Total Beginner's Hefe Recipe?

[2000dan2000]

So first and foremost I guess I should introduce myself, my name is Dan, from the Denver area. I am a total beginner to home brewing, just got a Northern Brewer deluxe starter kit as a Xmas gift and have a Caribou Slobber fermenting as we speak.
I have been interested in home brewing for quite some time and as such have a great many ideas already in my head concerning types and styles I'd eventually like to try my hand at. The more I study up on the processes of brewing the more fascinated I become with crafting my own personal recipes.
I thought about moving along to partial mash for my next attempt and would love to get a nice hefe figured out. So, with the help of TastyBrew's recipe calculator and armed with the very little knowledge I have gleaned thus far from this forum and other helpful sites I put together a little wheat recipe that I was hoping to maybe get some feedback on. Any and all help would greatly appreciated at this point in my education!

5 gal batch
3 gal boil

Mash:
- 3.5lb Weyermann Pale Wheat
- 3.0lb German Pilsner
- .25lb Weyermann CaraWheat
- .5lb Flaked Wheat
Extract:
- 3lb Briess Wheat DME

- 1oz Saaz for 60min
- .25 Saaz for 15min
- .25 Saaz at Flameout

Wyeast 3068

the calculator spits out:
OG 1.066
FG 1.017
IBU 18
ABV 6.3%
SRM 7

That's with my brewery efficiency at 70%... could I expect that?

Still have to figure out the best way to do partial mash as well...
Again, any help/criticism/ideas/etc is appreciated, thanks!

Dan

 

[freisste]

BIAB. (Brew In A Bag.)

No need for anything you don't already have, except maybe a paint strainer bag (2packs at big home improvements stores cost about $3).

 

[two_one_seven]

Looks pretty good. If you wanted to you could switch some of the pale wheat to barley to keep more of a half and half proportion. Either way you should have a tasty beverage there

 

[Dr. Francois]

You can make an excellent hefe with nothing but wheat DME or LME, hops, and a packet of Safbrew WB-06 dry yeast from fermentis.
If you want to go PM, your recipe looks fine. Get a good thermometer and a BIAB sack for mashing.


Sent from my SGH-T889 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Komocabo]

Welcome! So, my summer hefe uses basically looks like this (10G, but cut it in half, and there you go). Anyways, it is really, really tasty.

5.5# 2-row
5# wheat malt
1/2# flaked wheat
1# of rice hulls (which don't add flavor, but make a nice grain bed. You can probably skip this since you're doing partial mash)

I really like Citra hop in a hefe as it brings out the natural citrusy flavors of the wheat. I'm pulling from memory here, but I think the hop schedule looks like this (all Citra):

1.5 oz at 60
1 oz at 15
1 oz at 10
.5 oz at 5
.5 oz at 0 (aka flameout)

I also use either yeast 1056 or 1010. This is an American wheat (think of Widmer).

Note, I really like hops and the flavor/aroma, hence the late additions mostly.

I think this is in the 4.5-5.5% range... again, pulling from memory.

I would encourage a few SMaSh recipes (single malt and single hop) if you really get going. I found that I learned the flavors of my hops and malts this way. Also, make the same batch twice but use different yeasts in each... you will see how integral yeast plays as a flavor this way, and will pick out what YOU like about it, and make adjustments as you brew more.

Good luck, be patient with fermentation, and buy some brewing books. RDWHAHB. Also, this forum has basically taught me how to brew, so linger on brother!

Good luck and Cheers!

 

[2000dan2000]

BIAB... huh? have heard the term before but not looked into it, I'll check it out for sure, thanks!

and thanks for the input, I really had no idea if that recipe was good, bad, or just plain ugly... Also for the words of encouragement and recipe ideas Komocabo... I like the idea of repeating the recipe with differing yeasts and/or doing single malts, etc. Great idea!

I too am a bit of a hop head and would like to get a good aroma out of it without being too powerful for the style. Would a larger addition of Saaz late boil/flameout overdo it? Like say 1/2oz at 0? more?

 

[chickypad]

I think the recipe looks good too, you're at about 60% wheat, although pretty high gravity for a German hefe. If that's what you were aiming for great, but otherwise I might consider cutting down the DME by a lb or so. You could up the Saaz like you mentioned and be fine. I agree BIAB with a 5 gal paint strainer bag in your 5 gal pot is probably the way to go, I do that size for 2.5 gallon all grain batches. It should fit if you mash with about 3 gallons of water, then sparge with another gallon or so giving you about a 3.5 gal boil if you squeeze the bag. I have an oven that will fit my pot, so I preheat it to 170, turn off the heat and stick the pot in there. Keeps the mash temp pretty stable.

 

[Komocabo]

Also with a hefe, try to keep it 50/50 between barley and wheat. That's what works for me anyways. The beauty of this.hobby is experimentation, so... experiment and post results. Happy homebrewing!