Simple Hefewissen

For our next brew, we decided to make a simple hefewissen. Until L decided he loved hops more, wheats were his favorite type of beer. I really enjoy them too, so we decided to take on the challenge before the prime summer wheat-drinking time ended. The recipe came from the Home Brew Talk recipe database and apparently has won a bunch of awards. We didn't really want to alter the flavor of the beer too much with something like honey or orange so we just stuck pretty much with the original recipe.

Some folks say wheat beers are harder to brew, but I don't believe that's exactly the case. The reason that water flows so well through a barley mash is because barley grains have an exterior casing that essentially supports the weight of the rest of the barley grain. The casing prevents the mash from setting so tightly that water cannot pass through.  Wheat naturally does not have any casing on it's grains, so when you mix it with warm water it turns to mush a lot like oatmeal without any holes or pathways for water to flow through. Rice hulls are essentially the casings from rice that are incorporated into the mash to add structural support for the grain bed. Before you actually add the rice hulls, they should be rinsed and soaked so they don't mess up your water amount calculations.

This was actually our cheapest beer yet. It cost about $31 including the yeast. We might have folks over to help us drink this one since it was so cheap! 

Grains
7 lbs White Wheat
4 lbs German Pilsner
~0.5 lbs Rice Hulls

Hops
0.75 oz Tellertau at 45 min
0.25 oz Tellertau at 15 min

Yeast
Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen - Started 5 days prior in 1 cup DME and 1 quart water.

Brewing
Protein Rest at ~132° for 20 min
Saccrification rest at ~154° for 90 min
Fly Sparge to collect 6.5 gallons
Boil for 60 min

The Numbers
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity:1.072
Actual Pre-Boil Gravity:1.048
Efficiency: 67%

Expected Post-Boil Gravity:1.079
Actual Post-Boil Gravity:1.053
Efficiency: 67%

Expected Final Gravity:
Acual Final Gravity: 1.010
% ABV: 5.63
Attenuation:81%

The Verdict

This was DELICIOUS!!!! It was super banana-y but didn't have a super awesome head. We had folk from Southeast over and they loved it too! We fermented it a room temperature because the fermentation chiller still isn't done so that might have affected the yeasties some.