# Hefeweizen IV yeast



## chubbytaxman (9/2/15)

Morning Brewers .....

Pitched a vial / tube of Hef IV yeast on to a Hefeweizen yesterday.
No activity until this morning when I found this ....

View attachment Airlock activity.html


Has anyone had issues with this yeast before ...





And the temp was within spec for this yeast ....





Hope the images / video works ... 

Cheers all

chubby


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## Liam_snorkel (9/2/15)

can't see the video because it's set to private - can you describe the issue?


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## Spiesy (9/2/15)

Haven't seen the video, but that vial appears to be out of best before date.


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## chubbytaxman (9/2/15)

Thanks for the replies gents


Liam ... A lot of foamy muck is coming up through the airlock and settling on the top of the fermenter lid.

Cleaned it up and put a new airlock on, however the same thing happened.

Spiesy ... Just noticed that too - only was a couple of days over date so I didn't think that would matter.


Sorry about the video not visible - not used to putting videos up as yet.




chubby


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## seamad (9/2/15)

foamy muck ??
Welcome to the krauseny world of hefe yeasts.

Edit: Try and allow for 30 % headspace at least, and I usually pitch ( 3068 ) at 16C and let it raise to 17C. AT 22.3 ( and probably wort is hotter if probe is not in the wort ) it's pretty hot and is going to go bananas ( literally and figuratively )


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## chubbytaxman (9/2/15)

Thanks seamad ...

Not used to the Hef yeasts.
Optimum temp is 21 - 24*C so I thought I would pick a middle spot - (lesson learned).

So, if I lower the STC temp a bit to say 19 .... Would that have a better effect?


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## seamad (9/2/15)

The horse has probably bolted. Just had a look at white labs site and they recommend 66-70F which I think is 19-21. I haven't used that particular yeast but have used most of the wyeast variants and I prefer the 3068 cool as I like both the banana/clove flavours to balance. Mash schedule also plays an important role in hefe flavour profiles. It's very much a taste thing with hefe's, everybody has their own preference for the ester/phenolic character, and what I like you may not. Let it ferment out and see what you think, it's taken me quite a while to get to the point of being happy with mine, you need to make lots ( and drink lots ) to nail down your technique with these beers.


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## Adr_0 (9/2/15)

This yeast has always started slow for me, I don't think I've ever had activity within 24hrs but I'm sure I could if I tried hard enough.

You will get more banana at that temp and also more sulphur, so a week after terminal gravity gently brought down to 15-20C will help a lot. 

I'm a big fan of the yeast as it produces nice clear beers.


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## Weizguy (9/2/15)

Welcome to weizen brewing. I have used WLP380 for a Gose too.

Happy to reinforce: Headspace, blow-off valve, temp control, and pitch quantity - all very important to making the best Wheat beer.


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## DJ_L3ThAL (9/2/15)

This was my recent hefe with healthy starter of WLP300.

Might experiment next one and grow half the yeast as i have read you don't need quite as high a pitching rate with wheat yeasts as to standard ales. Makes sense as i lost 50mL or so to the krausen bursting out the glad wrap seal onto the fridge base!


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## Spiesy (9/2/15)

chubbytaxman said:


> Spiesy ... Just noticed that too - only was a couple of days over date so I didn't think that would matter.


According to Mr. Malty, a yeast that is a couple of days out of Best Before will display ~10% viability (i.e. 90% of the yeast is dead).
Bearing in mind that White Labs yeast has a 4-month shelf life.


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## chubbytaxman (9/2/15)

Holey Moley .... It has done this with ~10% viability .... 
Lesson learned here ... I had a 25L fermenter and not quite 20L of wort went into it.
Next time .... Use the 30L fermenter ... :lol: ... and maybe split the yeast or make a smaller batch.
Thanks all for the comments and the valuable experience.


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## Papa Lazarou (9/2/15)

Hef yeast at around 22c.
An absolute beast of a yeast.


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## WE5TY (9/2/15)

I tried fermenting my latest hefe at 16.5°C - just to try to lessen the banana a bit so my wife wouldn't turn her nose up every time she tries it. I underpitched a bit too (accidentally lost some yeast as I poured the clear wort off the top of the slurry). Still went mental - even with about 30% headspace it still made it down a metre of blowoff tube into the starsan bucket!


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## angus_grant (9/2/15)

Wyeast 3068 pukage. Continued this for about 36 hours. Suffice to say, my currently fermenting dunkel weizen has a blow off tube set up. Which it has also puked out of.

