Hefe Brew Day

A lovely still-ish day in northern Sydney, so a good time to kick off a brew. I haven't yet tried my plate chiller, so plenty of interest today.

I'm brewing a hefeweiss, as it's my wife's favourite (mine also). This is arguably the simplest recipe I've brewed to date:

2.5 kg Pale Malt
2.5 kg Wheat Malt
28g Perle (60 minutes)
Safbrew WB-06 wheat ale yeast

One thing I like about hefe is the mouthfeel and slight semblance of sweetness. Most recipes call for a touch of Munich for colour & biscuity/bready notes, or a little crystal/cara for some caramel sweetness. But this recipe will produce a pale beer, with some mechanical adjustments needed to get more mouthfeel and sweetness.

I normally mash my grains at 65-67C, which generates a higher proportion of fermentable wort than higher temperatures. Since I want some more body and sweetness (provided by more complex carbohydrates), I'll mash at 69C, which requires a strike temperature (today) of 75.5C. This results in a "thicker" beer, and not as much alcohol post-ferment.

So, I'm at that stage. 15 litres of hot water has been put into the mash tun, stirred to cool to strike temp, and the grain stirred in. I'm now sitting back, catching up on some blogging, and gaining inspiration by having a taste of the benchmark: Weihenstephaner.