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pFriem Family Brewers

Dear Replicator,
A couple years ago I was traveling through the Columbia River Gorge from Portland, heading east and stopped off in Hood River, Oregon. I stumbled on a place called pFriem Family Brewers. I loved all their beers, but the Dunkelweizen really stood out. I recently was inspired to brew a weizen beer and the pFriem Dunkelweizen came to my mind as something I’d love to clone. Any help would be appreciated Replicator!
David Riss
Boise, Idaho

In an industry that is getting bigger, less personal, and more competitive with every new brewery opening and every passing year, it’s still nice to see that there are any number of places in the craft beer world that are just as committed to great beer and maintaining contact with their public as they were when they first started brewing. One of those places is pFriem Family Brewers in Hood River, Oregon.

I contacted pFriem about their Dunkelweizen, and got a prompt and unexpected response from Josh Pfriem, co-founder and Brewmaster. He was happy to help us out and grateful for the interest in the Dunkelweizen, but told me that they hadn’t been happy with that beer and had gone back to the drawing board on their wheat beers. As Josh put it, “I would hate to give you guys a bunch of info for a beer that we were not stoked on as we are trying to take a different approach to it.” He also noted that they had spent some significant time retooling their wheat beers, and had the new version of their Hefeweizen in fermentation as we spoke – would we be interested in writing up their new recipe? You’re absolutely right we would!

For those who don’t know (and you really should), pFriem Family Brewers has quite a story to go along with its reputation and obvious care and commitment to craft beer. Josh had an intercontinental, epic brewing education and career before co-founding pFriem Family Brewers. After college, he brewed at several noteworthy Northwestern breweries, including Chuckanut and Full Sail. By his own account, though, it was a bike trip through Belgium that really planted the idea of starting up his own enterprise. During his cycling trip, he spoke with some of the great brewers of Europe and the Low Countries, soaking up as much of their knowledge and insight as he could (and nurturing his own love of beer), ultimately fixating on a vision of merging European and uniquely Northwestern brewing traditions.
That vision came into being after more than a decade in the Pacific Northwest brewing scene, in August 2012, just a little more than one year after meeting co-founders Ken Whiteman and Rudy Kellner at a child’s birthday party. pFriem Family Brewers, as the name explicitly states, is not just family-friendly, but family-oriented. The goal, Josh writes, is “to build a business that was tightly integrated with our family lives, to honor the place we call home and love so dearly, and to create a warm, friendly space where others could experience our creations.”

And what a space it is. The pub itself is a wide-open and airy space, sitting in full view of two one-story tall fermenters and a bright brewery. Natural wood abounds, and that’s not the only thing “natural” about the location: It’s located adjacent to Hood River Waterfront Park, a stone’s throw from the Columbia River, where windsurfers and the beautiful Columbia River Gorge provide a pleasant view to enjoy while drinking pFriem’s award-winning beer and sampling their Belgian-inspired food menu.

The range of beers produced in this bucolic location is genuinely, impressively staggering. Sure, you find clean lagers and spicy Belgians and wet-hopped IPAs. You also, though, find a golden coffee ale, a wide range of barrel-aged options, kettle-soured fruit beers, a traditional Flanders Red, and more. Creativity abounds, and their hard work has been recognized by local groups, several publications, the Great American Beer Festival, and international competitions.
Their Hefeweizen is a testament to the outstanding results that come from pairing high-quality ingredients with a rigorous attention to detail in the brewing process. Two different Pilsner malts, two wheat malts, two noble hops, and one yeast strain make this a simple but compelling recipe. The recipe passed on by brewer Bryan Cardwell notes that the goal was to make a Bavarian Weizen that was “dynamitic” and balanced – not an ester and phenol bomb. Bryan notes that they approached this from three complementary angles:

Ingredients: The dark wheat addition rounds out the wheat flavor and sets off the esters and phenols nicely.

Procedure: Their multi-step mash and risky (but rewarding) underpitching “yeast stress” strategy ensure that they get the most out of their mashing and fermentation processes.

Practice: Spunding (transferring the beer to a pressure-holding vessel to complete fermentation – kind of a “kick start” conditioning process) at 1.020 SG yields a creamy mouthfeel and dense, rocky head.

