AG Weizen (wheat beer) thoughts and feedback welcome !!

[pittsy]

Hi , i'm going to try this recipe that i've found its a wheat beer in the german style, i haven't got all the proper equipment to do it the correct way but i have got a 20 litre stock pot a large steam pot (metal) that fits nicely inside my stockpot and a mash bag (to contain grains and hops) . I'm using steam pot to insure grains don't get scorched on bottom of stock pot. I've already used this and it worked well :thumb:

Weizen Recipe (AG)

OG 1.055
IBU 15

For 5 Gallons

2.3kg pale wheat malt (im using Weyermann Wheat Malt Light)
1.1kg pale barley malt (im using Weyermann Bohemian Pilsner Malt)
.75g alpha acid Hallertaucer hops ive worked that to be total 40g in weight (malt millers 2010 harvest)
yeast ( I'll be using wb-06 a wheat beer yeast

Add 10 litres of water to pot and heat to 40c then add 2.3kg of pale wheat malt and 1.1kg of pale barley malt , then heat pot in 10 minutes to 50c.
remove from heat and rest (and insulate) for 25 minutes.

Remove (decoction)about 40% of water (wort) from pot (insulate pot and rest) and then heat decoction to 71c and remove from heat, rest decoction for 15 mins then heat decoction to boiling and hold for 20 mins.

Then mix decoction and mash pot together slowly over 10 mins adjust temp to 64c (if not already). Then rest for 20 mins after that heat (in 7 mins) up to 71c then rest here until iodine level negative ( no idea perhaps another 20 mins).
Heat to 77c (5 mins) hold for 5 mins then remove from heat and remove grains
to 2nd pot and heat up another 5 litres of water 65c and pour through grains to sparge , some of this may be added back to wort pot to bring back over all level to approx 10 litres ,remaining sparge water put in fermentation vessel.

Heat pot to boiling and add first half of hops at start of boil ( total boil 2 hours)
Another quarter at 60 mins and final quarter at 105 mins . After boil allow wort to stand for 30 mins .
Remove some wort for Gravity reading and some for yeast ,transfer to FV and add water to bring up to 20 litres total.Cool to 18c
and then pitch yeast.

Ferment , this asks to be fermenting at approx 18c but i like the Estery style
so i'll be fermenting at around 22c for more banana aroma .

If anyone has any comments or advice please post , thanks :drink:

 

[Dunfie]

I suppose my initial thoughts are that it appears to be a lot of work for a Hefe. I know that traditionally German breweries would have employed decoction or step infusion but I think most of them have phased this out in favour of single infusion mashing.

One of the reasons why you might want to go through the decoction process is if you were using undermodified malt and your intention was to get a crystal clear beer at the end. Although people do get the Weyermann malt with the intention of doing a step mash I think that for the hefe you will not need to (traditional hefe isn't known for its clarity).

However if you want to go for it then you will learn bundles and hopefully have a lot of fun along the way. Let us know how it turns out. :thumb:

 

[pittsy]

Thanks for you input its very welcome , to be honest i prefer cloudy wheats but may try this just to get the experience as you say :thumb: I.m gonna do this on saturday , my grains have come and ive not sure if i should use the bohemian pilsner malt or use vienne pilsner malt , i may just do both as in same recipe but vienne malt next week and bohemian this week as ive ordered plenty and i do love wheat beers, any thoughts on this ? :drink:

 

[artiums_enteri]

Decoction is rapidly becoming a thing of the past because of the highly modified malts. My heffe recipe is as follows:

5 pounds German pilsner malt
7 pounds flaked wheat malt
2 pounds torrified wheat malt
1 pound rice hulls

2 ounces halletau for 60 min
1.5 ounce fuggles for 20 min

Wyeast German heffe yeast

Single infusion mash at 150* for 60 min

Mash out at 170* for 15 min

Sparge to 6.5 gallons at 170*

Ferment for 3-5 weeks at 67*

My American wheat is the same with the exception of using American 2 row and an American heffe yeast.

 

[pittsy]

Cheers Arti , don't seem to get many replies regarding wheat beers , i'll keep that recipe and have a crack at it when i get the right ingredients that you've mentioned , any tips and thoughts are very welcome :

 

[artiums_enteri]

Just a note the rice hulls are not a must, and contribute nothing to the beer. I add them to help with the layering process as the fine crush of the wheat can lead to a stuck mash. You can omit them depending on equipment.

 

[pittsy]

cheers didn't know that , just as well , ain't got none but def gonna give that a go the more different wheat beers i can brew the better

 

[artiums_enteri]

Your recipe looks good as is, but I would just try a single infusion rather than a decoction. You will find good extract efficiency if you just hold the sac rest at 150* (or equivalent C) for 60 min.

Wheat beers are neat because so much of the flavor is yeast derived. For instance: make a 10 gallon batch of your wort and split it between two fermenters. Pitch one with a German heffe yeast and the other with an American wheat yeast. You will have two very different but very pleasant wheat beers. The one made with the German yeast will have banana, clove, and slight bubble gum notes. The American yeast will have a lot less esters and be much cleaner.

 

[pittsy]

good point , i need more styles of yeast only got wb06 at the mo (although im very pleased with results) looks like a visit on the online shops for more shopping .

 

[zgoda]

If you want clove aromas in your weizen, single infusion is not enough. You need some rest at ~40*C.

This is my "common weizen", i'm brewing this beer at least twice a year, using various yeast (these Zymoferms are not really good, i don't recommend).

 

[pittsy]

just finished brewing (nearly in fv) i did decoction as i said i would , followed recipe and method from 'classic beer styles series 7 German wheat beers' by Eric Warner brewer who studied and worked in several German breweries such as paulaner's ,erdinger's ,huber's ,schneider etc etc so thought i'd stick to his method . Thanks for all your tips and help.
:

 

[artiums_enteri]

How'd the Decoction go? The only time I do them is for a dopple boch.

 

[pittsy]

long and slow mate , i have yet to get the proper kit , its on my birthday list already lol , i only have a 22l stock pot with other pans so as you can prob guess a real pain in the **** but got there in the end , already looking to buy/make real equipment , i'm gonna do same next week without decoction to see if any noticeable difference in end result although i guess i need to wait till its drinkable etc .

 

[artiums_enteri]

I'm curious to see the difference as well. There is much debate in the latest publications that state due to the highly modified malt created today that decocs are no longer needed. Please keep us posted as to your results.