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Franziskaner Hefe-weisse Clone

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Glad to hear it Tarks, I'm not too far off from brewing it again myself. Cheers, friend!

-J
 
I've run across and have made this recipe (as well as minor variations of it). Makes a very good Hefe. Few things I would change- body seems a little lighter than franziskaner. I would jack up the mash a degree or 2 For single infusion. Even better yet, I would also employ a decoration mash (min protein rest @ 122, then sacch @ 149-150 and again at 157-ish) and drop the aromatic. The acid malt is key to me as frank has that "twang"- but be careful, a little goes long. Ferment temp is max 65, in fact I try to get it down to 62. Have made several batches and these have given me my best results.
Now the big tip....someone else mentioned it.......do NOT keg this! Bottle it. It will be done in 20 days from brew date (10 days primary, 10 days bottle). I legged this and although good, as it sits in the keg it loses that Hefe "character" and body. The last pint I pulled out of the keg kicked up the yeast (and whatever else settled). Was best glass I poured since the first
 
I'm hoping I can pump a little life in to an older thread. I am looking to make an extract w/ specialty grains clone of Franziskaner. I have tried to adapt the recipe here for extract brewing and I need some pointers.

The recipe is as follows: http://hopville.com/recipe/1661431

Franziskloner #1:
  • 6.6 lbs Breiss Wheat LME
  • 1 lb. Rice Hulls
  • 1 lb. German Pale Malt
  • 2 oz. Acid Malt
  • 4 oz. Aromatic Malt
  • 2 oz. Maltodextrin (15min)
  • 0.5 tsp Yeast Nutrient (15min)
  • Wyeast Weihenstephan Weizen (3068)
  • 0.75 oz. Herbrucker Hops (60min / 3.5-5%AA)
  • 0.25 Spalter Hops (15min / 4-6%AA)


  1. Steep grains at 150 for 60 minutes.
  2. Bring to a boil. Add LME, nutrient, maltodextrin and hops as indicated.
  3. Chill and pitch yeast.
  4. Ferment at 68 Fahrenheit for 2 weeks.
  5. Bottle and age 2 weeks.

I had entered the recipe in to a beer calculator the best I could convert it and found that using the Hersbrucker, Spalter and Pearle hops at the additions posted originally gave the beer an IBU value of somewhere between 21 and 24 which was a little extreme for a weissbeir. The OG was also higher than expected at somewhere around 1.054.

Because of that I dialed back the hops a little and pulled out a little extract to lower the OG. Could anyone give pointers on this recipe and anything I should change. I am aiming to brew in the next week.

Much appreciated!
 
I'm hoping I can pump a little life in to an older thread. I am looking to make an extract w/ specialty grains clone of Franziskaner. I have tried to adapt the recipe here for extract brewing and I need some pointers.

The recipe is as follows: http://hopville.com/recipe/1661431

Franziskloner #1:
  • 6.6 lbs Breiss Wheat LME
  • 1 lb. Rice Hulls
  • 1 lb. German Pale Malt
  • 2 oz. Acid Malt
  • 4 oz. Aromatic Malt
  • 2 oz. Maltodextrin (15min)
  • 0.5 tsp Yeast Nutrient (15min)
  • Wyeast Weihenstephan Weizen (3068)
  • 0.75 oz. Herbrucker Hops (60min / 3.5-5%AA)
  • 0.25 Spalter Hops (15min / 4-6%AA)


  1. Steep grains at 150 for 60 minutes.
  2. Bring to a boil. Add LME, nutrient, maltodextrin and hops as indicated.
  3. Chill and pitch yeast.
  4. Ferment at 68 Fahrenheit for 2 weeks.
  5. Bottle and age 2 weeks.

I had entered the recipe in to a beer calculator the best I could convert it and found that using the Hersbrucker, Spalter and Pearle hops at the additions posted originally gave the beer an IBU value of somewhere between 21 and 24 which was a little extreme for a weissbeir. The OG was also higher than expected at somewhere around 1.054.

Because of that I dialed back the hops a little and pulled out a little extract to lower the OG. Could anyone give pointers on this recipe and anything I should change. I am aiming to brew in the next week.

Much appreciated!

There's no point in putting rice hulls in an extract beer. They're there for improving lautering of mashes with a high percentage of grains without hulls such as wheat.

I'd probably substitute pils for pale, and it's probably worth pointing out that all of the grains you are "steeping" require conversion, so this is actually more of a mini-mash/partial mash recipe. 150 for an hour should convert just fine, but be careful about the amount of water you soak the grains in so the mash isn't too thin to convert. I'd use only about a half gallon to a gallon at the absolute maximum.
 
Is that a half gallon to a gallon per lb. of grain or total?

