Wait, what did I just brew? It was supposed to be a Hefeweizen.

[SmugMug]

Remember that honey in beer ferments all the way out leaving little / no flavor. Also it may contain wild yeasts if not killed by heating.

I added in 2lbs of clover honey 30min into the boil and 8 days later you can definitely still taste a distinct honey flavor and sweetness. It's much more mellow but it's still there.

 

[Arkador]

Both of my Hefe recipes use only .5oz to 1oz Hallertauer for the full 60 minute boil, and that is it.

 

[maztec]

Arkador: Yah, thatis what I have gathered by looking around since brewing that. I really did know better, I was an idiot to follow the recipe. I should have left the Northern Brewer at the shop.

 

[EoinMag]

Never made it to the OstFriesian Islands, aren't they mostly sand? Sounds interesting. So, you're a chef now? Sorry, being nosy, just curious. That, and wondering what a home brewer in Ireland brews.

Speaking of such things. So, let's assume I rack this hopafeizen this weekend. Any suggestions on anything I might want to ad during the secondary fermentation to make it interesting? I am tempted to add some fruit, but not sure. Thoughts?

Sorry dude I missed this one. The Ostfriesian Islands are not heavily populated, one of them was 80% bird sanctuary and the rest tourism and had no cars on it. The other was similar without the bird sanctuary. Norderney has up to 50.000 visitors daily in the summmer, but only 10.000 permanent population. I worked for a long time in gastronomy, I was headwaiter for that masterchef dude. I have worked as a chef without any formal training, so I'm loathe to call it chef, but not under him. They say a good waiter can make a bad chef, and any chef can make a waiter when needs must.
Now I work in computer security, in the German and French markets mostly.

So far, I've brewed a few wines, just sampled my own concoction plum wine this evening and it's fantastic after about ten weeks, looking forward to that one in a year.
I presently am on kit beer brewing as a relative noob, I started in November, but have about 50-60 gallons under my belt since then, some better than others.
I buy Woodfordes kits now as I have realised that all malt is definitely the way to go, my next step is to go extract and then hopefully all grain.

 

[maztec]

No problem EoinMag. Sounds like a good time up there. Hmm, plum wine, sounds interesting. I was actually thinking of making some turnip wine this fall, but have never even tried it - just seen old recipes for it.

 

[maztec]

I added the green mango. It has been in the secondary with it for a week. It tastes pretty good. Just a mild hint of tart mangoness and the bitter has been sucked out a touch, really nice! In fact, tasting the mango chunks themselves they are super-bitter now.

One question. Because my mango chunks keep floating (yeast attachs to their sugars, make gas, they go up), any recommendations on how to make them sink a bit so that they get more into flavoring the brew up? I want a touch more mango tartness to it, but it has a good start so far.

Thanks!

 

[Gderem]

Just a question about Hefe beers. If I'm looking to make a Hefe more like a Pyramid Hefe or Widmer Hefe, what yeast would you recommend? I like these beers more than the fruity Bavarian styles I've tasted.

 

[maztec]

Just a question about Hefe beers. If I'm looking to make a Hefe more like a Pyramid Hefe or Widmer Hefe, what yeast would you recommend? I like these beers more than the fruity Bavarian styles I've tasted.

The Bavarian beers are fruity because of the yeast (which I think you have gathered). However, different Bavarian-style beers have different fruit characters. The only real way to figure them all out is to make a trip to Bavaria and try the thirteen main brands! It takes about two days at each, because they have a lot of beer.

However, if you want an American Hefeweizen style - for example Pyramid or Widmer, there are a lot of clone recipes out there. For yeast, I have seen three different types being used. One was a lager, I don't understand how that was still a Hefeweizen, so leave you to use Google to search for that one on your own (Wyeast 2035 American Lager). The other was using a fairly neutral yeast. Finally, the closest I have seen used White Labs WLP320 American Hefeweizen Ale, which seems to be named appropriately.

To me, the biggest difference between an American Hefeweizen and a Bavarian Hefeweizen is both the amount of hops and the yeast.

Widmer actually gives a ton of details on their Hefeweizen on their website:
http://www.widmer.com/beer_hefeweizen.aspx
You will notice that they hit 30 IBU (compared to around 14 IBU, versus my 61.9 IBU here - I'm even outrageously high for an American Hefeweizen). The OG is 1.047 (11.75*Plato). They are using Pale, Munich, Wheat, and Caramel 40L. Plus, Alchemy hops for bittering, and Willamette and Cascade for aroma. You should be able to reasonably well engineer their recipe from that. Others have done the work for you if you do a quick search on Google.

Hope that helps and good luck!

 

[maztec]

Earlier I had mentioned that the green mango had sucked out the bitterness. GLW agrees with me 100%, the beer tastes awesome now! It is bottled and we are waiting to see what happens once it is fully carbed. I did go a bit overboard on the sugar for carbing, in that I put in enough for a traditional Hefe, we will see if that works.

A funny side story. GLW decided that she wanted to eat the mangos in the carboy. So she grabbed one, popped it in her mouth, and "Hmm, not much fla.... OH MY GOD!" and spat it out. It was super-bitter. So, quite literally, the green mango and sucked up the bitterness.

Now, the funny thing is, all it was was bitter. It doesn't seem to have sucked up the hop flavor, just the hop bitter. That may mean, with a bit of experimentation, some really interesting results might be achievable. Time and experimentation will tell!

 

[headfullahops]

Try that same recipe with 1 oz of Hallertau Hersbrucker at the beginning of the boil and nothing else (except for maybe Irish Moss or a Whirlfloc tab @ 15 mins). That ought to bring it closer to the style!

 

[SmugMug]

Try that same recipe with 1 oz of Hallertau Hersbrucker at the beginning of the boil and nothing else (except for maybe Irish Moss or a Whirlfloc tab @ 15 mins). That ought to bring it closer to the style!

Thought American weizens were higher on the hops than the Bavarian styles. Hallertau is a little on the mild side, but I might suggest a 15/30/60 1oz addition of them. Might get a bit more of the tartness that an American weizen gets. I wouldn't use IR or Whirlfloc though, but that's just my preference since I like cloudy weizens. Take it for what it's worth.

 

[maztec]

Thanks for the tips chaps. I think I'll forgo on clarifying, I like a foggy hefeweizen. However, I will definitely use less hops next time.

I really should see if I can find a hop source that is dependable for having fresh hops of a large variety. Local shop is good, but always getting in different stuff, with the exception of a few standard American hops.