Honey Hefeweizen

[alien13]

Hi,

I've done one AG so far and everything went smoothly. No problems. Turned out great and I'm getting ready to do another one sometime soon, I'm just in the process of choosing what I want to make. I've looked around and checked out a few recipes here and there and have come up with the following recipe. It was based off an orange blossom hefeweizen recipe I saw on another site.

Before I go ahead and spend the money on ingredients, I was hoping to get some feedback on both the grains I'm looking at getting and the recipe itself. Firstly, the recipe:

Honey Hefeweizen
Weizen/Weissbier

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 11.0
Total Grain (kg): 2.450
Total Hops (g): 8.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.051 (P): 12.6
Final Gravity (FG): 1.011 (P): 2.8
Colour (SRM): 3.5 (EBC): 6.9
Bitterness (IBU): 10.5 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
1.300 kg Wheat Malt, Ger (53.06%)
0.900 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (36.73%)
0.250 kg Honey (10.2%)

Hop Bill
----------------
8.0 g Mt. Hood Pellet (5.2% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
0.1 g Whirlfloc Tablet @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 67C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 22C with WLP300 - Hefeweizen Ale

Recipe Generated with BrewMate

Is there anything in this that should be changed, either to suit the style or just as a "this could be better off as XXXXXX", etc? I'm open to opinions, as like I said, this will only be my 2nd recipe.

Also, I will be adding the honey at flameout. I know it would probably be better off used in secondary, but I don't have a secondary fermenter at this point in time, so I'm happy to experiment how it goes at flameout.

Another thing, the original recipe only had a 45min mash, should I go for the 60min mash or stick with 45mins?

Secondly. With the grains used, I'm not 100% sure on what brands/types I'm supposed to be using. I was looking at these two as they seem to match the profile, but I'm happy to be corrected.

Weyermann Pilsner Malt
Weyermann Wheat Malt, Pale

Are those the ones I should be using for this recipe?

Any help is greatly appreciated!
-Nathan

 

[bconnery]

Hi,

I've done one AG so far and everything went smoothly. No problems. Turned out great and I'm getting ready to do another one sometime soon, I'm just in the process of choosing what I want to make. I've looked around and checked out a few recipes here and there and have come up with the following recipe. It was based off an orange blossom hefeweizen recipe I saw on another site.

Before I go ahead and spend the money on ingredients, I was hoping to get some feedback on both the grains I'm looking at getting and the recipe itself. Firstly, the recipe:



Is there anything in this that should be changed, either to suit the style or just as a "this could be better off as XXXXXX", etc? I'm open to opinions, as like I said, this will only be my 2nd recipe.

Also, I will be adding the honey at flameout. I know it would probably be better off used in secondary, but I don't have a secondary fermenter at this point in time, so I'm happy to experiment how it goes at flameout.

Another thing, the original recipe only had a 45min mash, should I go for the 60min mash or stick with 45mins?

Secondly. With the grains used, I'm not 100% sure on what brands/types I'm supposed to be using. I was looking at these two as they seem to match the profile, but I'm happy to be corrected.

Weyermann Pilsner Malt
Weyermann Wheat Malt, Pale

Are those the ones I should be using for this recipe?

Any help is greatly appreciated!
-Nathan

I'm going to assume that a honey hefe is what you are after, with honey not normally being a component of these style beers. I'm not saying it won't work, I use wheats as a basis for all kinds of additions, just that you mentioned about to suit the style...

The grain percentages and IBUs both look ok.

I generally use a 60min mash, unless doing something specific mash regime wise, such as a particular stepped mash. You could spend a lifetime learning about and deciding on mash regimes though.
Personally I'd go for 60 over 45, and I know many others would, just because it's a good generally accepted length to use for all beers, before you get into more complicated methods.

Any wheat and pilsner malt will be fine. You could buy Weyermann but you could just as easily use Barret Burston or whatever your planned supplier has in stock.
Some prefer to use country of origin malts for styles, and so would say definitely Weyermann, but use what you prefer/have/can afford, however you want to make the decision.

