Who has a good summer hefeweizen recipe?

[prie9179]

Hey all,
I'm looking for a good simple (preferably extract) hefeweizen recipe. I'm still pretty new to brewing with about 3 beers and 2 ciders under my belt. I would love to be able to have the choice of drinking the hefe straight or tossing in some lemon or lemonade. My friends and I use to drink these (we called them Radlers) when I lived in southwestern Germany. I miss swirling the bottle to pick up the fallen yeast. Prost!

 

[grahamfw]

Most of my hefes are smarter recipes, sorry.

Just kidding. Hefe is something you should be able to throw together. They are fairly basic:

5 lbs liquid wheat-malt extract
Noble hops to get you to 15-25 IBUs (single addition near 60 min should be fine)
Smack pack of your favorite hefe yeast or an appropriate starter with a White labs or Wyeast yeast

That would be plenty drinkable.

 

[prie9179]

@grahamfw

I can do something a little more complicated than that. Would it be beneficial to steep any grains? Extract + hops + yeast + water somehow seems like cheating it's so easy.

 

[dtgrdn]

I just did this one from my LHBS, I'll be bottling any day now:

1 - 3.75 Lb. can of “Wheat Beer” Malt Extract kit
1 - Pound Light Dry malt Powder
1 - Pound Wheat Dry malt Powder
1 - Pound Flaked Wheat
1 - Ounce Tettnanger hops (boil 60 minutes)
White Labs American Hefeweizen Yeast


Original gravity 1.044
Ending gravity 1.013
Alcohol 4.0% by volume

 

[LandoLincoln]

Here's one that makes an excellent lemonade radler.

5.5 gallon batch, 1.049 OG, 1.012 FG, 19.2 IBU's, 3.9 SRM

The amounts listed below for the grains are for a 72% brewhouse efficiency

4.7 lb flaked wheat
4.7 lb 2-row pale malt
1oz East Kent Goldings hops (AAU 5.0%) at 60 minutes
.75oz coriander seed (crushed) at 5 minutes
.75oz bitter orange peel at 5 minutes
1 vial White Labs WLP400 (Belgian Wit Ale) yeast (make a 1L starter with stir plate)

Mash 60 minutes at 154°.
Ferment at 63-67° for two weeks then transfer to bottle or keg.
There's still going to be a heck of a lot of krausen after two weeks, but that doesn't mean it's not done fermenting.

Edit: oops - you said "preferably extract." Oh well. If you want to get into all-grain, this beer is pretty easy to make and would be a good test to see how well your newly-made mash tun would handle sticky adjuncts like wheat.

It's also a good idea to use a hop sock for the crushed coriander and bitter orange peel.

 

[Coppinburgh]

Slim has a recipe that's the best I've ever had! It's a lemon lime Hefe. The Sorachi and Mouteka hops are tricky to hunt down sometimes but so worth it! Not sure if it's taboo on HBT to copy and paste someone else's recipe so I won't. It's an easy find if you search lemon lime hefewiezen in the recipe database.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[grahamfw]

@grahamfw

I can do something a little more complicated than that. Would it be beneficial to steep any grains? Extract + hops + yeast + water somehow seems like cheating it's so easy.

It almost seems criminal, doesn't it??

Hefes are really about the yeast and the wheat. For many, they are an excellent intro into good or craft beer - easy to drink on and similarly easy to make.

I'd say you could go with some orange zest at flameout to up the citrus quotient or if you're feeling really crazy, go do a super late addition of some citrusy hops like amarillo or citra. You don't want it too bitter though, so keep the IBUs reasonable. I looked at the last hefe I made and it was only pils and wheat.

As much as I enjoy a good hefe, I'm much more partial to the spiciness of Belgian-style wits. Those are more fun for me to play around with.

 

[JonM]

Here's the one I'm about to brew, but haven't tried yet. I like it because Jamil Z. gives good guidance about ferm temps, starter size, etc. which I understand can be a little tricky with hefeweizens, and striking the right balance of banana/clove flavors.

http://byo.com/stout/item/2265-german-hefeweizen-style-profile

 

[OscarBrau]

I made this Blood Orange Hefeweizen as my first ever beer. Very refreshing, very easy to make. It's from "Extreme Brewing." I used Wyeast 3068.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/beer-recipes-how-to-home-brew-hefeweizen#slide-2

 

[grahamfw]

I made this Blood Orange Hefeweizen as my first ever beer. Very refreshing, very easy to make. It's from "Extreme Brewing." I used Wyeast 3068.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/beer-recipes-how-to-home-brew-hefeweizen#slide-2

I love that recipe and book. GREAT recipes in there.

Unfortunately, for me, when I want Hefes, it's in the summer time, and blood orange season is only January to March for us.

 

[OscarBrau]

Oh yeah, didn't even think of that. I just got lucky and happened to brew my first ever beer the week that blood oranges came out.

I've seen a couple of threads where people had good luck with other citrus besides blood oranges - tangerines and clementines if I remember correctly.