Experimenting with Hefeweizen additions

[Acasta]

I'm planning on making a double batch of hefeweizen soon and was thinking of ways I can make them a little different from each other.
The batches will be the same until run off into two separate cubes. So that leaves me with 15min (cube) and dry hop additions to play with. I plan to keep batch 1 pretty standard and experiment with the second.

The recipe will be:
60%ish Wheat
38% Pils
2% Carahell
Hallertau for the bittering and flavour/armoa for batch 1
wyeast 3068, re-pitched for batch 2.

Was thinking something citruisy, like orange peel ect. but looking for other ideas that would work well.

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

Fruit in secondary is a great way to experiment with hefs.

 

[JDW81]

Citrus and coriander will put you in Belgian wit territory. Raspberry is nice addition for a hefe as is mango.

Why not try 2 different yeasts? Yeast is the real hero of hefeweizen.

JD

Edit - gramma

 

[Acasta]

Fruit sounds great! How would I go about the adding the mango? Just scoop them into the fermenter?

I could try two different yeasts, but I'm planning on pitching slurry so reduce costs.

 

[Grainer]

I just did with 1 batch

YLP380
YLP300
YLP380 LEMON & LIME
YLP300 LEMON & LIME
YLP380 MANGO
YLP300 MANGO

.. can't wait to taste the results...

 

[JDW81]

Depends on who you ask. You can't boil the fruit as it draws out pectins and will result in haze in your beer (less of an issue in a hefe, but still something to consider). I can't remember the exact temps at which they come out, but it is around 80 from memory. The biggest risk with fruit is adding in wild yeast or bacteria that can spoil your beer.

I know a few guys who add frozen mango pieces to a secondary fermentation with good results (I haven't done this myself). The theory with frozen is most of the nasties that can spoil your beer are knocked off by the cold temps. All they do is starsan a food processor and puree the frozen fruit. Their beer comes out bloody beautiful.

JD

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

The pectin can get to the point where it actually jellies in the beer. I did a quince hefe in my first few months of brewing with one or two kilos in the boil. There was a slight, weird density to the beer. Would not recommend.

I've used fruit a few times since. Most often I pasteurise the fruit - as in get it to eighty something and hold it for a while. Sometimes I add sugar and candy it a bit for more subtle fruit like rose hip or quince), freeze it (generally more because of time between having the fruit and using it than trying to burst the cell walls or anything) and then defrost and rack on top when primary fermentation is done. Be prepared for a decent and heady secondary with fruit and WLP300 or 380, particularly if you do add more sugar.