Hefeweizen

[Smellyglove]

[Weizenberg]

Bit hard to say without seeing the full brewsheet.

It is not uncommon for wheat beers to have a pause and then suddenly turn and continue a bit further. Usually this happens in the bottle, so not everyone notices it.

Did you do a FFT on a stir-plate?

[Smellyglove]

[Smellyglove]

Another question. This time about speise. I've never done this before and want to try it.

I'm thinking about adding the speise to my keg, and then fill the fermenting beer (a few pts from target final gravity) on top of that, and then carb the keg that way. A few questions comes to mind. If I add the speise with the lid on the keg open (I've always done a closed loop when filling kegs), will the yeast scavenge all the oxygen? I will spund the keg in room temperature, my spunding valve goes up to 1 bar. Can I set the keg cold after a week, and then read the head pressure in the spunding valve at a given temperature?

Is this a stupid idea? I will eventually CPF into bottles.

[Owenbräu]

I've not noticed a difference between speise and simply transferring with 1-1.5% extract remaining. Either way, you're relying on the primary yeast to continue fermentation and conditioning. Krausening will add fresh, healthy yeast to the mix to aid reaching terminal gravity and cleaning up any intermediate compounds, e.g., diacetyl, acetaldehyde, and is ideal for carbonating in the keg.

The primary reason to spund is to remove all the oxygen in the keg. It will also add a little extra energy to your yeast to let them finish the ferment more efficiently.

You will notice a lot more yeast in the keg with this method, enough to make one consider umdrucken to avoid lysis and lipid off-flavors down the road.

[Smellyglove]

[Weizenberg]

Yeast is an excellent anti-oxidant, provided it is fresh and healthy.

It will scavenge any O2 in the headspace before it can do any noticeable damage.

Have a look at this index. You should consider investing in this book. https://www.vlb-berlin.org/sites/defaul ... ontent.pdf

[Smellyglove]

I'm back, with another question. Since this is my first "run" of trying to nail a proper hefeweizen there's still some discoveries as i go down that road.

The last two batches I've been doing an open fermentation and closed the lid when I see the krausen is retracting. My first one did end up with a small sour sting, this one too, it's a bit acidic, more so than what I'm used to. If we keep a possible lacto-infection out, can this be because of the open fermentation? I guess it's not, but if anyone has experienced the same your input is welcome.

My second thought is that I should start over with a fresh pack of yeast. How many generations do you guys use these strains for? It was great the third generation, but it has gone downwards after that, I'm on my fifth, or sixt (lazy notes).

[Weizenberg]

You can just rest the lid gently on the bucket or use large blow-off tubes. For e.g. Schneider has sterile air filters installed, and avoids having a lot of people traffic near their vats.

As of day 2 regular skimming is a good idea too.

It depends how well you understand yeast management. If you don't then it's probably a good idea refreshing it every 3-4 generation. FYI Augustiner refresehes after every 2nd re-pitch.

[Smellyglove]

2nd repitch. Wow, that's a lot earlier than I would think.

I have close to zero visible gunk surfacing, but if I find any I skim it off. I ferment in a cleaned/chlorine-sanitized fridge for every batch. I guess my yeast has gone bad somewhere down the line. I'll give the current strain one more try with the lid on. Even though I highly doubt this is the culprit, I still want do do it just to cross off open fermentation/0 pressure. The yeast smells great straight from my jar, but tastewise, not so much.