Looks and tastes the part. I get Banana and Clove aroma/flavor. I love passionfruit and can detect it in the slightest amounts. I couldn’t resist adding a little passion fruit extract at flame out. I doubt anyone, other than myself, would be able to detect it.
The Dark Munich malt contributed a bit more color than is typical for a Hefe. I didn’t use Pilsen malt at all which proves you don’t need to use German malt to make a decent Hefe. This is at least my 5th batch of Hefe. Of those I’d say two batches pretty much nailed the flavor profile. I find following grain bill, mash, and yeast will make a decent hefe:
- grain bill should consist of at least 50% wheat
- my latest mash schedule for a hefe is:
- Mash in 110ºF for 10 min
- Protein Rest 122ºF for 10 min
- Sach Rest 154ºF for 40 min
- Mash out 168ºF for 10 min
- White Labs WLP-300 Yeast. I find it best it under pitch it.
I use a Grainfather so it’s easy for me to step mash. Note my system requires 5 – 10 minutes to ramp up between mash steps. So you may need to adjust the schedule based on your system.