[quote=“BeaverBrewer”]I don’t know what a blood orange hefeweizen is, but I was discussing weizen yeasts with a few colleagues recently and some points were floated. I should mention that some of these people know exactly what they’re talking about when it comes to yeasts.
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I have a suspicion that a lot of the flavour that I get and don’t like from weizen yeasts relates to conditions they don’t like. I think they may respond well to more oxygen during the ferment. These are beers that are traditionally fermented quickly - in OPEN fermenters.
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It was suggested that the “braun krausen” could be skimmed. Top cropping this yeast is standard practice, but a secondary benefit is removal of dead yeast and floaties.
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An interesting point was raised: A lot of the variability of German beers comes from mash manipulation, where in British beer mashes are simpler and differences come more from yeasts. While you can attack this premise on some levels, there is some truth to it, and the point was that a ferulic acid rest and a decoction contribute to some classic weizen flavors.
With all that in mind, I suggest a the following recipe:
2 kg Pils,
1 kg Munich
2 kg Wheat
Find a way, through heating, a million infusions, or decoctions, to do an acid rest at 100F (37C) for 20 min, then raise to 110 F for another 10 minutes. At this point immediately do an infusion to raise the temperature to 65 C (this is important to avoid a long protein rest and a lack of head retention). After 20 minutes at 65C pull a thick decoction, raise slowly (1 degree/minute) to 70 C, then heat faster to get to boiling. Dump back in portions to raise main mash to 70 C. Leave at 20 C 20 minutes, then decoct to mashout.
For the fermentation, pitch whitelabs hefe IV at 15C. Allow temperature to increase to 18C and hold there for two days with bung covered with sterile foil (no airlock). When krausen starts to subside substantially, add airlock. Raise to 20 C to finish fermentation, about 6 more days, 8 to be cautious. Check gravity if you like. Cold crash for one night, then carb to 3.5 volumes.
Is this WAY to complicated? Hell yeah! Roughly my plan for my next hefe, though.[/quote]
Wow, so much crazyness in so few paragraphs lol. Ok first, Blood Orange Hefeweizen uses blood oranges… The fruit takes on a deep ruby red coloring, hence the name. Google them and take a look, they are pretty crazy. Anyway, Sam Calagione put a recipe for this type of Hefe in his Extreme Brewing book and I found a few threads with modified versions and decided to throw one together that I think i’d like.
Anyway, thank you for the input however I don’t currently have the equipment for mashing at different temps as im still stuck making extract batches, however when I do upgrade, hopefully with next years income tax check, Im going to consider this as it seems higher temps provide less clover/banana ester formation. But if you can remember, post back on how this works for ur next batch, im def curious to how it will come out.
