Weihenstaphen Hefe orignal gravity

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jlash630

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Good morning,

On the brewery website the OG is listed as %/weight.. is this % sugar? I am having trouble converting this to *Plato or specific gravity..

I intend to brew a "clone" of this on saturday and am trying to finalize the details in Beersmith. Currently I have my OG set for 1.052 which with my efficiency, should get me to 5.3% abv, just shy of their listed 5.4%..

thanks!
Screen Shot 2020-04-09 at 10.38.31 AM.png
 
Yes, you are correct. 12.7% sugar by weight = 12.7 plato which works out to be about 1.051 so you're OG is perfect. To convert from plato to SG just multiply by 4 and add 1.0 in front of the result. So for this beer 12.7 x 4 = 50.8... round it to 51 so you'd get 1.051.
 
Good morning,

On the brewery website the OG is listed as %/weight.. is this % sugar? I am having trouble converting this to *Plato or specific gravity..

I intend to brew a "clone" of this on saturday and am trying to finalize the details in Beersmith. Currently I have my OG set for 1.052 which with my efficiency, should get me to 5.3% abv, just shy of their listed 5.4%..

thanks!View attachment 674898

This is my favorite wheat beer!!
I love the yeast strain too, and basically always brew a batch of this when i brew. (I do two 5 gallons every time i lug out the gear).
I have come pretty close, but not perfect, to their beer. It is certainly a fun process though! Each batch gets better for sure.
Currently i am trying to match their "vitus" wheat beer. (A higher abv, touch of pinapple flavor). It is fermenting right now.

What yeast are you using? I prefer Imperial Stefon.

Please keep me updated!
 
I just pitched my yeast into my first take on this Hefe Weissbier this morning as well, can’t wait to see how it turns out!

For Nate R, I did a version of Vitus last fall-it was very tasty and very close to Vitus in all aspects except a bit darker in color-the recipe is here in the recipe section.

Ill be watching this thread and eagerly awaiting how these turn out.
 
My brew day went pretty poor, the pH meter broke and I was pretty much guessing.. I did the ferulic acid rest for 30 minutes for good measure, ended up missing my preboil number (was 1.035 instead of 1.042.. gonna be a 4.7% beer) and the wheat must have absorbed more water than beersmith accounted for (have you seen this on your system?) So, I was pretty much out of water (rookie mistake, didn't make extra conditioned water) and ended up with 4.75g in the ferm.

I used the Yeast 3068 smack pack with no starter and pitched at 59. I'm I'm currently at 64, thinking about bumping it to 65 tomorrow and maybe 68 on Friday and hold that for the remainder.

What temps are you guys fermenting at? And did you notice the 10-12% drop in efficiency?

This weekend, I am going to do another wheat, although this time it will be a Wit. The Brunchmaster 2000 from the AHA website.

Couple things I'm changing for this one though..
I'll have extra water ready, lower my recipe design efficiency from 85% to 72%, mash for 90 minutes, bought a nicer pH meter (Milwaukee MW102), pay more attention to grain bed while fly sparging, and not preheat the mash tun with as hot of water.
 
I have heard hefe yeast performs differently when under (or less) pitched. More traditional flavors or something.

Maybe this will be a happy mistake for you? Or maybe one aspect of this batch will make you want to try it on the next batch?
 
jlash-sorry to heat of your troubles with brew day. For my part I have not noticed any significant loss of efficiency in beers with a high majority of wheat (I use red German wheat)-actually my OG pre boil and at fermenting ended up .002 high of my BeerSmith recipe. The advice I was following to mimic this beer was to use fairly soft water and do no ph adjustments. My dip strip showed my mash was approximately 5.5, and that is a bit higher than usual. I BIAB full volume though so perhaps that is the difference?

I build up my hefe yeasts regardless, either Wy 3068 or WLP300, proper mash temp rests and fermentation temps are the key to getting the desired flavors in my experience, not under pitching, under oxygenation etc. Read up on German methods, hefe’s are open fermented in large flat vessels completely unlike our usual closed fermenters, krasuen is scooped off.
 
The under pitch was done purposely, I read that they perform well and produce better phenols and water when stressed. I have also heread that people who utilize the BIAB will definitely net a better experience.. Loki, did you do a 3 step decoction? I'm sure this thing will be fine, every step and brew is another time to learn!
 