Is it possible to steep 2lbs. of grain in a gallon or less of water?

Because you are dealing with grains that need to be converted you aren't steeping anymore you are mashing. John Palmer suggests 1.5 to 2 quarts of water per pound. And you don't even have a pound and a half of grain: http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter16-5.html
 
Ok so I retooled my recipe and came up with this. Is the use of both wheat and pilsner malt redundant?

http://hopville.com/recipe/1661431

You could probably just use the extract and skip all the grains, but if you want to do a minimash feel free to use as much wheat and pils malt as you want. The more you use (and the less extract you use) the closer it will be to all-grain.

I've never used beer calculus before, but it looks like you have a few things set inaccurately. You should probably add your extract as "Late Boil" this will increase hop utilization (which you don't really need) but will keep your beer lighter in color. If you do this you can probably get away with .25 oz for your 60 minute addition. Also, how big is your pot, this is assuming you are doing a full volume boil. If you are adding top up water (Brewing process tab -> Settings -> "gallons fermenter top-up") you could probably add .30 or .40oz of hops at 60 min instead of .5. Since you are doing a mash you should probably specify all your grains as "mash" instead of "steep". This will boost your efficiency estimates a bit.

Good Luck,

Anthony
 
So I brewed this weekend. I ended up just going with a simple German Wheat Beer recipe I threw together instead of trying to clone Franziskaner or anything like that. It went as follows:

  • 6.6 lbs Bavarian Wheat LME (3.3lbs @ 60min and 3.3lbs @ 10min)
  • 1lb. Wheat Malt
  • 0.5lb. Pilsner Malt
  • 0.5lb. Belgian Aromatic Malt
  • 1oz. German Hallertau 4.3% AA
  • 2 x Wyeast 3068

  • I brought 3 gallons up to 165 Fahrenheit and steeped the grains for 60min. By the end the temperature had fallen to about 149 Fahrenheit.
  • Then I brought it to a boil and added 3.3lbs. of LME and 0.75oz. of the Hallertau.
  • At 15min remaining, I added the remaining 0.25oz of the Hallertau
  • At 10min I added the final 3.3 lbs. of LME
  • Combined wort with chilled water to top up to 5 gallons in the fermenter
  • Chilled to 70 Fahrenheit and pitched 2 x Wyeast 3068

I brewed it last night. The beer was a little darker than I had hoped, mostly due to the increased quantity of Aromatic Malt. But this morning it had already bubbled up into the air lock, which I cleaned and replaced. Quite active and all seems to have gone well.

OG: 1.060 @ 70 F (About 0.008 higher than I was expecting)
 
So I brewed this weekend. I ended up just going with a simple German Wheat Beer recipe I threw together instead of trying to clone Franziskaner or anything like that. It went as follows:

  • 6.6 lbs Bavarian Wheat LME (3.3lbs @ 60min and 3.3lbs @ 10min)
  • 1lb. Wheat Malt
  • 0.5lb. Pilsner Malt
  • 0.5lb. Belgian Aromatic Malt
  • 1oz. German Hallertau 4.3% AA
  • 2 x Wyeast 3068

  • I brought 3 gallons up to 165 Fahrenheit and steeped the grains for 60min. By the end the temperature had fallen to about 149 Fahrenheit.
  • Then I brought it to a boil and added 3.3lbs. of LME and 0.75oz. of the Hallertau.
  • At 15min remaining, I added the remaining 0.25oz of the Hallertau
  • At 10min I added the final 3.3 lbs. of LME
  • Combined wort with chilled water to top up to 5 gallons in the fermenter
  • Chilled to 70 Fahrenheit and pitched 2 x Wyeast 3068

I brewed it last night. The beer was a little darker than I had hoped, mostly due to the increased quantity of Aromatic Malt. But this morning it had already bubbled up into the air lock, which I cleaned and replaced. Quite active and all seems to have gone well.

OG: 1.060 @ 70 F (About 0.008 higher than I was expecting)

Sounds good - let us know how it turns out :mug:
 
This recipe I'm posting is different. I got all the exact ingredients it calls for except I got WLP300 yeast instead. Will be starting it within a couple days..

