Traditional Bavarian Hefeweizen

This will be my second time making a traditional Bavarian Hefeweizen. I'm going to combine a basic saccharification mash with a small decoction step to introduce a little more complexity. This beer will actually be for a friend's wedding so I hope it turns out well.


Ingredients
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4.75 lbs german wheat
4.75 pilsner
1 L starter of Weihenstephan prepared the night before
2 ounces hallertau hops for bittering
1/2 teaspoon yeast nutrient


Schedule
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~ Mash in at with 14.3 qts water at 161 degrees to hit mash temp of 148 (20 mins)
~ Decoct 1/4 of mash by slowly bringing to a boil (20 mins to boil, then 10 mins of boiling)
~ Returned to mash to bring temp up to 152 (15 mins)
~ Fly sparge with 170 degree water to collect 6.25 gallons of wort
~ 2 ounces hallertau yeast @ 90 minutes


I should have decocted more mash (1/3) to raise the temperature further but I didn't have a big enough second pot. Next time. OG @ 1.051

6/17/2012 -  Fermentation is very active after only 12 hours. After 20 hours it had bubbled up over my airlock. I need to remember this yeast requires a blowoff tube.

7/4/2012 - Racked into a keg for cold storage and C02 carbonation. FG reads at 1.06 which means ABV is approximately 5.91%. This beer tastes a tad too bitter. I think I overdid the hops and may be partially because I opted *not* to use a hop bag this time which makes the hop extraction more efficient. Will have to remember next time to only use 1.5 or 1oz of hops. Otherwise good. I think the yeast flavor (banana, cloves) would shine through a little stronger if I could ferment at a warmer termperature. But that will have to wait until I get a fermentation chamber with temp control. As it stands its maybe not my best effort but I think it will be a crowd pleaser all the same. Hefeweizen at a summer wedding is just a hard combination to complain about.