Suggestions for tweaking this recipie

[monty67]

I made this recipie for a Paulaner Hefe-Weizen style beer, it was probably one of the better beers i've made (have only done like 5 or 6 batches) but when i compared it to a real Paulaner Hefe-Weizen it showed that it was way heavier, not nearly as crisp and a tad bit sweeter without as much spicy edge as the Paulaner. Like i said it was really good but i'd like to bring it down to a lighter style and was wondering what suggestions you all would make.

Recipe used:

4 oz. German Munich Malt
6 lbs. wheat DME
1oz. German Hallertau Hersbrucker (bittering hop)

Wyeast's 3056 Bavarian wheat yeast (fermented at around 68 degrees)

for carbonation i sued 1 and 1/4 cup of the wheat DME

 

[monty67]

Oh, yeah, the original gravity was 1.053, the final was 1.012 and it was for the 5 gallon recipe, and i'd like to keep the alcohol where it is around 5 and a half or just barely bump it up to around 6

 

[DragonTail]

You could add some plain table sugar, about a pound.
That will raise the ABV and dry it out a little.

 

[jsullivan02130]

It is pretty common that compared to commercial beers, home-crafted beer tends to have a bigger mouthfeel. If you want to dry it out a bit, plus one on adding some sugar or replacing some of the extract with sugar (though I'm not sure I'd go a full pound, maybe a half to see how it goes). Not a traditional method for this style, but you can make what you like.

 

[cuinrearview]

Your malt bill is too heavy. These are supposed to be light drinking summer beers low in ABV. Try 5 lbs. or less DME and skip the munich. Try wheat malt and 2-row instead. I use .5 lb. 2 row, flaked wheat, and cara-pils in my hefes with great results. Your hopping and temp. management look good. What kind of attenuation are you getting?

 

[monty67]

I actually got the recipe out of my Clone Brews book and i have no idea about what a more traditional method would be, any suggestions would be great or where to get info on that. As for the attenuation? I'm not really sure what that means, i know the yeast is labeled at about 75 percent. does that refer to the percentage of available sugars that will be used by the yeast?