--------

Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse
5 gallon recipe
OG 1.052-1.054
FG 1.012
IBU 13
ABV 5.2

Perhaps one of the best hefes on the market, this clone is pretty damn close as long as you have temperature control on the mashing Ingredients
7lb German Wheat Malt(1.5-2L)
2.75 lb German Pilsner Malt
4 oz Belgian aromatic malt (20-26L) gives a distinct maltiness
2oz acid malt (1.7-2.8L)
1lb Rice or Oat Hulls
1oz German Hallertau Hersbrucker 3%AA (3HBU 2.4HBU is preferred)
¼ oz Spalt apx 3.6AA can substitute with Czech saaz
1/4oz Perle apx6.8AA can substitute with Northern Brewer
1 tsp irish moss
Wyeast 3638 Bavarian wheat 68-72 deg
-or- Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan weizen 68-72 deg
Mash ALL grains and and rice/oat hulls
150 degrees for 90 minutes then remove spent grains
I would recommend a sparge of 1 gallon 150 deg water over the spent grains into the wort Add 2.4HBU (hallertau) once brought to a boil and boil for 45 minutes Add Spalt and Perle and boil additional 15 minutes
Crash cool the wort, it must be below 70 degrees to pitch the yeast

Primary fermentation is 7-8 days, secondary up to 3 weeks depending on how clear you want it If you bottle it, prime at 70 degrees for 3 weeks to carbonate
Flavor will peak between 1 and 3 months.

This will make apx 5 gallons, but don’t force it. Make sure you SG is on and let the volume be what it is. I have had 4.75-5.25 gallons depending on the efficiency of the mash and the quality of the grains.
 
I make this recipe regularly for the woman, she quite likes it. I do as well, when I feel like a hef.

Very solid.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Here's the recipe for 10gal batch I'll be brewing this weekend:

14lb White wheat malt
5.5lb pilsner mat
1/2lb aromatic malt
1lb carapils malt
mashed at 158F for 60min, adjusted water profile as required
2oz Hallertauer boil for 60min
2TBS corn starch boil for 10min (for extra haze)

Will split into two 5gal for fermentation as follow:
Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan weizen at 72F
Wyeat 1007 German Ale at 60F

OG=1.049
FG=1.012
ABV=4.8
IBU=10
SRM=5
 
Here's the recipe for 10gal batch I'll be brewing this weekend:

14lb White wheat malt
5.5lb pilsner mat
1/2lb aromatic malt
1lb carapils malt
mashed at 158F for 60min, adjusted water profile as required
2oz Hallertauer boil for 60min
2TBS corn starch boil for 10min (for extra haze)

Will split into two 5gal for fermentation as follow:
Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan weizen at 72F
Wyeat 1007 German Ale at 60F

OG=1.049
FG=1.012
ABV=4.8
IBU=10
SRM=5

I brewed this couple weeks ago and tastes pretty good, both beers.
Can I call both a German Hefeweizen despite the different yeast?
 
I may have shed a man tear the first time I tasted this beer. It was like waking up and tasting a piece of heaven for the first time.
 
The trick with any Hefe is to ferment cold, stay out of the 70's and ferment at 64-66. "Something magical happens". You will know immediately once you try it.
 
This was one of the first beers that took me away from BMC back in the early 90's. Still love it.
 
I was wondering when to add the maltodextrin? I BIAB if that matters.

I know it's an old thread but doesn't matter
 
Looking to make a Franzi clone. And this older thread was the only one the search pulled up. So I'll be doing the AG version of this one, unless someone has a newer version.
 
Looking to make a Franzi clone. And this older thread was the only one the search pulled up. So I'll be doing the AG version of this one, unless someone has a newer version.

this will get you in the ballpark. i'm not sure about the malto dextrine. Never put anything like that in my beers (which I have taste-tested against franziskaner, and it's very close, but franziskaner is not really my favorite hefeweizen anyway). I also use less hops in mine, but I was using fairly hard water and not correcting ph, since it's much less of an issue with hefeweizen.

In 6 years of living an hour from munich, i never really tasted *any* hefeweizen that anything I would call hop character, so I use only 60 minute hops.

For me, the key has been fermentation temperature control. All my best and most authentic hefeweizens have fermented at 62-64 degrees. The ones that up towards 68-70 are the ones that turned out thinner, excessively estery, less body, and just less authentic. If you do water adjustment, I would stay on the higher side of mash ph than you would normally do for such a light beer.
 
this will get you in the ballpark. i'm not sure about the malto dextrine. Never put anything like that in my beers (which I have taste-tested against franziskaner, and it's very close, but franziskaner is not really my favorite hefeweizen anyway). I also use less hops in mine, but I was using fairly hard water and not correcting ph, since it's much less of an issue with hefeweizen.



In 6 years of living an hour from munich, i never really tasted *any* hefeweizen that anything I would call hop character, so I use only 60 minute hops.



For me, the key has been fermentation temperature control. All my best and most authentic hefeweizens have fermented at 62-64 degrees. The ones that up towards 68-70 are the ones that turned out thinner, excessively estery, less body, and just less authentic. If you do water adjustment, I would stay on the higher side of mash ph than you would normally do for such a light beer.


Thanks, Got a recipe for your hefe?
 
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