Why not read about beer while brewing? Grab one of our educational materials to read until you can grab a glass of beer! These articles will lead you through the path of making beer with useful brewing tips.
What can make you happier than a good old cloudy but summery beer at the beginning of Spring? Nada. Grab a Hefeweizen, you won’t need your coat anymore while this relaxing beverage warms you up from the inside. Its name came from Germany, “hefe” means yeast and “weizen” means wheat, Hefeweizens are unfiltered wheat beers made with a typical ratio of 50:50, or even higher, wheat with yeast that produces unique phenolic flavours of banana and cloves with an often dry and tart edge, some spiciness, bubblegum or notes of apples. Pour it into a traditional Weizen glass and take a look at your sexy looking beer before drink it.
Malty sweetness and a long-lasting collar from Bavaria
The style appeared in 16th century Bavaria and came to America in the 19th century with German immigrants. This top-fermented beer (by German law, Weißbiers brewed in Germany must be top-fermented) contains a significant amount of malted wheat from 50% up to 70% (!) – wheat gifts this drink with a refreshing crispness and light body. Hefeweizen or Hefeweißbier is unfiltered (bottle-conditioned), the traditional beer’s filtered version is called Kristallweizen or Kristall Weiß. A beverage that is noted for its low hop bitterness (15 IBU) and high carbonation that balances the malty sweetness and creates a long-lasting collar of foam. Although some of us take it as an insult it’s served with a lemon wedge to cut the yeast or wheat edge.
The best amusement for an advanced homebrewer
Brewing Wheat beer is a perfect excuse for an advanced homebrewer to master his brewing routine, practically every brewing step is a challenge from smashing to bottling.
It’s way more important to grind wheat and barley malt separately, condition and water the latter in order to preserve it from fragmentation. While mashing always pay close attention to the thin sparge water (1:4 malt-water ratio!) – it guarantees the quick enzymatic dissociation. Due to this thin sparge water, the pH is more alkaline than ideal so you have to acidify the wort.
Want more tips?
+ grain bill: 40-60% Wheat malt, the rest is Pilsner malt
+ 5% Melanoidin malt can increase the body of the beer and the maltiness
+ mashing: at 62°C – 20 minutes then at 72°C for 40 minutes
+ use German hops only
+ use specific Wheat Yeast only (it provides the drink’s banana and clove-like taste and strong fizz)
+ fermenting time: 3-4 (but hurry: it loses its flavour quickly)
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