Beer making: Does anyone know how hard it is to make a Hefeweizen?

Question

I am also looking for a Hefeweizen to make that isn't too sweet. Also, would a simple wit achieve this?

Answer 1

No, but I know how easy it is to go to the store and grab a sixer!!

Answer 2

Hefeweizen is more or less the easiest beer to make.  The process is the same but due to the fact that there's no expectation for clarity in the beer you can do a single stage fermentation so you can easily be looking at a 3-5 week complete turn around on a hefeweizen.

Witbier and hefeweizen are two totally different styles but neither a wit or hefeweizen should be particularly sweet in terms of beer.

Answer 3

As other posters noted, this is absolutely the easiest homebrew to make!  One of the attributes that makes this beer so easy is that the extract brewer can compete very well with an all grain brewer.  In fact, extract brewers often win homebrew competitions in this category!

Here are some keys to brewing this style:

1. Use DRY malt extract.  A decent one is Breiss Bavarian Wheat DME.  This is 60 percent wheat malt, and 40 percent pale malt

2. Use a German noble hops (1 oz at 4-5 AA units)

3. Use a good German Wheat liquid yeast.  I like Wyeast 3638 because of the higher cell counts in the "snap-packs", but White Labs is good too.  They both are derived from Weinstephanen (sp?) yeast strain. Yeast is KEY to brewing this style.

Here is the recipe for 5 gallons:

Bring water to boil

Turn off you heat source

Add the wheat DME

Bring back to a boil

Add 1 oz of German Noble Hops (Hallertaur and Tettnang are my favorite varieties)

Boil for 60 minutes

Chill your wort to appropriate pitching temperature

Add Wyeast 3638 - Bavarian Wheat

Ferment for 2 weeks

Bottle or keg

That's it.  It's that simple.  This recipe will be as good as any commercial wheat beer you have ever had.  

I am assuming that you are acquainted with extract brewing techniques.  Always use proper sanitation (i.e. sanitize everything the wort contacts after boiling.)  Keep your fermentation temps at reasonable levels.  I generally ferment this beer as close to 72 degrees F as possible.  Lower temps tend to emphasize clove flavors.  Higher temps bring out the banana.  72 is a nice middle ground, but if you enjoy one flavor more than the other adjust a few degrees in either direction.

If you are a novice to brewing here are some recommendations to make this beer even better:

1. Buy a turkey frier with a big enough pot to boil your whole wort.  You often can find an aluminum set-up (aluminum is FINE to brew with, ignore all the folks who tell you otherwise) for less that $50.  Make sure your pot is at least 7 gallons so you have room to boil 6 gallons of wort.  You want to end up with a final volume of about 5.5 gallons to make up for the .5 you lose in trub (the yeast and protein cake at the bottom of your fermenter.)

2. Buy a copper immersion chiller.  Or make one yourself.  If you end up boiling the full amount, this will help you cool the beer rapidly.  You can normally buy a small one for about $30.

Boiling the whole batch will provide this beverage with more body and help you realize full hop extraction.  Furthermore, it will keep your caramelization down, so you will end up with a low SRM (read "yellow beer" vs. "amber".)

I have been an all-grain brewer for about 5 years now.  But, if I am feeling lazy, and willing to shell-out the extra cash for extract, this is the only beer style that I am confident will turn out just as well with extract.  I have never brewed an all-grain version of this style that improves upon the extract recipe.

Have fun!

Answer 4

Its just as easy as any other beer. Its all about the ingredients and yeast used that will alter the outcome. I currently have a Dunkelweizen (15B from BJCP) in the secodary and I have a Aventinus clone http://www.bunitedint.com/portfolios/pro... (15C Weizenbock from BJCP) in the primary, however I left out the darker grains as I want this a bit lighter in color. Here is what I did.

9 1/2 lbs Wheat DME

1/2 lb Flaked Wheat and Flaked Oats (if you want it darker add 4-6oz of Carafa)

1 oz Hallertau (about 4.4AA) at boil (60 min)

Wyeast 3068

Don't use Irish Moss or other stableizers.

After boil chill quickly and bring volume to 5 gal and pitch yeast as you would normally do. Primary for 7-10 day transfer to secondary for 1-2 weeks then rack as you normally would.

This recipe is for a 5 gal mini mash extract

more info on BJCP here if unfamiliar http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.html

Cheers

Answer 5

It is no more difficult than most other styles... Just alter your grain bill really. I made a wit recently...turned out more like a hefe however. Not sure what I did wrong just yet.

As far as a recipe goes... Try http://homebrewtalk.com they usually have some good ones. You can also find recipes in the forums at http://beeradvocate.com fairly often. You can also get ready made recipe kits from http://midwestsupplies.com that have all the grains preselected for you.