Need a Kit+Extract Hefeweizen Recipe

[Tim...]

Hey all. I am a big fan of German Hefeweizen beers. Beers such as Schofferhofer, Erdinger, and Weihenstephaner. With summer coming around, I thought I should try and get a good homebrew version of one of these going (hoping to put it on mid October, so its ready to drink by December). I have had a browse for a good recipe that should turn out something like one of these, but I haven't found any promising results (found lots for hoegaarden though , unfortunately I'm looking for more of the german style).

So, does anyone on these forums have any good Kit+Extract recipes that should give me a result similar to one of these German Hefeweizens? Or if not, does anyone have any advice as to how much and what ingredients I should be adding?

Thanks for your time,
Tim.

[Kevnlis]

I would go straight liquid wheat extract with a bit of hallertau for a first brew base. Maybe steep a pinch of carahell or carapils for body. You will want to use the liquid Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Wheat yeast and ferment rather warm (22C or so) to get the esters.

[Kevnlis]

Here is an easy recipe which should be pretty good!

3.40 kg Wheat Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 93.15 %
0.25 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 6.85 %
10.00 gm Hallertauer [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 8.2 IBU
10.00 gm Hallertauer [4.80 %] (15 min) Hops 4.1 IBU
1 Pkgs Weihenstephan Weizen (Wyeast Labs #3068) Yeast-Wheat

It uses 2x 1.7Kg cans of unhopped wheat extract, 250g of steeped carapils, and 2 additions of hallertau hops in the boiled broth from the steeped grain, add the cans at flame out cool and top the fermentor up to 21L, pitch yeast when at 25C or so and hold at about 22C through fermentation.

[timmy]

Here's one that I've been doing and it's fantastic:

1 Tin Thomas Coopers Wheat
1 x 1kg Morgans Wheat Malt (or 1.5kg Coopers wheat malt)
15g Tettnang dry hopped
Wyeast 3068

Ferment it at low 20's for a week, rack for a week then cc for 2 weeks.

The first one I did used the 1kg extract tin instead of 1.5 and I reckon it came out better. And it's a piece of cake to make (the most complicated bit is doing the starter). The best thing is that it's ready to drink in a couple of weeks after bottling - wheats are better drunk young IMO.

Cheers,

Tim

[Tim...]

Here is an easy recipe which should be pretty good!

3.40 kg Wheat Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 93.15 %
0.25 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 6.85 %
10.00 gm Hallertauer [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 8.2 IBU
10.00 gm Hallertauer [4.80 %] (15 min) Hops 4.1 IBU
1 Pkgs Weihenstephan Weizen (Wyeast Labs #3068) Yeast-Wheat

It uses 2x 1.7Kg cans of unhopped wheat extract, 250g of steeped carapils, and 2 additions of hallertau hops in the boiled broth from the steeped grain, add the cans at flame out cool and top the fermentor up to 21L, pitch yeast when at 25C or so and hold at about 22C through fermentation.

Thanks, that sounds great! Sorry to be a pain, I'm a bit of a beginner at this stuff, but how do I go about steeping the carapils? Do I have to crack it first? How much water would be enough in the boiling pot for all of the boiling? And how long do I boil it for, before adding the hops?

Sorry about all the questions, I like to get things right the first time Learn from other peoples mistakes, not my own

Cheers,
Tim


**EDIT**

Here's one that I've been doing and it's fantastic:

1 Tin Thomas Coopers Wheat
1 x 1kg Morgans Wheat Malt (or 1.5kg Coopers wheat malt)
15g Tettnang dry hopped
Wyeast 3068

Ferment it at low 20's for a week, rack for a week then cc for 2 weeks.

The first one I did used the 1kg extract tin instead of 1.5 and I reckon it came out better. And it's a piece of cake to make (the most complicated bit is doing the starter). The best thing is that it's ready to drink in a couple of weeks after bottling - wheats are better drunk young IMO.

Cheers,

Tim

Sounds good. Wouldn't racking it take out alot of the yeast from the bottom of the bottle? Doesn't that give the wheat beers alot of their aroma and colour? I haven't done any racking before, so I'm not really up to date on all of this.

