Well….sometimes you have to go back to the drawing board. I was fairly happy with my Hefeweizen and it was doing well in competition but I could just never quite get it where I wanted (head and retention not the rich mousse like head you want, malt / wheat character is lacking). So I went back and re-read Eric Warners “German Wheat Beer” cover to cover (I have read over a hundred “beer” books and this is still in my top 5), researched old NHC recipes, re-read what Gordon Strong wrote (he won NHC gold with his Hefeweizen based on Eric Warners book) and decided it is time to try a Decoction mash. I basically took Gordon Strong’s El Hefe recipe as a starting point and messed around with it based on my system and Eric Warners book. I use a 3V Electric HERMs system but I also have a Conduction cook top I use to make starters and a 3G stainless steel pot which I use along with a small pot (for pulling the decoction) as my decoction setup. Worked great! I decided to enter a Hefeweizen in NHC again this year (even with my past failures – failures be damned!!!) so this is a dry run to work out the kinks before brewing the beer for NHC early next year.
Recipe: hefeweizen 3v 3
Style: Weissbier 10A BJCP 2015
Date: 11-09-2017
| Recipe | Guideline Min | Guideline Max | |
|---|---|---|---|
| OG | 1.050 | 1.044 | 1.052 |
| FG | 1.011 | 1.010 | 1.014 |
| Color | 3.4 | 2.0 | 6.0 |
| ABV | 5.1 | 4.3 | 5.6 |
| IBU | 13.0 | 8.0 | 15.0 |
Brewery Info
Efficiency: 72 %
Attenuation: 78 %
Mash Info
Weight: 14.5 Lbs
Thickness: 1.25 Qt per Lb
Deadspace: 2.0 G
Strikewater: 6.53 G
Volume: 7.69 G
Temp: 112.0 F
Boil Info
Kettle Gravity: 1.039
Predicted Mash Run-off: 5.23 G
Target Starting Boil Volume: 10.25 G
Boil Duration: 90 min
Evaporation Rate: 1.5 G per Hour
Final Boil Volume: 8.0 G
Fermentables
| Weight | % by Weight | Name | Yield | SRM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.750 Lb | 60.0 % | Wheat (DURST MALZ) | 84.0 | 1.8 |
| 5.750 Lb | 40.0 % | Pilsner (DURST MALZ) | 81.5 | 1.8 |
Hops
| Weight | Name | AAU | Time | Use | IBUs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.9 Oz | Hallertau Mittelfrüh | 2.5 | 90 mins | Boil | 6.0 |
| 1.0 Oz | Hallertau Mittelfrüh | 2.5 | 60 mins | Boil | 7.0 |
Yeast
| Amount | Name |
|---|---|
| 1.000 unit | Hefeweizen Ale White Labs WLP300 |
Misc
| Amount | Name | Time | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.000 tablet | Whirlfloc Tablet | 15 mins | Boil |
| 0.500 tsp | Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast) | 10 mins | Boil |
Water
Predicted Mash Ph: 5.63
| Ca | Mg | Na | Cl | So | Bicarbonate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 7 | 3 | 21 | 30 | 24 | 30 |
| Mash | 73 | 3 | 21 | 148 | 24 | 30 |
| Sparge | 79 | 3 | 21 | 157 | 24 | 30 |
| Final | 119 | 5 | 33 | 238 | 38 | 47 |
| Target | 75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Water Profile Name: carrboro
Target Profile Name: standard
Mash Water
Total Water Treated: 6.500 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.500 G
Mash Water Adjustments
Calcium Chloride: 6.0 g
Lactic Acid: 5.0 ml @ 88.000 %
Sparge Water
Leftover Mash Water Used: Yes
Total Water Treated: 6.000 G
Percent RO / Distlled: 0 %
Water Used: 6.000 G
Sparge Water Adjustments
Calcium Chloride: 6.0 g
Notes
Single decoction
Mash in at 105f raise to 112f immediately and hold for 10 mins
2f a min up to 126f for 10 Mins
Raise to 149f and hold for 5 mins then pull 1/3rd as thick decoction and leave main mash at 149f while handling decoction
Slowly raise decoction to 158f and hold for 20 mins and then boil for 10 mins
Reincorporate decoction into main mash slowly and stabilize at 158f for 10 Mins and make sure it passes iodine test else hold till done converting
Raise to 169f and hold 10 mins
Chill to 58f
Pull 4 gallons to fermenter and then pull 2 quarts in mason jars for speisse at bottling
Oxygenate for 60 secs with 0.5 micron stone and o2. Raise to 63f over 24 hours. Hold for 1 week. Raise to 68f over 24 hours and hold through two weeks.
started @ 8am w/ pre-heated HLT. infusion temps were WAY off so will need to adjust. ending up mashing in at 116F and let that sit for 10 mins. still barely in the ferulic acid range so should be OK. slowly raised to 126F for protein rest. set herms to 136F and when it got to 121F I set the herms to 131F and let it slowly raise to 126F. held for 10mins once it hit 125F. then raised to 149F by setting herms to 159F till it got to 145F. I let it rise up to 149F and then held for 5 mins and started single decoction. 7.25G in MLT so I pulled 1/3rd = 2.4 gallons of the thick part (from bottom).
Pulled decoction at 9:20 am
started heating it up @ 9:25am
up to 158F @ 9:30
set @ 1.0 power on induction cooker which worked well
9:52 started to raise it to a boil
10:06 slow boil
10:16 done with boil
10:30 slowly transferred over 15 mins. came in at 157F!!!
10:47 iodine test is negative so good to go
11:50 done sparging -> heating to a boil
had to use higher power during boil due to larger volumes
65->80% during sanitizing cooling setup loop
@11am -> thin kreusen and slow steady bubbling
11/30 1″ kreusen and very strong steady bubbling
12/1 nice big fluffy kreusen. steady bubbling but slowed a bit.
12/2 ~2 sec still kreusened
12/5 no bubbling and kreusen dropped
12/14 bottled 30 bottles barely. racked 3 gallons of beer. added speisse. had to tilt to get last couple of bottles.
FG 1.012