I've not used Mt Hood so wont' comment on the choice. Perhaps search for whether it is considered a good substitution for noble hops. Traditionally the likes of hallertau, tettnanger and other nobles would be used in wheats but again, go for what you have/can get/prefer.

 

[alien13]

I'm going to assume that a honey hefe is what you are after, with honey not normally being a component of these style beers. I'm not saying it won't work, I use wheats as a basis for all kinds of additions, just that you mentioned about to suit the style...

The grain percentages and IBUs both look ok.

Thanks! Yeah, I have been looking at honey beers for a while now and have been wanting to try my hand at one, and then I came across this one here. I decided to go without the orange part of it, as I'm mostly just after the honey flavour at the moment.

I played around with the percentages for a bit to get it right, and came up with that after reading that it should be atleast 50% wheat. (If I recall correctly)

I generally use a 60min mash, unless doing something specific mash regime wise, such as a particular stepped mash. You could spend a lifetime learning about and deciding on mash regimes though.
Personally I'd go for 60 over 45, and I know many others would, just because it's a good generally accepted length to use for all beers, before you get into more complicated methods.

Any wheat and pilsner malt will be fine. You could buy Weyermann but you could just as easily use Barret Burston or whatever your planned supplier has in stock.
Some prefer to use country of origin malts for styles, and so would say definitely Weyermann, but use what you prefer/have/can afford, however you want to make the decision.

Yeah, I was going to go for the 60mins just as more of a 'just incase' kind of thing, but wanted to check if there was any special reason the original was using a 45min mash instead.

And thanks for clearing up the grains as well. Wanted to get that sorted before I went and placed the order.

I've not used Mt Hood so wont' comment on the choice. Perhaps search for whether it is considered a good substitution for noble hops. Traditionally the likes of hallertau, tettnanger and other nobles would be used in wheats but again, go for what you have/can get/prefer.

I'll have a look around, read some of the flavours/aromas each has and see what I reckon I will like best.
The whole fun of it will be experimenting I guess.

Thanks for all the information, it will really help me finally decide one what I'm going to be doing (hopefully) within the next couple weeks.

Cheers,
-Nathan

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

<snip>

I'm going to assume that a honey hefe is what you are after, with honey not normally being a component of these style beers. I'm not saying it won't work, I use wheats as a basis for all kinds of additions, just that you mentioned about to suit the style...

Maybe OP is going for a cross between a belgian and german weizen/wit/wheat/weiss. Something akin to a white rabbit white ale (which uses honey) but in the german manner.

Would you advise OP to add honey in secondary, to increase honey flavour?

Goomba

 

[bconnery]

Maybe OP is going for a cross between a belgian and german weizen/wit/wheat/weiss. Something akin to a white rabbit white ale (which uses honey) but in the german manner.

Would you advise OP to add honey in secondary, to increase honey flavour?

Goomba

Well it was a moot point really as he stated that he doesn't have a secondary fermenter, so I didn't touch on it really.

I'd probably go for flameout, that's when I've generally added mine. I don't think fermentation will scrub as much honey flavour as it might with fruit perhaps.
I've always added mine in just to get it a little dissolved in the hot wort.

I only really mentioned the honey as he asked for tips on what might be to style, and obviously honey isn't, but I left it at that because it seemed he clearly wanted to make a honey hefe.

 

[alien13]

I only really mentioned the honey as he asked for tips on what might be to style, and obviously honey isn't, but I left it at that because it seemed he clearly wanted to make a honey hefe.

I'm open to other styles if you guys have any suggestions. When looking at the original recipe I looked at the yeast and the flavours it gave off and thought that it might give it a better taste, and seeing that with hefe beers the hops aren't going to be over powering everything I thought it would be a good style to follow as I'm looking for the honey flavour in the beer, but like I said, feel free to make any adjustments at all (style, yeasts, etc.).

