Even though it’s not quite the fall just yet, I was in the mood to have a nice easily drinkable wheat beer at the ready and so I brewed up a Hefeweizen based on a recipe from Ontario Beer Kegs.
Recipe Source: Ontario Beer Kegs
Beer Specifications
| Beer Name: | OBK Hefeweizen |
| Beer Style: | Hefeweizen |
| Recipe Type: | All Grain |
| Pre-Boil Volume: | 6.25 gallons / 23.65 litres |
| Batch Size: | 5.25 gallons / 19.87 litres |
| Estimated SRM: | 4° |
| Estimated IBU: | 12 |
| Estimated OG: | 1.049 |
| Estimated FG: | 1.012 |
| Estimated ABV: | 4.8% |
Grain Bill/Fermentables
| LBS | Fermentables |
|---|---|
| 5 | Pilsner Malt |
| 4 | White Wheat |
Hops
| Oz | Time | Hops |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 60 min | Saaz |
Yeast
| # | Yeast |
|---|---|
| 1 | Safbrew WB-06 |
Fermentation Schedule
| 21 days | Primary |
| 14 days | Bottle Conditioning |
Directions
| Mash Temperature: | 150°F / 65.5°C |
| Mash Time: | 60 min |
| Boil Duration: | 60 min |
This is my first time using Safbrew WB-06 so I was very interested to see what flavours and aromas that would impart on the final beer.
The recipe itself is pretty basic with only pilsner and wheat malt and only a single addition of bittering hops. This makes it an ideal go-to recipe if you happen to have some extra ingredients lying around.
Either way the brew day went well and I ended up with an original gravity (OG) of 1.039 which is significantly under the recipe’s target of 1.049. However this is completely my fault as I made the conscious decision to top up my wort with water post-boil. Ah well…
A few weeks later fermentation was complete and I bottled the result. Unfortunately I completely forgot to take an final gravity (FG) measurement so I’m only guessing what the ABV is at this point.
For this style of beer 3 or more volumes of CO2 is not uncommon, however as I bottle condition I wasn’t really thrilled with the idea of pushing the glass that hard. Instead I bottled at 2.7 volumes which I felt was a decent compromise.
Tasting Notes
| Smell | The aroma is actually quite sweet which is interesting because of how low the OG on this beer was. A lot of that must be coming from the yeast itself. |
| Appearance | Very nice bright colour however the carbonation and head retention are a bit disappointing. I’m not sure why this is the case considering I primed for 2.7 volumes of CO2 but something strange seems to be going on here… Maybe it’s just the lack of sugar that resulted in not enough carbonation? |
| Taste | Taste wise this is a very light and refreshing beer albeit a little bit too sweet for my liking. Again I’m not sure why exactly this is the case considering the relatively low OG but maybe there just isn’t enough alcohol in it in order to give enough body to cover the sweetness that is there? My wife on the other hand really enjoys this beer so it’s definitely a preference thing. |
| Yield | This brew cost $25.61 in ingredients to make and yielded 48x355ml bottles ($0.53/bottle) |
P.S. – We called this brew “Hefeweizen” because we couldn’t think of anything better.