German Weissbier with too much head

[Gillies Brewing]

I have one that finished today, but I meant to ask earlier if anyone thinks it's be worth a little dry hop with Saaz or Hallertau, or if I should just keep it simple stupid and let it do its own thing 

[Captain 3 Droids]

5 hours ago, Gillies Brewing said:

I have one that finished today, but I meant to ask earlier if anyone thinks it's be worth a little dry hop with Saaz or Hallertau, or if I should just keep it simple stupid and let it do its own thing 

Personally I let this one do it’s own thing. I leave the Saaz or Hallertau to the Czech Pilsner.

[Captain 3 Droids]

So enjoyable, and yes the lights are out. 😢

[Captain 3 Droids]

About 6 weeks, nice as per the recipe. Too easy to drink though. I know, wrong glass, will correct that 😋

 

[Captain 3 Droids]

In this glass no bull it’s a different beer, noticeably better. ( not that the other was bad). Smoother, more hop.

 

 

[Gillies Brewing]

Hot damn that is one drinkable beer. 3 weeks in, not a huge bananainess but there's some there. Mostly just getting a super smooth refreshing, fairly simple and clan palate, light coloured beer. Lovely.

[Sam Armstrong]

Brewed this as had been meaning to try for a long time.

Ultimately I had carbonated (and refrigerated) way too early as was to eager to try a new keg I'd purchased. 

Initially the flavour profile I was after was not there - in my mind I had been hoping for that cloudy, hefe, banana style (not having read the prior posts in this forum!).

Having said that, even though it's probably underdone, I have really enjoyed this so far, it still has enough of that wheat beer flavour, but also reminds me of a fest-bier with some bitterness. A good reminder to me (whether using the droid or buying from the bottle shop) not to get to hung up on what you're expecting, but if it's a good beer enjoy it!

Next time I will follow a better process though!

[Mike A]

Lurker with my first post. I  Just got a 2nd hand droid & flow setup and have begun my first brew with this brewprint.  Not to mention I'm a totally noob brewer also, so first time coming into contact with the malt, smells good before letting the yeast at it!  Also taking some advice and pushing up the temp just a couple degrees to lean into the esters mentioned earlier in the thread, thanks all for posting your journeys!

Anyhow, hoping someone can steer me in the right direction.  I'm hoping to drag the brew to Christmas festivities so from my previous lurking am I right to assume due to both portability and it's heady nature, it's better in bottles?

Assuming yes to the bottles, any difference between 330ml or 750ml bottles?  I found a reasonably close home-brew outfit that stock both and notably tough 750's crown tops and they appeal to me as the easier/simpler choice.  I'm also assuming PET is the lesser compared to glass.

Anyhow any suggestions / thoughts / recommendations on getting my first brew of Weissbier out would be appreciated.

[Rob Courtney]

6 hours ago, Mike A said:

Lurker with my first post. I  Just got a 2nd hand droid & flow setup and have begun my first brew with this brewprint.  Not to mention I'm a totally noob brewer also, so first time coming into contact with the malt, smells good before letting the yeast at it!  Also taking some advice and pushing up the temp just a couple degrees to lean into the esters mentioned earlier in the thread, thanks all for posting your journeys!

Anyhow, hoping someone can steer me in the right direction.  I'm hoping to drag the brew to Christmas festivities so from my previous lurking am I right to assume due to both portability and it's heady nature, it's better in bottles?

Assuming yes to the bottles, any difference between 330ml or 750ml bottles?  I found a reasonably close home-brew outfit that stock both and notably tough 750's crown tops and they appeal to me as the easier/simpler choice.  I'm also assuming PET is the lesser compared to glass.

Anyhow any suggestions / thoughts / recommendations on getting my first brew of Weissbier out would be appreciated.

Hey Mike,

 

If taking the brew somewhere and it is bottles V Brewflo keg then yeah bottles and I prefer glass over PET but PET is still fine. If you were travelling with a Brewflo Keg, I'd let it sit in the Brewflo one day after arriving and then a second day cooling it down.

