out a little short because of the size of my boil pot and a loss of about a half gallon through the blowoff tube, so i am looking at 4-4.5 gallons. But otherwise everything looks good. I ended up with an OG of 1.043.

 

[ifishsum]

does anyone have any advice in regards to bottling this beer? I bottle my beer and this will be my first hefe. Should I let the beer spend some time in a secondary before bottling? Or could I crash cool and bottle it after ten days in the primary? Any advice would be most appreciated.

I didn't crash cool or secondary...just went straight to the bottling bucket after 14 days in primary. I even made sure to pick up some extra yeast with the siphon tube, it's supposed to be cloudy.

I used almost 6 oz priming sugar and started drinking it after 2 weeks in the bottle, yummy. Great recipe Ed!

 

[jamest22]

Thanks.

My hefe has now fermented steadily down to 1.006. I have maintained a 68 degree room temp +- 3 or four degrees for the past nine days. There is a prominent sulfur aroma which I have heard at least one other person who brewed this experienced. I think it will age out after a couple weeks in secondary. Also detectable though is a great banana flavor and aroma. I am going to rack it tomorrow.

 

[Gregredic]

Has anyone tried to use WLP380 in this recipe?

3rd Place winner of the 2007 Alamo Cerveza Fest

Bavarian Hefeweizen 5.5 Gallon

7# German Wheat
4# German Pils
.5# Rice Hulls (if needed to prevent stuck mash)

Mash for 90 minutes at 153 degrees.

.75 Hallertau @ 45
.25 Hallertau @ 15

Wyeast Weihenstephan 3068 with starter.

Ferment 10 days at 68 degrees then crash cool & keg.

O.G. 1.052
F.G. 1.009

5.6% abv

 

[syd138]

Just a question for anyone who has brewed this..

is there a difference in taste due to not using Torrified Wheat?

 

[AnonyBrew]

My 10g batch was at 1.011 at bottling yesterday after 16 days in the primaries. Tasted good. Can't wait until it's ready.

 

[xxHelderxx]

I just bottled this recipe and I've got some questions for you senior all-grain brewers. This was my first AG batch and I ran into some interesting issues (for me at least). My pre-boil gravity with this was about 1.020, which I'm assuming is pretty low. Is there a way to extrapolate what one's pre-boil OG should be based on the post-boil OG posted by EdWort? (1.050) I mashed in with about 5 gallons of water, was this too much? I then sparged about 2 more gallons to get me to 7-7.5 gallons. Seeing that my OG was low, I added 1 LB of bavarian wheat DME and the OG after the boil was pretty good- right at about 1.050.

Fermentation started very vigorously but slowed after about 36 hours and continued to fall off until it was barely fermenting at the 8 day mark. Today when I bottled, I tested my FG and it was still at 1.020. Should I have let this ferment more? The beer in my carboy barely had any foam atop it, and looked quite inactive.

Where do you guys think I went wrong? I intend on brewing this one again after I see how this current batch turns out. Wanna perfect it before moving on. Thanks a lot in advance everyone- great recipe!

-H

 

[jamest22]

You should be mashing with about 11 quarts of water (~2.75 gallons) and sparging with about 5.5 gallons.

 

[xxHelderxx]

I've seen different figures when it comes to how much water to mash with.. 1.25qt/gal, 1.5qt/gal, etc. So if I was to use a smaller volume, say 2.75-3 gallons, when mashing was complete would I add sparge water until the water level was a few inches above the grain bed and THEN start draining off the mash tun?

 

[Ryno]

With my equipment I mash with 4 gals water and do 2 batch sparges of 2.5 gals @ 180 deg. Seems to work for me. My ferentation will go up to 73-75 on the temp strip.... I'll keep it there for a couple of days then I'll place it in a water bath at 65-68 for the remaining 14 days. This is a great recipe. oh I also use washed yeast with no starter and 30 sec O2 injected into wort. Nice banana/clove profile. Thanks ED!!

