First Weizen, Need Help

[colinw]

Having just tried Paul's lovely weizen, made as described above, I'll second that advice.

It didn't have any of the other distracting flavours I have noticed in my own hefes, fermented at more like 21-22. Just a nice soft malt character, clove and banana, in near perfect balance. It could have been a commercial German example.

 

[Ross]

Thanks Paul - Reckon I'll try my next WB-06 weizen the same way. I just brewed one at 22c+ & not that happy with some of the background flavours coming through.

Cheers Ross

 

[PostModern]

Is there a rule of 30 or something for Weizens? Pitch at 13, ferment at 17?

 

[Adamt]

Rule of 30 is for lagers I think.

 

[milpod]

Rule of 30 is for lagers I think.

Wouldn't wont my lagers anywhere near 30........................but weizens,yes I definitely use the 30 rule.

Pitch at 12 and ferment at 18

Apart from decocting,acid rest ect.I think it gives the yeast the best chance to do it's stuff

Pitching at 12 stress the yeast to give wanted flavours,that may be missing from the mash profile

 

[tangent]

check out the interview on Basic Brewing Radio about ester production in Weizens.
underpitch and pitch cold, then ramp the temp up once she starts firing away.
one of my favourite commercial weizens is fermented at 22C

 

[Adamt]

Yeast has fired Wally, sitting about 20C. Nice thick white moussy krausen sitting about 1cm under the glad wrap.

Not sure where I read the rule of 30 was for lagers, I don't brew them anyway and maybe that's why! I'm getting too old for this...

 

[milpod]

Never too old.Like Denny says,life begins at 60,1060 that is.
Not to shabby for a seppo.

Your "30" for lagers was probably cold conditioning times,or thats what i'd say

 

[SJW]

I know I am going off topic again, but it my thread so I can do what I want.
Anyway, I am off to The Good Guys on Thursday as they have a Fisher & Pykel 160 litre chest freezer for $389 less for cash. It was just over 600mm wide and deep so I should get 4 cory's in easy. Cant wait.

Steve

 

[Screwtop]

A lot of you may have seen my recent bitch about 3068. G&G sent me a real fresh pack which I used in a Bavarian Hefe Weizen. Fermentation was much slower that I'd experienced with this yeast in the past at 22C. Still after nearly 2 weeks it finished at 1.012. Disappointing banana ester, and you know the scuttle re drinking weizens young and fresh. Well I took a party keg of this to the wife's work party last week were everyone was saying how weird it was for a beer to have a banana aroma, but in a good way. This week it occupies Tap #1 as it has really become the beer I wanted. So that's a lesson learn't, in the past this yeast has generated banana and bubblegum esters very early, almost from the first draft.

Screwy

 

[milpod]

Screwtop,did you actually ferment at 18?Or was it 20?.It makes a massive difference in MHO

Love 3068

Gotta stress your yeast

 

[Screwtop]

Screwtop,did you actually ferment at 18?Or was it 20?.It makes a massive difference in MHO

Love 3068

Gotta stress your yeast

Would be interested to know what massive difference you have found. Have fermented this yeast from 17C to 22C over 2 years and 14 batches to date using fresh yeast and splits, also starter and no starter.

Screwy

 

[milpod]

And what was the mash profile?

And what phenolics were you chasing.

And if you fermerted over such a wide range,did you taste a difference.

What taste were you,after?

Dont kill me.cause I offered some quick tips

But obviously you haven't got A HEFFE YOUR happy about.

 

[Screwtop]

Dont kill me.cause I offered some quick tips

Please, no offence intended, am genuinely interested in anyones tips using this yeast as it's a favourite . And yes I've made about 4 that I've been very happy with. Have had difficulty manipulating the aroma profile of this yeast, using a variety of pitch and fermentation temps and pitch rates so am very interested to hear of your experiences.

Only use 2 mash profiles, for weizens here a single 65 for Bav Hefe's and 42, 62, 72 for dry North German Weizens (use 06 yeast for them). Malt bill is 40% Pils with a little bit of Munich or Vienna.

 

[Screwtop]

Bump

 

[Weizguy]

G'day Steve (SJW) and wheatie thread followers. :icon_cheers:

I'm here to share some info on my latest hefeweizens. My Schneider weisse clone, which was crowned best wheat at the Bitter and Twisted festival, has been in the keg for 21 days and tastes like the best imported/bottled Schneider I ever tasted (sampled last night). Pretty easy recipe, which I'll post in the recipe database later. OK?

And the latest hefe, made with yeast salvaged from a Potter's weizen (presumed W3068) and 3.2kg of Muntons wheat DME, 15g of Target at 11% (boil 60 min) and 10g of 2.5% Saaz at 5 min. Pitch when cool (on 24/12) with a just-finished 500ml culture of the yeast (in wheat DME) and a pinch of yeast nutrient (in the wort, not the culture). 24 litre batch, pitched at 22C, agitated with a long spoon, and then popped into the fridge, with controller set to 18C. Fermentor temp/ stick-on thermometer shows 20C about 14 hours later and 18C last night. Of course it had popped the clip-on lid off the 30l fermentor and spewed krausen all through the old fridge. Being a caring brewer, I had relieved the batch of a sample of wort into a hydrometer flask at the time of pitching, covered it and sat it on my kitchen sink. The brew in the flask had done the same thing as the one in the fridge (overflowed with enthusiasm). I sampled the beer in the flask and I could detect some (quite a bit, actually) banana and passionfruit. It reminded me of JS Colonial wheat, and that pleased me considerably.
Hmmm, shame that I'm sharing this batch, but my mate's a good bloke and he is paying for the ingredients $$.

BTW, the rule of 30 is in the Warner book about German Wheat Beers, and the grey gelatinous muck in your mash tun after sparging is cross-linked proteins called "tieg".

Beerz
Les

 

[SJW]

Could I use Saaz in a Wheat beer? I have some open and at 2.5 A/A I would need about 50g.

 

[devo]

I've been hooking into my first (AG) weizen using the recipe hughman666 posted on the AHB recipe page but used the craftbrewer weizen yeast and I'm extremely happy with the results. Grain to brain in 8 days and fermented at 20 degree c.

 

[Adamt]

No real reason (unless youre very style-anal) you couldnt use saaz, at 10-15IBU for bittering only you'd struggle to tell the difference amongst all the other weizen flavours.

 

[Weizguy]

Could I use Saaz in a Wheat beer? I have some open and at 2.5 A/A I would need about 50g.

Steve,

not only is it possible, it's favourable.

My fave wheat beer was a Saaz-hopped one for many years.

Just don't go too high with the bitterness and you'll be cheering.

Les