If you have the time, it would be a cool experience to pull a pint at Xmas but may not be practical when you tell the Missus to pack light because you want to take the Brewflo with you.

No real difference between sizes of bottles, obviously you look tougher drinking out of the 750ml but that's about it

 

[Mike A]

Thanks for the reply Rob.  Yeah I'm also cooking the Ham this year, so very much will have a busy car boot this year.

A spark of thought hit me that while I like a beer, I'm unlikely to polish off a 750ml other than on Christmas day/special occasions by myself, so maybe I bottle a mix of 330's & do a couple 750's just for the occasion.

I agree I'd love to setup & prep but it's 1.5hrs away from me and somewhat impractical.  Well I have a Dusk Cerveza, I'll brew that one up after the weissbier is done and use that to break in the keg.

[Rob Courtney]

4 hours ago, Rob Courtney said:

Hey Mike,

 

If taking the brew somewhere and it is bottles V Brewflo keg then yeah bottles and I prefer glass over PET but PET is still fine. If you were travelling with a Brewflo Keg, I'd let it sit in the Brewflo one day after arriving and then a second day cooling it down.

If you have the time, it would be a cool experience to pull a pint at Xmas but may not be practical when you tell the Missus to pack light because you want to take the Brewflo with you.

No real difference between sizes of bottles, obviously you look tougher drinking out of the 750ml but that's about it

 

So I'll tell a story.

Years ago, when myself and Mrs C were still young and traveling without kids, we were travelling around Tassie and we had some nice and some not so nice accommodations. So we had traveled up the West coast which is pretty much wilderness for a vast area, we had camped for a week in the middle of nowhere away from everyone.

Anyways, we came back to civilization in a place called Strachan, which was a little WestWorld for those who get my drift, I am sure one person owned that town. Mrs C wanted to just get a caravan for the night but I wanted something better as I had camped for a week (I am not against camping but I grew up very poor,  no running water or electricity...yeah I experienced that before camping thank you).

So we got a room in the only hotel...which was built into a cliff face, so it was a bit swish and it had paid TV back when that was unusual in Aus. It was nice, I relaxed on a bed watching overseas cricket, I was happy. Anyways, we walk the town (not big) and they had a pub for dinner and also a bakery that turned into a pizza shop for dinner.

Obviously, I love pizza so we went that route but it was BYO, so I went to the pub and growing up poor, I still value a good deal so 3 longnecks for I think $6 at the time...it was a while back...was a good deal, so I bought them without thinking.

And there I was, in a place that was a bit nice nice, with a higher value clientele and I was drinking out of 750ml bottles like I was going to pick a fight if anyone stared at me for too long.

The looks I got that night...and Mrs C who is quite refined lapping it up like she had a bit of rough the other side of the table. I do remember the pizza being very good but I had eaten canned food for a week beforehand so fair game but yeah, scruffy, probably on edge from no good sleep for a week, drinking longnecks and eating pizza.

Good times

[Rob Courtney]

2 hours ago, Mike A said:

Thanks for the reply Rob.  Yeah I'm also cooking the Ham this year, so very much will have a busy car boot this year.

A spark of thought hit me that while I like a beer, I'm unlikely to polish off a 750ml other than on Christmas day/special occasions by myself, so maybe I bottle a mix of 330's & do a couple 750's just for the occasion.

I agree I'd love to setup & prep but it's 1.5hrs away from me and somewhat impractical.  Well I have a Dusk Cerveza, I'll brew that one up after the weissbier is done and use that to break in the keg.

I know a guy on Brewart who only brews 330ml bottles and i get it, drinking your own stubbies is really cool.

Enjoy your brewing, the first year is a real learning experience but it is a year where you work out you can brew some pretty sweet beers

[Mike A]

9 hours ago, Rob Courtney said:

And there I was, in a place that was a bit nice nice, with a higher value clientele and I was drinking out of 750ml bottles like I was going to pick a fight if anyone stared at me for too long.

