Bavarian Hefeweizen

Early on in my brewing efforts, I tried out the NB Bavarian Hefeweizen recipe kit, and I have to say, I hoped for a beer with a bit more body.  Also, the end result wasn't a very cloudy glass of beer.  As such, I wanted to take another crack at it, so here's what I went with

Brew Day: 5 June
45 min boil/5 qt water

1 lb Bavarian wheat DME (@ 45 min)
7 g German Tettnang hops (@ 30 min)
1/2 lb Gold DME (@ 15 min)

Yeast: Safbrew WB-06

Once the boil was complete, I put the kettle in an ice bath in the sink, and cooled the wort to 80 deg F.  I then aerated the wort, and pitched a bit more than half of the packet of yeast.  Finally, I put the cap on the fermenter, inserted the blow-off tube, put the other end in a Gatorade bottle with some sanitizer solution in it, and put it in my special fermentation location.

My plan is to bottle in 2 wks, and then wait about 3 wks before I try one.  That'll put the first taste just before Bastille Day.

Bavarian hefeweizen

About 12 hr after putting the fermenter in the "fermentation location", the hefe is bubbling nicely.  That's the Angel's Share #1 in the background.

Bottled 19 June.

Addendum, 27 June: I visited Brew LoCo, a local home brew supply store recently, and was pleasantly surprised to see some interesting yeast offerings.  Apparently, they get specialty yeasts from the chemist from the Lost Rhino Brewery, and they come in 5 gallon and 1 gallon pitches.  Depending upon how this one turns out (and I'm strongly considering having a taste test on 3 Jul or thereabouts...), I may make a run up there to get a 1 gal pitch of the hefeweizen yeast and give that one a shot.

Tasting Notes, 27 July: Deep golden color, white head on the pour that fades quickly.  Carbonation is good.  Notes of fruit (albeit not banana) in the nose, with a touch of spice on the palate, most likely from the hops.  The beer isn't hazy, as would be associated with the style.  I could see bubbles rising in the glass for some time...carbonation isn't an issue with this one. Perhaps a little bit more body than I'd want in hefeweizen; this one is a bit heavier than I'd want.