Hefe Weizen

[hughyg]

What CO2 volume do others go for. isnt 2.7 little low? I think I read that they are meant to be from 3.6-4.48 vol CO2? I was going to keg my latest at 4.04?? Or will this over carb it?

Cheers
Hugh

 

[manticle]

I have read 4 vol but 4 sounds to me ridiculously high. Even if it's traditional (and I don't find schofferhoffer, erdinger or weistephaner over the top) I wouldn't carb my own that high. I think my last was between 2.7 and 2.9 which is far higher than I'd do with anything else.

 

[hughyg]

Cheers. I thought that seemed excessive. I might try 2.9 then. And dial it up if I feel the need
Hughyg

 

[manticle]

I do prefer lower carbed beers but my experience of commercial hefes is not one of excessive gassing. There may be other factors that influence that perception.

Your mileage may vary etc, so how do you think a commercial wheat compares to what you've read?

Aim for that level.

 

[schooey]

....and that is Zwickels Hefeweizen:

You wouldn't care to share the recipe for this, Zwickel? From reading your posts for some time now, I imagine it's nothing but simple..

:beer:

schooey

 

[clifftiger]

That's a nice flower - please for the recipe Zwickel

 

[Zwickel]

That's a nice flower - please for the recipe Zwickel

okey-dokey, although Ive posted my very simple recipe very often here at AHB, Ill post it again.

As you may know, Im doing step mashing only, but you may do a single infusion mash as you used to do as well, I dont think that would change a lot.

Grain bill: 70% wheat malt, 30% pilsener malt

Im using 11kg grain for ~65 litre of beer, will be good for an OG of 1052 past boil.

dough in at ~35C, let it soak for around 20 min.
heat up to 43C doing a ferulic acid rest for ~15-20min.
heat up to 63C, rest for ~30min. doing a beta amylase rest
heat up to ~72C for another 30 min. doing an alpha amylase rest
heat up to 78C and mash out.

only one hops addition at begin of boiling, boil for 90 min. aiming for ~15 IBU

thats all, very simple isnt it?

Alternatively I could imagine to do as follows:

dough in at a water/grain ratio ~2:1 around 45C, directly doing a ferulic acid rest
add boiling water as much as needed to reach 66C and keep it there as long as you used to do.
mash out
Sparge to the desired OG

The main work will be done by the yeast then.


Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[Nick JD]

Zwickel - how much of the phenolic flavours are lost without the ferulic acid rest?

 

[hughman666]

Grain bill: 70% wheat malt, 30% pilsener malt

thats interestng. i've typically used a 60% pils/40% wheat mix, but have never considered going over the other way, particularly 70% wheat!!

sounds like a plan, i'm going to try that for my next brew....thanks zwickel! :beer:

 

[geoffi]

thats interestng. i've typically used a 60% pils/40% wheat mix, but have never considered going over the other way, particularly 70% wheat!!

sounds like a plan, i'm going to try that for my next brew....thanks zwickel! :beer:

My standard mix is 65% wheat, 35% pils. But the latest I made is 35% Vienna.

Best I've ever brewed.

 

[Bizier]

Cheers for the info guys. Great thread.
I brewed a mangled hopfen weiss inspired weizen for the NSW case swap, but got abominable efficiency. It is under-imperial and too grassy from the dry hop. It is also a bit thin due to me trying to dry an imperial gravity beer out with low mash temp. I pitched 1L starter to 25L from stirplate at 15C (HUGE sulphur) and ramped to about 20.

I really enjoyed the flavours from the 3068, and I am very keen to try a traditional simple style one. I will try your step mash regime and grist ratio Zwickel, that might get me closer to the mark. I might go no-chill and try 2 fermenting regimes on the same wort to see where I get better results.

Man, I think I might head over to the Concordia Club now that I have weizen on the brain.
Hmmm it is past 12.00.

 

[geoffi]

Man, I think I might head over to the Concordia Club now that I have weizen on the brain.
Hmmm it is past 12.00.

Last time I was there Maisel's Weisse was on offer. Mmm...

 

[Zwickel]

Zwickel - how much of the phenolic flavours are lost without the ferulic acid rest?

Mate, I dont know how much that would be. I think, that also depends on the yeast strain.
When I was a beginner in brewing, I did the same mash regime with weizens as I did with pilseners. That time my weizen turned out always a little bit thin, without that typical phenolic flavour that weizen usually has, or much less anyway.

So I was searching for advice and found some from a professional brewer here in town.
He adviced me to do a ferulic acid rest at around 43C and then slowly to heat up to the beta amylase rest at 63C.
At 43 a lot of 4vinyl guajakol is built, thats a precursor for phenolic flavour.

If youd like more to know about that: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=A...ab87412b044e5d7

Slowly to heat up to the beta amylase rest means, also to pass through the protein range to produce a lot of amino acids thats needed for a strong yeast growth.

Since then, my Hefeweizen turnes out like a flavour bomb, the phenolic flavour goes straight into the nose

Much to my regret, that specific flavour is not very stable, after a certain time of lagering the flavour is fading. Thats why weizen beers should be drunk fresh, dont keep it too long maturing.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[Nick JD]

So popping a few cloves in and ditching the ferulic acid rest ... does that pass the German purity laws?

 

[rude]

Well tried my hefe today only 1 week in the bottle

Still a bit green

Carbed up alright with a good head but it soon disipated to nothing

What a let down I thought wheat aided head retention

Anyway the flavour is there but if a few more weeks doesnt sort out my head retention which I recon it wont my xmas hefe is a failure & I have the ingredients for another one *****

Any tips on how or why I cant get good head & its not the glass

 

[Hogshead]

Hey Zwickel, do you bottle or keg?
I've always had trouble pouring my weizen from tap.Maybe because I like them carbed at 3+ volumes. Just curious what line length/pressures work.

 

[Zwickel]

Hey Zwickel, do you bottle or keg?
I've always had trouble pouring my weizen from tap.Maybe because I like them carbed at 3+ volumes. Just curious what line length/pressures work.

Im using kegs only, or later, if I wanna give away some bottles, Im using a CPBF.

The beer stands around 2C in the kegerator, beer tube length is around 1m and the pressure is ~150 KPa. Tap with flow restrictor is highly recommended.
That way it works really well.

Cheers mate :icon_cheers:

 

[Hogshead]

-"Tap with flow restrictor".
Are they the ones with the little lever out the side? I thought they may be the answer to my weizen foaming problems, but have never heard any feedback on then - until now!
I like the carbonation that temp/pressure creates, the problem was getting it into the glass!
Thanks Zwickel.

 

[Zwickel]

-"Tap with flow restrictor".
Are they the ones with the little lever out the side? I thought they may be the answer to my weizen foaming problems, but have never heard any feedback on then - until now!
I like the carbonation that temp/pressure creates, the problem was getting it into the glass!
Thanks Zwickel.

yeah, without a flow restrictor (little lever on the side) it is almost impossible to pour a reasonable weizen.

Over here the CO2 content in the beer is counted in gram per litre. For example a Pilsener should contain around 5g/l and Weizen 7.5g/l
To hold that amount of CO2 in solution, one need a pressure of around 150KPa at around 2C (Weizen)

Thats quite a lot of CO2 and a normal tap would be producing a lot of foam, hence the beer would be stale in the end, because all the CO2 is escaping directly at the tap.

:icon_cheers:

 

[rude]

nearly 2 weeks in the bottle & my xmas hefe is looking good

not up to zwickles standard I'm sure

still for a first up wheat I'm happy