Tips for improving a wheat beer

[Jack of all biers]

Warner in his definitive book on the style, states that there should be a cold settling period after fermentation to allow the beer to clear.

Really, first I've heard of that one. What does he recommend for a cold settling period? Are we talking 4C for a couple of weeks or something a little milder?

 

[butisitart]

meanwhile, while adjudging my latest wheat, recipe is pretty close to my last bash, and while noting above comments about yeasts, i'm wondering, ....
your recipe (and my current tasting brew) don't have late addition hops. and that were something that i thought mine could be improved by. maybe some hallertau in the last 5mins to give it a floral lift.
my current is now 7 weeks old, and while tasting good, is tasting a bit tired. (with weihenstephan yeast).
any comments here welcome

 

[manticle]

Trad/historical german weizen have very minimal hop character. Bitterness low, late hop zero.
Doesn't mean you can't add any or that what you want in it won't be improved. Just depends entirely on intended, personal outcome.

 

[Weizguy]

Really, first I've heard of that one. What does he recommend for a cold settling period? Are we talking 4C for a couple of weeks or something a little milder?

From Warner's book:
'After the young beer reaches final gravity, it can be handled in a variety of ways. Many brewers choose to lager the beer between 5 and 28 days at cooler temperatures before it is primed and bottled.
The beer will be clearer, particularly at lower temperatures, if it is allowed to settle in an intermediary holding tank.In Germany, isinglass may be used to aid the clarification of top-fermenting beers, but only in such a conditioning tank.
It may not be used to clarify the beer once it has been packaged i.e. for used for bottle conditioning.
This settling period will also benefit the bouquet and flavour of the beer because it is still slightly active and unwanted volatile substances can be driven from it. The cooler the temperature, the better.
Best results are obtained when the temperature in the conditioning tank is between 39 and 46 degrees (4 and 8 degrees C).'

so, yep. Really!

 

[Jack of all biers]

Thanks Les. I didn't think it would be appropriate for a Hefeweizen, but there you go. I'll give it a crack next time.

meanwhile, while adjudging my latest wheat, recipe is pretty close to my last bash, and while noting above comments about yeasts, i'm wondering, ....
your recipe (and my current tasting brew) don't have late addition hops. and that were something that i thought mine could be improved by. maybe some hallertau in the last 5mins to give it a floral lift.
my current is now 7 weeks old, and while tasting good, is tasting a bit tired. (with weihenstephan yeast).
any comments here welcome

I do have a recipe for a Schneider Weisse ("Brew Classic European Beers at Home - Wheeler/Protz") which does call for 10gm of Hallertau at the last 15 mins of the boil.
The grain bill is 60% wheat malt, 17% Pils malt, 17% Vienna malt and 6% Caramunich. Mashing schedule 50C- 20mins, 65C- 60mins. 13 IBU's.

I've not made this one, but their recipes are always good, so give the late addition of hops a go, but maybe don't over do it. Now that, I've written about it, this is now going to be my next brew. Mmm, Weizen :chug:

 

[Weizguy]

Thanks Les. I didn't think it would be appropriate for a Hefeweizen, but there you go. I'll give it a crack next time.


I do have a recipe for a Schneider Weisse ("Brew Classic European Beers at Home - Wheeler/Protz") which does call for 10gm of Hallertau at the last 15 mins of the boil.
The grain bill is 60% wheat malt, 17% Pils malt, 17% Vienna malt and 6% Caramunich. Mashing schedule 50C- 20mins, 65C- 60mins. 13 IBU's.

I've not made this one, but their recipes are always good, so give the late addition of hops a go, but maybe don't over do it. Now that, I've written about it, this is now going to be my next brew. Mmm, Weizen :chug:

I'm brewing this beer today. Great recipe and really suits W3638 yeast.
You're welcome for the info, too.

 

[Coodgee]

So I got my first stuck sparge yesterday with my hefe. Had to continually stir the grain to get it to drain. I had been getting crystal clear wort going into the fermenter with the grainfather but this brew was like soup! Hope it settles. Might have to cold crash it

 

[Matplat]

Bummer dude, i believe this is where rice hulls come into play! Surprised though, i did my wheat at 50:50 wheat: pilsner same as you and had no such issues. Crushed too fine?

 

[donmateo]

Wheat beer is my favorite beer to brew.....I almost lost two 60L fermenters full tonight trying to lift the suckers out of the freezer... Luckily, i managed to save both of them. I probably prefer the one I pitched with a new vial than the one I repitched with my last yeast....but I really did underpitch that one so I could have underdone it a little bit there.

Wheat beer is all about the yeast....You can pretty much just forget about the recipes untill you have decided on the yeast you like, and go from there.
If you can, try to ferment with different yeasts from the same brew.

If you have problems with stuck sparging, just bite down, stir it up, recirc, and keep going. I brew in 200L stainless barrels and have no problems doing this with my trusty Jarrah pole.

