Need some advice with my weizen

[mrkartoom]

Noob brewer here doing my 2nd batch - a bavarian weizen. Brewed an ale back in 1994, so a long time between batches!

Anyway I bought an ingredient kit and just following the directions, which said to cool the boiled wort to 70-85 and pitch the dry yeast after activating in a cup of 75-95F water for 15 minutes. The wort was 84F when I pitched the yeast and aerated it pretty thoroughly. Within the 1st hour in the fermenter there was major action in the airlock (bubble/sec). This went on through the evening, but then today it has stopped completely -less than 24 hrs later. Room temp is about 68F. The directions go on to say 4 days in the primary then 4-7 in the secondary.

I'm wondering if the wort temp I pitched at is fine for this type beer or was it too warm? What's happening to my yeast and should I expect bad flavors? Just keep following the directions and take a hydrometer reading after 4-7 in the secondary?

Thanks for any advice/comments/etc.

 

[marubozo]

Well, the temp you pitched at was too warm for sure. The warmer the wort, the faster it will ferment, so it isn't surprising you saw nothing happening less than 24 hours later.

The good news is you made beer. The bad news is that at that temp you'll probably have some strong esters. Luckily, the style calls for some of this, so it may not be as bad as it otherwise could have been.

But the damage has been done, so temps from here on out mean little in terms of the end product. So, bottle it and drink it up. But next time you'll want to shoot for pitching in the 65-68 degree range.

 

[jkatz419]

Let it sit in the fermenter for a full week from your brew day and then take a hydrometer reading. If you're near your target (+/- 5% attenuation target) then that's great, either bottle it or let it sit on the yeast cake another week or two to condition (best option). If it's NOT near your FG target then you have a few options. You could GENTLY rouse the yeast back into suspension without aerating the beer, or you could pitch more yeast. Wait another week and take another reading.

 

[emetcalf]

For most beers I would agree with 3ish weeks in primary then bottle, but for a weizen I would go about a week to a week and a half then bottle. Wheat beers taste better fresh. The high pitching temp will probably lead to a lot of banana flavor.

 

[mrkartoom]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm a little miffed the kit directions were not more explicit. Even the guys at the brew store told me not to do much pre-brew research - just keep it simple and follow the directions. Hopefully it will decent brew.

I'm hearing I should just skip the secondary fermenter altogether, give it at least a week and take another hydrometer. I'll report back how it turns out.

 

[mrkartoom]

I took a reading this evening and I'm not there yet. Looks like there is still a lot of activity going on, just not enough to make the airlock bubble with any frequency. I'm reading that that is perfectly normal. Maybe if I sat there for 5-10 minutes I'd see something, but I've got another 1/3 of the way to go per the hydrometer.

Good news is it smells absolutely wonderful and is getting a nice color, so maybe things will turn out just fine despite my blunder. I'll get another reading in a couple more days and see where I'm at.