First attempt at a hefewiezen

Yakima 728
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Blackdirt_cowboy

Blackdirt_cowboy

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I know they are supposed to be cloudy, but this seems over the top. Thoughts?
 
Looks more like a Belgian Wit with how light colored it is. But that doesn't matter, how does it taste? :)


Rev.
 
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It tastes great. I fermented it at 62° so the clove taste stands out compared to the banana. It has a fairly strong sulfur smell, but it’s young, only 10 days since I brewed it. I expect it will subside with a little time.
 
Brewers friend estimated the color at 3.5 SRM, but I think it’s closer to 2, which is still to style, on the lighter end. I would like it just a tad darker. What would y’all suggest adding to it to add a bit of color? The current recipe is 66% wheat and 34% pilsner.
 
Looks delicious! I wouldn't worry a ton about the color but if you wanted to darken it a bit you could add some Munich malt.. just enough for some color.
 
I would darken it, if I would, with some dark wheat.
I would not change the percentages between Pilsner and wheat.
Color looks like a witbier to me, but no worries, I love wits.
 
3.5 SRM is still to light for a traditional hefeweizen. Add some crystal malt to it. Or maybe 1-2% chocomalt. If it's thin-ish then the crystal would help on the body. They should have a good body. Use servomyces (zink) to avoid sulfur. Cloudyness is perfect!
 
In all honesty, you shouldn't "need" to add munich malt or crystal malts to darken it as correct color is 100% attainable without them. Perhaps your efficiency was too low? Do you know what efficiency you had? If it's too low you will either need to improve your efficiency through the usual means (better grain crush, better sparging, etc) or simply increase the grain bill.


Rev.
 
Wheat needs a finer crush setting or a double crush to get it right. Maybe the Pilsner got good efficiency, but not the wheat.
 
Use pale malt in place of pilsner.

Edit: Take my advice with a grain of salt, I've still never brewed a satisfactory Hefeweizen. And it is my favorite style.
 
I would try a decoction mash. Even a single decoction will give you enough melanoidin to darken it just a tad. Just remember to mash a little thinner when doing so because you'll lose a bit more liquid from evaporation by doing this.
 
Here is the recipe.

Recipe Type: All grain
Yeast: WY 3068
Yeast starter: 3L
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons into fermeter
Original Gravity: 1.053
Final Gravity: 1.010
Boil time: 60 minutes
IBU: 13.4
SRM: 3.5
Primary Fermentation: 7 days @ 62°

Ingredients:

6.75 pounds german wheat malt
3.5 pounds german pilsner

.75 oz hallertau hersbrucker @ 45 min
.25 oz hallertau hersbrucker @ 15 min

I crush my own grains and have the mill set at a .020” gap for BIAB. I did a step mash with this one. I did an acid rest for 15 minutes at 107°. The next step was a protein rest at 122° for 20 minutes. The final rest was at 153° for 45 minutes. My conversion efficiency was 100% and brewhouse efficiency was 76%.

I really like everything about this beer. The body is great, with a creamy mouthfeel. It’s not too heavy on the banana with a stronger clove flavor, which is what I like. The finish is somewhat dry. I just thought it was too cloudy and the color surprised me a little.

My wheat malt is not the dark wheat and only has a lovibond of 2. The pilsner is only 1.6 lovibond. Perhaps I should use dark wheat next time. The ABV of this brew is already 5.6%, so I’m not sure I want to increase the amount of grains.

That’s all I can think of for now, but I would like the next one I brew to be a little darker. What SRM should I target?
 
If reproducing an exact replica of the style isn't important, using pale ale or Munich 10 malt as a partial replacement for a portion of the wheat malt might be a solution without using a decoction. You just have to adjust the amount for color and ABV when using a brew calculator.
 
I would not change the colour one bit. I think it looks gorgeous. I think all beers under 5 SRM looks gorgeous, especially with a bit of haze... As long as it tastes like a hefe and you are content, it's all good.

If you're gonna brew it again, you could use some Vienna/Munich or Dark Wheat to get it up to 4-4.5 SRM.
 
Yeah, I kinda like the lighter, mild fogginess of a good witbier - sort of like Hoegaarden.
A Vienna/Munich "fifty-fifty" mix would give lighter variation than Munich 10 alone and keep your color light without compromising too much on conversion power for the mash.
 
+1 for a Munich addition.

