Weissbier has dropped clear

[Jimbo75]

Hi all,

I have just done my second AG Weissbier to a fairly standard recipe as follows:

2350g Pale wheat malt
2350g Lager malt
31g Hallertau Mittlefruh (early)
31g Hallertau Mittlefruh (late)
Safbrew WB-06

Mashed @ 65 degrees for 90 mins.
Due to time constraints had to do a batch sparge.
Sparge water @ 84 degrees achieved 76 degrees grain temp in batch 2.
Boiled for 75 mins in total
Pitched 31g hops at start of boil
A further 31 degrees at 15 mins
Cooled to 22 degrees in 15 mins
Pitched dry yeast onto the wort immediately
21.5lts with SG of 1.048
73.5% mash efficiency
Fermented out to 1.007 on Day 7 (should have checked sooner as I wanted to finish at 1.010)
Dropped to a secondary FV on day 7
Bottled on Day 8 priming with 7.5ml sugar solution per 500ml bottle

This is basically identical to the first Weiss I did a couple of months ago, the only differences being that I used Brewferm Blanche yeast, fly sparged and it stopped at 1.010.

Both of them have turned out really well - slightly hoppier and dry than traditional Weissbiers but I brewed them that way on purpose as it's my preference.

However, my question is around cloudiness. In the first batch I conditioned the bottles in my garage at about 8-12 degrees and after 2 weeks or so they were all clearing out. After 3 weeks they were all crystal clear with a layer of sediment at the bottom of the bottle. When I drank them I swirled the sediment back in so that they were nice and cloudy but for some reason I just expected them to remain cloudy in the bottle. The second batch is now starting to clear as well after 7 days conditioning.

Does anyone know how to get the beer to remain cloudy? Also what is it that is in suspension? I had assumed it was a combination of wheat and yeast. The beer tastes really great with authentic flavours of clove and banana and I think the overall profile is spot on so I imagine the brewing process I have used can't be far off but I must be missing something!

Can anyone help? :wha: Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Cheers

 

[tenorbrew]

How is the carbonation? I'd have thought 8-12C was a bit chilly for conditioning.

I don't think you have anything to worry about.
Wheat beers will clear to some extent. When I worked in bars we would store the Hoegaarden/Coopers/Weissbier kegs upside down and flip them the right way up when we connected them to re-suspend the yeast, and when we served them in bottled we'd pour the first half into the glass and then give the bottle a swirl before pouring the rest in.
Some pubs back in Oz would roll your bottle of Coopers on the counter before opening.

You could try a different yeast strain if you want (and it is interesting to compare), but it sounds like it's more of a serving issue than a brewing issue.

In my experience, Wheat beers don't really age that well and are best drunk within two months or so. That means you get to brew them more frequently! \o/

Cheers,

Tenorbrew

 

[iceo]

i have done a kit and extract wheats and all have dropped clearish within a week or so , even with shop bought wheats have to give the last bit in the bottle a swirl

 

[Jimbo75]

How is the carbonation? I'd have thought 8-12C was a bit chilly for conditioning.

It's really good actually tenorbrew. Highly carbonated after only a week. Overall the profile is exactly what I had hoped for. I agree on the temp though. I had hoped to keep them in the warm for a few days at 18-20 but SWMBO was keen on repatriating the kitchen!

You could try a different yeast strain if you want (and it is interesting to compare), but it sounds like it's more of a serving issue than a brewing issue.

Funny you should say that as this version of he brew was done with a different yeast to the first. This time I used Safbrew WB-06 as opposed to Brewferm Blanche in the first version. The Safbrew definitely created a more authentic flavour as far as I am concerned and certainly fermented more efficiently. It was a good experiment! It wasn't all in the name of science though. My mate who has recently opened his own Microbrewery in London tasted the first version and wants to use the recipe. Safbrew is the only yeast of the two he could get commercially and I that could also pick up in a sachet!

 

[pittsy]

Hi , it is protein that makes a wheat beer cloudy . A wheat beer needs to be boiled for 2 hours really rather than 60 mins or so because what's going on is there are larger proteins than need to settle out in the boil , if they don't then the smaller proteins clump together onto the larger proteins and drop out in your bottle/keg . They may do anyway , but boiling longer helps retain more smaller proteins to remain in the beer . There are a few ways to improve the cloudy look the simplest is to use a small amount of raw(unmalted) wheat just a couple hundred grams . Strange enough using less wheat also improves this , somewhere around 20% wheat is best (according to info i've read ) for protein to remain longer .
:).
P.s the yeast is for a belgian wit bier that will produce a tart finish and not a clove/ester profile of a hefeweizen .

 

[Jimbo75]

Thanks pittsy, I was hoping you might read my post and reply!

That's really interesting about the unmalted wheat. I'll definitely try it the next time I brew a weizen. I'll also try the longer boil. I was under the impression the boil needed to be shorter rather than longer to achieve a less bitter profile!. The more I brew, the more I realise how little I know about it all!

There are a few ways to improve the cloudy look the simplest is to use a small amount of raw(unmalted) wheat just a couple hundred grams . Strange enough using less wheat also improves this , somewhere around 20% wheat is best (according to info i've read ) for protein to remain longer .
:).

What do you mean by this? Obviously I understand the unmalted wheat bit but are you saying that the grain bill should contain only 20% wheat malt?

Cheers

 

[pittsy]

what some studies have shown that to get the best stable protein content (cloudy ) in a brew somewhere like 20/30% (can't remember exact figure) wheat is the optimum amount . But if doing a weiss bier you should have at least 50% if keeping to the profile I use around 64% and still struggle but as mentioned now i boil for longer and i'm getting cloudy beer for longer .

 

[Jimbo75]

Thanks for taking the time to respond pittsy. Much appreciated. I'll mess around with recipe variations in line with your advice!

Cheers :
Jimbo