Honey Lemon Hefe Recipe

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Ozzfest05

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Canadian wheat eh? Recipe

Grain Bill
4.00 lb Wheat DME (extract)
2.00 lb Pale 2 Row
1.00 lb Flaked Wheat
0.5 lb Honey Malt
0.5 lb Rolled Oats


Hops
1.00 oz Sorachi Ace 60 mins

Yeast: Safbrew WB-06

Primary 14 days

Dry hop with .5oz amarillo .5oz Sorachi Ace after 7 days. Serve with lemon wedge.
 
What's the purpose of the honey? If you add it during the boil, it will just ferment out all the way and dry out the beer. Even in secondary, you won't get as much honey as you seem to be looking for. I have found that honey malt will give a much better honey character than actual honey.
 
What's the purpose of the honey? If you add it during the boil, it will just ferment out all the way and dry out the beer. Even in secondary, you won't get as much honey as you seem to be looking for. I have found that honey malt will give a much better honey character than actual honey.

Honey would have been added last 15 minutes.
I just checked and my LHBS carries honey malt, check edited recipe.
 
rebel80 said:
What's the purpose of the honey? If you add it during the boil, it will just ferment out all the way and dry out the beer. Even in secondary, you won't get as much honey as you seem to be looking for. I have found that honey malt will give a much better honey character than actual honey.

While most of it ferments out it will still give a honey character when added in the boil. I brew a honey wit with 3lbs of orange blossom with noticeable honey flavor.
 
You'll find that the wb-06 only produces very modest/light amounts of phenol/ester prodution, at least in my use and literature review of others experiences.

I did something like this and used ginger in the boil, as well...Looks good otherwise...good luck!
 
bighorn_brew said:
You'll find that the wb-06 only produces very modest/light amounts of phenol/ester prodution, at least in my use and literature review of others experiences.

I did something like this and used ginger in the boil, as well...Looks good otherwise...good luck!

I may be able to get some danstar wheat yeast. But that's all I have access to for wheat yeast. I may just use us-05 my go to yeast.

Anyone have any opinions should I dry hop or toss lemons into secondary.
 
Also some people have access to software any idea on Abv this would produce. I had a hefe with lemon garnish from a fellow hb and it was delicious that's what inspired this recipe.

Thanks for help and suggestions

I don't want to overpower the lemon flavor as too why I decided not to use citra hops
 
So this is interesting... what do you want it to do? Adding lemmons to the secondary will ferment out the fructose but keep the acid around for a very acidic beer.

Definitely don't use honey, a heff is suppose to have some mouth feel. I would ferment with either a Bavarian wheat strain or the wheinstphan strain (I think 1007). That will give you the phenols that you want.

I would be very cautious about adding very sour stuff to a heff, too much will make it undrinkable and it's a fairly light beer anyway. I would definitely think about only using citra hops and serving it with a lemon wedge or tasting it in the secondary and think about adding lemon juice or zest into the secondary. Do not boil the lemon zest, heat it up or add it at knock out. Boiling it will cause the pectin to leach out. You could also heat it up in a sauce pan to 175, cover the pan and turn off the heat to kill anything on them.
 
I only have access to dry yeast , I could order liquid yeast online but it's 12.99 + shipping.

I decided on the recipe. Final version is in op unless people have idea on actual grain bill.
 
Seconding the motion to nix the whole lemons and only add the zest... sans boiling them as per above. All the flavor without the pucker. I personally wouldn't brew a hefe without the right hefe yeast. We call mine, when I make it, 'banana whammy'. With the real yeast, it's a banana whammy that fills yer nose and the immediate area around the tapper with 'nana. At least 'till the yeast settles out to the keg bottom. Then it's yer average american wheat beer. At least 'till I bust the keg outta the fridge and roll it around for 5 minutes. Then it's the 'whammy again... or you could just delete the 'hefe' outta the name.
 
I'm taking the lemons right out, the sorachi ace is lemon love, I don't need lemons besides as a garnish.

