Month: April 2021

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GWEN

A few weeks ago I decided to harvest yeast from two bottles of Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier

I used the same recipe as my El Hefe XIII:

  • Wheat Malt Pale (Weyermann) – 54%
  • Pilsner Malt (Weyermann) – 40 %
  • Carapils (Briess) – 4 %
  • Melanoidin (Weyermann) – 2%

The big difference being the yeast used (Weihenstephaner harvested yeast .vs. WLP300) and the fermentation temperature.

I fermented this batch at 62ºF for 7 days and then raise the temp to 72ºF for another 7 days

The result?

GWEN 5.5%

This batch pretty much nails the flavor profile and body I’m looking for in a Hefe.

What’s with the name you ask? Well my friends can’t pronounce Weihenstephan correctly so we often refer to it as Gwen Stephanie… Hence…. GWEN….

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Hop Therapy #4

Another in the Hop Therapy series. The grain bill is typical of the series:

  • Briess Brewer’s 2-Row – 84%
  • Flaked Oats – 8%
  • Golden Naked Oats – 8%

I mashed at 149ºF for 60 minutes. Raised the mash to 168ºF for mash out.

Hops at flame out:

  • 1.25 oz Galaxy 17% Alpha Acid
  • 1.25 oz Mosaic 12% Alpha Acid

The hops went into a hop spider and I recirculated the wort into it for about 20 minutes.

I chilled and transferred the wort to my Fermentasaurus Snub Nose fermenter. I pitched a fresh pack of Lallemand Verdant IPA yeast.

Fermentation took off really quick. Maybe my Tilt was acting up but it showed a 20 point drop in about 24 hours. It sure looked like it was at high krausen. So I harvested a little yeast and performed the first and only dry hop:

  • 1.5 oz Galaxy
  • 1.5 oz Mosaic

Four days later the gravity stabilized so I moved the Snub Nose to the fridge to chill. The Snub Nose allows me to ferment under pressure so it was ready to drink after the two day chill.

So from grain to glass in about 10 days. Good thing because I really like my Hop Therapy series, especially this one:

Hop Therapy #4 (Galaxy & Mosaic)