Hefeweizen: Mostly Cloudy
Besides being delicious and unique, hefe-weizen is a classic show-off beer. You want something to serve to uninitiated friends who swear by American lager, the whole American lager, and nothing but American lager? You want to demonstrate to them that there’s a world of beer out there, a world they never imagined beyond their sliver of slightly hoppy and crystal clear? Brew them a hefe-weizen. It smells different. It’s kind of spicy. It’s cloudy, ferhevinsakes! But it sure is refreshing on a hot summer day. What kind of beer did you say this is?
Where It All Began
Wheat was one of the first grasses cultivated by man, so it is probably safe to assume that early attempts at brewing included it as well. In many areas of the world wheat is a much more plentiful crop than barley, and local brewers probably sought to take advantage of the local supply of readily available grain. Combine this with the fact that wheat was usually less costly than the same measure of barley malt, and thus many a frugal brewer could extend his brewing and improve profitability by adding a percentage of wheat into a standard, barley-based brew.
The use of wheat in beer was so popular that the majority of harvested wheat was used in beer instead of bread (one of the reasons behind the German purity law). However, it was in 17th-century Bavaria where whole breweries began to be developed that were devoted to the production of the beverage that we have come to know today as weizen beer, in which wheat malt makes up the majority of the grist bill. The use of wheat in brewing is popular in Bavaria, throughout Germany, in Belgium where wheat is incorporated into several indigenous styles, and in America where most microbreweries and brewpubs today offer some form of wheat beer.
Wheat-Yeast Beer
Germany is the origin of most of the predominant styles of wheat-based beers. The most popular and well known of the modern-day wheat beers is hefe-weizen, a beer in which the presence of yeast in the final product is a necessary and critical component of the style. Originating in Bavaria, the style takes its name from the German words for yeast (hefe) and wheat (weizen). Hence, hefe-weizen is a wheat beer with yeast.
A glass of hefe-weizen is usually very pale gold to copper, with a cloudy fogginess from the yeast and protein present in the finished beer. Highly carbonated, hefe-weizen has a strong and long-lasting head, leaving Brussels lace clinging to the sides of the glass all the way to the last swallow. The aroma and flavor are distinctively fruity and phenolic, with banana and cloves being two of the most prevalent characteristics. Nutmeg and vanilla notes are also common, and it is not unusual to find other characters such as a sherry flavor or a mild smokiness as well. These characteristics are strictly a result of using wheat and the unusual yeast strains associated with hefe-weizen. Spices or additives to accentuate these unique flavors and aromas should never be used.
The malt bill contains around 50 percent wheat in the grist, and some commercial examples are higher in wheat content. The high protein levels accorded by wheat malt also provide for an ample number of long-chain proteins in the finished beer. These serve to enhance the head retention of the finished product and, along with the yeast, further contribute to the beer’s cloudy appearance.
Some wheat beers, called kristal-klar, undergo filtration prior to bottling or kegging to remove the yeast and suspended proteins. And as their name indicates, they are conspicuous by their clarity. As the yeast is an integral component of the flavor profile of wheat beers, vast flavor differences are prominent between the hefe and kristal versions, even when they involve the same beer in its filtered and unfiltered states.
Since the flavors in wheat beer are primarily derived from the wheat and the yeast strains, hops are not a major flavor or aroma component. The hops used in hefe-weizen are there to balance the malt and nothing more. Bitterness levels are usually low, and hop flavor and aroma should be low or nonexistent to allow the spiciness of the wheat and yeast to come through unobstructed. The hop varieties used should be traditional European strains such as Northern Brewer or Perle for bittering and low levels of Hallertauer, Hersbrucker, or Tettnanger for flavor and aroma.
Also, the addition of fruit or other flavoring to the beer in its brewing, fermentation, or final stages is very popular in American-style hefe-weizen. True Bavarian hefe-weizen should not be adulterated with fruits or any other ingredient that interferes with the rich flavors and aromas of the beer itself.
Another wheat-beer style, dunkel weizen, can be either hefe-weizen or kristal-klar, and in addition to the usual characteristics of either of these beers the dunkels (German for “dark”) incorporate dark specialty malts such as caramel, chocolate, or black patent to shift the color profile into the dark amber end of the spectrum (16 to 23 SRM).
