Hefe Weissbier, Bavarian Style

First you need to pick your Benchmark. For me and traditional weiss, it is Weihenstephaner hefe weissbier.
I know current brewers. I know past brewers, and I know present and past students at Weihenstephaner. I have the recipe and I make it quite frequently. It’s spot on.

However, I have been entrusted with the recipe, so I can't share but what I can tell you is that W loves carahell (who doesn't!) and its in this beer. The problem with clone recipes is that often they don't produce the same beer on our scale due to all the differences, so even if I gave you the recipe, it matters little. It's all in how WE as homebrewers adapt it on our scale and process.

What everyone fails to realize is that weiss production is as precise as lager production. It's yeast dominated so people think they are easy to do because of all the phenolics of the yeast, but it's couldn't be more wrong. There are so many nuances to these beers.. Yeasty, phenolic, clove, banana, dough, lingering malt, sauergut, etc. It's these same reasons why I feel American versions usually fall short and pales in comparison. You can't go off bottles either cause, because they are oxidized, and some of the flavors that come though are oxidized flavors, namely honey.


So what would I do if I was trying to reproduce W hefeweiss bier here at home??

60% Weyermann Wheat malz
35% Weyermann Barke Pils
5% Weyermann carahell

Step mash (though decoction is tradional and still used, be wary of color pick up though).
30 minute rest at 114 (to enhance esters and clove)
then step up though beta
147 for 30-40
163 for 30
170-10

Do not adjust pH at all let it ride.

Soft water, I like 40ish ppm ca, 70cl, 20na.

OG1.051
FG 1.010

Pristine wort preboil, soft boil 60minutes
A 60min addition of hallertau mittlefruh, to about 12-14ibu
hot and cold break separation
5ppm 02, 1 smack pack per 5g of 3068
Ferment at 68F (to enhance banana)
Spund or Krausen to 4 vols.

That will do you good. At least thats how I would (do) do it.


Other kinds of Weiss:
Krystall-
BASICALLY, filtered hefe weiss bier. I use my standard hefe recipe and lager it for an extended time. (I don't filter or fine).



Ur-Weisse-
More traditional, older variant, usually darker but not into dunkelweiss territory. Usually munich heavy with no caramalts. My benchmark for this is Ayinger Ur-Weisse.

60% Weyermann Wheat malz
40% Wyermann Barke Munich (11L)

Step mash (though decoction is tradional and still used, be wary of color pick up though).
30 minute rest at 114 (to enhance esters and clove)
then step up though beta
147 for 30-40
163 for 30
170-10

Do not adjust pH at all let it ride.

Soft water, I like 40ish ppm ca, 70cl, 20na.

OG1.051
FG 1.011ish

Pristine wort preboil, soft boil 60minutes
A 60min addition of hallertau mittlefruh, to about 12-14ibu
hot and cold break separation
5ppm 02, 1 smack pack per 5g of 3068
Ferment at 68F (to enhance banana)
Spund or Krausen to 4 vols.




DunkelWeiss: Kind of like Ur-wiess but usually with a caramalt added, and usually its darker in the Caramunich Variant.

60% Weyermann Wheat malz
30-35% Wyermann Barke Munich (11L)
5-10% Weyermann Caramunich (I-III on preference)

Step mash (though decoction is tradional and still used, be wary of color pick up though).
30 minute rest at 114 (to enhance esters and clove)
then step up though beta
147 for 30-40
163 for 30
170-10

Do not adjust pH at all let it ride.

Soft water, I like 40ish ppm ca, 70cl, 20na.

OG1.051
FG 1.013ish

Pristine wort preboil, soft boil 60minutes
A 60min addition of hallertau mittlefruh, to about 12-14ibu
hot and cold break separation
5ppm 02, 1 smack pack per 5g of 3068
Ferment at 68F (to enhance banana)
Spund or Krausen to 4 vols.




That should give a good enough jump off point for discussion!

 

My pitch rate is always 1 smack pack per 5 gallons (of finished beer) with is really 1 pack per 5.5gal for me. So that is in effect underpitching, but I always keep this a constant.

 

PH in the brewery is quite important don't get me wrong. However pH in weiss production in different.

For one, the Ferulic acid rest needs to be a higher pH, to really work. Second the Weiss yeast are really stong performers and will drop pH quite fast. Third a little higer pH is desired in weiss production to aid in haziness.

 

5.7-5.9.

 

Everything we do on our scale is better than an open ferment. The shallowest of shallow commercial open fermenters are 10x as deep as our 5 gallon fermenters. This is one of the few places homebrewers win.

 

I do, but it matters where you harvest from. From a top crop the yeast will be more true to original, from the bottom, more clove.