Now as I said before I can only get dry yeast in Canada, the liquid yeast will cost me like 25-30 bucks . People really underate dry yeast , danstar Munich wheat, wb-06 is the wheat yeast I can get but I can get any dry yeast out just not liquid.

I would rather delete the hefe out of the title and have a good recipe, than pay and wait for the liquid yeast.

Edit: I have had about 4 hefe's that I like none of which had banana flavor. I'm one of those people who believe Banana belongs in a split not a beer.
 
So I have to say... I am rather good at German beers at this point, I am really trying hard to focus on them so as a beer judge let me pick apart your recipe. Also I am not going to go all roggensbot on you, because I think that is just a guide line and I don't personally follow it.

So a few things really pop out here, 1 is this is really not a heff recipe at all and will not taste like a heff. This will be a good American wheat, but definitely not a heffeweizen. A good heff recipe for 5G is as follows:

(5, 6)# munich or vienna malt
(5-4)# pale wheat
about 15IBU of noble hops boiled for 60min
ferment with WLP3068, WLP3333, WLP3056

the (X, Y) denote 2 different recipies, you want about a 60/40 or 50/50 or even as high as 30/70 barley to wheat. There should be at least 1 decoction, preferably 2. OG would be 54-60, FG would be 12-18.

Let us examine your recipe:

Grain Bill
4.00 lb Wheat DME (extract)
2.00 lb Flaked Wheat
1.5 lb Honey Malt
0.5 lb Rolled Oats


Hops
1.00 oz Sorachi Ace 60 mins

Yeast: Safbrew WB-06

Primary 14 days

Dry hop with .5oz amarillo .5oz Sorachi Ace after 7 days. Serve with lemon wedge.

You have no base grain to work with. This is fine, I am not sure if the Honey Malt has enzymes in it to convert, I highly doubt it does. Using wheat DME is okay, but I don't think you can get what you have up to 1.054. Using flaked wheat will make is fairly sour and I would scrap that for Munich or pale wheat malt or a combination of the two. The honey malt will add serious honey flavor, typically never present in a heff. Why are you adding oats?

Basically, a heff is suppose to taste like dry wheat malt with cloves and bananas which comes from the yeast. There is never a hop aroma or flavor, pure malt but balanced with the bitterness. BU:GU ratio of about 25-35%.

I am not saying that yours will be a bad beer, far from it but this will never taste anything like a heff. You don't have enough base malt, adding honey will cause honey falvor which shouldn't be in a heff, oats (perhaps for body) don't belong in a heff at all... you are dry hopping which will impart a wonderful aroma which is totally out of place for a heff, you are not using German noble hops or German noble hop clones and the yeast selection is not too good for this style. The yeast looks fine for a basic wheat style beer (I am thinking of Belgian or American styles) but for a heff you really need to kick up the phenols and ester production which comes from WLP3068.

Over all, your recipe looks like a great beer, but this is not going to be what you are use to drinking if you buy a heff in the store. I second the motion that this will be considered an American wheat beer or even Belgian with the flaked wheat and lemon. The choice of hops for dry hopping look like they will work well with the lemon zest.

I don't really mean to come off as hard assed or anything like that, but I found that if I was trying to mimic a style and I developed a recipe, if I didn't really closely follow a guide, I would get a great beer that tasted nothing like the style I was going for and with such a defined style, there is not much wiggle room. If you have a heff, it will be exactly as I described. Your recipe will produce a beer which is nothing like a heff but will be quite drinkable.
 
I know it's not a typical hefe, my favorite wheat beer is hacker, second is Richards white. I like clove over banana.

Now it may be more of a American wheat than a hefe but, these malts I have access to and I know with these ingredients it should produce a great wheat beer with a slight lemon zest, the oats add a body of creaminess honestly I think this will be a ridiculously good easy drinking beer that's why in sharing here.

To perfect it with others knowledge and expertise.