Yea, wheats are deffinatly better when fresh. Unfortunatly when we buy the imported German stuff, its spent weeks just travelling over to us, and however much time it has spent on the shelf.

[Kevnlis]

Yes the grain must be cracked. Use 3L of water at about 65C, let it soak at that temp for at least an hour, then strain the broth to a stockpot and boil with the hops for the recommended time. Start the timer from the point of rolling boil, then add first lot of hops and boil for 45 min, add the second lot and boil for 15 min more, turn the flame off and add the extract. Top up to 21L with cold water and pitch yeast when in the mid 20's C.

[drsmurto]

Dont both the wheat kits and the unhopped wheat malt extracts contains more malted barely than wheat?

How much wheat by % do the German Hefeweizen beers normally contain?

Maybe a part mash with wheat malt to up wheat content?

[Kevnlis]

Dont both the wheat kits and the unhopped wheat malt extracts contains more malted barely than wheat?

How much wheat by % do the German Hefeweizen beers normally contain?

Maybe a part mash with wheat malt to up wheat content?

Most wheat extract is 60% wheat. That is about right for this style (50% - 70% recommended). A partial mash will definately produce a better beer, but for a beginner this will be an easy yet enjoyable recipe.

I would suggest avoiding the kit as it is prehopped and may not be right for this style. Always best to add your own hops!

[timmy]

tim,

I mainly rack to reduce the amount of sediment in the bottle - I'm not too bothered about the appearance apart from that. If you don't want to rack then that's OK - you might just want to leave the brew in the primary for longer.

kev - the coopers wheat kit is fine IMO. I had a Moo Brew Hefe the other week and I reckon mine was better... Although I'm trying to get my hands on a good partial hefe/dunkelweizen recipe if anyone has one lying about...

Cheers,

Tim

[Kevnlis]

Aventinus Dunkelweizen

5.00 kg Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) (2.0 SRM) Grain 54.35 %
2.00 kg Pale Malt, Traditional Ale (Joe White) (3.0 SRM) Grain 21.74 %
1.65 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (7.1 SRM) Grain 17.93 %
0.35 kg Caraaroma (Weyermann) (178.0 SRM) Grain 3.80 %
0.15 kg Melanoidin (Weyermann) (30.0 SRM) Grain 1.63 %
0.05 kg Chocolate Malt (Joe White) (381.0 SRM) Grain 0.54 %
70.00 gm Tettnang [4.50 %] (90 min) Hops 26.1 IBU
20.00 gm Tettnang [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 3.5 IBU
1 Pkgs Weihenstephan Weizen (Wyeast Labs #3068) Yeast-Wheat


Thats an AG version I picked up somewhere. You could just sub in amounts of Wheat and Pale extract for the base grains and minimash the rest of the grains. That is for a 23L batch.

[James L]

That 3kg ESB bavarian wheat with weihenstephan yeast is a ripper... simple yet effective....

you can always boost it up with 500g more wheat malt and dry hop with tettanger... It tastes very similar to the Paulaner hefe weissbier

I'll be making some more very soon...

[Tim...]

Ok, I'm just about ready to buy ingredients and put a wiezen recipe down. I wanted to use the thomas coopers wheat kit, but I dont have any local shops that sell them, and I don't want to wait for delivery when ordered on line. So, instead, I'm following more of Kev's style and doing the following:

2x 1.7kg Wheat Liquid Extract
250g Carpils
10g Hallertauer (60 mins)
10g Hallertauer (15 mins)
9g Coriander Seeds
1 orange rind
Either Wyeast Labs #3068 Yeast
OR WB-06 (Depending on what I can find at Brewcraft)

(Not 100% sure about the corriander seeds and orange rind, I was hoping someone here would know if it would be worth putting them in.)

Boil 1 litre of water, then dissolve carapils into it, and add 10g hallertauer. 45 mins later, chuck in another 10g hallertauer. 15 mins later turn the flame off, leave to sit for 15 mins. Pour 2 Litres of boiling water into the fermenter, then dissolve the 2 tins of wheat liquid extract. Add the dissolved carapils and hop mixture. Top up to 21L (trying to get 25C), pitch yeast, and so on.
Corriander seeds are cracked, and added to the boil for 10 mins along with the rind.

