WY3068 Weihenstephan Weizen Yeast

Ingredients
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From Wyeast:
Profile: The classic and most popular German wheat beer strain used worldwide. This yeast strain produces a beautiful and delicate balance of banana esters and clove phenolics. The balance can be manipulated towards ester production through increasing the fermentation temperature, increasing the wort density, and decreasing the pitch rate. Over pitching can result in a near complete loss of banana character. Decreasing the ester level will allow a higher clove character to be perceived. Sulfur is commonly produced, but will dissipate with conditioning. This strain is very powdery and will remain in suspension for an extended amount of time following attenuation. This is true top cropping yeast and requires fermentor headspace of 33%.

With luck, I’ll be using this yeast for the first time this weekend.

My hope is to have a nice, balanced Hefe with both a banana and clove presence.  But I definitely want banana.

My concern - in bold above - is pitching a full pack into my 3-gallon, 1.048 batch.  This, I assume, would be a classic example of over-pitching (there’s that topic again).

I understand that fermentation temperature is another way to manipulate the flavors, but…

Assuming a healthy, full-blown smack-pack is good for 5 gallons of wort, would you recommend I only pitch 60% of the pack?

Thanks in advance.

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Why not ask the people who know?

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I was going to, but that form doesn’t look “homebrewer” friendly.  I’m not a company, I don’t have a Wyeast ID and none of the subjects apply to homebrew questions.  Seems they want to deflect these type of questions to the retailer, which I get.

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I’ll see if i can get you a contact and pass along your comments

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Much appreciated!

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While I’d love to hear from Wyeast, I also trust this board.  I did a search here and found some interesting, if a bit dated, discussions.

Anyone with experience pitching 3068?

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This thread gave me nightmares… I was being chased by giant bananas, a huge clove and a tall glass of beer with a lemon in it.  I didn’t sleep a wink.  ;)  Sorry… I love beer but for the love of man I can’t do hefeweizens.  I have used this yeast (LONG time ago) and believe me when I tell you it will do everything you want.  In all seriouslness, I did know a number of hefeheads who were local brewers and they were very serious about making the perfect hefeweizen and 3068 was their unanimous yeast of choice.  They would go to local craft breweries and sample their Hefeweizens to get ideas.  Eventually they did find their perfect recipe and they got very good at brewing this style and 3068 was the cornerstone.  Good luck, Megary.

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That’s pretty funny.  I understand the fear.  ;D

Until one day at a bar, the bartender told me they just tapped a keg of Franziskaner and she suggested I try it.  It was life altering.  One of the best beer experiences I’ve ever had.  Now I’m not kidding myself into believing I could brew a beer that good, but I’ve come to really appreciate this style on tap.  Nice and fresh (the problem is, good luck trying to find one!).  For whatever reason and far more than any other beer style, a Hefe just doesn’t translate to a bottle.  For me.  YMMV.

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Here in Chicago there are great German places that have fresh German beer on tap at all times and I know that I’m lucky to have access to that.  Helles, Schwartzbier, Hefeweizen, Kolsch, Altbier, Bock, Pilsner, Festbier… the whole thing.  I may have tried a friend’s hefe a couple years ago and I may have found it less offensive but it’s just not my gig.  From what I gathered from these brewers… the 3068 profile is a balance of the banana & clove characters without either one taking over.  I do remember them telling me one that was far more clove (I want to say WLP300) and they chose 3068 after testing some others.  I think it’s a good place to start.  IIRC, there is a dry hefeweizen yeast out there too… Safale WB-06?  I hope the resulting beer is everything you’re after.  Cheers.

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Back to the OP, I use WY3638 rather than 3068 when I get a weizen craving every couple of years. When I moved from 5 gallon batches to 3 gallons I did notice reduced esters in my beer when pitching a full pack. Now I eyeball about half a pack, and I’ve had better results. It’s a different yeast (same manufacturer though), and probably only 5 or 6 batches of anecdotal experience, so YMMV. Still, I think it’s reasonable to do what you’re suggesting.

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OK, they’ve added a homebrewer section to the contact form, so you should be good to go.

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Well that was quick!

Question has been submitted.  Thanks again!

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i know what you mean, i definitely appreciate those weisse beer specialist breweries.

im far from an expert on it but its a fascinating style.

-on the whitelabs youtube page there is a 50 min article on brewing a hefeweisse
-ive heard mention stuf about certain mash procedures to create more glucose for more banana esters, but i also thought - why not just add glucose then?
-i tried underpitching with munich classic dry and i did not like the results i believed were caused by underpitching. i dont do any of that suggested “stress the yeast to get x flavour” because of that experience.

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Glad I could help and that they got right on it. You get the honor of being the first to use it!

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And then there’s the way Sierra Nevada makes theirs…open fermentation in huge vats in a negative pressure room. Bigfoot gets the same treatment.

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open fermentation is a hope of mine some day, but not in the foreseeable future. you mean sierra nevada’s weizen beer is done this way? ive never had it.

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Thanks to Denny for making this happen.  This puts to rest my question regarding pitch rate, though now, after reading their last response, I’m scratching my head a bit about fermentation temperature!  ;D

Niceties removed…

To Wyeast:
Regarding 3068, my hope is to make a nice, balanced Hefe with both a banana and clove presence. But I definitely want banana. My concern is pitching a full pack into my 3-gallon, 1.048 batch. This, I assume, would be a classic example of over-pitching and the possibility of losing all banana character.

Assuming a healthy, full-blown smack-pack is good for 5 gallons of wort, would you recommend I only pitch 60% of the pack? Less?

(I also believe that fermentation temperature is another way to manipulate esters. On the colder side of the yeast’s temperature range, esters will be reduced, and clove will be more dominant. Warmer side, more esters, more banana. Mid-range, a balance of the two.)

Reply from Wyeast:
Thank you for contacting Wyeast Laboratories and regarding your questions about the banana esters, you would need to pitch 75 ml (60%) or 62.5 ml (50%) if the Activator is fresh, likewise, set the fermentation temperature in the warmer range at 72-73 degrees Fahrenheit.

Back to Wyeast:
To clarify, if I want a balance of clove and banana, I assume I would still pitch 75ml or 62.5ml but keep the fermentation temperature in the middle of the yeast’s range, say 69 degrees or so?

Reply from Wyeast:
That is correct, though since the beer planned is a hefeweizen generally the fermentation temperature is a bit higher.

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I think what they’re saying is that since hefe brewers generally want higher ester levels, it’s generally fermented on the warmer side.

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Open fermentation is easy on the homebrew scale. Just leave the top off of your fermentation vessel. I’ve done this in buckets and kegs, and I just put a sanitized paint strainer bag or BIAB bag over the top to keep bugs out.

Also, I’ve tried using dextrose in my last hefe and I didn’t think it made much of a difference. But that’s just one data point, and I don’t brew them super often. That said, I’d probably give it another try just to confirm. YMMV

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Yes, as is their Bigfoot BW
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