Thank you
 
Dang it, Asterix, I wanted to see if that (only) 50% wheat malt DME recipe would convert all those starches. Come on, man, it might. It's not an experiment that I would run, probably, but it might. Just kidding. I'm not that dastardly. If this would have occurred to me on posting, I would have said something. Honest. I agree with everything your... um... detailed... post says except that necessarily flaked wheat will create sour. That's a pH issue and, therefore, pretty variable. For instance, I use an exhorbitant amount of flaked wheat in my hefe but I brew with pretty hard water (sometimes cut with half RO water) that never settles to correct pH without phosphoric acid help. Well, the stout almost makes it. So, almost never. Short story: nothing I brew can be too acidic unless I screw up phosphoric additions. Everything about style, though, is right on.

The banana isn't a flavor (in my opinion). It's an ester. A smell. An odor. Produced by yeastie beasties. Not that that would make you like it any more than you don't. Here's something interesting I learned about hefe: So I brewed one and called it the 'banana whammy'. All banana ester and no clove. But I took it to a 'beer festival' (which is what the guys and I call a beer drinking party), and took a survey. 18 of 20 detected banana. Only 6 detected clove. 2 of those 6 detected only clove. No banana. Weird, huh? Esters (smells) apparently are much more ethereal than flavors, I think.

Here's me going out on a limb: a hefeweizen with no banana/clove is old and the yeast has settled out and you've decanted beer off the yeast. Which is IMO a little silly, since hefeweizen is typically served with the yeast, no?

Ozzfest, you can't get the good hefe yeast (and you wouldn't like it if you did), so I vote with you: change the name, up with the main sail, and brew this one. Let us know.
 
I just read through asterix post again and realized the valuable info.

I should have thought twice before calling it a hefe. It's an American wheat , well Canadian wheat , eh.

I'm going to revise the recipe once more there is too much honey malt.
 
Is that all of Canada? (no or too expensive liquid yeast) or just the part you're in? If it's just your part let me know and I won't ever go there =^P

Seriously though, A though: if there is a particular style you absolutely love and brew all the time, invest in the $25-30 pack of yeast, when you rack off primary wash and save your yeast; next time it's free! Then you can continue to wash and save that yeast until it's worth your investment (4 batches brings the price down to $6.25-7.50 which is on par with what I and others pay for wyeast smack packs.)

There are good "how to's" on here and the Internet in general about saving yeast, and it's an easy process and the first time you wash it (the way I do it anyway) you will wind up with four QT or PT jars with a good amount of yeast to make started with - I've made my blonde ale with the same yeast three times since September, and just washed some hefe yeast for future use; make sure you label them in the fridge so you don't put the wrong yeast in a batch.
 
What I've been doing is if there is something I should have liquid yeast for I will try and bottle harvest. We have alot of selection at liquor store for craft.
 
Glad to see you aren't letting the liquid yeast price keep you down - maybe you pick up a 6 pack of your favorite hefe and bottle harvest?

Where there's a will there's a way, eh?
 
Just do not forget that in most of the bottled Hefe you get from the stories, the Yeast is not the Yeast they used to brew the Hefeweißen. Just remember.:mug:
 
ECarroll51 said:
Just do not forget that in most of the bottled Hefe you get from the stories, the Yeast is not the Yeast they used to brew the Hefeweißen. Just remember.:mug:

I was thinking of using yeast from a hacker weisse , it's got a spicy clove flavor .
Hopefully they don't add yeast for condition. I have a feeling that it will be all good with the hacker
 
Nope sorry to say but Hacker-Pschorr does not bottle condition with the yeast they use to brew with, the one if use if i can get enough is Schneider Weiße, do not know if you can get that over there in the States.
 
ECarroll51 said:
Nope sorry to say but Hacker-Pschorr does not bottle condition with the yeast they use to brew with, the one if use if i can get enough is Schneider Weiße, do not know if you can get that over there in the States.

I'm not saying your lying but are you sure.
I don't imagine they filter a weisse then repitch to bottle, it's one yeasty beer.
 
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