Saturday was brew day! Now that I’m back to a full time job again, I can get back to brewing! I wanted something to drink during this hot August that we’re in the middle of. Plus, about two week ago I kicked the keg on my RyePA. After thinking through possible summer beers, I landed on a hefeweizen. After both seeing the old BrewingTV episode on open fermentation, as well as trying the New Glarus brew of the same practice, I knew I wanted to try it for myself. My favorite Hefeweizens from Germany are always strong in banana and clove flavors. Interestingly, open fermentation causes the yeast to stress out a bit more and produce more esters. In the case of the Wyeast 3068 yeast that I am using, the ester production creates banana and clove flavors, which is exactly what I’m looking for!
For this attempt, I chose to just leave the lid off of my plastic fermentation bucket. Though realizing that cat hair and other larger particles may land in my beer, I decided to cover it with a mesh toile material that I picked up at Joanne’s Fabric.
Currently, my beer setup is still small and lacking. I’m trying to finish up my keezer build before I buy any more equipment. My kettle is only 4 gallons and I’m still relegated to extract brewing. I chose to purchase from my local home brew store, which always ends up being a bit of a creation on the fly scenario. They seem to always be out of what I specifically want. So, onto my brew!
Ingredients:
- 6 lbs. 50% Pils and 50% Wheat DME
- 1 oz. Saaz hops (unknown %AA) @ 60 min.
- Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen
Special instructions:
I added half of the DME initially and the other half at the last 20 minutes. That way I can get the best utilization of the hops. For the plums, I purred 4 pounds in a food processor and stuck it in the freezer. From what I have read, freezing the fruit helps to break down the cell walls, which assists in better fruit flavoring in the final product.
Update – 0 hours: I pitched the yeast and placed the mesh toule covering over the bucket.
Update- 24 hours later: The beer has a thick dark brown krausen that has risen about roughly 2-3 inches. I skimmed the foam off the top and roused the yeast up again by dipping the spoon in about two thirds of the way in and using strong, forceful upward sweeps.
Update – 36 hours later: the krausen has stopped foaming and sunken down into a bubbling soupy symphony.
Update – 72 hours later: the beer has dropped to 1.019, bringing it almost to it’s FG. Time to transfer to secondary with plums!
The Esteemed Hop 