Brewing a hefeweizen on Sunday and I don’t want to underpitch because I’m not too crazy about the heavy banana flavor. I’m making a starter tonight and plan on sticking it in the fridge tomorrow night until Sunday morning. Is 2 days long enough to crash a hefe yeast?
I would love to answer this by suggesting you just pitch an active starter, but hef is one I have not done that way yet. It works great on every style I’ve tried so far though, and in a couple months I’ll be trying it out on hef
I might just make the starter the night before and just pour out as much liquid as I can without losing yeast. I’m not worried about a little bit of the dme getting in
Don’t bother decanting. Make a 1 qt. starter the day before and pitch the whole thing. For years I did the whole stir plate/flask/decant thing. Then a poster on tbhis forum starting talking about the “shaken, not stirred” method. I tried it, and haven’t used any of that other stuff since.
Yup
It’s been too long since I’ve brewed a hefeweizen to remember, but I bet 2 days in the fridge will drop most of the yeast out. It will start to clear from the top, and you’ll be able to see pretty easily how much is left in suspension.
It may or may not be done fermenting that quickly.