Weizenbock combines the characteristics of two different styles of beer: the higher maltiness and alcohols that are present in the bock style, along with the flavors imparted by using wheat to provide the majority of the fermentables in the grist bill. As with standard weizen beers, weizenbock can be helles (light) or dunkel (dark), hefe (with yeast) or kristal-klar.
The Dynamics of Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain that responds to basically the same malting and mashing methods as barley. However, there are a few major differences that need to be taken into consideration to ensure a trouble-free brewing session when using wheat.
Wheat kernels tend to be somewhat shorter and plumper than barley. It is not uncommon when milling wheat to have to adjust the roller gap of the mill to prevent pulverization of the grain and thus excess flour that can reduce mash and runoff efficiency. As with barley malt, run a sample through the mill and inspect it for kernels that are lightly cracked into large fragments. You should find no uncracked kernels and little or no flour dust.
Wheat kernels lack the husk that is essential to creating a filter bed for smooth lautering. Most wheat beers incorporate a percentage of barley malt in their composition, usually 30 percent or greater. While several articles have been written recently regarding using 100 percent wheat malts in the grist bill, these beers almost always incorporate some type of lautering aid such as oat hulls or rice hulls mixed into the mash to help provide the filter bed that would normally be created by barley husks.
True Bavarian hefe-weizen must have at least 50 percent of the grist as wheat but rarely more than 70 percent. As a result, the majority of wheat malt extracts available on the market today are also blends of wheat and barley, usually a ratio in the neighborhood of 65 percent wheat to 35 percent barley.
For mashing and lautering wheat beers, as the percentage of wheat used in the recipe increases so will the difficulty of sparging and lautering. To avoid stuck or slow runoffs make sure that the mash is evenly mixed, keep the sparge temperature as warm as possible without exceeding 170° F, and maintain an even layer of water on top of the mash bed to prevent compacting of the grains.
In recent years, as with many products that are available to the brewing industry, the quality of wheat used in brewing has improved. However, since some barley is usually required to provide an efficient lauter bed, the additional enzymes supplied by today’s two-row or high-enzyme six-row malts offer a level of insurance that starch conversion will be complete.
Wheat Proteins
Wheat was primarily developed as a food crop. While many enthusiastic homebrewers would list beer as one of the major food groups, the requirements for a grain to work well in a brewing environment are quite different from those that provide optimum performance in other applications, such as bread, baking flour, or orange boxes of breakfast cereal with sports figures on them. As a result, wheat tends to have a higher level of proteins than its brewing barley counterpart. Proteins have many effects on finished beer, but they are not without both pros and cons.
Proteins tend to be long molecular chains that are difficult to break. The presence of these long-chain proteins in the finished beer can be seen in the thick, creamy head that is usually found on a well-made wheat beer and lasts all the way to the bottom of the glass. This is one of the best reasons to incorporate a small amount of wheat, usually 3 percent to 5 percent, into any recipe. The additional proteins will improve the head retention of any beer without otherwise affecting the flavor or color.
Unfortunately most of the chill hazes that arise in finished beer are the result of tannins interacting with — you guessed it — proteins. This reaction can be minimized by incorporating a protein rest in the mash at 120° to 125° F for 20 to 30 minutes. This allows the proteolytic (protein degrading) enzymes in the malt to begin to break down many of the long-chain proteins into elements that will not affect the finished beer as dramatically. After the protein rest the protein levels will still be sufficiently high to provide good, healthy fermentation, strong head retention, and lacing capability.
Using only a small amount of wheat in a regular barley mash to try to accentuate the head retention usually makes a protein rest in the mash unnecessary. Brewing with just a small amount of wheat malt extract or steeping some wheat with the rest of the specialty grains doesn’t require a protein rest, and should yield sufficient results to ensure the finished beer will have a strong, thick head that lasts all the way to the bottom of the glass without excessive haze. In any brew a good rolling boil, along with the use of Irish moss in the last 15 minutes, will help to create a strong hot break in which many of the larger proteins will coagulate and drop out at the end of the boil.
