Weizenbock

[Alastair70]

Planning this for next weekend. First RO brew, water additions may get tweaked depending on how much more of the Brewing Elements-Water I get read in the next week. The Special W may or may not make it in, I’ve done a few dunklewiezens with and without it, it’s just there for the moment and might get axed. Not sure what it’s brought to the table on recent brews.
It’s supposed to be malt driven and all the rest have a place. I’m aiming for a rich dark complexity that will age well in a big beer loaded with crusty bread malts, dark fruits and all the esters Wy3066 has to offer.
As always, comments from the floor are always appreciated.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Just FWIW, when I last did a beer with a 50% wheat content I did a 30 min beta glucanase rest at 40-45ºc as a protection against stuck mash... well I didn't get a stuck mash - but I've no idea whether that's the reason why ;-)

 

[Alastair70]

Cheers for that, I dropped the 42C rest in favour of the rice hulls. I had a stuck sparge on an early hefe brew which did have the protein rest. I've added hulls to all wheat brews since then. I’d need to check the notes on the last couple of Dunkleweizen brews to be sure, but I think I dropped the protein rest on them.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

This is more of a personal preference, and I'd certainly say 'each to their own' but @strange-steve successfully talked me out of using 100% RO, which had been my plan.
He persuaded me to use 75% RO, 25% of my (incredibly hard) tap water on the basis that there are plenty of trace minerals in the tap water that are quite beneficial to yeast, and it makes no sense to use RO to remove minerals from the tap water only to add them back in again (!)

But as I say - completely a matter of personal choice and I am sure many would argue the other way round :-)

 

[Alastair70]

Yes, I’m going 80:20 RO:source. I want to reduce the acid additions I currently need and have more control over chloride:sulphate ratios. It’s a random number thing in that department when you look at my water report. And that way I don’t have to juggle yeast nutrients as well.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

The recipe looks luscious - and I especially like the 62/68 mash rests. I think if I remember rightly I fermented mine at a bit lower temperature but I'm not at all familiar with the Weihenstephan yeast

 

[Alastair70]

Mash rests were juggled on the software to get the attenuation right, I want to get a balance between a full body without any excessive sweetness. I’ll run the numbers when I get my FG and work forward from there.
This brew is destined for bottle swaps and comp entries do I can harvest as much feedback as possible.

 

[Alastair70]

I’ve done a number of brews now with Wy3068, 21C is supposed to be the sweet spot and it hasn’t disappointed so far. I’ve done a single step starter each time, pitched around 18C and let it creep up as fermentation kicks off. It’s banoffee in a glass.
Wy3068 goes off like Tsar Bomba would have. I’ve got an iSpindle now, can’t wait to see it working in real time. To paraphrase the Jaws quote, ‘You're going to need a bigger FV.’

 

[Oneflewover]

Here's my weizenbock recipe. Brewed last year. Twas bloody lovely! Pretty similar, broadly speaking, to your recipe

 

[Alastair70]

Here's my weizenbock recipe. Brewed last year. Twas bloody lovely! Pretty similar, broadly speaking, to your recipe

View attachment 51198

Cheers for that. I think the mash is the real key here, glad to see we’re on the same page. Looks like the protein rest is going back in.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Just been refreshing my memory on the Beta-Glucanase/cytase and Protein rests. Opinions may differ on this and I'm not in any way holding myself out to be an expert (!!), but John Palmer (The Protein Rest and Modification - How to Brew) suggests as follows. Your mileage may vary

Beta-glucan/cytase rest

• 37 - 45ºc (approx range)
• only necessary if you have >25% un-malted or flaked wheat, rye, oatmeal etc.
• breaks down gums that solidify and 'stick' the mash

Protein rest

• 45 - 55ºc (approx range)
• do not use it unless (a) your base malt is under-modified; OR (b) your recipe has >25% un-malted wheat, barley etc.
• if the above condition is met then it should reduce chill haze but may damage head retention

Overall he recommends that if you have >25% un-malted grains, you should rest for 20min at about 40ºc and then skip the protein rest; this should avoid a solidified mash without damaging body and head retention.