I used to do a Hefeweizen with Munich to add a little color. This was when I had to use the lbhs mill without a gap setting, but I would target 5% ABV, so adjust as required. I always liked how this on turned out.
Screenshot_20180428-071221.jpeg
 
Melanoidin mimics decoction, it’s not the same.
The difference will appear specially in light colored beers, like hefes or pilsners, where slight changes yields big changes in final beer.
You can use melanoidin, though, fits style very well.
 
German-style weiss beers are most often hopped with low-alpha nobles.
The bittering to gravity is low to moderate and the result should come out slightly sweet. The wife doesn't drink my beer, but I've given her taste samples, one of which was an American-style hefe done with Saaz and WLP320.
She said her perception of the beer was "sweet". Bingo!
A non-drinking, non-brewer who affirms that perception without knowing why is a good affirmation something was done right.
 
@Blackdirt_cowboy The picture you posted looks like it was pulled off my kegerator with my first Hefe currently on tap. I used the same wheat / pilsner split as well. I thought it was too light, but the flavor is great. I'm not sure if I'm going to address the color in the future or not.

I did double crush the wheat malt, and got 82% mash efficiency. I did not do a decoction, but did do an acid rest at 112F to push the clove. I fermented a little warmer than you trying to get a good banana-clove balance, which I think I achieved.
 
Lefou said:
Yeah, I kinda like the lighter, mild fogginess of a good witbier - sort of like Hoegaarden.
A Vienna/Munich "fifty-fifty" mix would give lighter variation than Munich 10 alone and keep your color light without compromising too much on conversion power for the mash.
Click to expand...


I use the vienna instead of the munich and go with a 50/50 of wheat to vienna.

Unless you enter competitions I say just drink it and call it a win.. yes its a bit light colored more like a belgin wit, but if it tastes good and you enjoy it then drink it...


Here's my hefe' recipie and it's good.. just like the Hefe' i used to drink when i was in Germany for 7 years and similiar to a local hefe I get when I go back to germany every 3 months to visit my kids.

This matches the color and flavor profile of a Hefe...

Weizen (my take on Harlod's recipie)
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.049 (12 °P)
FG = 1.012 (3 °P)
IBU = 13 SRM = 3 ABV = 4.8%

Ingredients
4.85 lb. (2.2 kg) Wheat malt (2 °L) (or similar) (I am using Great Western White Wheat and love it, because it has larger kernels and i don't have to readjust my mill from standard settings to get proper crush unlike some other wheats ive used in the past)
4.85 lb. (2.2 kg) Vienna malt (2 °L) (or similar) (I am using Briess Goldpils Vienna)
2.68 AAU Hallertau (Mitte or Blanc) *can sub in Perle in a pinch but adjust as needed to maintain AA* pellet hops, (0.67 oz./19 g of 4% alpha acids) (60 min.)
Wyeast 3068 (Weihenstephan Weizen) or White Labs WLP300 (Hefeweizen Ale) yeast

Step by Step
mash in with ratio of around 1.5 quarts of water to 1 pound of grain
step mash, start with a rest at 110 °F (43 °C) for 20 minutes
raise to a temperature of 152 °F (67 °C) 60 and constant recirculating
mash out at 168 °F (76 °C).
Sparge at 170 °F (77 °C), until the pre-boil kettle volume is around 6.5 gallons (25 L) and the gravity is 1.038 (9.4 °P).

The total wort boil time is 90 minutes,

Add the bittering hops with 60 minutes remaining in the boil.

Ferment at 62 °F (17 °C)
 
I just brewed another Hefeweizen, 12 gallons using 70 percent red wheat and 30 percent bohemian Pilsner malt.

OG: 1.042
FG: should be between 1.009 and 1.011

Should be around 4-4.4 percent alcohol.


On another note I used Imperial yeast G01 and had active fermentation in 6 hours .
 
Interesting to see all the different names for the hefeweizen yeast variants.
My store supplies mostly White Labs cultures so that's what I'm familiar with, but if there's something else out there close or unique, I'd consider using that, too.
 
The Hefeweizen I’ve got in the fermenter smells heavenly, I don’t know why but it smells better than when I use wlp300. Can’t wait to taste it . So far I’m liking the imperial yeast
 
Lefou said:
Imperial brands this G01 yeast as "Stefon".
Gee, I wonder what German strain this might be related to?

Then there's the L28 Czech lager called "Urkel".
Let me guess ... the guy who slanted the first strains wore BCG's and rainbow suspenders to hold up his highwater pants.
Click to expand...

LMFAO to both comments! :D
 

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