Decoction Hefeweizen

Hefeweizen is a wonderful style for the summer but it's not one I've managed to get quite right so far. Besides from controlling the temp of the fermentation well, some people suggest a decoction is essential to the style. This recipe calls for a single 30 minute decoction to raise the temp of the mash to mashout temps. It's slightly lower in ABV than a normal hefe, so as to be sessionable.

Decoction. Looks great.

Recipe: Session Hefeweizen
Style: Weizen/Weissbier


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.88 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal 
Bottling Volume: 5.23 gal
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 3.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 8.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 71.9 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU       
5 lbs 8.0 oz          Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)                Grain         1        61.1 %      
3 lbs 8.0 oz          Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM)            Grain         2        38.9 %      
0.25 oz               Sterling [8.20 %] - Boil 75.0 min        Hop           3        8.2 IBUs    
1.0 pkg               Weihenstephan Weizen (Wyeast Labs #3068) Yeast         4        -           


Mash Schedule: Med Body, False Decoction
Total Grain Weight: 9 lbs
----------------------------
Name                    Description                                          Step Temperat Step Time   
Sach I                  Add 11.25 qt of water at 175.2 F                     154.0 F       30 min      
Mash Step               Decoct 3.73 qt of mash and boil it                   168.0 F       25 min      

Sparge: Batch sparge with 3 steps (Drain mash tun , 2.63gal, 2.63gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
1/2 tsp Gypsum, 1/2 tsp CaSO4 in brewing water. No starter.
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6/26/16: Brewed.

Brewday went OK. I didn't really measure the volume of wort quite right and ended up under volume. Hit my mash temps and boil OG ok, but not sure where I ended up after adding the decoction back.

The decoction may have not been quite wet enough for some of the time. It also had this kind of gross looking brown color. We'll see.

Cooled to 61F, oxygenated ~25 seconds, and pitched yeast packet, which was fully swolen.

6/27/16: Fairly active fermentation, with temp controller set at 61F (the temp inside the vessel will be higher because fermentation generates some heat.) Oddly, there was little krausen even though the surface of the beer was kind of bubbling and high airlock activity. Weird.

7/4/15: Crash cooled to 35F.

7/6/15: Kegged with 2.5 oz sugar, for ~3 volumes. Moved keg to 74F ambient air.

Hefeweissen #3 Review

This is my third Hefeweissen, but the first to use my temp-controlled fridge to ensure the "right" temperature of 62F during fermentation.

I was a bit afraid since I stupidly set the wrong program running on my HTC-1000+, which started ramping up from 62F a day too early. But, this yeast was a very vigorous fermenter and my guess is that most of the fermentation occurred within the first two days, when the beer was indeed held at 62F. Also I did wonder with such a vigorous fermentation and the temperature probe taped to the side of the carboy, whether the temp in the middle of the carboy would be significantly higher. I suppose though that the taste of the beer will ultimately be the best indicator of whether the process was correct.

Appearance: Light, hazy orange with fluffy, white and persistent foam. Good lacing. Appropriately cloudy. (The first few pours from the keg were too yeasty giving the beer a nasty white-gray appearance and overly yeasty taste, but at this point the level of yeast in the beer is correct.)
 
Aroma: Yeasty, a little phenolic, slightly bready. What I would expect from a Hefeweisen. Doesn't have a strong banana or bubblegum aroma. Overall pretty restrained but to-style.

Taste: Again yeasty, but with a nice maltiness and some bready notes. Some cloves and phenolic notes, but again fairly restrained, as it should be. I might get a hint of sourness.

Mouthfeel: A little too "chewy" for the style. It should be a bit more carbonated, which may also help to give it a more billowing head. Medium fizziness. Low sweetness, so fairly crisp. Yeasty and clove like aftertaste. (I recently got a kegging system but I am still fiddling with it to fix leaks. Will now carb this up a bit to 16PSI for ~3 volumes of CO2.). In my stomach, it's filling.

Overall:  Much better than my previous two attempts. Fairly restrained in character, but none of the great German wheat beers are over-the-top in character, and JZ in Brewing Classic Styles that restraint is important in this style. Refreshing for a summer day, and with a moderate ABV, can be consumed in quantity. Could be a bit more bready - maybe try a decoction mash? F
or next time, run the right program in the STC-1000+.