Wheat responds well to most mashing methods. As the quality of wheat available to the homebrewer today has become better, the ways to utilize it in the mash have become more versatile as well. Historically, hefe-weizen was produced using traditional Bavarian brewing techniques — primarily decoction style mashing. Since accurate temperature control of the mash was difficult in early brewing, the brewmasters of the time knew that if they drew off a volume of the mash into the kettle, brought it to a boil (a fixed temperature that varies based on altitude, but approximately 212° F) and then reintroduced it to the main volume of the mash, the temperature would be raised a fixed amount. For each step or raise in temperature, a successive decoction would be drawn off from the main mash, brought to a boil, and then reintroduced, with the number of steps taken giving the brewing process its name: single decoction, double decoction, and so forth.
Breakdown of the wheat during the boiling process only served to increase the efficiency of the mash by allowing a more thorough hydration and mashing of each wheat kernel. This came without a corresponding increase in lauter difficulty, since there was very little contribution to lauter efficiency by wheat to begin with.
Temperature program or step mashing, wherein the entire mash is raised through successive, temperature-controlled steps, is the easiest way to reproduce many of the advantages of decoction mashing without a lot of the headaches. Today’s accurate thermometers, along with the ability of most homebrewers to heat their entire mash while stirring to ensure consistent, even heating throughout, allow the temperature steps to be achieved consistently and accurately in one vessel, without the laborious and time-consuming drawing off of a measured portion of the mash, boiling, and remixing. In this manner it is easy to achieve the protein, beta-amylase, and alpha-amylase temperature rests.
For those brewers who are unable to heat the entire mash for step mashing, don’t despair. Wheat will convert well even when used in a single-step or infusion-style mash. While efficiency may suffer slightly, the presence of approximately 30 percent barley in the mash will ensure that enough enzymatic power is present to give good results.
The Wild World of Yeast
A true Bavarian hefe-weizen wouldn’t be the distinctive beer that it is without the presence of the very unusual yeasts that are used to brew it. While any ale yeast can be used to brew a wheat-based beer, it is the phenolics generated by the specialized wheat-beer strains that provide the clovelike spiciness, banana character, and vanilla-adhesive-bandage aromatics that are the complexity of a truly well made wheat beer. Wyeast 3068 (Weihenstephan Weizen) and 3333 (German Wheat) are two excellent examples of true weizen strains that will provide these characteristics, and other yeast suppliers have strains that will give similar results as well.
Wheat-beer yeasts tend to be extremely temperature sensitive during the fermentation, more so than standard ale yeasts. Fermentations in the warmer end of the optimum range (68° to 72° F) tend to accentuate the banana character produced during the fermentation, while cooler ferments (64° to 68° F) tend to lead toward more of a clovelike, spicy character.
For those brewers who are fond of culturing their own yeasts from bottled commercial products, a word of caution. Unless you are extremely familiar with the product in question, attempts at culturing the yeast in a hefe-weizen bottle may very well be a waste of time. Due to the unstable nature of some of the more dynamic weizen strains, combined with the relatively long distribution chains that are required to get many fine European styles onto American store shelves, the brewers dose the finished beer with a yeast that has been chosen specifically for its ability to provide good long-term stability in the bottle. Most of the time these are not the yeasts that are used to actually ferment the beer. While a successful culturing of such a yeast may very well yield an excellent brewing strain, it may not impart the characteristics found in the bottled product.
Serving Hefeweizen
As there are many widely varying styles, there are many widely varying methods for pouring and enjoying wheat beers. The wheat beer glass is just one facet of this, with its tall, slender, curvy shape accentuating the head retention of the product. The slightly curved-in top of this glass also helps to trap the rich aromas of wheat beer where they can be enjoyed by the nose with each successive sip. While it is acceptable to decant a wheat beer as one would do with a standard homebrew to retain the sediment in the bottle, true devotees of the flavors provided by the unusual yeasts in hefe-weizen styles will many times retain the last one to two ounces of beer in the bottle, swill it around to stir up the yeast sediment, and then pour these last dregs into the glass.
Many enthusiasts like to serve their wheat beers just a little on the cold side (40° to 45° F). Cold storage helps the yeast in the bottle remain stable and as the glass warms, the rich spicy aromas of the beer begin to come out.
Hefe-weizens are often served with a slice of lemon. While the flavor combination is interesting, some homebrewers feel that the lemon serves to only cover up many of the flavors and aromas imparted by the ingredients used to brew the wheat beer.
Just as with any homebrew, hefe-weizen provides the opportunity for the brewer to exercise flexibility while producing one of the world’s classic styles. The following recipes will help provide a starting point.
