Hefe Weissbier

[kmar92]

Brewday tomorrow for me and I am chasing that elusive banana + cloves that a great German Weissbier gives. I have been able to get cloves but not so much banana, so my quest continues.

My recipe, so far.

https://share.brewfather.app/XC02xS6R6yTmtg

This recipe is still not locked down, so I am interested if any of you AG'ers have any suggestions. I am going to underpitch the Lally Munich Classic @10g, well not so much an underpitch but right at the bottom of what Lallemand recommend for this batch (they suggest 10g - 20g). Anyone reckon I should use less yeast? Do not pay much attention to the water volumes or the fermentation profile, as I am still working on those. I am thinking on the fermentation profile that I may pitch @ 19° for 1 day and then up to maybe 25° chasing that banana. Lally say the temp range for this yeast is 17° - 25°.

So anyone have any suggestion, I know that @Shamus O'Sean was chasing a similar result a while ago?

[Shamus O'Sean]

31 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

Brewday tomorrow for me and I am chasing that elusive banana + cloves that a great German Weissbier gives. I have been able to get cloves but not so much banana, so my quest continues.

My recipe, so far.

https://share.brewfather.app/XC02xS6R6yTmtg

This recipe is still not locked down, so I am interested if any of you AG'ers have any suggestions. I am going to underpitch the Lally Munich Classic @10g, well not so much an underpitch but right at the bottom of what Lallemand recommend for this batch (they suggest 10g - 20g). Anyone reckon I should use less yeast? Do not pay much attention to the water volumes or the fermentation profile, as I am still working on those. I am thinking on the fermentation profile that I may pitch @ 19° for 1 day and then up to maybe 25° chasing that banana. Lally say the temp range for this yeast is 17° - 25°.

So anyone have any suggestion, I know that @Shamus O'Sean was chasing a similar result a while ago?

I pitched 1 x 11g packet of Munich Classic into my recent 30L batch of 1.046 OG wort (Hoegaarden).  That's a slight under-pitch.  Got to an FG of 1.006, so had no problem finishing it off.

• Pitched on a Saturday afternoon at 17°C
• Tuesday AM upped temperature controller to 20°C and was there by the end of Tuesday.  By the way, SG on Tuesday evening was 1.009
• Decided to raise by 1°C per day to 22°C.  Got there by Thursday PM and the SG was 1.007

I reckon I got a fair bit of banana and clove in this one.

[kmar92]

10 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I pitched 1 x 11g packet of Munich Classic into my recent 30L batch of 1.046 OG wort (Hoegaarden).  That's a slight under-pitch.  Got to an FG of 1.006, so had no problem finishing it off.

• Pitched on a Saturday afternoon at 17°C
• Tuesday AM upped temperature controller to 20°C and was there by the end of Tuesday.  By the way, SG on Tuesday evening was 1.009
• Decided to raise by 1°C per day to 22°C.  Got there by Thursday PM and the SG was 1.007

I reckon I got a fair bit of banana and clove in this one.

Thanks SOS, appreciate the comment.

[Brauhaus Fritz]

Found this article a while ago, might be helpful  https://braumagazin.de/article/brewing-bavarian-weissbier-all-you-ever-wanted-to-know/

[Tone boy]

Hey @kmar92,

I recently did a Hefeweizen extract brew, so not an AG version like you, and it was fermented using 1 packet of Lally Munich dry yeast at 22 degrees, 23 litres.

Yes I got banana, though couldn’t really detect cloves. Mind you my sense of smell isn’t really that great, which is surprising because of the size of my beak!!
So I read up a bit about it, and the cooler temps are supposed to give cloves, higher temps banana . Next time I’d try it at 21 or 20 degrees.

Anyway the result was fantastic, a lovely wheat beer. Only a couple of bottles left, which have now cleared up into a Krystallweizen, so I roll the bottles before opening to turn them back into a Hefeweizen

I’m not really sure if an underpitch will help, but Shamus had a good result. Either way I think you are on the right track with that yeast. 
Good luck with your brew!

Edited May 18, 2023 by Tone boy

[kmar92]

Thanks @Tone boy Toner. I currently have the HW at 21°, once the Munich Classic fires up I will let the temp go up to 24°, maybe to 25° as warmer temps should encourage banana. I have also read that higher % of wheat in the grist encourages banana, this brew the wheat was about 55%. Only problem with Munich Classic though is the super Krausen it sometimes forms, I have the Krausen collar on the FV and I hope that is enough especially at the higher ferment temp. Temp range of Munich Classic is 17° - 25°. Future efforts of this style I may up the wheat to 75%, at 55% wheat I didn't have any stuck mash or sparge problems with a handful of rice hulls in the grist so 75% should be OK with rice hulls.

[Pale Man]

Last wheat I brewed I used Lallemand Abbaye Belgian. it gave me a beautiful banana flavour and aroma. I used only because thats what I had, will always use it now in a wheat beer.

[Shamus O'Sean]

10 hours ago, Pale Man said:

I used Lallemand Abbaye Belgian

How did it foam up compared to Munich Classic?

[Pale Man]

14 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

How did it foam up compared to Munich Classic?

It didnt really from memory, just a normal looking krausen.