G. Schneider & Sohn: Schneider Weisse Original clone
According to the website for G. Schneider & Sohn, “For centuries, wheat beer in Bavaria could only be brewed in royal breweries. By 1872, wheat beer had declined in popularity and, seeing an opportunity, royal brewer Georg Schneider purchased the brewing rights from the Bavarian King Ludwig II, rescuing the style from near extinction. Over 140 years later, the brewery still uses his same recipe and open fermentation process.”
Schneider & Sohn: Schneider Weisse Original Recipe
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.056 FG = 1.014
IBU = 15 SRM = 8 ABV = 5.6%
Ingredients
7.4 lbs. (3.4 kg) Weyermann pale wheat malt (2 °L)
1.85 lbs. (0.84 kg) Weyermann Pilsner malt (1.8 °L)
1.85 lbs. (0.84 kg) Weyermann Vienna malt (3.3 °L)
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) Caramunich® Type III malt (56 °L)
3.1 AAU Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops (30 min.) (0.74 oz./21 g at 4.2% alpha acids)
4.2 AAU Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops (10 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 4.2% alpha acids)
2 packages of White Labs WLP380 (Hefeweizen IV Ale) or Wyeast 3068 (Weihenstephan Weizen) yeast (one for primary fermentation, one for inoculating Speise)
2 qts. (2 L) sterile wort (for bottle conditioning)
Step by Step
Dough in at 99 °F (37 °C) with about 2 gallons (~7.5 L) of water. This amounts to a 2:1 liquor to grist ratio. Allow for a 30-minute rest to thoroughly hydrate the grist, then bring the grain bed gradually to the mash-out temperature of 145 °F (63 °C) using a hot-water infusion and direct heat. While ramping up, employ a 20-minute protein and beta-glucan rest at 122 °F (50°C).
Give the grain bed a 60-minute rest at 145 °F (63 °C) to allow for thorough starch conversion, then recirculate the first runnings until they are clear and sparge while maintaining a stable grain bed temperature.
Boil 60 minutes adding hops as indicated. After flameout, carefully stir the hot wort for one minute in to create a whirlpool. About 30 minutes into the whirlpool, draw about 2 quarts (2 L) of hot, sterile wort from the top of the kettle (where there is less trub than below) into a sealable container.
Let that wort cool; then store it in the refrigerator during the brew’s primary fermentation. You will need this wort later as a priming agent, called Speise, during bottle conditioning. Continue whirlpooling for another 30 minutes, by which time, plenty of protein-rich trub should have accumulated in the center-bottom of the brew kettle.
Siphon the clarified wort carefully off the debris and heat exchange it into a clean carboy (or bucket for open fermentation) with the pitched yeast. Aerate the wort and ferment it at a temperature of 68 °F (20 °C) for about four days. The brew should now be at the terminal gravity of FG 1.012 and ready for bottle conditioning.
On bottling or kegging day, take the Speise out of the refrigerator and let it warm up to room temperature. Because at home you are dealing with just a single batch, you must inoculate your saved “unpitched” wort before using it as a Speise.
Thus, pitch the second package of yeast into your Speise, close the container and shake it vigorously to aerate it. Then pour the Speise into a clean carboy or a keg and rack the fully fermented brew into it for a thorough mix. Transfer the inoculated beer into bottles or keep it in the closed keg. Once mixed with Speise, let the beer condition for about one week at a cozy room temperature of 70 °F (21 °C). This will produce the hefeweizen’s spritzy carbonation.
Also at this temperature, the flavor of the hefeweizen becomes soft and mellow with mild banana tones starting to emerge next to clove and phenol notes. Then cool-condition the brew for another two weeks at about 45 °F (7 °C), which is also a good serving temperature.
Extract only option: Substitute all of the grains in the all-grain recipe with 8.2 lbs. (3.7 kg) Weyermann Bavarian Hefeweizen liquid malt extract. Bring 5.5 gallons of water to a boil and stir in extract. Boil for 60 minutes. Follow the remaining portion of the all-grain recipe.
