Secondary fermentation on a Hef?

[Jason1781]

My second brew is a blood orange hefeweizen. The recipe I'm following doesnt call for a secondary, but there is a lot of fruit and orange zest in there. Woudnt a secondary help to clear up the beer?

Also, I was reading that if left in the secondary for too long after fermentation has stopped, yeast autolysis will start to happen and give the beer a sulfer taste. How long does it usually take before this happenes?

 

[carnevoodoo]

My second brew is a blood orange hefeweizen. The recipe I'm following doesnt call for a secondary, but there is a lot of fruit and orange zest in there. Woudnt a secondary help to clear up the beer?

Also, I was reading that if left in the secondary for too long after fermentation has stopped, yeast autolysis will start to happen and give the beer a sulfer taste. How long does it usually take before this happenes?

Hefs are traditionally unfiltered beers. I would not go to secondary, just rack it carefully of of the sediment. It seems like that stuff would all sink to the bottom.

And honestly, I don't worry about autolysis. I don't know anyone personally who has had to deal with it.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Just did a blood orange hefe myself this past weekend. As it is an "unfiltered" beer and supposed to be cloudy, my plan is to let it sit for about 10 days then let it sit in the keg for another week. As stated above, just rack it from under the fruit.

 

[SteveM]

The general rule about Hefes (unlike other beers) is that they mature quickly, and then go downhill. This was my experience when I tried making them. By the time I was finishing off the last of them, they were no more than mediocre. Since there is a pub near me that has Paulaner's on tap, I stopped trying to make Hefes.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Most of the time I will do a secondary with my HWs.

REASON: Just to make it more clear than if I bottled right away. I'm not talking about making clear weizen (Kristall), but not as much yeast that's all.

I've been drinking Weizens since 1975. I lived in Germany for 9 years. I know what I like.

I do a special pour where I place the entire bottle into the glass and tip it back upright. What this does is it gets just a little of the yeast off of the bottom of the bottle (as opposed to shaking/swirling) and reduces much of the bitterness from the yeast.

The beer still pour out cloudy just not overwhelmed with yeast.

 

[malkore]

either a short secondary, or an extra week in primary, will help get 'excess' yeast out of suspension, so you have less sediment in the bottle...while still giving you a 'cloudy' beer that is typical of Hefe's.