What the Hefe am I doing? 1st Recipe AG

[youngson616]

Just found an awesome homebrew store about 40 minutes from my house, well worth the drive. Open 7 days a week! They carry all the weyermann malts I seek and its all self serve! So without any skill at building recipes, I gave it a try! Hefeweizen on the menu.

-Grain bill-

6 lbs WM white wheat
5 lbs WM pilser
2 lbs WM vienna
0.4 lbs acid malt

Doing a basic three step mash, batch sparge, and 60 min boil. Hallertauer hops 45 minutes. Wyeast 3068. 69 degrees. Its a heavy grain bill, but my efficiency isn't the greatest quite yet.

So...What the Hefe can I expect??? Higher OG?

 

[AlexKay]

That’ll work nicely for a Hefeweizen. (Don’t know about the acidulated; seems like a lot.)

Remember, fermentation temperature is key to the banana/clove balance.

 

[youngson616]

That’ll work nicely for a Hefeweizen. (Don’t know about the acidulated; seems like a lot.)

My ph is rather high even after RO. If its too low, ill add calcium carbonate. Needs some calium anyway

Remember, fermentation temperature is key to the banana/clove balance.

For sure I have noticed that. After temp control it seemed to be worse than letting it go in my closet lol. Any suggestions on tempature? I usually raise it a few degrees the last few days of fermenting.

 

[youngson616]

Also I wagered acid malt on a 3% basis per the 13 lb grain bill (13x.03= .39 lbs)

 

[youngson616]

Remember, fermentation temperature is key to the banana/clove balance.

Forgot to metion I usually like banana, but not overkill. Local brewery here has a delicious hefe with nice off flavor bubblegum notes is what I really would like to do

 

[youngson616]

Got some results!

So didn't go exacly as planned, as usual, but worked out great for extraction numbers! I used my softened well water unknown mineral content.

Mash started at 113 for 10 minutes
Added hot water to achieve 130 for 30 minutes. Then the problem was i added my last hot gallon of my treated 5 gallons and the temp only climbed to 135. It forced me to decoction mash I guess? So i pulled 1/3 of mash and got to a boil about 15 minutes and threw it back in to mash. Temp hit 150. Sach rested for 30 minutes. Mash ph was 5.7, target was 5.3. The acid malt helped greatly imo. Pre boil og 1.043. Post boil 1.052. We will see give it 2 weeks!

 

[pvtpublic]

For sure I have noticed that. After temp control it seemed to be worse than letting it go in my closet lol. Any suggestions on tempature? I usually raise it a few degrees the last few days of fermenting.

Try fermenting in the low 60's, with a solid yeast pitch. 0.75B cells per ml wort. I know it sounds counter-intuitive to go so low, but trust me. I first heard it from Jamil Zainasheff, and tried it a few times myself, and it works. Another trick is to forget everything I mentioned and do what you want, since everybody's process is a little different. I also don't have any published books, just brewing notes written in crayon and covered in beer stains.

Edit: The grain bill looks pretty good, except the acid malt. Could I ask why that's in there? I assure you, I'm not trying to be a Richard-head with that question.

 

[youngson616]

Edit: The grain bill looks pretty good, except the acid malt. Could I ask why that's in there? I assure you, I'm not trying to be a Richard-head with that question.

It was a total crapshoot grain bill, I hope it comes out good. I think I. Gonna cook this suck at 70 for 14 days. Its my first time using acid mault, experimenting if you will. My typical mash ph is on the high side and I have tried different things to combat this like salts, acid, RO, etc. Acid works but seems hard for me to get the perfect ratio to maintain th ph during mash. I thought I read in Palmers book it is ok to use sauermalz 2-3% to adjust mash ph. I also used 1 tsp CaCl per Gal. water. Ill typically add 1/2 to 1 tsp gypsum to the mash but I didn't this time. I think I would next time to hopefully acheive my target 5.3

 

[youngson616]

Try fermenting in the low 60's

Ive done 62 degrees before with no luck, lost the banana and cloves flavors actually. But then again I didnt have a good control on mash ph. Im open to the idea of trying it again, read up on this that this temp done right can produce esters

 

[youngson616]

Matter of fact, Palmers klasse bavarian weisbier recipe recommends fermenting at 62 degrees

 

[youngson616]

(Don’t know about the acidulated; seems like a lot.)

In the book How to Brew Palmer explains that acid malt is only used to lower mash ph. Says the most well known is Weyermanns, who specifies using 1% by weight of total grain bill to lower the ph by 0.1 ph. They claim it can be used up to 10% of grain bill without imparting sour lactic flavor to the beer. Palmer estimates 4-5% can be us3r in any beer style to reduce alkalinity without lactic flavor being prevelent. So my 3% seems just about right to me, and it worked out great for numbers.

