Paulaner Hefe-Weissbier Clone?

[Walrus81]

OK, so what is the difference between a Weissbier and a Kolsch as the grains seems to be very similar just the major difference is years. Or am I missing something else?

[Zapp Brannigan]

Weissbier is consistently higher in the proportion of wheat to other malts, but IMHO most important is the choice of yeast. You can make a passable kolsch with a few different types of yeast, but without the right beasties you will never get anywhere near a proper weizen.

[Invalid Stout]

Weissbier is mostly wheat with some barley, Kölsch is mostly barley with a little bit of wheat, sometimes none. And the completely different yeast. Quite substantial differences I would say.

[Walrus81]

Just looking through some recipes I came to the same conclusion, just wanted to see what others thought!

So now the choice is Kolsch 1st (easier as I have more bits) or Weissbier?

HHHHmmmmmmmmm

[Barley Water]

Well, of the two beers, I think that a passable weizen is easier to make than a decent kolsch. Although kolsch is an ale, I think that it is very much like making a pale lager, such as helles. For that reason, I don't bother with kolsch, I just go ahead and make lagers. Good kolsch should have just a hint (and I mean nothing more than a hint) of fruity esters. Many brewpubs here make kolsch and frankly, I find most of them lacking because they have way too much fruitiness going on. There is nothing to hide behind with a beer like kolsch, the flavor is subtle and any screwups in brewing processes show up in the glass. I think making really good, award winning heffe is difficult also but passable stuff is certainly doable, even for the relatively inexperienced. The other major advantage to heffe is that you can turn it around really quickly because you don't need to wait for it to clear, you want it cloudy.

Another German ale I have only tried once is alt bier. It has some similarities to kolsch, specifically it is an ale and is fermented relatively cool (as compared to say British ales which are brewed much warmer). The good stuff is malty but bitter as hell so it is a little bit more forgiving than kolsch. You might consider trying alt first to get your processes down before you go the kolsch route, assuming of course you like darker beer. I really liked the batch I brewed last year but I really need to increase the hopping to get that authentic taste. That is just another of my projects for the fall, I want the stuff to lager for awhile before entering it into competition.