Tag Archives: HH

Humboldt’s Hefeweizen

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It has been a loooooong time since I’ve brewed a German hefeweizen / weissbier. In fact, my records show that I’ve only done it once, over five years ago. That attempt was all-extract, and turned out reasonably well.

Alexander von Humboldt, from a portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler

I’ve been thinking about this style because I wanted something that turns around quickly, has a ton of character, and is low alcohol enough to be enjoyed as a session beer on warm days. Plus, I’ve really been into German styles lately–what’s not to like?

The recipe more or less follows Gordon Strong’s weissbier recipe from the March/April 2020 issue of Brew Your Own magazine (recipe here, behind paywall). I liked its simplicity, and that it could be done fairly well with an infusion step mash. I added in a touch of melanoidin malt, to use up a lingering handful, and used up some extra wheat malt, too. The recipe called for a ferulic acid rest (to maximize clove character), and I was willing to give that a try in the interest of science.

The name–Humboldt’s Hefeweizen–honors German scientist Alexander von Humboldt. I recently finished a biography about him (Andrea Wulf’s Invention of Nature–highly recommended!), and I was fascinated by his intellectual and cultural influence, as well as his incredible dedication to documenting knowledge. This dude has a ton of animals and plants bearing his name, bestowed by the scientific community. There’s a Humboldt Penguin, and a Humboldt Squid, and a Humboldt’s Sapphire Hummingbird. Why not a Humboldt’s Hefeweizen? I don’t know that he necessarily drank much of the stuff when he was alive, but he probably didn’t eat many penguins, either.

Humboldt’s Hefeweizen

  • 4.75 lb. Superior Pilsen Malt (Great Western)
  • 4 lb. white wheat malt (Briess)
  • 1.25 lb. white wheat malt (Great Western)
  • 1.6 oz. melanoidin malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.25 oz. Magnum hop pellets (13.2% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Hefeweizen Ale yeast (WLP300, White Labs)

Target Parameters

  • 1.047 o.g., 1.010 f.g., 4.9% abv, 11 IBU, 4 SRM
  • Infusion mash; 15 minute acid rest at 116°; 30 minute saccharification rest at 149°; 30 minute saccharification rest at 158°, batch sparge
  • Claremont tap water with mineral additions, to hit target water profile of 80 ppm Ca, 9 ppm Mg, 23 ppm Na, 58 ppm SO4, 50 ppm Cl, 220 ppm HCO3; RA=118 pm

Procedure

  • The night before brewing, I spooled up a 1.25L starter for the yeast.
  • On brew day, I mashed in with 2 gallons of water at 129°, to hit 119° for the acid rest. This is a touch higher than I wanted, but still within the acceptable parameters for an acid rest.
  • After 15 minutes, I added 1.6 gallons of water at 202°, to hit a 149° mash temperature. I added 4.5 mL of lactic acid at this time, and let it rest for 30 minutes.
  • Next, I added 1.6 gallons of water at 185°, to raise the mash temperature to 152°. I had been hoping for a little warmer (158°), but will settle for this. After 30 minutes, I collected the first runnings.
  • I added 3.6 gallons of water at 185°, let it rest for 10 minutes, and collected the second runnings.
  • In total, I collected 7.2 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.040, for 75% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding the hops per the schedule. After 60 minutes, I turned off the flame and began chilling.
  • I transferred the wort into the fermenter, and chilled it further in my fermentation chamber. Once I hit 62°, I pitched the yeast.
  • I brewed this beer on 26 April 2020, and kept the 62° temperature for the first four days of fermentation. I ramped up to 67° on 30 April.
  • On 3 May 2020, I brought the beer out to ambient temperature, which was around 72°, to finish out fermentation.
  • I kegged the beer on 5 May 2020, adding 3.61 oz. of corn sugar. This should hit a target carbonation volume of ~3.4 volumes. After a week, I hooked it up to the gas in my keezer, carbonating the last little bit in there.
  • Starting gravity was 1.045, and final gravity was 1.013, for 4.3% abv.
yellow beer with fluffy white head, in weizen glass with SVP2014 on front with picture of fossil Archaeopteryx, held by hand in green yard

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Creamy white head, persistent; doesn’t always pour consistently tall, though (gotta work on the head factor). I seem to do better if I let the beer line rest for 10 minutes between pours, to let CO2 out of solution and encourage some foam. Very hazy light gold beer.
  • Aroma
    • Tart aroma, with light bubblegum and clove. (no banana) Lots of yeast character!
  • Flavor
    • Light and smooth, with very low, subtle hop flavor. Slightly tart, with a mild bite coming from high level of carbonation that offsets the malt. Moderate clove, slight banana, very slight bubblegum in the yeast character. Malt character is light and somewhat bready, with a residual sweetness.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, creamy on tongue, with high carbonation, very slightly dry finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • This is a really nice weissbier! I think the freshness, malt balance, and high carbonation come together pretty well. I like that I dodged the super-banana (sometimes to the level of stomach-churning) character of wheat beers fermented at higher temperatures, so there’s not much I would change on that end. The yeast character is pretty nice here, too. My one disappointment concerns the level of head; depending on my pour (and how long the beer has sat in the lines between pours, with a greater length of time encouraging more foam), I don’t get quite as tall of a head as consistently as I would like. I wonder if the low temperature initial mash rest had a detrimental effect in this regard (in terms of breaking down the relevant proteins just a bit too much). Or maybe it’s how I’m pouring? Or maybe I am expecting more head than is realistic in a typical setting? I might add in a touch of flaked wheat to address head character next time.
    • As a style, I’m definitely coming back to this one. It’s super flavorful, packing in a ton of character without a ton of alcohol. That’s perfect for enjoying on a summer afternoon!
  • Overall
    • 8.5/10

