24-04-2009 - First Hefe

[coatesg]

Going for a hefe this evening - first beer of this sort so a bit of foreign ground, so to say... hoping for a nice refreshing summer's drink for the upcoming month or two

2.5kg Wheat malt
1.9kg Pale Malt
500g Munich

Mashed at 67C for 2hr.

45g Hallertauer Hersbrucker 2.1% bittering
20g Hallertauer Hersbrucker (last 15min)

It looks like I have 27L at 1.041 or so in the boiler - so should come in at about 1.047 post boil. Not sure if the efficiency took a bit of a hit - and the sparge was quite slow (though at least it didn't stick). I got my elements working again after the screw up last time - I think they were perhaps a bit dirty going like the clappers now they are clean!!

I'll be fermenting this with WLP-300 - I'll try and pitch at 13C if I can get the wort cooled that far, and then let the temperature rise to 17C.

Right, off to do some sanitising - I need to rack off the porter I made to make room in the fridge before I can pitch the hefe!!

[DarloDave]

Looks good, I've got a couple of Hefe's planned for the next few weeks, mixing between Hersbrucker and Liberty hops

[coatesg]

OKey dokey - we're all tucked away. Managed to pitch at 13C, but had only 20L of wort at 1049 - a bit lower than normal, but it may have been a water issue (forgot to look at the pH ) - I used 36L of ASDA smartwater with a tsp of CaCl2 - the pH of the mash should have been thereabouts, but maybe it was a bit off (of maybe it's something about the sparge, or all the wheat in the brew - I dunno!)

[coatesg]

This is my first time with this yeast, and it's been going potty for the last 2 days now - it quickly filled the gallon and a half of headspace, and is trying to make it's way out through the airlock yet again

[mysterio]

Recipe looks great!

[coatesg]

Racked this over last night for bottling this evening and harvested a bit of yeast from the bottom for reuse. Down to 1011 from 1047 so a respectable 4.7% or thereabouts. The trial jar was very tasty and refreshing (though I think it needs carbonating to get the full phenol/banana thing going ) - I'd maybe pull back the hops slightly on this one next time - possibly down to 35g/15g at 2.1%.

[coatesg]

Just cracked the first of this batch tonight, and it's a lovely refreshing pint. Bit spicy, bit of banana, and a hint of some hersbrucker in there too.

And, it's passed the SWMBO test too as she's a big weizen/wit fan - dunno if this is gonna hang around too long - just needs a bit of warm weather to be absolutely perfect!

[mysterio]

Great result! Hefe's are a really easy beer to brew and to get right as long as you handle the fermentation temps. Theres the added satisfaction of know you pay an absolute fortune in the shops for it, too.

[coatesg]

Great result! Hefe's are a really easy beer to brew and to get right as long as you handle the fermentation temps. Theres the added satisfaction of know you pay an absolute fortune in the shops for it, too.

Yeah - was pretty straightforward with a single infusion, and ready so quickly too - and ready for some cracking weather this weekend . I'm not getting much of a look in on it though... I think about a third of the batch has already gone, and I've only had 4 pints of it! (I sense this being a "house regular" by popular demand... ). I don't know if it's worth doing a decoction for this really - or whether just to leave that for the dunkelweizens ?

[adm]

Good stuff.

I'm just back from a business trip to find a copy of "German Wheat Beer - Classic Beer Styles" by Eric Warner has been delivered by Amazon, so that's my weekend reading sorted out. I'll have to order some German Weiss yeast in now....I've been drinking Erdinger Weiss all week and very nice it was too. I feel a clone coming on.

As it looks like being a good weekend, my plan is to sit on the patio and read that while drinking the rest of my Wittgenstein belgian type Wit. I've got a mutant dark hoppy Wit type beer in the FV also, so I'll have a test sample of that later to see how it's going.

Ah! Summer and Wheat Beer......life is good!

[edit1now]

CG - you said it got pitched at 13C - did you keep it at that temp throughout? I was asking because I've just bottled one which had a week at 22C. I was hoping to get more banana than clove (the Eric Warner book mentions something about this) by fermenting slightly warmer. I used Danstar Munich Wheat yeast this time, instead of WB-06 which I did find clovey.

[coatesg]

CG - you said it got pitched at 13C - did you keep it at that temp throughout?

I pitched it at 13C and then just let it rise naturally to 17C with the heat of the ferment and kept it there for about 12 days or so. I've seen this quoted for WLP300 before a few times and it turned out pretty well for me