 

[SFC Rudy]

I served in Germany for 10 years and drank way more than my fair share of Hefe Weizens. Started home brewing in Germany because I LOVE Hefe Weizens. I've tried all the tricks: step mashes, ferment low, ferment high, ferment low then high, etc, etc, etc........

I finally made my best Hefe that was close enough to those that I drank in Germany. When my battle (drinking) buddy popped a top and took a drink he said, "Now THAT'S the taste I've been missing."

My recipe:

55% Wheat Malt
40% Pale Malt
5% Carapils

Mash @ 150° until conversion (45 minutes for my system)

Boil 60 minutes
Tettnang hops @60 min.

Chill to 68° and pitch Lallemand Munich Classic Dry yeast until krausen drops (about 10 days). IMHO, forget the liquid yeasts, this is the BEST yeast I have tried for hefe weizens.

Bottle, DO NOT KEG, to 3 volumes CO2.

This is literally the closest to most of the Hefe Weizens I drank while in Germany.

NOTE: I "open" ferment with a jerry-rigged cooler in a 15 gallon sterilite container I got from wally world. They say hefe's need more surface area to not remove the banana and clove taste and aromas during active fermentation. Next I'll try in one my SS bucket fermenters.

 

[youngson616]

Sweet thanks for the recipe!

 

[pvtpublic]

@SFC Rudy, what's the amount/target IBU of your tettnang addition?

 

[youngson616]

I assumed 1 oz. 10-12 aa

 

[youngson616]

Chill to 68° and pitch Lallemand Munich Classic Dry yeast until krausen drops (about 10 days). IMHO, forget the liquid yeasts, this is the BEST yeast I have tried for hefe

How many cells do you pitch, do you under pitch?

 

[SFC Rudy]

How many cells do you pitch, do you under pitch?

I pitched one packet of yeast and let it ride.

 

[SFC Rudy]

@SFC Rudy, what's the amount/target IBU of your tettnang addition?

I based my recipe from the book "Brew Classic European Beers at Home" it's an old book. It called for one ounce of hops (tettnanger or hallertau or even saaz) for five gallons of beer, around 15-18 ibus.

Try the Lallemand yeast. I made the best hefe with it so far.

 

[tracer bullet]

Bottle, DO NOT KEG

First, thanks for sharing the recipe.

Curious about your opinion on bottle vs. keg?

 

[SFC Rudy]

Yeast settles. Part of drinking a German Hefe Weizen is swirling the bottle to get the yeast that has settled in the bottle and drinking it. In a keg, the yeast settles and eventually you'll end up with a krystal weizen. I do not remember visiting a bar or gastehaus that ever had Hefe Weizen on tap. Schneider Brau and Hof Brau Haus in Munich served their hefe weizens in bottles. I even ordered a Hefe Weizen at Oktoberfest and they served it in a bottle. Hefe's are the only beer I bottle, and it is worth the trouble.

One of my favorites was at the Fuchbecks brewery in Sulzback Rosenberg Germany. Sometime there would be almost 1/4 inch of yeast in the bottle. Stir that **** up and damn....

Bottle it and you will be rewarded.

 

[eddieoxo]

Yeast settles. Part of drinking a German Hefe Weizen is swirling the bottle to get the yeast that has settled in the bottle and drinking it. In a keg, the yeast settles and eventually you'll end up with a krystal weizen. I do not remember visiting a bar or gastehaus that ever had Hefe Weizen on tap. Schneider Brau and Hof Brau Haus in Munich served their hefe weizens in bottles. I even ordered a Hefe Weizen at Oktoberfest and they served it in a bottle. Hefe's are the only beer I bottle, and it is worth the trouble.

One of my favorites was at the Fuchbecks brewery in Sulzback Rosenberg Germany. Sometime there would be almost 1/4 inch of yeast in the bottle. Stir that **** up and damn....

Bottle it and you will be rewarded.

Hi, I live near Nurnberg in Germany, and there a few Beer garden I visit where they do have it on keg, Tucher is one the other a gem called Jacobs from the Bayerscher wald, the tip is to swirl the keg every few pints to keep the yeast circulating... pain for the bar men... but I do like it on tap when I can get it.
Must check out Fuchbecks...

 

[SFC Rudy]

Hi, I live near Nurnberg in Germany, and there a few Beer garden I visit where they do have it on keg, Tucher is one the other a gem called Jacobs from the Bayerscher wald, the tip is to swirl the keg every few pints to keep the yeast circulating... pain for the bar men... but I do like it on tap when I can get it.
Must check out Fuchbecks...

Jacobs was the first Hefeweizen I ever tried and got me hooked. Tucher was my favorite .