--------------------

Sorry for my detailed instructions, I'm still rather new at this, and want to see if anyone thinks I'm doing anything wrong with my brews, better to learn now that 2 years down the track.

Any comments on the recipe will be extremely welcome. Such as whether or not I should add rind and coriander. Or which of those yeasts is better. Also, whats the carapils like? What will it do for my beer, and if I can't find it, what can I replace it with?

Thanks,
Tim

[Danzar]

You are well researched for someone relatively new to brewing Tim!!

I think you have a good recipe there. Probably triple (about 30g) or even quadruple (about 40g) your coriander. 9g won't be so noticeable unless you want a more subtle hint, win which case use about 20g.

If using orange rind use the bitter orange not standard orange peel. It can be ordered from http://www.grainandgrape.com.au. 1/3 to half a bag boiled for 15 minutes with your CRACKED coriander seeds should suffice.

Strain and toss the liquid in with your brew.

I'll be interested in the results. Please come back and post them.

[warra48]

Would the coriander and bitter orange not make it into a belgian wit? I didn't think the german hefeweizen has those ingredients, AFAIK.

[Tim...]

Would the coriander and bitter orange not make it into a belgian wit? I didn't think the german hefeweizen has those ingredients, AFAIK.

German hefeweizens dont have those ingredients, i think its actually illegal for them to use them (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot). As far as I know it won't turn out like a belgian wit, due to the yeast I am using. I'm hoping it will be like a german hefeweizen with that little bit of extra flavour.

[warra48]

That's cool. If you are happy, then that is all that matters. Hope it turns out well and that you enjoy the beer.
As it happens, I'm putting down a simple AG hefeweizen tomorrow. Just pilsner and wheat malts, with hallertauer hops, and using the new wheat yeast from Ross at Craft Brewer.

[Kevnlis]

I think he has confused the Belgian Wit with German Wheat. Thats fine to put orange peel and corriander in there, just not to style. I personally use Madarine peel, I use a kitchen brush to clean away as much of the white stuff from the inside of the skin and just chuck it in whole. I would probably add about 20g Mandarine peel and 30g Corriander seeds to that brew.

[lethaldog]

Would the coriander and bitter orange not make it into a belgian wit? I didn't think the german hefeweizen has those ingredients, AFAIK.

German hefeweizens dont have those ingredients, i think its actually illegal for them to use them (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot). As far as I know it won't turn out like a belgian wit, due to the yeast I am using. I'm hoping it will be like a german hefeweizen with that little bit of extra flavour.

If your using unhopped malt you may want to up the hop additions a bit as it will be very sweet with 10gms of hallertau being your only bittering addition, at the rate you are hopping based on a 10 litre boil you would end up with about 3.5 ibu which is next to f#$k all, if i were using that hop in this recipe with that size boil then i would use at least 40gm at 60 mins and 20-30 at 15 mins or you could just get a higher AA% bittering hop and use a bit less

[Danzar]

Aventinus Dunkelweizen

5.00 kg Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) (2.0 SRM) Grain 54.35 %
2.00 kg Pale Malt, Traditional Ale (Joe White) (3.0 SRM) Grain 21.74 %
1.65 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (7.1 SRM) Grain 17.93 %
0.35 kg Caraaroma (Weyermann) (178.0 SRM) Grain 3.80 %
0.15 kg Melanoidin (Weyermann) (30.0 SRM) Grain 1.63 %
0.05 kg Chocolate Malt (Joe White) (381.0 SRM) Grain 0.54 %
70.00 gm Tettnang [4.50 %] (90 min) Hops 26.1 IBU
20.00 gm Tettnang [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 3.5 IBU
1 Pkgs Weihenstephan Weizen (Wyeast Labs #3068) Yeast-Wheat


Thats an AG version I picked up somewhere. You could just sub in amounts of Wheat and Pale extract for the base grains and minimash the rest of the grains. That is for a 23L batch.

Would you go 2.5kg wheat malt and 1.5kg pale malt then minimash the Munich I, Caraaroma, Melanoidin and Choc Malt at 66c?

[Kevnlis]

I am not sure the Munich I will have enough diastatic power to mash on it's own? Also I would use 4 kilos of Liquid Wheat Extract instead of 2.5 to get a bit closer to what this beer should be.