Wheat Beer

Since the last batch was so good, I’m doing another one.  Same recipe, same brew length.

• Length: 13.6 litres (3 imp. gal.)
• Yeast: Safbrew WB-06
• OG 1.050
• FG 1.008
• ABV 5.5%

Collected 20 litres of wort, 1.026 @ 50C = 1.037 corrected.  This gives me a mash efficiency of 70%, according to Beer Engine.  I had trouble with the mash temperature – I did a 20 min glucan rest at 37C, then when I added the infusion I only got to 63C.  After letting it stabilise I added 1 litre of boiling water, which only added a degree or so, so I added another one, but I was still too low.  The mash was always in the 63-65C range, though, so we’re still probably fine.

It seemed to take ages to get it down to 12C for pitching the yeast.  I got it down to 18C with the immersion cooler, then stuck it in the fermentation chamber set at 12C, lidded and airlocked.  It must have taken a good 3 hours to drop to 12C, but yeast was eventually pitched.  I’ll use the same schedule for temperatures as last time, moving it up from 12C to 18C over the next few days.

We really ought to think of a name for this one – the end result last time didn’t taste like Erdinger at all.  We prefer my version, it’s got more taste – this is the first beer I’ve brewed where I did prefer it to the original.

Thanks again to Aleman for the original recipe!

1. Sun 19:00 – 12C
2. Mon 18:00 – 13C
3. Tue 09:00 – 14C
4. Tue 18:00 – 15C
5. Wed 09:00 – 16C
6. Thu 09:00 – 17C
7. Thu 18:00 – 18C

2011-03-02: Gravity down to 1.008, so I’ve dropped the temperature controller down to 1C, so we’ll see how cold we can manage this time!  It’s tasting very good – lots of banana flavours.  I’d drink it now, but I’d probably better resist until it’s bottled and carbonated…

2011-03-03: After 24 hours it’s down to 7.6C.

2011-03-07: Bottled 25 @ 330ml, and 8 @ 500ml.

This is based on Aleman’s Effin Erdinger recipe, posted on The Home Brew Forum.  I’m not usually a huge fan of wheat beers, but Vicky has become a bit of a fan of Rebellion White, so I thought I’d give this a bash – Erdinger Weißbier is meant to be one of the classic wheat beers.  I’m going to bottle all of this brew, so I’ve kept it to 15 litres to both make the bottling a bit easier and in case we don’t like it!

I tweaked the recipe a bit to get the stated OG and bitterness.  Beer Engine is giving the colour as 5 EBC rather than the stated 9 EBC, but I can live with that.

• Length: 14 litres
• Yeast: Safbrew WB-06
• OG 1.046
• FG 1.010
• ABV 4.8%

Recipe:

Comments:

11:15 – Doughed in 3.7 litres, then made it up to 4.5 litres to get the temp correct.

11:45 – Added 5.5 litres to get 61.5C.

12:00 – Temp stabilised at 63.2C.  Added 1.3 litres of boiling water to give 10.8 litres in the mash, and a final temp of 68.2C.

12:45 – Dropped to 67.5C.

13:00 – Added 3 litres at 85C for first sparge.

13:15 – Collected just under 10 litres of wort.  Added 10 litres more at 85C.

13:40 – Second sparge, collected 10 litres.  Combined sweet wort measured at 1.023 @ 56C = 1.035 corrected.

13:50 – Wort in kettle, element on.

16:30 – All done and cleaned up, waiting for wort to chill to 12C before pitching yeast (which is rehydrating).  Wort is in the FV in the fridge, ATC set to 12C, so it’s running the fridge cooler for the first time in months!

17:00 – Temp down to 12C, yeast pitched.

OG measured at 1.046, which is a bit on the low side – an inefficient mash?  I also collected about 14 litres of wort.  I did pour a couple of litres down the drain of the spare wort collected from the sparge, so it serves me right.  I may have ended up even lighter in gravity had I used it, of course.  Overall, Beer Engine calculates my efficiency as 63.1%, which isn’t too bad.

Fermentation temperatures:

1. Sun 17:00 – 12C
2. Mon 18:00 – 13C
3. Tue 09:00 – 14C
4. Tue 18:00 – 15C
5. Wed 09:00 – 16C
6. Thu 09:00 – 17C
7. Thu 18:00 – 18C

Erdinger Weißbier – Beer Engine Recipe File

2011-01-15: Down to 1.010, which is good.  Tastes like wheat beer, which is also good.  I’m not going to be able to bottle it next weekend, which is when I should do so, but with luck we’ll be able to do so a week on Monday.  The plan now is to leave it as it is at 18C until Wednesday, then crash cool it to 1C from Wednesday evening until I bottle it.

2011-01-19: Dropped the temperature to 1C at around 2300 – should be down there by morning.

2011-01-20: Down to 8.6C at 0830.  Wonder how cold the fridge gets – the light was on, but the coolant pump wasn’t running, and the fridge was set to full power.

2011-01-24: It only made it down to 6.7C – guess that’s as cold as it can get without bypassing the thermostat. Bottled 23 x 330ml, 11 x 500ml, around 14.25 litres.