Hey everyone, I spent an amazing 6 months in Germany some years ago and it pretty much wrecked beer for me. Since I got home beer has not been the same and in particular I have been disappointed with every hefe I have tried since. What largely got me into homebrewing was a drive to brew a good German hefe, since I haven't been able to buy one. I have brewed 2 hefes now and both are ok, totally drinkable, but without the wow factor of a good Paulaner or Franziskaner. I realise that nothing in life that is worth doing is easy, and I'm not in a hurry to get this right. I have decided to brew 1 gallon batches until I get the recipe and process right before scaling up to 5 gallons again.
It seems that most recipes suggest a 50/50 or 60/40 split of wheat to Pilsner malt, however I found that this comes out a lot lighter than a good German hefe should. It's been years since I had my last Paulaner but I remember those being quite amber coloured. My wheat/pilsner hefes look more like watery wees and I'd like a bit more colour / flavour. It's logical that 2 very light malts gives very light beer so I shouldn't be surprised how they came out.
Can you make a good hefe using wheat/munich or wheat/2-row? I have a sack of Gladfield ale malt which is similar to Maris Otter, I was tempted to try this instead of wheat/pilsner for the next 1 gallon brew to see what that does. Thinking 50% wheat / 40% ale malt / 7% munich / 3% acidulated malt.
Also my HBS sells white wheat and dark wheat. I have been using white wheat up until now, but maybe I should switch to dark wheat or a split of white/dark. I just brewed a dunkelweizen with a mix of white/dark wheat + specialty and it's got a lovely brown colour.
So really just interested in whether people have had success using malts other than wheat/pilsner and what difference white vs dark wheat would make.
It seems that most recipes suggest a 50/50 or 60/40 split of wheat to Pilsner malt, however I found that this comes out a lot lighter than a good German hefe should. It's been years since I had my last Paulaner but I remember those being quite amber coloured. My wheat/pilsner hefes look more like watery wees and I'd like a bit more colour / flavour. It's logical that 2 very light malts gives very light beer so I shouldn't be surprised how they came out.
Can you make a good hefe using wheat/munich or wheat/2-row? I have a sack of Gladfield ale malt which is similar to Maris Otter, I was tempted to try this instead of wheat/pilsner for the next 1 gallon brew to see what that does. Thinking 50% wheat / 40% ale malt / 7% munich / 3% acidulated malt.
Also my HBS sells white wheat and dark wheat. I have been using white wheat up until now, but maybe I should switch to dark wheat or a split of white/dark. I just brewed a dunkelweizen with a mix of white/dark wheat + specialty and it's got a lovely brown colour.
So really just interested in whether people have had success using malts other than wheat/pilsner and what difference white vs dark wheat would make.