Hefeweizen

As summertime approaches, it's a good time to kick off a hefeweizen. And it's been a while since I've brewed this style of beer.

I stopped by my local home brew supply shop today, specifically looking to pick up some WYeast 3068, and got talking with the proprietor about a hefeweizen he'd just brewed.  He recommended an RVA yeast, and as it happened, he did have some of that yeast available!  Because I was specifically looking to pick up a liquid yeast, I had placed a small cooler with some ice cubes in the back of my truck, and this worked out well.

Brew Day: 22 Apr 2019

Partial Mash:
4 oz Munich
2 oz flaked wheat

Boil (20 min):
1 lb Bavarian wheat DME

Hops: 7 g German Perle (@ 20 min)

Yeast: RVA Hefeweizen I (pitched half of the container)

Addendum, 2 May: Transferred to secondary.

Addendum, 18 May: Bottled; got 10 bottles.

Addendum, 4 June: We tried this one recently.  Terri likes it a lot, and gets recognizable banana out of it. I think it's a little lighter in body that it should be, but other than that, the flavor is very nice.  I get a bit of subtle clove, but not much in the way of sweetness that I'd say that I would recognize as banana.  But then, Terri and I have come out that way before; one of the early hefeweizens we tried at SweetWaters was similar, in that I got some clove and Terri got some very forward banana, and our beers were from the same keg.

Addendum, 5 Jul: Drinking another one tonight; body is more along the lines of what I prefer, and the first couple of sips are heavy on the clove.  I don't know if this is due to the fact that I was preparing dinner and had sampled some tomato and avocado with some heavy salt.  However, the beer is really pretty good, and very drinkable.

El Hefe

Most of my hefeweizens, particularly the ones using WLP380, have turned our pretty well, and given that it's summer, what better time for a nice refreshing wheat beer?  This one should be ready to drink right about mid-August.

Brew Day: 9 Jul 2016

Partial Mash:
12 oz red wheat malt
1.5 oz flaked wheat

Boil (60 min):
1 lb Pilsen DME
7 g Glacier hops (AA: 5%) (@ 60 min)

Yeast: WLP380

*I followed my usual procedures for partial mashing, cooling the wort, and pitching the yeast.

Addendum, 10 Jul: I checked in the two fermenters I've got going; the hefe is about 16 hrs since I pitched the yeast.  Everything is moving along nicely.

Addendum, 25 Jul: Bottled tonight, priming with 1 oz table sugar.  Got 9 good bottles.

Hefeweizen

I wanted to do a couple of things with this brew...use up the Munich LME I have, use the red wheat I got from Jay's Brewing (LHBS), and try a hefe with a different yeast.  In this case, I'm going to be trying the Pure Pitch WLP 300 yeast, which suddenly gives the picture to the right some context, doesn't it?  See what I did there?  WLP 300, a picture from the movie "300"...

Anyway, I still have some of my previous hefe left, but then it's getting to be that time of year where I get out to mow the grass, and when I'm done, I may want to enjoy a nice cold hefeweizen as my reward.

Brew Day: 11 May 2016

Partial Mash:
1 lb Red Wheat
1.5 oz flaked wheat

Boil (60 min):
1.3 lb Munich LME
3 oz table sugar
10 g German Perle hops (FWH)

Yeast: WLP 300

*I followed my usual processes for the partial mash, cooling the wort, and pitching the yeast.

Note: I checked on the beer about 6 hrs after pitching the yeast, and it's doing really well.  The yeast is really doing a it's thing!

Addendum, 12 May: As part of my normal Thu morning routine (trash day), I checked in on the brew, and I had to replace the blow-off bottle.  The bottle was completely overwhelmed with krausen, and the padding I'd placed under it (4 paper towels) was completely saturated.  So, I put some fresh sanitizer in another bottle, and cleaned up and replaced the padding, as well.  It was messy, but a good sign.

So far, my experience has been that if you want a good hefeweizen, liquid yeast is the best way to go.  Yes, I've gotten some nice banana notes from the T-58 yeast, but that's more for a Belgian style beer.  Also, letting the beer sit for a bit longer is a great idea; it applies to the hefes just as well as it does to the IPAs.

Addendum, 27 May: Bottled the "300 Hefe" today.  I got 8 good bottles out of the fermenter.

Addendum, 16 Jun: My wife tried one of these last night...the Munich LME was overpowering.  I figured it would be, due to the color, and I had guessed right.  The color and flavor are definitely of a caramel malt, and the flavor overwhelms any aroma of banana.  Comes out as heavy-bodied, malt-forward wheat beer with strong caramel notes.

Not a keeper for a hefe recipe - lesson learned, do not use any caramel malt (grain or extract) in a hefeweizen.

Hefeweizen, Again

If it appears that we like hefeweizens...you're right, we do.  I wanted to try a different yeast this time, and I found some WLP380 Pure Pitch at Jay's Brewing the other day that, based on the write-up, I wanted to give it a try.  I opted for a low AA hop in a first wort hopping that might do a little bit to emphasize the reported apricot from the yeast, or at least not overwhelm it.

Brew Day: 15 Mar 2016

Partial Mash:
10 oz Rahr Red Wheat
4 oz GoldPils Vienna
1.5 oz CaraPils

Boil (60 min):
1lb Bavarian Wheat DME
10 g Huell Melon hops (AA: 4.5%, FWH)

Yeast: WLP380 Pure Pitch (Jillian at Jay's Brewing recommended this one...)

*I followed my normal process for partial mashing, boiling, and pitching the yeast.

