Just brewed a Wit and am wondering if the fermentation characteristics are similar to a Hefeweissen. It is told that Heffeweisens can be ready in as little as 1 week...true for another wheat beer...the Wit? For the record I used WY 3944 for my Wit that has been in primary 9 days now...1/2 flake wheat & 1/2 pilsner
Wyeast 3944 will ‘appear’ to ferment forever; it will have krausen for many weeks (3-4 weeks) and will produce CO2 for that time period. I have simply become accustomed to let my Wits brewed with 3944 to ‘go’ for many weeks (3-4) and then bottle. I personally have not ‘tracked’ the gravity readings during that timeframe so I can’t comment to that particular aspect. My ‘bottom line’ is that I let 3944 ‘go’ for a long period of time before bottling. Cheers!
I didn't know hefeweizens finished fast. How long should I wait until bottling if I use Weihenstaphener and Kellerweis harvests?
With hefes, you can pretty much bottle as soon as attenuation is finished. If it tastes good, bottle.
I use only Wyeast 3068 for my hefeweiss and fermentation averages just under 5 days. I crash and bottle as soon as I stop getting airlock action. I start at 66F and let it get as warm as it wants. No secondary.
I've got my "hefewit" experiment in fermenters now and they are just finishing up. I made an appropriate starter but opted not to oxygenate the wort (wanted to see if it would enhance the yeast character) and it has slightly slowed the process down a bit. I opted to rouse the yeast a couple of times as a precaution. Fermentation has gone as follows: WIT: (WLP400) pitched at 64F, ramped up to 68F for initial fermentation (OG 1.049) day 3 - gravity only down to 1.030 at that point - ramped up to 71F day 7 - gravity down to 1.023 day 12 - gravity down to 1.013 I'm going to rack it to secondary tonight and add some fresh zest. Would like for it to drop another 1-3 points (1.012 is the high end of the style range) and assume the former is what will occur since I'm taking it off of the yeast cake. HEFE: (WLP380) pitched at 63F and fermented at 63F for initial fermentation (OG 1.049) day 3 - gravity down to 1.020, ramped up to 65F day 7 - gravity down to 1.018, ramped up to 67F day 12 - gravity down to 1.017, ramped up to 71F gonna keep it on the yeast cake longer and hope it drops to 1.014 or lower.
