Danstar Munich or Mangrove Jack's M20 Bavarian for Edelweiß (hefeweizen)?

[TasunkaWitko]

Hello, guys -

The next stop on my brewing journey is going to be Edelweiß, which is a style of hefeweizen. The recipe that I have for this beer is interesting in that it calls for the beer to be bottled after three days of fermentation, with no priming sugar added; the beer carbonates with the sugars that are left in the wort after the most active period of fermentation.

If anyone has made this or a similar variety before, my questions are:

a) I only have dry yeast available to me in two varieties, Danstar Munich and Mangrove Jack's M20 Bavarian. When it comes to the "floral, yeasty, bubble gum and banana" characteristics that make this beer special, would anyone be able to recommend one yeast over the other?

b) How firm is the "3 days" fermentation period for best results? Are we talking about a strict 72 hours, or are there any visual cues that will help to determine the best time to bottle?

c) My understanding is that wheat beers should be consumed young. I am brewing this beer as part of a group of different beers to enjoy with a friend when we meet up in late July. Would 5 weeks after Brew Day be considered a good time to drink this beer, or should it be younger...say 4 weeks? Or is there any significant difference?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've been wanting to brew this one since I first saw it, and I really think it's going to be a good beer.

Cheers -

Ron

 

[dammBrewer]

I cannot attest much for the suggested method of bottle carbonating, however, I prefer the Mangrove Jack M20 yeast over the Munich. But, why not make a bigger batch and use both? Then compare them and see which one you like better. I do think that if you control your temps and have it sit around 63F or so, you should have no problem getting that banana ester you are looking for. Higher temps will most likely result in more clove phenol's. Good luck and happy brewing!

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hi, dB, and thanks for the reply.

If this beer is even half as good as I am hoping it will be, I'll be brewing with it and experimenting with it more in the future. But now, with the closest LHBS 250 miles away, I only have enough for this one batch. I'll go with the M20, and see what we land with; I'll also see about some kind of swamp cooler thing to keep the temperatures in the lower 60s, rather than at room temperature, which is 70-ish right now.

Thanks!

Ron

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I forgot to mention that before opening this topic, I also emailed Brooklyn Brew Shop to see if they had any advice in this regard.

If anyone is interested, I'll post the reply.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hi -

Just a quick follow-up on this issue:

Brooklyn Brew Shop sent a reply stating that either M20 or DanStar Munich should make a tasty beer; however, the best results seemed to be obtained by using the yeast recommended in the recipe, which is White Labs Hefeweizen Ale Yeast. Evidently, this yeast really pumps up the bubblegum/banana notes that are a highlight of this type of beer.

I checked with a couple of my sources, and this yeast doesn't seem available to me at the moment (either not offered, or out of stock); also, if I did order the yeast, I'd have concerns about whether it arrived on time to finish this beer in time for the last week of July, when it needs to be ready. Because of this, I will go ahead and use the Mangrove Jack's yeast, as previously planned. If this beer turns out as well as I am hoping it will, I'll have plenty of time in the future to try it with the "correct" yeast.

Ron

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Quick update on this -

This yeast worked very well for my project, but there was a bit of a sulfury quality to the finished product. The sulfur seemed to dissipate after the beer was poured. I am not sure if this was from the yeast or from the fact that this particular beer fermented only 72 hours (in slightly-higher-than-normal temperatures) and then went straight to the bottle (also in slightly-higher-than-normal-temperatures), but I wouldn't consider it a major flaw. Other than this issue, the beer tasted great.