 

[springer]

I've seen different figures when it comes to how much water to mash with.. 1.25qt/gal, 1.5qt/gal, etc. So if I was to use a smaller volume, say 2.75-3 gallons, when mashing was complete would I add sparge water until the water level was a few inches above the grain bed and THEN start draining off the mash tun?

After your mash drain the mash water then add your sparge water stir let sit a minute or two then drain.

 

[springer]

I love this beer

 

[jamest22]

watch out, dont spill that.

I just bottled mine last Saturday, I will be taking an early taste this weekend, can't wait

 

[Monghetti]

Has anyone posted a partial mash for this recipe? I skimmed and did not see it posted...I still don't know how to adjust it myself yet. Any help is appreciated!

 

[kryolla]

I made this last night but added some munich. It was a 3g batch which I undershot the gravity so I had to supplement with 1/2 pound of wheat DME to bring up the OG to .052. I also used white labs hefeweizen IV so hopefully it will be a good summertime beer. Also Happy National Home Brew day. I plan on brewing a stout later on tonight. I need to get my pipeline going for the summer. I dont plan on brewing over the summer due to the temps but if I run out of beer that means my keezer is empty and I can use that to brew.

 

[InYerMouth]

Been wantin to make a hefe for a while....ordered the goods today...cant wait to brew it!!!

 

[wehumble]

Finally decided to post because the third batch of this recipe is fermenting away downstairs;

Used White Labs 351, a platinum series yeast and fermented at 62 degF per Jamil Z.

1st Batch - 3rd AG batch ever, good brew day, used yeast starter - Absolutely the Best Beer I Have Ever Made! Fantastic!

2nd Batch - AG, Major temp problems, impromptu decoction, effed-up sparge, bad yeast lag. I was disappointed relative to batch 1, everyone I gave this to looked at me like I was crazy. Over time, I realized it was merely a good beer vs. a fantastic beer.

3rd Batch - AG, flawless brew day, hit temps, gravities, big yeast starter. 12 hrs and fermentation was a rockin.

I'm thinking this time it will be so good, I'll die from sheer pleasure and have to leave the beer to friends & family in my will to avoid the fighting.

Apfelwein may get the chicks, but this recipe is Ed Wort's true gift to HBT!

 

[EdWort]

Thanks. I'm glad you are enjoying it. It's a true German Hefe.

I'm brewing a 15 gallon batch this week as soon as I step up enough yeast for 3 fermenters.

 

[springer]

Thanks. I'm glad you are enjoying it. It's a true German Hefe.

I'm brewing a 15 gallon batch this week as soon as I step up enough yeast for 3 fermenters.

I am doing a 10 gallon patch this weekend . Mr.Malty calculates I need to have 357 billion cells and a starter of 4 liters. So I guess I will be making the starter on Wed and stepping up for Sunday's brew. Knew I should have bought a 5000ml flask..

 

[jamest22]

Knew I should have bought a 5000ml flask..

It never ends, does it?

 

[CHansen6]

So, I got really lazy over the winter and forgot to bottle this. Fast forward 6 months in the primary fermenter, I finally needed it for a belgian tripel I was brewing. I was kind of hoping it would taste ****ty from yeast autolysis or something so I could just dump it, but it unfortunately tasted good. I bottled it and kicked up some yeast to try to provide some haziness as most of it was clear as a bell.

4 days later it is quite carbonated oddly enough. It usually takes a few weeks for me. Tastes pretty good, still a good clove/banana flavor which I was not expect after this long of a time in the fermenter.

Now the problem. It finished at 1.000 after 6 months. Yes you read that correctly. I made sure my hydrometer was calibrated correctly. It gave the same reading as water. It isn't fully carbonated yet, but even at such a low gravity, it is mighty tasty. It has a commercial wheat mouthfeel, with the bavarian wheat taste. I bet my BMC family will like that.

 

[springer]

It never ends, does it?

Nope ..


I brewed this over the weekend I adjusted the grains down taking into account that I am getting around 84% efficiency . I used 12 lbs or wheat and 6 pounds of pilsner for the 11 gallon patch I overshot the OG by .004 no big deal still within style. This brew session I got around 88% efficiency with an OG of 1.056(high end of style)