I read a lot on pitch rates as well, I gleaned (my interpretation of who was more correct) that under pitch was a method to mimic results but not the real way the Germans do it. Those I trust and believe say to pitch correctly, and that the esters and phenols come from managing the correct fermentation temps and by hitting the right temps in your mash. To that end I step mashed, 4 steps. Doing in at 95F, this is an acid test that gives a particular acid that this hefe yeast uses to convert into those desired flavors, then 114-120, then 143-147, and mash out at 168. No decoction was used as I full volume BIAB. If I wanted I could pull a thin small decoction and use it to hit my rests, but I direct fire for hefe’s. Now with a Bavarian Pilsner I pull a single decoction about 1/3 the mash and boil briefly.
 
I'm using a cooler mash tun and the step mash is hard, I was able to do the ferulic rest and then the sach rest. I did use melanoidan malt in place of the rests.. fingers are crossed!
 
I brewed my version of this on 4-12 and kegged it on 4-20.

Since then to last weekend it’s been slowly maturing in the keg, kind of a secondary but at 38-39F in my kegerator.

This week it’s really come into its own-the banana bread is really shining and it doesn’t taste ‘green’ any more-it’s quite good in my view. I need to find a fresh 6 pack of the real thing and do a comparison to see just how close I came.
 
Ive read that the fermenters where they ake it are set to 20C but are 21.5C which is about 70F, thats what im gonna go with when i give this a go.
 
The only thing I’ll do differently next time I brew this sometime this summer (I keep it in regular rotation) is to do an open fermentation as I have seen and read that the brewery performs for this beer-it should only enhance my already amazing Weissbier!
 
How did yours turn out? Are you drinking it yet? Mine is spectacular!
Terrible, I had to dump it due to an unclean new brewbucket.. I thought I had it clean enough... Nope! It had a harsh metallic after taste
 
Terrible, I had to dump it due to an unclean new brewbucket.. I thought I had it clean enough... Nope! It had a harsh metallic after taste
Terrible waste, sorry you had that happen :eek:

Best thing I ever did for my beer was a SS brew bucket/conical from Anvil. Best $ I ever spent on HB gear.
 
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May I ask why?

Stainless fermenters are what breweries use-for a reason.
You can open them up to clean them, to dry hop, etc. Sampling for FG is as easy as turning a value, no trying to sanitize a thief to suck out a sample thru a narrow neck. No worries about light infiltration thru glass or breaking it, no contamination from a plastic bucket, scratching and things growing, never replacing like a bucket. Better temp control as metal is thinner and conducts heat and cold better than glass or plastic. The ability to open ferment in I wish, extra head capacity that eliminates the need for a blow off, the conical-ish bottom really settles and compacts the yeast, I have almost no fermenter dead space-5 gallons in and 5 gallons out...

Just to name a few
:thumbsup:
 
Stainless fermenters are what breweries use-for a reason.
You can open them up to clean them, to dry hop, etc. Sampling for FG is as easy as turning a value, no trying to sanitize a thief to suck out a sample thru a narrow neck. No worries about light infiltration thru glass or breaking it, no contamination from a plastic bucket, scratching and things growing, never replacing like a bucket. Better temp control as metal is thinner and conducts heat and cold better than glass or plastic. The ability to open ferment in I wish, extra head capacity that eliminates the need for a blow off, the conical-ish bottom really settles and compacts the yeast, I have almost no fermenter dead space-5 gallons in and 5 gallons out...

Just to name a few
:thumbsup:

All that and more if you go full conical- easier yeast harvesting, pressure ferments & transfers...
But way more $$!!!
I finally used my Speidel (plastic) for the first time. In the bathtub, in about 8" of water, with ice bottles to help chill.
Beer came out better than some of my temp control spike cf5.
 
All that and more if you go full conical- easier yeast harvesting, pressure ferments & transfers...
But way more $$!!!
I finally used my Speidel (plastic) for the first time. In the bathtub, in about 8" of water, with ice bottles to help chill.
Beer came out better than some of my temp control spike cf5.
Yup-SS brew buckets are a great step in that direction with a majority of the features at a fraction of the cost. If my brewing was more than just a hobby to make myself great beer I’d probably have a true conical-but my production just doesn’t justify it-as I get many of the same features with what I have now. I can do low pressure closed transfers as well-add that to the list.
 
Damn LokiM4, i didnt see that you had a bucket before. Brew buckets seem like phenomenal value.

I think so yes. I have had it for over a year now-it’s really changed and improved my beer. I don’t generally advertise my gear, but I have posted in the Anvil fermenter thread about it-I just can’t help it-i really like it for a lot of reasons.
 
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