which yeast for proper bananary wheat beer?

[wilsoa1111]

Right done a wee bit o research on this style it being all about the yeast really-got a german flatmate so want to get it right, i reckon its between getting a pack of mauribrew weiss of the ebay (£2.50) or special whitelabs stuff from the maltmiller (£6.50) -not impressed with wyeast smackpacks atm...but am capable of making a big starter so will have plenty to use later (or pitching direct and freezing up with a 50/50 glycerine solution (just happen to have some handy from WOW recipes)
im leaning more towards the dry as will be cheap and easy to underpitch while warmish (to get desired banana) but im tempted by the liquid's supposed extra banana kick. any thoughts?
Also i saw someone recommended underpitching and cold for a few days then slowly rising to get both banana and clove-is this feasable?

 

[Baldbrewer]

Hi,
my AG#2 was Alemans Erdinger clone which is lush,
I used dry WB-06 for this with the rising temp fermentation 14C one day,16C next etc
look up Alemans Erdinger clone recipe.
I have washed this yeast and its now sat in the fridge ready for another go!

good luck! :

 

[wilsoa1111]

thnx for the reply, and yeah that was the post i saw, cheers.

does look like a dry yeast is viable but i am really after a beer that tastes like its been mixed with bananajuice (apparently also a thing in germany), and really looking for an excuse to buy some nice liquid yeast and justify playing with yeast banks...

 

[Kev888]

I go to wlp 300 Hefeweizen Ale yeast for banana. Cooler fermentations lean it towards cloves and warmer ones towards banana (I think thats the right way around from memory anyway..) so you can tweak it. I get banana noticably at about 20c, but whitelabs suggest up to something like 24c as the max of the optimum range so you could definately push it further. It does seem to fade with age though, so drink fresh-ish.

One other thing that has made a difference to my hefe was starting to do ferulic acid rests - thanks to advice from leedsbrew. It was nice before that but a German commented that whilst he liked it, there was a certain britishness about the beer; the ferulic acid rest has helped make it more authentic, and whilst I find that difficult to judge I can indeed tell a difference so I can quite believe him.

I tried decoction but personally found it easier to dough in very thick to rest at 43c for about half an hour before raising by infusion of more hot liquor for the normal mash, which in my case ends up being a bit looser than normal by the time its warm enough. It maxes out my MT and I'm not great at it (often lots of pratting about with saucepans adjusting to mash temperature) but I'm so pleased with the results that I'm looking at a RIMS type setup next.

Cheers
Kev

 

[pittsy]

you def want wlp 300 ,(dried just ain't as good) but ferment at 20c no higher , this yeast has plenty of banana (and very nice ) as for mashing if you had another yeast and wanted more clove then a rest at 42/45c would be wanted , you don't so mash in at 50c for 25 mins (after this rest i do decoction )then 63c for 30 mins then 72c for 30 mins then mash out at 75c . If you want to do decoction after the rest at 50c get a thick mix of mash (lots of grain) and slowely heat to 72c then rest here for 15 mins then raise slowly to boiling and leave boiling for 15 mins (if hold longer it will darken maybe too much for a pale heff) some do 1 decoction others 2 , if 2 wanted do after 63c rest and same as before except hold at boiling for 10 mins , if doing a dunkel hold at boiling for 20 ish mins . It does make a difference , a German will tell the difference .

 

[wilsoa1111]

Thanks guys, fantastic info as always, esp stuff about decoctions and the like :hat: - definately gonna have to have a wee readup on that and see how easy it will be to implement in my wee coolbox but sounds like ive still got a fair bit to learn :grin: who said wheats are simple :lol: in mean time will get some bottles empty and the liquid yeast in the mail

 

[wilsoa1111]

yep had a wee read... using this http://brewery.org/library/DecoctFAQ.html
so i understand the stuff being heated is only maybe a 1/3 of the mash and while being heated the mash is still at 50 odd degrees when added will raise temp to full mashing enzyme temps(60 odd degrees) this gets left to release the sugars then its the same process as normal -getting temp to 72 degrees for sparging this temp can be achieved by another decoction(as mentioned) or in my case slowly adding hot water-really can't wait- mashing was boring and far to much beer was getting consumed during the pause... :mrgreen: thnx again for sharing great advice

 

[pittsy]

if decoction mashing it should take any where from 2 to 3 hrs , but its a busy time (mostly ) so time goes fast :)