I brewed my first Hefewiezen over the weekend, I'm hoping for a great beer because it is one of my favorite styles. I used 6 LB of wheat LME and 1 LB of wheat DME, 1 oz of German Tettnang and Safbrew WB-06. OG was 1.052, it is currently still bubbling away about once every 3 seconds. I'm getting conflicting info online on when to bottle, some say wait 3 weeks, but I'm nervous about it sitting on the trub that long, some say a week and bottle condition for 2 weeks and it is ready, any suggestions?
Hefes generally don't need much conditioning time compared with other styles, and tend to tastes best when very fresh.. Once you reach final gravity, taste the beer. If it tastes good, I'd bottle.
I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions for new brewers, and I used to hear it a lot when I started brewing years ago. It's simply not true. Effects from Autolysis that you can actually perceive, almost never happen before the 2 month mark. I've heard everyone from Palmer to Jamil say this at conferences. Certainly not to a point that it will impact the flavors of your beer. Don't panic about it. It's better to give your beer an extra week to clean up, than to rush it by worrying about something that isn't happening. Don't get me wrong, autolysis is a bad thing and happens. But not in a beer that you racked over 3 weeks ago.
I let mine go for three weeks, mostly because I didn't want to bother with gravity measurements. I wouldn't worry about off flavors from leaving it on for 3 weeks, but then again it would probably be just as fine bottling at 2 weeks.
Just to reiterate what others have said: your hefe will almost certainly be ready to bottle well before three weeks. Assuming a normal gravity hefe and normally healthy yeast, it will probably reach final gravity within 4-7 days. You can bottle as soon as the gravity stops dropping, but IMO it is better to give the beer a little time to sit so that the yeast can "clean up" a little. If it was my beer, I would plan on bottling at the two week mark. You're in for a treat, btw. Hefes really benefit from freshness, and it doesn't get much fresher than when it's straight from the home brewery to the glass.
I virtually always leave my beers in primary for 4-5 weeks and never have any problems with autolysis. I don't think it's an issue when you brew five gallon batches. I wouldn't leave them for much longer than this, but that's because I'm ready to drink them by then! I will sometimes allow for shorter times, perhaps 3 weeks (never less than 2), if the style likes to be real fresh. So with your hef, go for it at 2 weeks.
Yep.. I brew small two gallon batches.. and hate wasting beer... and I'm too cheap to get a refractometer... so I let every beer I brew ferment three to four weeks... it has worked out well for me so far...