Forest Falls Hefeweizen
(5 gallons, extract with specialty grains) Bavarian-style wheat
Ingredients:
- 0.25 lb. crushed crystal, 20° Lovibond
- 0.5 lb. crushed cara-pils (dextrin) malt
- 4.5 lbs. dry wheat extract
- 0.5 oz. Perle hops (7.2% alpha acid) for 60 min.
- 1 oz. Hersbrucker hops (3.8% alpha acid) for 20 min.
- 1/2 tsp. Irish moss for 10 min.
- Wyeast 3056 (Bavarian Weizen Blend) or similar yeast
- 3/4 cup corn sugar for priming
Step by Step:
Bring 5.5 gal. water to a boil. While heating the water, add a small grain bag containing the crystal and cara-pils malts. When the temperature reaches 160° F, remove the specialty grains, continue to bring to a boil. Total boil is 60 min. At the start of boil, add the dry wheat extract and Perle hops. Boil 40 min. and add Hersbrucker hops. Boil 10 min. more and add Irish moss. Boil 10 min. more. Chill and top up to 5 gal. with cool, pre-boiled water. At 70° F pitch yeast. Ferment in primary at 70° F. After high kraeusen falls, transfer to secondary fermenter and condition for 10 days. Prime with corn sugar and bottle.
OG: 1.045 FG: 1.010
Rubidoux Dunkel
(5 gallons, partial mash)
German-style dunkelweizen
Ingredients:
- 3 lbs. American white wheat malt
- 2 lbs. pale two-row malt
- 0.75 lb. dark crystal, 90° Lovibond
- 0.5 lb. black barley (not black malt or black patent)
- 3.3 lbs. unhopped wheat extract syrup
- 0.75 oz. Perle hops (6.8% alpha acid) for 60 min.
- 1.5 oz. Hallertauer hops (4.0% alpha acid) for 15 min.
- 1/2 tsp. Irish moss for 15 min.
- Wyeast 3333 (German Ale) or similar yeast
- 3/4 cup corn sugar for priming
Step by Step:
Mix American white wheat, pale two-row, and dark crystal malts and black barley with 7 qts. water in brewpot and bring to 150° to 155° F. Hold for 45 min. Raise temperature to 170° F and sparge. After collecting 3 gal. of runoff, top up kettle as necessary with water. Total boil is 60 min. Bring to a boil and add 3.3 lbs. extract syrup and Perle hops. Boil 45 min. and add Hallertauer hops and Irish moss. Boil 15 min. more. Cool and top up to 5 gal. with cool, pre-boiled water, and at 70° F pitch yeast. Ferment in primary at 70° F. After high kraeusen falls, transfer to secondary fermenter and condition for 10 days. Prime with corn sugar and bottle.
OG: 1.053 FG: 1.01
Alles Cameraden Bavarian Hefeweizen
(All-grain)
Ingredients:
- 6.75 lbs. DeWolfe Cosyns Belgian wheat
- 3.5 lbs. pale two-row malt
- 0.75 lb. cara-pils (dextrin) malt
- 0.75 oz. German Northern Brewer hops (7.2% alpha acid) for 60 min.
- 0.5 oz. Tettnanger hops (4.8% alpha acid) for 30 min.
- 1/4 tsp. Irish moss for 15 min.
- 1/2 tsp. yeast nutrient for 2 min.
- Wyeast 3068 (Weihenstephan)
- 3/4 cup corn sugar for priming
Step by Step:
Mix Belgian wheat, two-row malt, and cara-pils malt into 11 qts. water. Use a step mash: Raise the temperature to 123° F and hold or 15 min. Raise the temperature to 148° F and hold 15 min. Raise the temperature to 155° F and hold for 35 min. Raise the temperature to 170° F and sparge to collect 5.5 gal. Bring to a boil and add German Northern Brewer hops. Total boil is 60 min. Boil 30 min. and add Tettnanger hops. Boil 15 min. more and add Irish moss. Boil 13 min. more and add yeast nutrient. Boil 2 min. more. Cool and pitch yeast at 70° F. Hold fermentation temperature between 66° and 68° F. Transfer to secondary after kraeusen falls and condition for 10 to 12 days. Prime with corn sugar, bottle, and condition further at room temperature for two weeks. Serve with the yeast in a wheat beer glass, close your eyes, and slip away to Bavaria!
OG 1.056 FG 1.015
