Ultimate Brewery Classics Bavarian Wheat Beer kit

[Theakston Tickler]

I brewed this kit at the start of September and so it has had a few weeks in the bottle to settle down and develop its flavours. These UBC kits are a bit more expensive, £25, than standard two-can kits and come with 3kg of malt extract and two small bottles of hop oil (instead of the malt extract being pre-hopped). I brewed this kit short to 35 pints as I didn't feel that the projected 4.3% of 40 pints was properly reflecting the Bavarian what beer style.

Smelled great mixing it in the FV and the hop oils added a real freshness when they were poured in and so expectations were high. I pitched the packet yeast and left well alone in my brew room. There didn't look to be a great deal of fermentation activity going on but all kits are different and so I didn't worry about it. After a couple of weeks the hydrometer was showing at 1020 - the famous 'stuck fermentation' level and so I pitched a Danstar Munich yeast to try and get the figures down.

After 3 weeks fermenting the hydrometer was down to 1016 and so I thought 'sod it' and bottled it. The smell as it was being bottled was bland, none of that wheat beer zingyness that you associate with the style.

Had my first bottles of it this weekend and the carbonation was good and the colour, a yellow-orange, looks great. The taste is a disappointment in that there are none of the clove or banana flavours that you expect - this was just an inoffensive and boring beer. I know a few weeks in the bottle is not very much but the accepted wisdom on this forum is that wheat beers can be drunk young. As a comparison my, currently fermenting, first AG brew is a wheat beer and the sample from the trial jar is packed with the flavours you associate with this style.

Can't work out whether I did something wrong or not but it feels like this kit came with a generic ale yeast instead of a proper Bavarian strain. My summary - drinkable but not representative of a good Hefeweizen.

 

[Dean at Sheffield]

Hi, first time brewer, I love German wheat beer so thought I would use the same kit, the ultimate brewing Classic Bavarian wheat beer kit, I followed instructions to the letter, kept at a constraint temperature do 22 deg, it's now been fermenting for 10 days (instructions read 4-6 days). The carbon dioxide has slowed to a slight bubble every 24hours or so, the hydrometer reading doesn't seem to be moving in the last 4 days, stuck at 1.20 if I'm reading this correctly. HELP..any suggestions? I would hate to ruin my first attempt.cheers

 

[Theakston Tickler]

The main things people do for stuck fermentations are to increase the temperature (although yours is high enough already), give the mixture a gentle stir to mix up all the ingredients and if that fails try pitching another pack of yeast. I've got to say that it didn't really get it to ferment that much further for my beer but you might get on better. Good luck with your first beer and try not to worry too much about it as I'm sure it'll be drinkable which is the main thing!

 

[Dean at Sheffield]

Thanks, i will try and stir all the sediment from the bottom and wait, i did try a little taste and it tastes like sh*t at the moment, very hoppy and bitter (no sugars), my main thought was there wasnt enough sugars in the extract for the yeast to do its thing or there wasnt enough yeast (a very little packet). as well as the stir im taking the temperature up to 24 deg. I will post results, thanks

 

[adomant]

Seems strange that there would be hop oil with this style of kit. The style is not hoppy and in all grain you would use a generic German hop such as Spalte,Tettnang, hallertau for mild bittering and not too much aroma as it is more about yeast than hop.

Bavarian wheat beer yeast is very specific and cannot be substituted with an ale or lager yeast

It contains cof+ enzyme for decarboxylation of ferulic acid to 4 vinyl guacol and production of ISO amyl acetate

To you and me that means clove and banana flavour, no other yeast will do it.

Adding hops or hop oil direct to fermentation can seriously inhibit some yeast types (the polypeptides and acids in hop are a fungicide and may suppress yeast activity in this situation).

Where there specific fermentation instructions with the kit or yeast description on the label.?

This style is also very forgiving on water profile and doesn't really need aeration, so I doubt it is that

 

[adomant]

Fermentation would normally be over within a week

 

[Dean at Sheffield]

Update, the additional mixing and wacking up the temperature to 24 deg, seems to have done the trick. The gravity achieved 1.010 now bottled on its second fermenting for 3 to 5 days before storing at a cool temperature for a week to hopefully clear. I will post as to the taste, thanks you all for all your advice and suggestions. Next project rice wine!

 

[Dean at Sheffield]

looks like i was worrying for nothing, i guess it will all come with experience, the wheat beer having been bottled for over 10 days now, it pours a clear golden amber colour until the last dregs of yeast are added, then a cloudy creamy yellowish amber takes hold, when pouring the head is more than active..a little too active to get the bottle into a pint glass in one pour, the head lasts a little over 10 minutes before desolving completely, odour is light hoppy, no bannana. taste on first bottle was a little citrusie but has mellowed within a few days. Ran a taste test with a Sainsburys weisen beer and it compared well. i very much enjoy my first home brew although a few bottles can lead to flatulisum.

 

[jeg3]

I brewed the one-tin version of this, which is branded Worldwide Brewery Classics. I'll post a review of that in due course.

However, that was brewed in March and I am about two thirds of the way through it and it's fantastic. Good head retention, very smooth with the clove/banana undertones really coming through. Of the five brews I've tasted to date, this is technically the best.

I added 1kg of wheat spraymalt and 500g of brewing sugar to the extract