AG#3 - Pawlanna Hefe-Weizen

[mattrickl06]

AG#3 - Pawlanna Hefe-Weizen

3kg german wheat malt
2.5kg UK 2 row pale malt
150g Munich Malt
35g Hallertauer Hersbrucker
1pkg Wyeast 3056 Bavarian Wheat Yeast

Brewed this a couple of weeks ago with the addition of improved insulation for my mash tun and a new burco boiler for my HLT.

Mash temps started at 55.8 and finished at 56.2 which i was really happy with after previously losing 3-4 degrees over a 90 minute mash.

Pre boil gravity was 1040 and SG was 1044 so expecting around 4.6% as FG is now at 1009 and looking like its staying there. I was expecting SG of 1046 with 26l into the FV but got around 27l as my boil off rates were low as did the boil outside in the cold weather.

Tasted the trial jar last night and must say that it is amazing lovely - hints of banana and cloves from the yeast but very dry on the finish

I have only really got into wheat beers recently but if it lives up to its early promise then this is going to be a real winner

 

[pittsy]

pleased for you , i take it the mash temp is a error as 55c is way too low , if you are doing a single temp infusion mash then i'd aim for 68c . I go for a few step temps .

 

[mattrickl06]

Sorry yes meant 6*s

 

[mattrickl06]

pleased for you , i take it the mash temp is a error as 55c is way too low , if you are doing a single temp infusion mash then i'd aim for 68c . I go for a few step temps .

Are you at TST? Would like to pick your brains on all things wheaty??

 

[pittsy]

Yep i sure am Matt , bringing along 2 batches of hefeweizen too :

 

[mattrickl06]

Yep i sure am Matt , bringing along 2 batches of hefeweizen too :

Fantastic - it will be great to set my benchmarks high :party:

Never really drank Hefe prior to the last couple of months but its awesome - the different flavours you can get from the different yeasts and esters etc gives a multitude of variables which i find really interesting

 

[pittsy]

In that case i would recommend getting some weinstephan (i think it's spelt like that ) blue bottle (waitrose sell it) very nice , i like paulanner and franizkaner (again spelling ?) and erdinger but those are a little bland (mostly the erdinger) , you may also like belgian wit beers like hoegaarden , blue moon etc wits are my 2nd fav beers , shame hard to get in pubs and i end up drinking 3rd or 4th choice of beer .P.s i've only been brewing AG for around 16 months but mostly hefeweizen .
If you really want to get into brewing a german hefe then there are 3 ways to mash , standard single step like ales , several step temp rests or several temp steps with decoction . Mashing in at lower temps for a rest can increase things like banana and clove and help with wheat activity etc and also can control how dry with how much body wanted etc . Doing this though you should avoid highly modified grains (American and many British grains , i use Belgian and German as theses are less modified than British grains) Using highly modified grains while mashing in low can do more harm than good to the outcome .
Such as mashing at 41c for 20 mins will increase more clove (if right yeast used) .
Then there is decoction in mashing which at a certain temp of the mash after resting a while you take a portion of the mash grain and wort and slowly heat up and rest , then boil for a time and this will increase maltyness and will darken colour and also some other good stuff in the science side , you then add it back to the mash pot and so on .
Wheat beers can be 1 of the harder brew days but imo worth it .

 

[mattrickl06]

Yeah Weihenstephan was the first one i tried - both the krystal (filtered) and weisbier versions, they are excellent.

Tried a few of the Erdinger last weekend and while its refreshing it is a little bland and doesnt have any of the banana / clovey type tastes which i like.

I just did a simple one step mash at 66 degress which seems to have brought out the right levels of esthers but the multiple steps and decoction mashes sure sound interesting.

 

[pittsy]

Here's 1 i did last year with pictures viewtopic.php?f=21&t=32274&p=309766&hilit=vienna+weizen#p309766

 

[Baldbrewer]

Well done mate, welcome to the wheat side of the dark side ,
Pittsy's knows his stuff re: wheaties .

Regarding commercial beers, I think that none of them taste as good as your own brews, much more flavour also if it hasn't been mentioned try WLP380 yeast as it gives a great flavour profile.

Even SWMBO likes my weissbiers so they must be good!
:thumb: