BOTTLING HEFEWEIZEN - Urgent question

[BrewStef]

I am just about to bottle and have a last minute question:

When bottling hefeweizen, should the yeast cake be suspended again before bottling, or just disturbed a little so SOME gets suspended, or not agitated at all?

Also, should you use additional sugar for higher carbonation when bottle conditioning, or just the usual amount of sugar?

Thanks.

BrewStef

 

[magno]

I'd say don't re-suspend the yeast and use around a cup or corn sugar for higher carbonation.

- magno

 

[Lounge Lizard]

Don't re-suspend anything. There will be enough yeast in the cleared brew to ferment the priming sugar. If you like a yeasty taste, you can pour the yeast sediment from the bottom of the bottle into your glass.

I haven't drank enough hefes to remember what the normal carbonation level is. No more than a cup of sugar for a five gallon batch if you want a lot of carbonation. I might just go with a hair over 3/4 of a cup. Or the normal 3/4 of a cup....

 

[BrewStef]

Don't re-suspend anything. There will be enough yeast in the cleared brew to ferment the priming sugar. If you like a yeasty taste, you can pour the yeast sediment from the bottom of the bottle into your glass.

I haven't drank enough hefes to remember what the normal carbonation level is. No more than a cup of sugar for a five gallon batch if you want a lot of carbonation. I might just go with a hair over 3/4 of a cup. Or the normal 3/4 of a cup....

Gracias to both Magno and LL. I will just go a hair over 3/4 with no extra yeast.

Cheers!

 

[mysterio]

Traditionally hefeweizen has a really high carbonation rate (3.5 - 4.5 vol CO2) so you might want to use 8oz of corn sugar for 5 US gallons. However I'm not a fan of that level of carbonation so I'll be using half that for my hefe. Hefe's like Erdinger are just too fizzy to be enjoyable, to me. Also I'd say theres nothing wrong with resuspending a little bit of yeast.

 

[BrewStef]

I think I did resuspend some of the yeast, only on accident while I was siphoning to the bottling bucket. I have this new siphon device where you have to shake the end a bit and it starts the siphon. This works fine in some cases, but it disturbs a lot of sediment. I just ordered a pair of SS racking canes so I can do the carboy cap siphon which Walker has shared with us on another thread. I am really looking forward to getting them in.

I am not a huge fan of overcarbonation either, not to mention the possible safety/mess issues. I just want to get the beer "to style" for the learning experience.

Cheers

BrewStef