Wheat beer cabonation level.

[Charles Stanley-Grey]

Oh dear! Its not looking successful, tested out another one, some head on it but very cidery! The first half of the bottle was nice but once I poured more in I suppose the settled sugar all came through, bleh!

Will more time improve the flavour? I have the bottles in a warm place next to my other fermenting buckets at the minute, was hoping this would help the conditioning.

 

[Harbey]

I ended up putting 110g in 20L. Carb level just right for me. This was poured and bottle swilled to get the yeast in there too. It's a beauty. Lots of coriander seed and Amarillo hops for orange flavor. I've got another that's about ready to bottle now although I'm considering splitting that and throwing a load of fruit into the FV with half of it.

 

[Charles Stanley-Grey]

Well my 4.5 volumes brew requiring 200g of brewing sugar was a total bust and ended up down the sink.

A much more sensible 2.3 volumes with 102g of sugar in 20L has produced okay results. A little more tart than I wanted, going to experiment with some higher fermenting temperatures next time, really struggling to master the Wheat Beer, but hey its drinkable... but I really want those deep sweet flavours of a proper Hefeweize, I am thinking maybe 24-25 degrees next time?

 

[Harbey]

Yes, I ferment at 24-25c for wheat beers now. I then do a day or two at 26-27c followed by a couple of days cold crash.

 

[Mrhandsome]

I just bottled a wheat primed for 3 vols as the FG was a point higher than expected. I would've waited but I wanted to get another wheat on and all my other vessels are full. Hopefully I'll get a good 3-4 vols out of it.

I'm experimenting with fermentation temps at the min, 24°C for the first wheat, 20°C for the second.

 

[Harbey]

I find the lower temp fermentation still gives a great beer, just not as flavoursome. If you cold crash, leave it a few weeks to condition, and then be careful not to pour the yeast in to the glass, you can get a very clear, crisp and clean beer which, although not hugely like you'd expect a wheat beer, it's a very nice summer drink.

 

[Drunkula]

Jamil Zainisheff says always start low and raise the temp to get lots of flavour from wheat yeasts, something else I read said banana esters get less above 21c. Here he even says 17c for a heffy. Half the stuff I get from podcasts so don't have the references. I'll try and find it later if I can.

https://byo.com/article/german-hefeweizen-style-profile/
The 25 litres of dark wheat I just did with 1.5 grams of yeast brewed at 20c definitely has the banana. BeerSmith said it would finish at 1.014 from 1.060 and it's been at that for 2 days so that's getting bottled soon.

@Charles Stanley-Grey if the yeast had only partly fermented the sugar I think that's where the cider taste came from. I've been running experiments looking for faults and the cider thing seemed confirmed at one point while a brew was still fermenting and 2 days later absolutely nothing.

 

[Mrhandsome]

Jamil Zainisheff says always start low and raise the temp to get lots of flavour from wheat yeasts, something else I read said banana esters get less above 21c. Here he even says 17c for a heffy. Half the stuff I get from podcasts so don't have the references. I'll try and find it later if I can.

I heard higher temperatures give more banana, whilst lower gives more clove? My 24°C brew had a much stronger banana smell than my 20°C. I've still yet to taste either yet so we'll see.

 

[Harbey]

I thought Higher temp = more banana and lower for clove too. I'm using CrossMyLoof yeast:

KRISTALLWEIZEN STRAIN CLASSIFICATION: A top-fermenting wheat beer yeast that ferments clear and imparts hints of banana and clove esters, balanced with spiced aromas. Ferment at the higher end for a more robust flavour. This yeast produces a silky mouthfeel and rich body.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae. RECOMMENDED TEMPERATURE RANGE: 64 - 82°F (18 28°C); ATTENUATION: (73-79%); FLOCCULATION RATE: 68%; VIABLE YEAST CELLS: >20 x 109 cells; GMO STATUS: GMO Free; Max brew strength per sachet in a 23 l brew - 7.4%/8.7% ABV (Double pitch if a higher abv is required)

 

[Mrhandsome]

I'm using WLP300 Hefeweizen this time. I previously made a wheat with Mangrove Jack's Belgian Tripel yeast witch turned out really good but I wanted to try a proper wheat yeast this time.

 

[MickDundee]

I do 3.3 vols and I've never had a bottle pop and I've got tons of krappy Koppaberg bottles that seem like they're made out of green tissue paper.

This. I’ve done at least 5 or 6 wheats (American, here and wit), gone high in the carbonation first all of them and never had any problems with my bottles.

 

[Mrhandsome]

Tried my 24°C wheat the other day and it was good but not carbed enough (3 vols due to slightly high FG) it may need another week but I've gone with 3.5 vols for my 20°C wheat as the FG is exactly the same. I want a big billowy head when I pour it!

If all goes well I'll prime my weizenbock for 3.5 too.

 

[Mrhandsome]

Oh and while I'm thinking of it....

Has anyone thought of adding chocolate to their wheat beers? Either chocolate malt, or cacao nibs. Or making a chocolate stout with wheat beer yeast.

Chocolate banana is a good combo right?

RIGHT?

@Drunkula i hear you like to do some crazy experiments, this sounds up your alley.

 

[samale]

Weizenbock has chocolate and carafa 1. If that's any good. Mine is conditioning at the min

 

[Mrhandsome]

I put a small amount of chocolate malt in my weizenbock today too, mostly for colour because I didn't want any roastiness. I was wondering about a bigger addition though. I'll see how this one turns out first before I try anthing crazy.

And by crazy I mean I'm probably going to make a chocolate banana stout.

 

[Drunkula]

Has anyone thought of adding chocolate to their wheat beers?

https://www.castlemalting.com/CastleMaltingBeerRecipes.asp?Command=RecipeViewHtml&RecipeID=196
I bottled the dark wheat from Greg Hughes's book yesterday but it tasted more like a nice bitter than a wheat, but then again I used Carafa Special II not chocolate malt. And I've got some chocolate wheat that I've just used to accent a few beers because somebody told me even small amounts added to dark beers really brings an extra layer.

 

[Harbey]

Cracked open the first of my latest batch last night. Certainly more of a banana flavor from a higher temp. The "interesting" thing about this brew is that I only brewed it on the 5th April. So that was 10 days from grain to glass which is a record for me - not that I was in much of a rush, just thought I'd see how quick I could get it done. Its nicely carbed and tastes so good that I had a 2nd!

 

[dad_of_jon]

Sorry to have come so late to the table I but use 160g of brewing sugar (dextrose) into 20-21 litres. carbs up fine for me. about an inch and a half head, more of less depending on pouring temp. 3-3.5 kg of dried wheat extract and mj bavarian yeast. 100g of tettnang with a 10 min boil in 4 litres of water. I use old erdinger bottles as they held wheat beer.

 

[Charles Stanley-Grey]

Does anyone think there is a chance of improving the taste at the conditioning stage?

I have about 35 bottles of a quite tart wheat beer and little enthusiasm to drink a lot of it. I know the bulk of the changes have already occurred, but could I perhaps shake up the residue and get it up to 24-25 degrees for a week? Or has the flavour very much set in now?

 

[Mrhandsome]

Just pitched the yeast into a new batch of weizenbock - or is it a weisse doppelbock? I keep reading different things...

I'm a little annoyed as I was aiming for 10l and ended up with 11l knocking the IBUs down to 15. I got 80% efficiency though which is more than I expected so the abv is right where I want it. OG 1.078