Comments on: Brewing and drinking German Hefeweizen and other Weizen beers

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 03:38:20 +0000

I think people need lessons in saying Weiße Bier and Weizenbier because that’s the style. It’s not a Hef, he lives in the playboy mansion. It’s not a hefe (that means yeast in German) and it’s not a hefuh either.

Can I buy ferulic acid powder and just add a little to the boil to get the clove aroma and taste kicked up? I really can’t step mash yet with my set up. I turn out a great weiße bier but I know it would be over the top if I had the ferulic acid rest.

By: JP

JP — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 16:59:08 +0000

I just ordered the book today. I’ve drank plenty of South German Weizen (both in Germany and the US). What really is disappointing is that there are so few breweries who can brew an authentic Hefeweizen. I don’t know if its the lack of knowledge, techniques, or equipment but few breweries can produce the correct aroma and flavor profiles (phenols, esters, etc). And the price of the imports can be prohibitive.

So, like many people I’ve decided to brew it myself. I have done full grain ales, and brewing a Hefeweizen is intimidating. I think the previous posters hit all the questions I have (mash types (infusion vs decoction); yeast management; and frementation. I’m looking forward to the book and hopefully it will not take too long to get the hang of it. The one thing I intend to do is use German malts (Weyermanns) versus US or Canadian malts. I intend to use hops from my tiny hop garden (Tettnager and Saaz).

Cheers
JP

By: Jeff Corbin

Jeff Corbin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:22:11 +0000

It’s very difficult to find any references regarding wheat varieties for unmalted wheat ales. Hard White wheat varieties are used due to low to moderate gluten/protein content. Hard white wheat comes in both Winter, (planted in Fall harvested in late Spring)and Summer, (planted in early spring or late winter and harvested in July). There are French, German, and American/Canadian hard white wheat varieties, (AC Snowbird,AC Vista,Argent,Explorer,Golden 86, IDO377S, Lolo, MT9420, Pristine, Winsome), but no info on brewing qualities.
I’ve been researching barley, spelt, oats and wheat for several years. The grain industry is a very tight ship. Most seeds are available only under contract in very large quantities. A couple of years ago I received a very nasty e-mail from the proprietor of Maris Otter barley seed after I sent a letter requesting the purchase of 5lbs of seed. Anyway, don’t forget the glucan problems with wheat is partially resolved by 10-20% 6 row malt to make up for the loss of fiber in when using hard white wheat.
I grow a 4,000 square feet of grain every year in my gardens for home use, straw for garlic, schallot mulch and for brewing. I began scratch brewing once I finally got my hands on a decent two row barley, (conlon) and 6 row (robust), if anyone has Klages seed, please e-mail me at Corbinj31@yahoo.com.
Probably the best strategy is to go to Belgium or Germany ask around, sooner or later you’ll get enough hard white wheat and barley seed. Most barley and wheat seed is open pollinateded so you can propagate your own seed.
Another idea is to call around Cal-Davis Viticulture-oenology and Zymurgy programs for reference materials. Even then, it will be very difficult to buy hard white wheat because the crops are contracted. Even if you do find hard white wheat it will be $4.00lbs after shipping, which is an insane amount of money for unmilled grain.
For much of North America growing and malting grain for brewing should be local. All great brewing styles have emerged over time in response to the agrarianan constraints of a people on the land using the cultivars available. The only constraint to Americhome home brewingng is money,which means transplanted European brewing that is completely divorced from the land us Americans are living on…..Boring! Growing and malting grain isn’t rocket science but it ain’t painting by numbers either.
Even if you live in the city, there is land available to grow grain, if not you should be able to buy malted barley and other brewing grains from local farmers.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:12:30 +0000

I first discovered a taste for beer traveling through Germany and devoured many a “Weizenbier” but was very disappointed when I came back to the states to find only a handful of beers that were kindof but not really similar. Thus started my homebrew hobby. I still have yet to brew a decent german style wheat beer but I got sidetracked for a while, I’m just now starting up my quest again.

That said, I’d love more information on how to make the seemingly ubiquitous beer that I can’t seem to find here in the states. I have Warner’s book on the subject but I’m still getting my feet wet with all-grain and decoction brewing seems intimidating. I’ve also read that decoction is not necessary. I will probably be attempting a batch before the book is out (like this month) so hopefully it will turn out well and I can end my search but I’m not so sure. Can you brew a similar wheat with a single infusion mash or does it require a step mash? Can you get away without a decoction mash?

Also to the above question about the lemon, when I was in Germany it seemed to be a regional thing. Some places served it with a lemon, others did not. It seemed to me to be more common without the lemon and this is my personal preference.

By: peter

peter — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:25:11 +0000

A few years back, Horst D. did an article on Dampfbier for BYO. While not brewed with wheat, it does use the traditional wheat beer yeast. It’s a little obscure, I suppose, but if there is more to say on the topic, maybe you could address it in this book.

By: Dan Noon

Dan Noon — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:49:39 +0000

I had more to say/ask on Witbiers, but for Hefeweizens, this is a must read!:

http://forum.northernbrewer.co.....7e3524d910

By: HSachs

HSachs — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:24:54 +0000

I would like to see a section on special handling/fermentation lessons for the Hefe yeasts. I’ve been brewing for two years, and have absolutely no problems with wit, saison, alt, pils, and the English yeasts, but have huge problems with Hefeweizen yeast health — I get autolysis problems and/or band-aid flavors in all of my Hefe brews, and they are completely undrinkable. I never have problems with my other brews, so I know it’s not a problem with sanitation. I’ve tried fermentation temperatures from 62 degrees to 68, and always have the same rubber gumshoe/bandaid flavors. And yes, I use make a 2000ml starter on a stir plate, so I know I have plenty of healthy yeast growth before I pitch. I’ve even altered water sources thinking I might have chlorophenol problems — to no avail.

I wish I knew what my problem is brewing Hefeweizens — they are the reason I started homebrewing, so it’s very frustrating for me to fail at such a simple beer. Hope you can help me with this question in your new book.

By: Mateo

Mateo — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:01:22 +0000

Working as a brewmaster in Poland, I find hefeweizen as a topseller. Many things may happen during production of this beer. I think, it would be interesting to find informations like: production of dunkel weizen, mashing, types of secondary fermentation (bottom yeast fermentation)- additions of wort or sugar; yeast properities (is cooling down necessary after main fermentation for yeast collecting), hopping with new kinds of hops (Saphire), sources of bitter in wheat beer, reasons of clarity in wort and beer, controlling the aroma (wort aeration) and many others.
By the way, does anyone can advice me where can I buy Eric Warner’s “German Wheat Beers”? I tried to reach it online, but as Poland is a part of EU, it`s still a problem to make some online shoppings.

By: Josquin

Josquin — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:33:07 +0000

Wow, I just stumbled onto this site in the course of a little Google research. I can’t say how excited I am. This book is going to be awesome.

It would be wonderful to see as authoritative an account as possible of the actual value of the various traditional rests and decoction techniques. This seems more controversial than it maybe used to be (I hear talk about today’s highly-modified malts, etc., making these things less necessary).

Also, some light shed on Weizenbocks would be nice–their history, their many variations (light, dark, various strenghths).

Very excited about this book–did I mention that?

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:35:08 +0000

Hey Stan-

Great to see you have a new book in the works.

I’m interested in black wheat beers. For example, New Glarus Black Wheat and Kapuziner Schwarz Weizen.

Any insight into beers like that would be great.