hefeweizen went clear in primary.

[TGFV]

Had a quick question over my hefeweizen I just bottled.

It was in primary for a few days longer than planned (planned to bottle after 1.5 weeks but did in 2 weeks, not a huge difference really) and in the course of the last week went from stereotypical hefeweizen to am almost krystalweizen look. Not perfectly clear but easily one of my most clear batches.

Normally I would just chalk it up to an accidental win and go from there but it also seemed to have lost a good deal of its hefe flavour and more importantly, aroma. I would say roughly 40% less.

I ended up swirling it gently to rouse yeast and proteins back into the beer before transferring to the bottling bucket and the majority of the flavour and aroma returned.

I'm curious if this is a regular thing to happen to hefeweizen or no?

Recipe:
5 gallon extract
3kg bavarian wheat DME (60/40)
Wyeast 3638
1 cup priming dextrose

OG: 1.064
FG: 1.012
Est abv: 6.83

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

Only two things I see as potential rationale for why it might happen. One. That is a somewhat strong hefe... I usually brew them in the high 4's to mid-5's on the ABV, also your finishing gravity is a little lower than what I usually achieve (but negligible)

Second is a theory. Perhaps the extract is modified in such a way that you get less protein haze than you normally would from an AG batch. My guess is that for your next batch, perhaps do a steeping step with finely crushed wheat to get more of that character in the finished batch.

Other than that I'm stumped.

 

[TGFV]

Yeah it is definitely a lot stronger than I planned, my kid woke up early as I was brewing and I grabbed the 3kg bag of dme I was planning on turning into 2 session ales instead of the 2kg bag beside it.

From what I have read about it can occasionally happen from either the temp suddenly dropping by a good few degrees (unlikely here in Vancouver with the smog keeping the heat in even during the night).

 

[Draken]

Typically I would say bottle the hefe as soon as primary fermentation is done. You can age them in the bottle, but that cloudy look is a combo of yeast and protein haze. Once in the bottle just gently roll them prior to serving to suspend the yeast. Also I agree with above, it may be partially attributed to the fact you used extract that your not getting that wheat protein haze.