QPB Hefeweizen

[Jon]

QPB stands for Quick Pipeline Boosting, which I need right now.

Pretty simple recipe, roughly 6 gallons post boil. I haven't decided how much I'm going to use tap water vs RO water...I've made great hefes in Pittsburgh and in New York, and NYC water is damn near RO. Pittsburgh is decidedly harder and more mineralized (like the water here, but with no chloramines). So I'll probably do something like 4 gallons of camden treated tap water in the mash--maybe slightly acidified with 88% lactic acid (still haven't gotten that pH meter yet), and 4 gallons RO as the sparge water.

6 lbs Wheat malt (might be red, might be white--not 100% sure which it is)
4 lbs Munich 10 malt (I've used MO in the past, too--and it's fantastic!)

60' mash @ 154* (since I have the grainfather, I'll probably experiment with some step-mashed hefes in the future. But this one will just be a single infusion with a mashout)
10-20' mashout @ 170*

60' boil
1~ish oz Strisselspalt hops @ 60', enough to get me about 10 IBUs.

Ferment with WLP380--the vial I bought on Monday expires in a month, so I actually made a small (roughly 750ml) starter today. No stir plate, so I'm just swirling it by hand every now and again...I've made this recipe (or a variation on it) many, many times and it does great with just 1 vial of yeast, so I am doing the small starter more to ensure viability than increase the cell count too much. I prefer WLP380 to WLP300, it's balanced a little more towards clove than banana, and I think it gives a little more character to the beer as compared to WLP300 (though that'll still make a damn fine hefe).

I'll probably ferment it in the low-mid 60s, anywhere from 62-68* should be fine and make a damn good hefe.

I plan to brew it tomorrow, and I am going to use twice as much ice in the prechiller as I've been using...I hope to get it down below 70* this way, but we'll see how it does. I might even try recirculating the wort back into the grainfather for a little while before I start using the prechiller--but I haven't fully decided just yet.

This should make for a delicious, slightly dark (but far from a dunkleweizen) hefe that goes down eaaasy in the summer heat. And, it should go grain to glass in 10-12 days. Perfect to keep the pipeline flowing strong (though Thorn and I can kick a 5 gallon keg of this in a weekend, no problem).

No gelatin fining in this beer, c'mon...it's a hefe!

[mashani]

If you want something different and fun sometime, try some Wyeast 3638.

[Jon]

If you want something different and fun sometime, try some Wyeast 3638.

Thanks for the recommendation! I have tried it--I've tried just about every hefeweizen yeast I can get my hands on (since it's one of Thorn's favorite styles), and other than harvested yeast, WLP380 is probably the overall favorite. I've even branched out a little into trying some Belgian varieties in hefes, and T-58 actually beats out most liquid yeasts (for our tastes), but it's better on its second and later generations...so I do end up using it quite a bit too (and you can't beat the price!).

I didn't end up brewing this yesterday, for reasons--but I did get set up so I was able to start this morning before work--mashed for a bit over an hour (took the pup out for a walk with about 33 minutes left on the timer), mashed out for 20'...realized I forgot the RO water in the back of the car and went and got it and started heating it (oops!) so I started the sparge at 130* and the last of the water was up to about 150* by the time it was done. Shouldn't have much impact, especially since I started heating to the boil during the sparge.

I also went with just 3.5 gallons of sparge water, as I had a feeling that I wouldn't need more than that...doing a 90' boil as well. No rice hulls and the mash and sparge were super smooth. If I end up a little low on volulme, I can always top up with RO in the fermentor.

Let's see--oh, 1.31 oz of Striselspalt, since they're only 2.5% AA (gonna save 'em for flavor hops in the future).

I crashed the starter in the kegerator, but it kept fermenting slowly. I took it out and swirled it up this morning, and have been swirling it periodically as the day goes on. The yeast was throwing off some sulfur, but it should be ok in the hefe (and that's common when you go low on hefe temps).

[Kealia]

No gelatin?

I think I'm in the minority of liking hefs heavy on the banana side and light on the clove side. The last time I brewed a hef was VERY early in my brewing before I could control temps and knew much about yeast.

Reading your post is making me think that I might brew one up soon using WLP300 with an under-pitch and fermetnting it warm.

I hope yours goes smoothly!

[Jon]

Woo-hoo! I have solved my cooling issues!

The trick is to first recirculate back into the Grainfather while chilling...once it gets down below 150*, I then run the "cold" tap water (86* today ) through my old copper wort chiller sitting in a bucket of ice water (with 2 icemaker batches full of ice), and it's comin out at 60*.

I'm also going to save a vial's worth of the yeast starter, with a tiny bit of the wort added to it, so I can use that (with a small starter) another time.

I'm also going to do a semi-open fermentation on this one--ferment it in a SS pot with a lid just covering it. I plan to ferment it at 55* ambient in the wine fridge, which should keep the wort in the mid 60s...though I may bump the temp up a little bit after it gets going.

This is some of the clearest wort I've ever had--too bad it's going to be cloudy from the yeasties!

OG was 13.4 Brix, or about 1.054, so some pretty good efficiency! Was right at 6 gallons of wort post boil--but that was hot wort, so it'll be a bit less. I should still get 5.5~ish gallons in the fermentor, which is enough to get 5 gallons in the keg, so it looks like my instinct on only using 3.5 gallons of sparge water and running the 90' boil were right.

[Inkleg]

Thanks for the great brew day walk through. Glad you're getting the system dialed in at your new place.

[MrBandGuy]

I think I'm in the minority of liking hefs heavy on the banana side and light on the clove side.

I love me some banana beer! We have a local brewery that does it this way, and it's delicious.

My last hefe used 3068 fermented at 62, per the BCS book. It turned out quite lovely.

[Kealia]

Good to know. When I'm ready to brew another one I may post and look for any other options/tips.

[Jon]

No gelatin?

I think I'm in the minority of liking hefs heavy on the banana side and light on the clove side. The last time I brewed a hef was VERY early in my brewing before I could control temps and knew much about yeast.

Reading your post is making me think that I might brew one up soon using WLP300 with an under-pitch and fermetnting it warm.

I hope yours goes smoothly!

I like it both ways! My wife strongly prefers cloves over naners, though. She's also ok when the banana gets really out of and and is joined by some bubblegum--probably one of the reasons she likes T-58, it's easy to get black pepper/bubblegum with just a touch of banana.

This is fermenting along nicely at 58* ambient.

I think one day I will use some gelatin on a hefe, just to make a kristalweizen.

Oh, and I think this is actually going to be more of a mittleweizen--technically it may be in the color range for a hefe, but it's dark enough that it's not a dunkleweizen, but definitely a bit dark for a hefe.