It’s hard to argue with humility and success, and pFriem’s willingness to go back to the drawing board to get the beers they want is a testament to their dedication to good beer. We can all take a lesson from that, especially as we work to re-create their beers!

 

pFriem Family Brewers’ Hefeweizen clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.050 FG = 1.012
IBU = 11 SRM = 6 ABV = 5%

Ingredients
2.25 lbs. (1 kg) Gambrinus Pilsner malt
2.25 lbs. (1 kg) Weyermann Pilsner malt
3.75 lbs. (1.7 kg) wheat malt
1.5 lbs. (0.7 kg) dark wheat malt (7 °L)
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) Weyermann Carared® malt (20 °L)
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) rice hulls
2.5 AAU Perle hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 5% alpha acids)
1.25 AAU Tettnang hops (10 min.) (0.25 oz./7g at 5% alpha acids)
Wyeast 3638 (Bavarian Weizen) or White Labs WLP531 (Bavarian Weizen) or Safbrew WB-06 yeast
7⁄8 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
This recipe calls for a step mash. Mill the grains, then mix (along with rice hulls) with 3.2 gallons (12.1 L) of 120 °F (49 °C) strike water, for an initial mash temp of 110 °F (43 °C); hold for 15 minutes. Ramp mash up to 142 °F (61 °C); hold for 30 minutes. Ramp to 155 °F (68 °C); hold for 30 minutes. Mash out at 168 °F (76 °C). If you prefer a single infusion mash, then mix with 3.2 gallons (12.1 L) of 162 °F (73 °C) strike water to reach a mash temperature of 152 °F (67 °C). Hold this temperature for 60 minutes.

Vorlauf until your runnings are clear, and lauter. Sparge the grains with 4 gallons (15.3 L) and top up as necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 L) of wort. Boil for 70 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredient list and a kettle clarifier if desired. After the boil and whirlpool, chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 63 °F (17 °C). Pitch yeast.

Ferment at 64 °F (18 °C), either until the completion of primary fermentation or until gravity reaches 1.020, then apply bung/spund if possible, but only with a proper spunding valve. If fermenting until the beer completes fermentation, reduce temperature to 32 °F (0 °C), then bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.7 volumes.

pFriem Family Brewers’ Hefeweizen clone

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.050 FG = 1.012
IBU = 11 SRM = 6 ABV = 5%

Ingredients
4 lbs (1.8 kg) Pilsner liquid malt extract
3 lbs (1.3 kg) wheat liquid malt extract
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) Weyermann Carared® malt (20 °L)
2.5 AAU Perle hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 5% alpha acids)
1.25 AAU Tettnang hops (10 min.) (0.25 oz./7g at 5% alpha acids)
Wyeast 3638 (Bavarian Weizen) or White Labs WLP531 (Bavarian Weizen) or Safbrew WB-06 yeast
7⁄8 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step
Bring 5 gallons (18.9 L) of water to approximately 165 °F (74 °C) and hold there, steeping the specialty malts in grain bags for 15 minutes. Remove the grain bags, and let drain fully. Add liquid extract while stirring, and stir until completely dissolved. Boil for 70 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredient list and a kettle clarifier if desired.

After the boil and whirlpool, chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 63 °F (17 °C). Pitch yeast.
Ferment at 64 °F (18 °C), either until the completion of primary fermentation or until gravity reaches 1.020, then bung/spund. If fermenting until the beer completes fermentation, reduce temperature to 32 °F (0 °C), then bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.7 volumes.

Tips for Success:
Deliberately underpitching is a pretty radical step, and I don’t usually recommend it. However, you should definitely be safe with simply dropping the aeration/oxygen step, pre-pitch (and what the heck, if you want to be faithful to the original, go ahead and cut your yeast pitch by about 10 percent). Otherwise, simply be sure to use good, fresh malts and consider a step mash for this beer even if you don’t do so for any others – it will greatly aid in phenol production. Finally, one note if you’re going to give spunding a try: It’ll be the easiest bottle conditioning you’ll ever do, but be very sure of your math, or you could end up with bottle bombs!

Thanks again to Josh and Bryan for their timely and expert help on this beer.

 

Issue: January-February 2018