How Long for the Hefe in Primary?

rinhaak · Apr 2, 2012

Brewed a Hefe last night. It's happily bubbling away already the next day.

I've been reading some conflicting things about how long I should let this sit in primary. I have read some places that I should let it sit only ten days, other sources said two weeks, others said a month.

I'm obviously not racking to secondary, and I want a cloudy beer. I'm afraid a month would clean it up too much.

I'm leaning towards ten days. Opinions?

stikks · Apr 2, 2012

In my opinion Hefe is best young.I`ve made batches and been drinking them in 3 weeks.
Others may disagree though.

Zen_Brew · Apr 2, 2012

You will likely continue to get conflicting information as different brewers have different methods and opinions. Hef ferments out fairly quickly and is best young. Also no need to wait for all the yeast to drop out as Hefs traditionally have some yeast in suspension. I have a Hef that is always well received and competes very well also. I primary for 10-14 days with no secondary. 10 days is usually plenty and when I go 14 it has more to do with when I have time to transfer than with the beer not being ready.

xjmox14x · Apr 2, 2012

If it's a low gravity, standard hefe, there's no real need to keep it in the primary more than 2 or 3 days after it reaches FG. Just make sure you hit FG before bottling and you'll be fine.

And I'm a fan of leaving beers in primary for a while. But with hefes, the yeast is your friend, you want it suspended, you want all those good esters, you want it to be cloudy, and it's best young. So, for this particular style, there won't be any advantage, that I can see, in leaving it for longer.

3RiverBrewer · Apr 2, 2012

I just brewed a Hefe too, I plan on letting mine go 13-14 days, for most beers I usually let them go longer but 2 weeks is plenty for a Hefe in my opinion (also running a bit low on beer so the fast turn around is nice). 10 days should be okay too

rinhaak · Apr 2, 2012

Good; this sort of confirms my initial thoughts on ten days. I'll leave it at that and see how it turns out.

jIM_Ohio · Apr 2, 2012

I did a 2-2-2 Hefe which will be ready tonight or tomorrow warm and if that has carbonation, I will cold condition one more for Wednesday and report back on 2-2-2.