Bavarian weizenbier

[rockhopper_123]

Recipe advice from all you experts and connoisseurs out there..

I'm going to attempt my first all grain weizenbier, so I'd be grateful for a suitable recipe that replicates a Bavarian style, ingredients to suit will be purchased so no limits on what goes in.

Thanks in advance.

[Hanglow]

50% wheat malt
50% pilsner malt

15 IBUs of Hallertau at start of boil - 90 mins

Aim for an OG of around 1.050

Yeast WLP300

Or you could try and step up yeast from Schneider weiss

[rockhopper_123]

Only the one hop at the star of the boil?

[steambrew]

I have been given the same recipe but it was 60% wheat 40% Pilsner malt using the same hops but 25gms 90 min 10 gms 45 min 15 gms 15 mins using the same yeast this came from a rival form hope this helps
Ps this was for 23 lts

[Hanglow]

Yeah you can add some flavour hops if you want, but most of the flavour/aroma should come from the yeast - you'll get banana and clove from that yeast. I think most hops tend to clash a bit with those sort of yeast flavours, similar thing with belgian beers.


Here's another recipe, I'd like to try this one at some point
http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?ti ... sbier_Hell

[steambrew]

I hope to try the beer that you have posted on the link it looks just up my street many thanks

[rockhopper_123]

Thanks fellas, great link Hanglow I can see I'm gonna be busy

[zgoda]

Weissbier is one of easiest beers to brew but also one of hardest to ferment properly. It's hard to get good balance of clove and banana but definitely worth trying.

[Barley Water]

I generally do 70% malted wheat and the rest pils malt with a bit of Munich malt and touch of melonodin malt thrown in ('cause I want "bread in a glass"). I can go on and on about making this style but as a previous poster mentioned, it's all about fermentation control. Ferment cool (about 62F) and you get clove, ferment warm (about 68F) and you'll get bananna. Go too much higher than that and you'll end up with fusels which will ruin your beer and bubblegum which is considered a flaw. There are a bunch of other little tricks many employ to try and coax more flavors from the yeast; it's great fun to make and you will learn a ton about handling brewing yeast. If you don't watch out pretty soon you will find yourself on the "dark side" making those crazy Belgian brews.

[Lugsy]

Fermentation control is definitely important but also the amount of yeast you pitch has a big influence on the finished beer. I use a smaller starter for my Weizens than I do for other beers, somewhere between 500ml and 700ml compared to 1000ml for other 23 litre batches of similar strength beers. I think the yeast likes to be stressed a little to give you the flavours you're after, so less aeration than usual can help too. I pitch cool and ferment at around 16C to start with, rising to 19C to finish it off and this gives a nice balance of clove and banana.

One thing I've found with this approach is that the beer can finish high with WLP300 but racking it to a bottling bucket seems to kick off the fermentation again. This could be down to the introduction of a little oxygen during the transfer and so I leave the beer to secondary for another few days before bottling. The first time I finished high I assumed it was done and bottled it immediately, the resulting bottles gushed wildly unless they were chilled to around 5C and I was lucky to not have any explode on me!

And yes, I've got in to making those crazy Belgian brews now, so be warned

[rockhopper_123]

Again thanks fellas, some great info. I made some cracking wheaty's with muntons kits, additional spray malt and safeale wb06 fermented at @ 24 gave some great flavours ( still have a bottle or two left 12 months on). Now I'm playing with the big boys I look forward to having a crack from first principles. Thanks again.

[jmc]

Last night I kegged a Weizen made using recipe here

Beware that WLP300 needs a lot of headroom as it can get lively


More info: AG100 Weiss / Saison

[Barley Water]

Yeah, that happens every damn time. By the way and essentially agreeing with a previous poster; one of my little tricks is that I never use a starter and I also never oxigenate. My strategy is to stress the yeast to try and get it to throw off more goodies and I have never had a stuck fermenation with WLP300. Of course being on this side of the pond means I likely get fresher yeast than you guys do since it's packaged over here but I have never had an issue and I've made more batches of the stuff than I can count. By the way, one other ways to get better flavors is to do an open fermentation, some of the big boys do that also (which is what you essentially get when the yeast blows out the fermentation lock if you don't catch it right away). I really want to develop a decent Dunkelweizen formulation; probably need to get on that....

[Hanglow]

Have you done a step mash yet? I'm going to try that next, I've only done single infusions and while I like the beers I've made I've always thought they could be a fair bit better

[rockhopper_123]

Interesting, so with a wheaty it appears a stressed yeast needs to work harder and so imparts some great flavours, do you simply add the yeast into the fermenter?

Oh and plenty of headroom in the fermenter

For a stepped mash don't you need a controllable temperature within the mash tun?