The looks I got that night...and Mrs C who is quite refined lapping it up like she had a bit of rough the other side of the table. I do remember the pizza being very good but I had eaten canned food for a week beforehand so fair game but yeah, scruffy, probably on edge from no good sleep for a week, drinking longnecks and eating pizza.

Good times

Lol, You show them yuppies!

9 hours ago, Rob Courtney said:

I know a guy on Brewart who only brews 330ml bottles and i get it, drinking your own stubbies is really cool.

Enjoy your brewing, the first year is a real learning experience but it is a year where you work out you can brew some pretty sweet beers

Yeah, I'm now in the first (of hopefully many) hurry up and wait on the first brew, and I say this as someone who will do 12+hr briskets & other forms of "low and slow" but it's coming up on 24 hrs soon and I really wana take a peek.  All while torturing myself with silly second thoughts like, "did i get the stellar-san dilution right?" or "did I do the wrong thing by upping the ferment temp 3c to get more fruity-ness into it?".

Once I get this and a couple more done I'm using this as a way to explore more, I was heavily influenced by my trip to Germany several years ago, where I went there thinking I wasn't really a beer guy, to discovering, no I just have expensive taste that doesn't include commercial beer! 

Didn't help work took a tasting trip over in Perth, just before COVID, to the little creatures brewery and i discover even more i hadn't thought to have tried.

Anyhow, expanding my pallet and avoiding paying $80+ a slab of stuff I'm more likely to drink and genuinely enjoy sounds like a great hobby.

Think I need a trip to Dans, see how Red Hill Brewery do a wheat beer, and looks like I may be able to re-use those bottles!

[Rob Courtney]

Yeah if you can, avoid opening the lid unless you're adding hops

[Andy Simma]

Out of the droid and bottled. Put some in 330mls for sharing at work. 
 

Pretty happy with the taste. Excited to get into these over Xmas. 

[Andy Simma]

Very happy with this. Smooth easy drinking beer. Will be great to share over Xmas for those who are not into the bigger IPAs I normally have in the fridge   

[Mike A]

Looks great!

And wow, you bottled one day before me, if it's good for you now, I may as well put the dregs bottle in the fridge for tomorrow for a cheeky tester!

[Andy Simma]

House has been sitting at about 23c this week which I think helped. 

[Mike A]

Well cracked the dregs bottle, nicely carbonated, I fermented at 20c to push for the banana, but at this stage it’s just fresh and a hint of clove. I like it better than ones i had at dans !

should be great for Christmas.

 

[Mike A]

Tried another sample last weekend, out of the brewart plastic bottles.  Really nice, good sense of wheat, low bitterness, tried another on the very next day, subtle changes again, so maybe still developing.

Then tried a glass capped bottle yesterday, noticed that there was significantly more bitterness out of the glass.  Doesn't make sense to me.  I'll leave the glass ones to continue to mature until 2-3 days before Chrissy when I'll fridge most of them in prep for the big event.

Only thought on the differences, as this was my first ever packaging, perhaps more oxygen got to the plastic bottles? little bit of oxidation changing the character of the brew?  Anyhow, sounds like I should use that as an excuse to drink the remaining 3 in the plastic bottles, the rest are in glass.

[Mike A]

Well now that it's more than a month since fermentation complete the beer settled down a lot and almost finished off the first batch & a hit with family and friends.

Just completed another one of these on request from a friend who wanted a batch to himself.  This time added 1tbs of sweet orange powder to the brew on top of the malts.  The Powder successfully integrated and no evidence of its grains at the end.  On the pre-bottleing sample, it had a reasonable amount of orange flavour that it imparted, the beer naturally is quite young so be interesting to see it develop, but I really liked that addition.

Depending on how that ends up, I may tune it down a little for next time.