Hefeweissen Brewday

My previous two attempts at Bavarian Hefeweissen sucked. They just didn't have anything close to the right clovely, banana-y, and bready taste of this elegant and refreshing style. However, that was before I had a temperature controlled fridge with which to hit the optimal temperature of 68F. For this attempt, my focus will be on handling the yeast and fermentation properly try to get the right flavor.

Bavarian Weissbier
5 Gallons

6# German White Wheat Malt
4# German Pilz  Malt
1# Munich

1oz Lemondrop, 4.4%, 60 mins

WY3068 - Weinstephaner Wheat

Mash at 152F, boil 90 min

Expected OG/FG/IBU/ABV: 1.053, 1.014, 12, 5.35%

 Made starter on 5/7/15, it fermented well at 65F, and was dormant by brew day.

Brewed 5/10/15
My mash temp was a little low, more like 150F.

Pre-boil OG was 1.039

Boiled for 90 min.

Post-boil OG was 1.052, so almost exactly on target.

Note: choice of hops was not to-style, but I really wonder if the taste of these particular hops will come through given the low IBUs. In any case the kind of lemony, fruity note of Lemondrop hops will not be inappropriate for this style.

Chilled to 95F with whirlpooling wort, then racked to carboy, and place in temp-controlled fridge set to hold at 62F.

Once pitched, started this fermentation program (Prog 5) on my modded STC-1000+:

•  62F for 3 days
• Then ramp over 1 day to 68F.
• Hold 68F for 4 days.
• Crash to 35F.

There was only 5 gallons of wort in my fermentor after pitching the starter. Crap! I was aiming for 5.25. Well, maybe I will make some top-off beer using extract, but that's not quite optimal. 

5/11/15
By 5:30pm the beer was fermenting VERY actively despite the restrained fermentation temperature. A huge billowing krausen was on top of the beer. Fridge programmed to hold 62F but given the activity of the fermentation it must be warmer in the center of the carboy. Next time and depending on how the beer turns out I may program it for 60F - 61F instead.

Hefeweissen Review

Appearance: Pretty nice. Color is hazy orange, with a persistent white head.

Aroma: Yeasty esters of ripe bananas, but not strong. Bready malt notes. No hops.

Taste: Not sure. I think the initial taste is a kind of malty bread character, followed by yeasty phenolics and some cloves. I don't get a strong banana flavor  however. Good, moderate body, with solid carbonation on the high side. Bitterness is very low.

Aftertaste: Again yeasty phenolics. Not especially pleasant but not undrinkable. Similar to the failed wit beer from almost a year ago.

Generally pretty bland wheat beer, with phenolic character bordering on unpleasant. I suppose I will need to wait to have a temp-controlled fridge before I can really do well with this style. Apparently 62F is the optimal temperature and this type of yeast is sensitive to deviations from the optimal temp, but as yet I cannot maintain a fermentation at that temperature.

Maybe the yeast is the issue. Perhaps a liquid yeast will be superior?

So, it's disappointing. But I'll try again at some point.

Bavarian Hefeweissen

My in-laws were visiting from Germany for a while in June. They were very interested in the homebrewing process, so naturally the day after they arrive we just hung around and brewed a batch of hefeweissen. Of course the danger in homebrewing a German beer with a group of Germans who have ready access to the best examples of the style is that the homebrew version will suck in comparison to the commercial example. Apparently that's a risk I'm willing to take.

Note: Review to follow shortly.

Bavarian Hefeweissen
3 gallon batch

3.375# German Dark Wheat
3.375# German Munich 10L

0.625 oz Hallertau, 4.5%, 60min

Danstar Munich Bavarian Wheat dry yeast

Expected OG/FG/IBUs/ABV: 1.050 / 1.013 / 14 / 4.9%

Brewed 6/15/15 with Assistant Brewer NB

Sorry, no real brew day notes. But it went generally pretty smoothly.

Pitched yeast at around 63F, when beer was sitting the cool basement.

Let ferment at 63F for a week, then moved upstairs to around 70F to finish out fermentation. Finally put back in basement for a couple of days before bottling.

Bottled 7/22/14. Aimed for 2.75 volumes of CO2 at bottling, got 29 standard bottles.

Lübecker Hefeweissen Tasting

My first attempt at hefeweissen was brewed on June 16 and has been sitting in bottles for about three weeks. So its about 5 weeks old. I unwisely first tasted it when it was only three weeks old, after which I feared that it would be undrinkable. The first bottle was a weird grayish color with a boring taste. It was so uninspiring I though that I might need to dump the whole batch.