Addendum, 18 Mar: Checking on the beer this morning, I saw a bubble come up out of the blow-off tube (in the bottle).  I had replaced the blow-off bottle yesterday, so the contents were pretty clear.  However, closer inspection of the fermenter cap revealed two cracks, one large enough for me to slid my thumbnail into; so I sanitized another cap and an airlock, and placed those on the fermenter.  I'm pretty sure that the beer is fine; it has at least another 7 days before I even think about bottling.

Addendum, 26 Mar: Bottled today (1 oz table sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water).  When I racked the beer on to the priming sugar, I picked up a strong aroma of banana, and some other sweet fruit.  I got 9 good bottles out of this one.  If this yeast works out pretty well, I think that the next thing I might try is dry hopping.

Addendum, 5 Apr: Chilled two bottles and poured one for Terri tonight, and she really liked it.  This one had more body that what you might associate with a hefe and definitely more than a wit...Terri mentioned that the body reminded her more of a Lefe Blonde.  I caught a whiff of banana as I poured the beer into the glass, but I'll have try another one to see if there were notes of apricot.

I think for the next hefe, I'll use the same yeast, but back off of the malt just a bit.  I might also give dry hopping a shot, using some melon hops.

Addendum, 10 May: Had another one of these hefes tonight; initial pour was with a mild head consisting of big bubbles.  I could smell banana from about 3 ft away; at first, I thought the aroma was from rinsing out the bottle.  When I did a big inhale over the glass, it was clear that the aroma was from the beer.  As I was drinking it, the head got thinner but really smooth, almost creamy.  Excellent flavor, I really enjoyed this one.

LemonDrop Hefe

Partial ingredients

I stopped by Jay's Brewing recently to pick up some bottle caps, and picked up some WLP300 yeast in the Pure Pitch packaging as well, for a hefeweizen I'm going to brew.  My experience has been that with hefes, the liquid yeast works best.  Jillian was kind enough to provide some instruction regarding how to prep the yeast for use, and I promised to read the packaging again when it got to be brew day.

I've brewed hefes before...or rather, in some cases I've attempted a hefe (here, here, and here).  The big take-away so far is, don't use the WB-06 if you're looking for a good solid hefe yeast...definitely go liquid.  I've tried Jasper's stuff, and I wanted to try something else, as well.  The folks down at Jay's have the White Labs Pure Pitch in stock, so I thought I'd give that a shot.  I wanted to try a hefe using the LemonDrop hops I got from Nicobrew, using the first wort hopping technique.  I'm hoping that with a lower alpha acid percentage than the German Perle, a bit more of the hops won't be too much bittering.

Brew Day: 3 Feb 2016

Partial Mash:
12 oz Pilsner malt
1.5 oz flaked wheat

I followed my usual partial mash process.

Boil (60 min):
1 lb Bavarian wheat DME
7 g LemonDrop hops (AA: 4.4%) (FWH)

Yeast: WLP300 Pure Pitch

I followed my usual process for cooling the wort and pitching the yeast.

Addendum, 4 Feb: A LOT of activity within the first 12 hrs of fermentation!  So much so that I had to swap out the blow-off bottle.  Things are going pretty well, although I am going to have to move the fermenter and do some clean up...and people laughed at me when I said I was putting my fermenters in a bathtub!  ;-)

Addendum, 5 Feb: Fermentation appears to have settled down quite a bit.  I'll very likely remove the blow-off tube and add an airlock later today or tomorrow.

Addendum, 15 Feb: Bottled today.  Got two 22 oz bottles and 6 12 oz bottles.  Smelled really good during bottling, but it was also really clear.  We'll see if this one finishes with the cloudiness associated with the style.

Addendum, 29 Feb: First taste.  Poured a golden straw yellow color, billowy non-persistent head.  Light citrusy-clean taste, no bitterness, no bitter aftertaste.  Very clean, slightly reminiscent of a fruity cleanness, very easy drinking.  Carbonation is good.  Definitely a keeper.

Addendum, 18 Apr: Opened one of the 22 oz flip top bottles tonight, and went through that one pretty quickly.  Today's high was 81 deg F and I had cleaned the truck tonight, so I was thirsty.  I had a regular 12 oz bottle with dinner, and the head was pretty smooth and creamy.  Right after pouring the beer and for the first couple of sips, I got a good whiff of banana, but after a few minutes, it tapered off.  The beer was still very enjoyable, smooth and light, with the right body.

Hefe

I was doing some research recently, looking at dry yeasts and I ran across a thread that mentioned getting different results from Safbrew WB-06 yeast; specifically, by under-pitching and then moving to secondary after a week, you could get more pronounced banana notes.  I've recently done a couple of hefeweizens using liquid yeast that turned out pretty well, but I wanted to give the dry yeast another shot.

Brew Day: 4 Dec 2015

Partial Mash:
8 oz 2-Row
7 oz Rahr Red Wheat
1 oz CaraPils

*Used usual partial mash process.

Boil (60 min):
1 lb Bavarian Wheat DME (@ 60 min)
10 g German Perle hops (@ 60 min)

Yeast: Safbrew WB-06

At the end of the boil, I placed the kettle in an ice bath and got the wort temperature down to 80 deg F.  I filled the fermenter about half way and started aerating the wort.  I then pitched the yeast, and aerated a bit more, after which I added the rest of the wort.

I'll keep an eye on the beer over the next couple of days, and next week I'll transfer it to a clean fermenter for another week to 10 days.

Addendum, 5 Dec: Things really took off last night!  The blow-off bottle is all full of krausen, with lots of foamy material coming out of the bottle.  I'll more than likely have to change the bottle near the end of the weekend.

Addendum, 12 Dec: Transferred the beer to a clean fermenter today.

Tasting notes: I tried transferring the beer to a clean fermenter early in the fermentation; the lesson learned here is that WB-06 is a good wheat beer yeast, but not the best hefeweizen yeast.  Definitely go with a proven liquid yeast when brewing a hefe.