Franziskaner Hefe - Weisse Recipe

[wobbly]

I am after an All Grain recept for a "Franziskaner Hefe Weisse" style of beer (Grains, Hops etc) including suggestions on mash schedule/temperature, yeast type and fermentation temps, carbonation levels for bottle conditioning etc

Any comments/advise you have will be appreciated

 

[BrissyBrew]

Wobbly I think yeast will be the hardest thing to match. I think Franziskaner uses there own strain of Hefe yeast. I did email a few a couple yeast banks once asking nobody said they had the strain only things close to it. (I assume they have it but part of their private bank).

It's SWMBO's favourite drop so if I can get it down pat I shall be let out the dog house occasionally.

 

[wessmith]

Getting the exact yeast strain in not as important as making sure you have the desired fermantation conditions:
- pitching rate
- consequent lag time - longer lag time develops more esters
- temp profiles through to high krausen

That said, both White Labs and Wyeast have a Weizen yeast that is a little more moderate in the phenolic department than the traditional W68 strain (WLP300 and 3068)

Most traditional Bavarian Hefeweizen brewers still use open fermentation for the initial ferment then transferring to unitanks. They consider the development of the krausen in open fermentation essentual to the final beer character.

And the grain bill is important:
- 60% - 70% wheat malt
- 5% or so Carahell
- Balance pils malt

wort pH is also VERY important. Ferulic acid development tends to occur more readily at pH 5.6 to 5.8 and this affects the ultimate phenolic development.

Carbonation should be up around 4 volumes. The best hefeweizens are bottle conditioned usually with a lager yeast. Have a look at this recipe on the Weyermann site:
http://www.weyermann.de/eng/hr.asp?go=deta...ue=42&sprache=2

Brewing a good wheat beer aint that difficult, trying to replicate a classic Bavarian is. Good luck!

Wes

 

[tdh]

...and don't forget the 43*C ferulic acid rest.

tdh

 

[wessmith]

Thanks Thomas - your absolutely right.

Wes

 

[wobbly]

Thanks for the "Weyermann" reference.

A couple of observations/questions.

The recipe only called for 150g of Hallertau hops in 260lt of wort ex the boiler. My calcs (assuming 2.5% AA) would be an IBU of around only 4? Everything else I have read talks about this style of beer (wheat) having an IBU in the range of 13 to 18.

Any Comments??

Secondly everthing I have read suggestes/recommends an agresive boil resulting in about 14% evap per hour. Their sheet stated boiler volume at the start of the boil was 280lt and that the boiler volume at the end of the boil it was 260lt which represents about a 7% evap rate indicating to me quite a gentle boil.

Any Comments??

The third issue is they only boiled for 60 mins. Again most I have read recommends a boil of 90 mins.

Any Comments??

These might be questions going over old ground. But I am new to All Grain brewing and want to understand as much as I can before blindly following some sprerad sheet output.

 

[colinw]

No idea how it would compare to Franziskaner, not having tried it, but the wheat recipe in this post came out very true to style and somewhat reminiscent of Schoefferhofer Hefeweizen.

When I make this again, the only change will be to up the wheat to 60% of the grain bill.

4 IBUs may as well be unhopped. You want 12 to 18 in my opinion. I usually formulate for 14 IBUs.

I always boil for 90 minutes with bittering hops for 60 minutes. I think the longer boil results in (1) better wort clarity and break formation and (2) a beer which is more stable and keeps better. Adding the bittering hops after the first flush of break formation improves your bittering efficiency, otherwise a lot of the isomerised alpha acids get complexed with the break and you just end up throwing away bitterness in the trub.

I try to keep my evaporation rate down, just a reasonable rolling boil, not a space shuttle engine under the boiler. George Fix, in Principles of Brewing Science, states that as little as 2% evaporation is necessary for full break formation, and exceeding 15% may result in off flavours due to compounds which will be formed. (I can cite references and post some text for this if anyone's interested). From memory Fix recommends a total boil-off of 8 to 10 percent.

cheers,
Colin

P.S. LOVE those German wheat beers! Banana beer rocks! :super:

 

[wessmith]

Gidday Wobbly and Colin,

There is a mistake in the hopping and I agree around the 16 to 18 IBU is the go. Re the boil - nobody commercially boils for 90 mins anymore. You need a "jumping" boil for the first 15 mins until the foam head has settled down then a good rolling boil for the remainder. If your various rests have done their job, then you wont need to worry about a good hot break. 14% is far too much evaporation - 7% is good.

Colin, you add the hops after the foam head settles - the foam head is NOT the hot break - merely the cruder proteins beginning their breakdown. If you have rested your mash correctly (essential with wheat malt) you should not have an unmanageable foam head. Having a hose handy with a fine spray will fix that anyway.

Also not too keen on the banana - definitely a phenolic man (cloves)

Oh, one last comment as I down my second Schofferhofer - never mention this beer in converstaion with a Bavarian. It isnt brewed in Bavaria and they dont even recognise its existance! But it happens to be one of the better travelled Weizens we get here in Aus.

Wes

 

[Asher]

I was just reading the Wermann recipe that Wes linked to (Thanks Wes) and they call for 3% Acidulated Malt...
Quick question for all the Acidulated Malt users - if using acidulated malt do you need to adjust your liquor pH? Is it assumed that your initial pH is 7.0?

Thankiskaner
Asher

 

[goatherder]

Whilst I'm not an acidulated malt user, I think I can answer your question.

Acidulated malt is used to lower mash pH rather than add flavour - particularly useful when making pale beers using high carbonate water in places like Munich. Acidulated malts are allowed under the Reinheitsgebot where as acid additions are not, hence the practice of using it in some German styles.

So to answer your question, yes you may need to add some carbonates if you use acidulated malt, depending of course on your initial water profile and the colour of the mash. Personally I would skip the acid malt addition (replace it with pils) and adjust your mash pH as you normally would.

 

[Asher]

I could just go with my normal water chemistry routine.... but where's the fun in that!!

Understanding very little about pH buffering I'm going to assume the Weyermann recipe has suggested 3% Acidulated malt based on unadjusted liquor. Since Perth water has a pH of close to 8 sometimes I'll adjust down to 7 with citric acid as a base. Then take a wort pH reading hopeing its close to the 5.6 to 5.8 range that Wes stated and adjust my recipe accordingly for future batches...

Thankiskaner
Asher