Fortunately the beer has improved somewhat but it is not what I would like it to be. I drank a Paulaner Hefeweizen a few days ago as an exemplar of the style. My own beer is OK and drinkable but not nearly as good as the Paulaner.

Appearance: Good white head with nice lacing. Liquid is light yellow, with a slight grayishness. When first poured it is quite clear but with the yeast it takes on a bit more haziness. It's not quite as bright golden yellow in color like a nice German wheat beer should be.

Aroma: Smells only slightly fruity. Not a strong smell.

Taste: Like the smell it does not have a real banana smell. The phenolic / clove character is there but it clearly should have some more banana flavor. Also lacks the bready, sweet taste of a good wheat beer.

Mouthfeel: A little bit over-carbonated but the lack of sweetness and body makes it seem a little thin and not bready enough. A little bit like a thin and dry saison.

Overall: Drinkable but by no means what I was aiming for. The lack of banana taste is the most disappoint aspect of the beer. I'd also like some more body in the beer. Perhaps my fermentation temperature control is not quite up to the task but that said I would like to try again because to me good hefe is magnificent.

For Next Time:

•  Use a direct heated step mash so that I can get better efficiency and to hit my temps correctly. Hit 112F, 152F and 167F, then transfer to the MLT and sparge w/ 170F water.
• Do not use Irish moss.
• Try to ferment at the right 62F temperature.
• Perhaps use a different brand of yeast. Apparently the WLP300 is not as good as the Wyeast wheat yeast. Also I have though of culturing some yeast from Sierra Nevada Summer Wheat.   

Side Note: How do you get good photos of your beer so that the photo looks like what you see with your eyes?                                                           

Lübecker Hefeweissen

German wheat beers are great for summer. I love their fruity taste, light color, and slight phenolic / clove character. Their appearance when poured into the proper type of glass is magnificent. My wife doesn't like them much but I have wanted to brew one for a while. The below recipe is scaled from Brewing Classic Styles. The fermentation temp is pretty low because apparently higher temps can result in a unbalanced bubblegum or overly banana like flavor. What I'd like is the right balance of banana and clove character.


Lübecker Hefeweissen
3 Gallon batch
2.75# Belgian Pilsner Malt
2.75# Weyerman Wheat Malt
0.25# Briess Extra Light DME

0.5 oz Tettnanger, 3.5% AA, 60 mins

Expected OG: 1.044
IBUs: 13

Mash
112F for 15 mins, to get 4-vinyl guiacol, a precursor to the clove character
152F for 60 mins
167F mash out for 10 mins

90 minute boil to reduce DMS.

Whitelabs Hefeweisen Ale, WLP300.

Ferment at 62F, raise to 68F after active fermentation to get good attenuation.
 

6/16/12
Mash conducted using infusions of hot or boiling water. Ended up with a pretty dilute mash after all those water additions. As a result, the first runnings were almost the complete pre-boil volume, so this ended up more like a no-sparge than a batch sparge. Crappy efficiency, thus the .25# of DME added to the boil to up the gravity a little.

Next time I think I'll try a decoction mash or direct heating the mash when I need to do multi-step mashes. That way I can avoid overly dilute mashes.

Pitched at 65F, when beer was in 55F tub of water. Pitched around 3PM. No starter.

Didn't take post-boil OG reading. Got a little more than 3 gallons into the 3 gallon carboy. Only a little headspace.

6/18/12
Very active primary fermentation despite the low ambient temps around 64F and that the beer was sitting in a tub of 60F water. Used a blow-off tube.

6/22/12
Still slight activity visible through the glass carboy. Replaced blow-off tube with airlock. One bubble / minute or so. Lost some beer to blow-off. Now there is almost exactly 3 gallons in the carboy.

6/28/12
No visible activity, some yeast has flocculated but still a lot of yeast is floating at the top of the carboy, especially on the carboy walls. Looks a beautiful hazy yellow / orange color.


7/1/12
Bottled with 2.75 oz of table sugar, for about 2.8 - 3 units of CO2. FG was 1.011. Got almost exactly 3 gallons. I used mostly 22oz and 16oz bottles, which apparently can withstand high pressure. I did use a few 12 oz bottles, which I hope will not explode as 3 units is roughly their pressure limit.