And don't be afraid to try different wheat beer yeasts that people don't talk about so much...Personally, I stuck with 3068 initially for many many brews because this seemed to be the one I heard people talk about most.
I never managed to get results I was happy with out of this yeast, and use others now.....but I kind of kick myself now for trying so many brews with this particular yeast with the idea that the reason I wasn't getting results I was happy with was that I was doing something wrong in the brew.

ITS ALL ABOUT THE YEAST!

 

[butisitart]

mmmmm.... back to the wheat board. my favourite commercial wheat (i haven't tried many) is konig leopold. a lovely fresh drop with a slightly fruit finish. if i could just get somewhere near that, i'll die a happy drunk.
and with all respect to the 'no late hops' school, i don't know how konig leopold brews without at least just a tad. or that's the impression it gives. and smooth as the proverbial baby's bum.

actually, i just knocked the top off a wheatie. i think it's coming good again. :blink:

 

[time01]

Loving this thread guys, has inspired myself to have a crack at my first hef. Would I be correct in thinking I shouldnt filter it when I keg it?

 

[Matplat]

And don't be afraid to try different wheat beer yeasts that people don't talk about so much...Personally, I stuck with 3068 initially for many many brews because this seemed to be the one I heard people talk about most.
I never managed to get results I was happy with out of this yeast, and use others now.....

So which ones do you use?

 

[Coodgee]

So which ones do you use?

haha I was just thinking the same thing! my wheat is fermenting away nicely at 17 degrees. It has a normal Krausen, I installed a blow off tube but there was no need. It's no bigger than a US-05 Krausen. I pitched a 300 billion cell starter (1.5L) which was pretty much spot on what was calculated as required by Beersmith2. not a very nice aroma. not quite an egg fart smell though.

I have tasted a few wheats that have been estery in aroma but I didn't really like them that much. almost like a coopers kit yeast fermented warm kind of smell. I'm brewing this beer for an Oktoberfest party so this beer needs to be a crowd pleaser. last thing I want is a beer that tastes like a badly fermented coopers kit!

 

[Weizguy]

So I got my first stuck sparge yesterday with my hefe. Had to continually stir the grain to get it to drain. I had been getting crystal clear wort going into the fermenter with the grainfather but this brew was like soup! Hope it settles. Might have to cold crash it

Funny you mention that. I also had a sparge that ran really slow on my Schneider clone, and and I had to disturb the top layer of tieg on the grain bed to get it flowing again.
35 litre batch of Weizen. Oh, the joy!

 

[Coodgee]

Funny you mention that. I also had a sparge that ran really slow on my Schneider clone, and and I had to disturb the top layer of tieg on the grain bed to get it flowing again.
35 litre batch of Weizen. Oh, the joy!

The recipe I was using called for a 20 minute rest at 43 degrees. I think this might have been the cause of my stuck sparge. I also didn't do a mash out step at 75 degrees like I have done previously. I wasn't just disturbing the top layer of the grain bed, I had to literally scrape the stainless steel plate on the bottom of the grainfather mash tun to get it to drain. never seen anything like it. I had no such problem with a 30% wheat grain bill I did recently so I am thinking that initial rest might have turned it to glue.

 

[Weizguy]

Hmm, my rests were hydration/ ferulic acid rest 37.0 C 30 min

Protein rest (wheat beer) 50.0 C 20 min

Sacc rest 63.0 C 60 min

mash out Step 76.0 C 10 min

There was a load of grey tieg on top of my grain bed, which I assume may have been the cause of my sparge issues.
The run-off slowed right down and I chose to disturb the top cm or so of the grain bed and increase the flow rate at the same time.
One of my issues is that I am still working with a new mash tun and manifold, so still getting familiar and quick to blame it too.

 

[Coodgee]

my wheat is down to 1011 already from an OG of 1048 72 hours ago. All my brews are getting to terminal gravity in 72 hours lately which is quite pleasing. I'm going to leave it at 17-18 degrees in primary until at least friday. it's got a bit of fart smell going on so I think I'll leave the yeast to clean up. The trub level is above the level of the tap at the moment so hopefully that will settle down after cold crashing. I will probably transfer to secondary if it doesn't settle and compact enough. It tastes really really nice!

 

[Matplat]

Yeah, snap! Mine too, i bottled last night 5 days after pitching!

 

[wildwhitty]

The recipe I was using called for a 20 minute rest at 43 degrees. I think this might have been the cause of my stuck sparge. I also didn't do a mash out step at 75 degrees like I have done previously. I wasn't just disturbing the top layer of the grain bed, I had to literally scrape the stainless steel plate on the bottom of the grainfather mash tun to get it to drain. never seen anything like it. I had no such problem with a 30% wheat grain bill I did recently so I am thinking that initial rest might have turned it to glue.

I always add rice hulls to any recipe with grain other than barley. No stuck sparges so far.

 

[Jack of all biers]

Loving this thread guys, has inspired myself to have a crack at my first hef. Would I be correct in thinking I shouldnt filter it when I keg it?

No, not if you want a Hefeweizen. Hefe is german for yeast. So if you filter out the yeast you end up with a Krystalweizen. Crystal clear (pun intended) :lol: