Fermenting A Wheat Beer

[Tony]

I just tossed a smack pack of 3068 into 28 liters of Dunkelweizen. I started thinking about all the htings i have read over the years on fermenting wheat beers.

Some say 20 deg, some say 22 to 23 for more yeast character.

Some say start cool and then warm it up once fermentation is going.

After trying the cool then warm method with my belgian trippel, im inpressed with the outcome.

Im thinking of letting it sit for 24 to 48 hrs at about 17 in the garage to start it easy then move it inside and ewarm it up to 21 or 22 and let it go for its life.

What are others experiences and thoughts on this.

cheers

 

[schooey]

Thats pretty well what I did with my HAG case swap beer, mate. I read a lot of stuff on the net about fermenting with this yeast and finally decided to kick it off coolish and then give it a few more degrees towards the end to develop the phenols and banana. It seems to have worked in that regard at least... <_<

But being relatively new to this whole thing, I've now moved toward the KISS theory..just brewing beers with one or two or three at the most grains, simple hop additions and then when I can see what the subtle differences in fermentation temps, mash schedules and yeast profiles achieve, then start playing with ingredients more. Ity also started me thinking about how much I should be taking for gospel what other people I have no idea about pblish on the net..

Anyway, back on topic, I was pretty happy with what I achieved by fermenting with the 3068 in this way, it suited the beer I was trying to brew really well even if it did take a month or two in the bottle for the banana to balance out. Anyway, you have a bottle, you be the judge

 

[Zwickel]

Tony, dont forget the beer warms up automatically whilst fermenting.
Depending on how vigorous your beer is fermenting, the inner temp in the fermenter may go up many degrees over the ambient temperatur.

Im always starting around 20C and leave it sit there, whilst fermenting the beer temp inside the fermenter goes up to 4C over the ambient temp.


Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[Hargie]

...Tony...i try to pitch my wheats at around 16-17c...with a happy, agro yeast colony they will have ramped up themselves to 20-22c well before they hit 1.020 (unless it's mid-winter ambient here in ACT)...result = balanced nana & cloves....this approach has won me local,state and nats wheat beer titles....i have also had great results with keeping ferm temp at bang on 19c for the duration...for mine, grist make up and 50-52c p/rest have a much bigger impact on final results than a lot of people give credit for....

...for your dunkelweizen i'd hit the 19c and hold it....my opinion only...

Cheers

Scott

 

[braufrau]

My one and only weizenbock, which is still bottle conditioning, I followed Jamil's advice and pitched at 17. But due to my crude cooling method the temperature went all over the place for the first 3 days. Anywhere between 17 and 20C and then settled down to 17C. Out fo the hydropmeter it was quite bananery, but not horribly so. After the hyrdometer had been sitting around for a while the bananas faded and the cloves came through very strongly. I'm really looking forward to tasting this one properly!

 

[white.grant]

I have my first hefeweizen just beginning to slow down on 3068 now after 8 days. Have kept it at 17c the whole way as Braufrau says, supposed to bring out clove instead of nana esters.

 

[Tony]

pitched it last night at 16 deg strait from the swolen smack pack. So the yeast wasnt going nuts when i pitched it.

I have brought it in to the bar area that has the fire place in it. Its a steady 20 to 22 deg in there.

Im more of a bananna boy than a clove boy so will warm it up and see how it goes.

cheers

 

[goatherder]

Has anybody tried the rule of 30? Basically your pitching temp and your final temp should add up to 30 deg C (pitch at 12, finish at 18, whatever).

I'm intrigued by this because it seems to have it's origins in the German breweries, so there's probably something in it. That being said, the temps seem to be a lot colder than most homebrewers are prepared to go.

I'm guessing that either:

- The rule of 30 favours clove over banana, which I've heard is desirable in Germany.
Or
- There's something more to it than temperature - wort O2 levels, pitching rates or something like that.

Thoughts?

 

[Tony]

yeah i have read something about that too............. the main one i remember is to under pitch cool to stress the yeast a bit and then let it run after a bit to make all the flavours we are after.

I have had fantastic sucess just holding 3068 at 20 deg c till done but its had 24 hrs underpitched and cold and is warming up now

Will see how it goes.

Mashing a hefe tonight to put on the yeast when its done so will see the difference with a strong yeast strait up.

I think we pitch lots of strong yeast in a "normal" beer to stop the yeast stressing and producing strange flavours........ but a wheat is different.......... its the yeast flavours that make the beer. I have fermented them colder (18) in the past and found them a bit clean and clove driven for my taste.

I want bananna and 3068 at warmer temps is the yeast for it.

cheers

 

[Tony]

Holy Dooley.

The yeast pack was marked MFG 21 July 08 so it was fresh as. It swole up in 4 hours when i smacked it in my cold garage at about 16 deg.

48 hrs and its just about done, I can smell bananna in the airlock.

I think it may have got up around 23 or 24 in the bar area with the fire on last night. <_< Thank god its a wheat.

hope its ok.

the taste will tell.

cheers