What's Wrong With My Hefe's?

[AirLock Sniffer]

Newby extract (DME) brewer here. Made 4 batches since November, and I would judge they are excellent beers in a practical sense, but they aren't really true to style. Totally drinkable, and I like them very much, but they just don't grab me the way a good Bavarian Hefe does. Can I really expect a dramatic difference if I use a liquid yeast like 3068?

I used a dry yeast - Safale WB-06 . Now here's what's kind of weird. On the very first brew I was impatient. I let it ferment at about 62F in the basement for around 5 or 6 days and sort of cold crashed it for a day or two in the garage and bottled with DME for priming. I tasted a bottle at 13 days - and I was pretty impressed with myself - carbonation was OK, tasted a little green or rough around the edges of course - BUT, it had a pronounced bananna and clove note, VERY authentic tasting - I was stationed "over there" and I know what Hefe's on tap taste like, I drank a lot of them. So I figured it would improve in the bottle, with conditioning.

Except, that isn't what happens. The Hefe flavors are gone, I still have a couple bottles left of the first batch in the back of the fridge, and while they are good, perfectly drinkable beers, I'd not recognize them as a Hefe. To me they just taste like a good crisp craft beer. Good and strong. But any of the banana/clove isn't really there. In subsequent batches I kind of messed around with a little warmer fermentation temperatures, using a starter, aerating heavily, not aerating, letting it go for a full 3 weeks in the fermenter.

I would say that every batch has improved with longer aging in the bottle. A week or so at room temperature is enough for carbonation but they definitely seem to smooth out at and lose the green beer overtimes about 3 weeks or so and cold conditioning. Can I expect better results with the liquid yeasts? They sure are proud of them.

 

[jrgtr42]

I don't think you'll get that much difference switching to liquid yeast - they're actually probably the same strain, or pretty close, depending on the maker.
A couple things |I would suggest is to give the beer more time fermenting - give the yeast a chance to really do their thing and clean up after themselves.
Plus, to really get those esters in there to hang around, they do recommend fermenting at a higher temp - 70 degrees, if not a bit higher.
Do you have a log of which batches have which changes? I usually recommend making one change at a time, to see exactly what difference it makes. Eventually you'll hit your mark. Plus, Hefe's don't usually age great - those flavors will fade out over time - usually not that quick, though.
You also may want to check on your oxidation - how you prevent too much air getting to the beer, especially once feremented.

 

[AlexKay]

I've tried WB-06 a few times and never been happy with the results: as you say, they end up tasting like good, crisp beers, not hefeweizens. I've always been happy with White Labs 300/Wyeast 3068, fermented warm.

I've heard lots about Danstar Munich Classic, if you want to try something else in the dry yeast category.

 

[AirLock Sniffer]

Guess I'll have to order some 3068 and give it a try. Maybe a little warmer on the fermenter.

 

[cactusgarrett]

It's all in the yeast! Hefes are tricky and similar to pilsners in that they seem like they're easy to make, and you can easily produce one that's close to what it should be, but it's actually very hard to do them "right".

To me, the hefe style is a procedural beer - because the grainbills are so simple and the flavors are yeast driven, there are a lot of processes that can be tweaked to alter the final flavor. For now, switch yeasts, and as mentioned above, play with the fermentation temp. Once you progress and start digging deeper, take a read of these:

https://braumagazin.de/article/brewing-bavarian-weissbier-all-you-ever-wanted-to-know/https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/hefe-weissbier-bavarian-style.561388/

 

[dmtaylor]

WB-06 is not a hefe yeast, it is a fairly clean Belgian actually, as proven by genetic testing. I got better results when I switched to WLP300/3068. Been meaning to try Munich Classic as well which should be the same as those.

 

[bkboiler]

Agreed with the above. My experience with hefes, wits and saisons is to research the yeast and go liquid if feasible. The specific character you're looking for is likely not the dry one if you're discerning like I am.
Other clean ferments can be done fairly well with dry, IMHO.

 

[AirLock Sniffer]

Yeah, it's kind of wacky. Hefes are apparently pretty tough to get right, there's a lot of different things going on. I tried many many different styles of beer "over there", and I (mostly) liked them all, and while a basic Pils is quite good, I kept circling back to good ole' Hefe Weissen. This was just prior to the introduction of the Euro and it was pretty inexpensive. It was the equivalent of something like $8 a case of 20 (delivered) and maybe $.75 a glass during "Happy Hour" at a Gasthaus or biergarten. I can get several import Hefe's locally now, though sadly not at $8 a case.