I put the blow-off jar in the fridge to separate out so I could give the yeast to a mate and it was very slowly fermenting the next day. Fridge was around 4 degrees. :blink:

Absolute weapon.

Sorry about the image size. Can't work out how to use previously uploaded image and create a thumbnail...


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## chubbytaxman (10/2/15)

Well i am gobsmacked ....
Never seen anything like this before .... :blink:
The plan was to do a lime infused Hef using WLP380.
First part done and dusted (and messy too ... lol)
Lowered the temp to around 18.5*C - ok for the last 24 hours or so ...
Now comes the real tester (throwing caution to the wind now - I know) ... Added 1.7L of Limeaid to primary.
Expecting more messes now :huh:


Ermagherd ... *wot was I thinking*


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## Matplat (10/2/15)

This has got me worried.... I am planning to do a dunkel weizen next and I'm not sure how to prevent such a messy situation???

I have got a sachet of Brew Cellar Wheat Beer yeast (anyone know what strain that is exactly?) and it is a 15g sachet, If I over pitch, it looks like my fermenter will explode! I am only fermenting in a small bar fridge so don't have the room to run a blow off tube into a separate bucket. And I have got all the ingredients to make a 23l batch....

I love the banana flavour so will be looking to ferment around the 22deg mark which is only going to make things worse I suppose....

Triple layered glad-wrap??


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## angus_grant (10/2/15)

I love glad wrap as much as the next guy but unless you love cleaning up mess its just not workable for certain yeasts. You'll need to investigate blow-off systems. 
If you can get a big enough container or manage to swap them out in time, mess can be none or minimal. 
You also get to harvest the freshest yeast you will ever get your hands on.


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## Liam_snorkel (10/2/15)

Matplat said:


> Brew Cellar Wheat Beer yeast (anyone know what strain that is exactly?)


I've read that they're mostly repackaged Fermentis, so it's probably K-97


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## chubbytaxman (10/2/15)

angus_grant said:


> I love glad wrap as much as the next guy but unless you love cleaning up mess its just not workable for certain yeasts. You'll need to investigate blow-off systems.
> If you can get a big enough container or manage to swap them out in time, mess can be none or minimal.
> You also get to harvest the freshest yeast you will ever get your hands on.
> 
> ...


angus ... can you point me in the direction of a "How to" for a blow off tube?
I have never heard of one until I started this thread ... :blink:

Side note .... Just checked on the Hef and it is happily bubbling away (for now ... ha ha) at 18.5*C


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## DJ_L3ThAL (10/2/15)

Have found dry wheat yeasts don't tend to be as crazy, so you may be ok. How old is the packet?


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## Matplat (10/2/15)

DJ_L3ThAL said:


> Have found dry wheat yeasts don't tend to be as crazy, so you may be ok. How old is the packet?


Dunno, I'l have to check when I get home. I bought it on saturday so hopefully it should still be pretty young.


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## angus_grant (10/2/15)

Just Internet search for blow off tube homebrew.

Get a tube,
cut a hole in your fermentor lid slightly smaller than your tube (which I didn't do cause I was in a hurry hence some krausen on top of lid in photo),
get 2 containers (jug, coffee jar, water bottle, etc), clean and sanitise it, fill it with enough water and sanitiser to make sure the end of tube is covered.
Insert tube into blow-off container fluid
insert other end of tube into fermentor and make sure it sits just above your wort level.
Keep an eye on the container to make sure it doesn't overflow
If container one is getting almost full, swap with container 2

It's really only 2 days of full-on ferment where you get the epic krausen production. It calms down after that and stops puking. You still get a very active bubbling though for a few days.

I have one of my silicon tubes stuck onto the airlock outlet cause it was puking krausen as well. Probably try that first because once ferment calms down a bit you could just swap back to a normal airlock setup. And you don't have multiple holes in your lid.

And I can't find the article I read about having tube sitting just above your wort. All article just mention sticking tube inside fermentor..


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## Matplat (10/2/15)

Liam_snorkel said:


> I've read that they're mostly repackaged Fermentis, so it's probably K-97


 Yeah I figured it was a rebadged product, but the packet nor their website gives any clue as to the exact source.

I only bought it as the other option in the store was WB-06 which supposedly gives more clove and less banana, and I want that banana goodness so I went with the unknown option!


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