Thanks for the help, every bit helps to increase my knowledge on this.

[Edit]: I have done a quick look up on the hops suggested and the one I was looking at and found this:

Mount Hood
Hybrid of Hallertau with similar mild flower/spice aroma characteristics with a hint more of the forest. Clean commonly describes it.

Tettnang
The original noble hop from the Tettnang region of Germany, ideal for your finest lagers and wheat beers. This limited availability hop has a fine, pure aroma, that is not present in United States grown Tettnanger.

Hallertau
Named for its origins in the Hallertauer region of Germany, this is a noble aroma hop with ever-so-subtle flower and spice fragrances defining its ber alles superiority. Very low bittering value.

There are probably some better descriptions out there, that's for sure, but the Tettnang sounds like a good hop to go with, so I might choose that in the end, but I'll do some more reading on it tomorrow to see if I can find some better/more specific flavour profiles for them.

 

[Nick JD]

I find that if you use the Wyeast Hoegaarden yeast (Belgian Wit) but don't add the corriander and orange peel you get a pretty big honey flavour without using any at all. Possibly more - I've found unless you use a pretty strong tasting honey, the yeast eat the whole lot. It's almost 100% fructose.

 

[alien13]

I did some reading on the WLP400-Belgian Wit Ale (is this the one you meant?) and a few people mentioned that when fermented cooler it produced a sulfur character in the beers. Has this happened with you? Would you be able to describe it a little more? Is it just a sulfur smell that you can get a hint of from the beer or is it more of a mouth feel?
Living in a town where every couple of days or so I can taste sulfur in the air, it doesn't seem very appealing haha, but if like you say, it has a strong honey flavour it might be worth trying just for that.

 

[np1962]

I did some reading on the WLP400-Belgian Wit Ale (is this the one you meant?) and a few people mentioned that when fermented cooler it produced a sulfur character in the beers. Has this happened with you? Would you be able to describe it a little more? Is it just a sulfur smell that you can get a hint of from the beer or is it more of a mouth feel?
Living in a town where every couple of days or so I can taste sulfur in the air, it doesn't seem very appealing haha, but if like you say, it has a strong honey flavour it might be worth trying just for that.

The sulphur character is during ferment and not in the beer itself. Much like a Lager yeast fermentation. At lower temps yeast have a habit of producing a sulphury odour.
Nige

 

[alien13]

Okay, thanks for clearing that up. I'll keep it in mind when making my decision.

At the moment I've got it down to;
Wheat Malt, Pale (1.3kg)
Pilsner Malt (0.9kg)
Tettnang (90gm)
WLP300-Hefeweizen Ale or WLP400-Belgian Wit Ale

Kind of wish I had another fermenter so I could make a 20lt batch and split it down the middle and try one of each.

Thanks for all the replies so far, I really appreciate it.

[edit]: Also, NigeP62, do you know how much postage would be for the above recipe to (postcode) 5540?
[edit2]: Nevermind, just noticed the estimate shipping button

 

[np1962]

Okay, thanks for clearing that up. I'll keep it in mind when making my decision.

At the moment I've got it down to;
Wheat Malt, Pale (1.3kg)
Pilsner Malt (0.9kg)
Tettnang (90gm)
WLP300-Hefeweizen Ale or WLP400-Belgian Wit Ale

Kind of wish I had another fermenter so I could make a 20lt batch and split it down the middle and try one of each.

Thanks for all the replies so far, I really appreciate it.

[edit]: Also, NigeP62, do you know how much postage would be for the above recipe to (postcode) 5540?
[edit2]: Nevermind, just noticed the estimate shipping button

I'll answer anyway,
with yeast in the order it's best to go with express packet, with icepacks your recipe should still fit in a 3kg package and cost $11.70 anywhere in Australia.
Most places in SA are next day delivery.
Cheers
Nige