The Weihenstephaner Hefe is probably my favorite beer in the world but I haven’t had much luck brewing this style in the past, not sure why exactly, but I’m ready to give it another shot. I read in a recent article that the writer had been advised by somebody at Weihenstephan that on a homebrew scale it might be best to go with a 60% wheat/20% pils/20% Munich ratio. At the very least, the SRM looks like it will be closer to the real thing than my previous efforts. Hope I can nail it this time!
That looks like a good start. Also use some rice hulls in the batch to prevent a stuck runoff with that much wheat.
That yeast strain is an aggressive fermenter so you will need a blow-off tube in your fermenter as well
Actually, I decided to go without rice hulls this time. It always seems to throw off my absorption calculations and efficiency projections. I’ve made other beers with similar amounts of wheat and have never had a problem with stuck sparse. We’ll see …
Do you rinse the hulls before using them?
I did the last time I used wheat.
Rinse, Denny? I’ve not heard of that before. How and Why?
Not Denny and I don’t want to speak for him… But,
I’ve heard people say you should soak rice hulls in water prior to using in the mash to remove dirt from the hulls. By rinsing them you don’t introduce dirt into the mash and wort.
Personally, I haven’t rinsed rice hulls when I have used them.
Not sure why Denny recommends it but I believe you should rinse rice hulls because they’ll suck up all your wort otherwise. If they’re wet they won’t.
Yeah, that’s main reason, especially in regard to the OP.
I spent a long time trying to nail the color of this beer as well. My beer always turned out much lighter than the original (even when buying it close to the source). I took 3rd in NHC last year doing 60%/35%/5% wheat/pils/carahell (source: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/hefe-weissbier-bavarian-style.561388/). It was still a little light color-wise, but it was close enough to the original in flavor and mouthfeel for me. Up until nationals I had been experimenting with dark munich in varying percentages and while I think the color was a little closer, the flavor wasn’t quite right.
I’ve enjoyed using 70% red wheat malt 30% pils. Still settling on mash and yeast choices.
Next time around I’ll be trying a simplified mash steps in Jeff Alworth’s Secrets of Master Brewers book and using wy3638 or wlp351, open fermentation, and speise/spunding. As per this thread on homebrewtalk:https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/schneider-sohn-original-german-hefe-weizen-ale.659768/page-2#post-8496072
When I rinsed, it was because of the absorption issue.
Is there some reason why there would be some inordinate amount of dirt on rice hulls that we don’t see on the grain we buy? The wort is drained and boiled from there anyway. Has anybody ever experienced dirt making it into their beer from rice hulls?
Not dirt necessarily…more like dust from processing.
Wouldn’t that just be held back after vorlauf?
Or do you mean starchy rice dust you don’t want to introduce after mash off?
Great info here: Brewing Bavarian Weissbier - all you ever wanted to know |
Also I highly recommend spunding to a high carbonation.
Thanks for posting the link to that article, Joe
Update: no rice hulls, no stuck sparge, no problem.
After the batch sparge, I didn’t get any flow out of the tun but a little bit of stirring got things going.
Recipe was 6.6 wheat malt, 2.2 pilsner, 2.2 Munich. I’d used as much as 4 lbs of wheat without hulls in other recipes without a problem previously.
OK after all the rice discussion, how did your Hefe turn out?
If you’re bored, then rinsing rice hulls is a good idea, because they cling to absolutely everything when wet and make a fine mess to clean up. You shouldn’t need more than 2-3 handfuls and I’ve not noticed any appreciable wort loss using them. Also not sure rice hulls contain any more dust than any other grain. Maybe my source just has clean hulls.
The last time I used them, I didn’t rinse and took first place in competition with the Weissbier, FWIW.
+1. Looks like I’m late to this thread but the article is interesting and a good read.