I just pulled a smaple of my hef I pitched 9 days ago. I used a starter and a fermentation fridge and nailed my target of 68 degrees for the whole ferment. It went from 1.057 to 1.013, 77% attenuation! Seems kind of fast to me, but I can’t imagine it going down any further. It’s wyeast 3638, which I’ve never used. Does this seem quick to anyone else? Should I just keg away or wait a week? Thoughts?
If it tastes done it’s probably done and you could go ahead and keg it. On the other hand, before kegging it you could check the gravity again in a couple of days to see it has changed at all. Wouldn’t surprise me if it is done at 9 days, wheat beers are good young.
Seems typical to me. I would crash it for a few days to get at least some yeast to drop and then keg. I don’t subscribe to bulk aging/long primary theory on beers of average strength.
I used 3638 for first time on last hefe on the cooler side and it was pretty good. Definitely less clove and banana and more stone fruit but overall more neutral than 3068.
Hope your hefe turns out well.
I practice a standard 3 weeks (or more) in the primary for all my beers except hefe’s or other wheat’s. 2 weeks then into the keg. They’re quite good when fresh. Carb it, drink it!
I’d say 10 days is adequate, I might let it sit for a full 14 though. With wheats you don’t need it to clear, and they’re really tasty when fresh.
I’d suggest a ferm temp of 62F next time, thats the experts’ recommendation not mine but I’ve seen how it works. You’ll get a better balance of clove and banana.
I’m regularly drinking my hefes at 14 days, they are kegged at 6-7 usually…so not out of the ordinary. In fact I often rack out from under the krausen. Call me crazy but everyone, including myself just love them. My 2 keys are pitching rate and temp. I use the same yeast for many many generations and I pitch at an exact temp and ferment at an exact temp. I stopped monkeying with crazy temps and low pitching rates a long time ago. It makes for great hefes in short order and they never get any better than they do at 14-21 days. There is a lot of hogwash out there about how to brew a hefe, I find about 25% of it helpful.
Just brewed a hef a couple weeks ago. Took about 9/10 days. I went with temps at 62, but after 7 days needed to warm up to 68 to get the last few gravity points to drop. Normally I would have keg this by now (2 weeks) but I am waiting for my half keg to get freed up, taking this one camping with me in a couple weeks.
Thanks guys, kegging tomorrow!
Update:
All carbed up in the keg and tasting fantastic!! It’s got a nice banana peel aroma with a sublte wheaty sweetness. This keg won’t last!!!
I am in agreement with the others. It is probably done. My first hef had what I considered a violent fermentation. It was blowing through the airlock for three days. I was swapping the lock out before work, after work, and twice while at home. I think it finished in six days. I waited three days taking a reading each day, and bottled on the tenth.
[quote=“Demus”]Update:
All carbed up in the keg and tasting fantastic!! It’s got a nice banana peel aroma with a sublte wheaty sweetness. This keg won’t last!!![/quote]
Sorry, I missed the last post. Glad it turned out well. Drink one for me.
Couldn’t agree more. Last fall I brewed a Erdinger Festweise clone. It’s a very good German Hefe that’s suppose to be like an Oktoberfest Hefe. Cloudy wheat beer with mild banana and clover flavors, but a bigger malt presence not associated with traditional Hefe’s. Anyway, I wanted to experiment with Wyeast 3068 (the best Hefe yeast out there IMHO) and fermented 1/2 at 70F and 1/2 at 60F. I bottled a few of each then blended the rest back together. The 70F was the least favorite of most. It was too over the top. The 60F was good, but very mild. The blended version was fantastic! I plan on brewing this again soon and am now wondering if I can get the same results if I ferment around 63-66F range or if I need to split the batch and ferment separately again at two different temps?
Mine fermented at 68-71 and was a little strong in the banana clove aroma. I decided if I brew another I will keep the ferment temp lower to see what happens.
On one hand I think yours would work keeping it midway (it might be close to your blend). On the other hand if it worked well brewing two batches and blending it, you might try it again (may be more consistent).
Let us know what you try and how it turned out.
Couldn’t agree more. Last fall I brewed a Erdinger Festweise clone. It’s a very good German Hefe that’s suppose to be like an Oktoberfest Hefe. Cloudy wheat beer with mild banana and clover flavors, but a bigger malt presence not associated with traditional Hefe’s. Anyway, I wanted to experiment with Wyeast 3068 (the best Hefe yeast out there IMHO) and fermented 1/2 at 70F and 1/2 at 60F. I bottled a few of each then blended the rest back together. The 70F was the least favorite of most. It was too over the top. The 60F was good, but very mild. The blended version was fantastic! I plan on brewing this again soon and am now wondering if I can get the same results if I ferment around 63-66F range or if I need to split the batch and ferment separately again at two different temps?[/quote]
Here is what I do to achieve that balance. Pitch an adequate amount of yeast. Pitch it cool. I like 60-62F. Then ferment it in a controlled environment of 68F. You get that smoother mild flavor by lowering the early ferm temp and the flavors associated with underpitching/yeast growth but you get some more as fermentation progresses and ramps temps up. I regularly hit 70-72F after 48-72 hrs of fermentation but by then 60-75% of the fermentation is over. Also, part of the flavor profile is balancing those yeast derived flavors with the malt flavors of the beer. Too many examples I’ve brewed and tasted from fellow hb’ers have no balance because those yeast derived flavors overpower the malt, some are even solvent. What I want in my hefe’s is a nice ripe banana aroma with a balance of clove and banana in the flavor, with that slight bready malt flavor balancing it out. I don’t want a phenolic mess or a muted flavorless beer. It is tough to accomplish but I hit the mark almost every time using that approach. I also use a non standard malt bill but it works for me.