Holy Helles

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After years of avoiding lagers, I’m diving into the deep end. In the past two months alone, I’ve done a German pils and a Vienna lager, and these were hard on the heels of a Bohemian pilsner and another Vienna lager. I’ve generally used a faster fermentation and lagering schedule for my lagers, but for this batch I wanted to A) take my time a bit; and B) try out a style I haven’t brewed previously. The idea of a Munich helles is appealing because it is supposed to be a very malt-forward style with minimal bitterness, so it’s likely to be of broad interest to more people than something more bitter. Also, by slowing down the process I also can clarify without gelatin, which also means strict vegetarian/vegan types can drink it without complaint. Overall, a Munich helles seemed like a nice change from my most recent batches, and I figured it would make a nice brew to serve with Easter dinner. So, I’m calling this batch “Holy Helles”. I’ll note I’m not the first brewer to think themselves so clever, but I’m sticking with it anyhow.

The recipe isn’t based on anything in particular; I read across a number of sources to come up with the combination of malt, yeast, and hops. This should hit the “sweet spot” for the particulars of the Munich helles style.

20170107_103335

Holy Helles

  • 8.25 lb. floor-malted Bohemian pilsner malt (Weyermann)
  • 1.25 lb. Munich I malt (Weyermann)
  • 3 oz. BEST acidulated malt (BESTMALZ)
  • 2 oz. Carapils malt (Briess)
  • 1.5 oz. German Hallertau hop pellets (3.2% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz.German Hallertau hop pellets (3.2% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 1 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient, 10 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Southern German Lager yeast (WLP838, White Labs)

Target Parameters

  • Multiple infusion and single decoction mash, 20 minute rest at 130°, infusion to hit 45 minute rest at 148°, thick decoction to raise temperature to 168°. Batch sparge.
  • Water built from R.O., to hit 44 ppm Ca, 2 ppm Mg, 22 ppm SO4, 68 ppm Cl, and 5 ppm bicarbonate.
  • 1.046 o.g., 1.010 f.g., 4.8% abv, 19 IBU, 4 SRM, 5.5 gallons into fermenter

Procedure

  • Several days in advance, I made a 2L starter, let it run for 2 days, and then cold-crashed.
  • I calculated that I would need 9.2 gallons of water, so weighed out 1 g of gypsum, 0.7 g of epsom salt, 5.4 g CaCl, and 0.3 g baking soda for my mineral additions. I split these into 2 parts. Half of the mass will go into the strike water and half into the sparge water.
  • I added 2.45 gallons of water at 148° to my mash tun, and let the mash tun warm up until it hit 143°. Then, I added my grains, and achieved my target acid rest temperature of 143°.
  • After 20 minutes, I added 1.5 gallons of water at 186°, to hit a mash temperature of 146°. It was down to 143° after 35 minutes, and at more or less the same temperature after 45 minutes total. I decocted 1.5 gallons of a medium-thick mash, brought it to a boil, boiled for 10 minutes, and added it back in to the mash to hit a mash-out temperature of 163°. I let this sit for 10 minutes before draining the mash tun to collect the first runnings.
  • I added 5.25 gallons of water at 180°, let the mash sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the second runnings.
  • In total, I collected 7.6 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.044–that’s 90% mash efficiency! I chalk it up to the decoction, and that’s awesome, but the end result would be too high in gravity. So, I added 1 gallon of RO water to dilute everything down to 1.040 and get 8.6 gallons.
  • I targeted a 90 minute boil time. Once I started the boil, I thus waited 30 minutes before adding the first round of hops. Other hops and additions were made per the schedule in my recipe.
  • Nine minutes before flame-out, I checked gravity again and saw that it was at 1.048, a touch higher than my target. So, I added another 0.5 gallon of RO water.
  • After flame-out, I chilled the wort down to 72°, and got ready for the transfer.
  • There was a lot of wort, so I drained the first gallon of trub off in order to keep the portion going into the fermenter fairly clean. Even with this, I ended up with just under 6 gallons of wort in the fermenter.
  • I popped the fermenter into my fermentation chamber, and set it for the final chill down to 45°. Once I hit this (about 6 hours later), I pitched the yeast and set the temperature to 50°.
  • I brewed this beer on 7 January 2017. It had a starting gravity of 1.047 (just a touch above target).
  • I had minor signs of fermentation within 24 hours and fairly good krausen within 48 hours. Three days into fermentation, we lost power for ~16 hours. The fermentation was thus unregulated for that stretch. I wasn’t able to check on the beer (being laid up in bed with a bad cold), but presumably the temperature went up just a touch (although the ambient temperature remained around 60°).
  • I did a check on the beer on 15 January 2017. There was a strong sulfur aroma coming from the fermenter. The gravity was 1.020, for 56% apparent attenuation. On this day, I raised the fermentation temperature to 52°. Fortunately, I didn’t detect any off (e.g., fruity) flavors in the beer, so I am satisfied that the brief power loss wasn’t too detrimental.
  • My planned fermentation schedule is 7 days at 50°, 7 days at 52°, 7 days at 54°, 4 days at 68°, and then a week or so at 32° before transferring to the keg for long-term lagering. This will allow me about 2 months of dedicated lagering before I serve this at Easter.