Weissbier tips

[ChrisD123]

Hi
I am going to have a crack at a weissbier from extract....from the GH book. Just waiting for the ingredients to arrive. Does anyone have any tips for making this brew.
Thanks

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Wheat extract is only 50% wheat and 50% barley malt. As most recipes called for 50/50 wheat and pale malt only use the wheat extract.

 

[ChrisD123]

cheers. Will only be using the wheat extract.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Just doing a wee bump here rather than making a new thread.... I am making another Weissbier soon and have been reading a bit about the style, and in particular, it being desirable to under pitch the yeast to get more of the esters out of it.... to keep things relatively simple, would pitching straight from the pack (wyeast Bavarian wheat) rather than making a starter work towards this end?

 

[chthon]

With a liquid yeast pack that is more difficult to know. How old is it? Also, for which volume of yeast beer is this?

If the packet is a bit too old, I would not make a complete starter, but an active starter: pitch the yeast in some wort only a couple of hours before using it (e.g. in the morning, for brewing in the afternoon or the evening) so that it starts fermenting. And in case of a weizen, fermenting at a higher temperature is also not really a problem.

 

[Brewnaldo]

With a liquid yeast pack that is more difficult to know. How old is it? Also, for which volume of yeast beer is this?

If the packet is a bit too old, I would not make a complete starter, but an active starter: pitch the yeast in some wort only a couple of hours before using it (e.g. in the morning, for brewing in the afternoon or the evening) so that it starts fermenting. And in case of a weizen, fermenting at a higher temperature is also not really a problem.

It will be about 20 litres and about 1.055 OG. Dont know the age of the pack yet it's getting delivered tomorrow. I think from experience, a pack with no starter will do the job, just wasnt sure if it would be classed as "underpitch"

 

[chthon]

You would need around 200 billion yeast cells for a pitch rate of 0,75, which is a normal pitch rate. Apparently, there are about 100 billion yeast cells in a Wyeast pack (possibly even 30% more), so if it is fresh, then you should be good to go. But pamper your yeast and keep them at a nice temperature after pitching.

 

[Brewnaldo]

You would need around 200 billion yeast cells for a pitch rate of 0,75, which is a normal pitch rate. Apparently, there are about 100 billion yeast cells in a Wyeast pack (possibly even 30% more), so if it is fresh, then you should be good to go. But pamper your yeast and keep them at a nice temperature after pitching.

I plan to ferment this one up in the 20s as the heat seemingly promotes the banana esters which I like. My heating kit might be taken up by a pilsner fermenting hot with Ubbe so the Weiss will probably be in my utility room where the boiler and tumble drier keep things nice and cosy.