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Herr Paul Hefeweizen

Herr Paul Hefeweizen

One of my favorite beers to enjoy is Paulaner’s hefeweizen. It’s a light, refreshing beer that seems good any time of the year. I have long tried to replicate the same flavors in my past hefeweizens. I believe this hefeweizen recipe is the closest to that delicious beer.

Herr Paul is aptly named, with Herr being the German for “sir or mister” and Paul as an ode to Paulaner.

Herr Paul

Method:All GrainStyle:Weizen/Weissbier
Boil Time:90 minBatch Size:5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size:9 gallonsEfficiency:60% (brew house)
Boil Gravity:1.035 (recipe based estimate)

Original Gravity:1.057

Final Gravity:1.013

ABV (standard):5.75%

IBU (tinseth):17.84

SRM (morey):4.16

Fermentables

AmountFermentablePPG°LBill %
8 lbGerman – Pale Wheat391.559.3%
5 lbGerman – Bohemian Pilsner381.937%
8 ozGerman – Munich Light3763.7%

Hops

AmountVarietyTypeAAUseTimeIBU
1 ozTettnangerPellet4.5Boil60 min17.84

Mash Guidelines

AmountDescriptionTypeTempTime
10 galFerulic Acid RestTemperature110 F10 min
10 galProtein RestTemperature122 F30 min
10 galMash RestTemperature150 F60 min

Yeast

Wyeast – Weihenstephan Weizen 3068
Attenuation (avg):75%Flocculation:LowOptimum Temp:64 – 75 °FStarter:NoFermentation Temp:66 °FPitch Rate:–

Raw Notes

11:15a- 10.5 gallon water added, 1/2 camden tablet
11:36a- 107F Ferulic Acid Rest
11:47a- raise temp to 122F
12:00p- 30 min rest at 122F
12:30p- raise temp to 150F for mash
12:45p- pulled off 1.5 gal and sparged at 1:45pm
9 gallons pre boil
Pre boil gravity 1.030 at 150F (temp adjusted is 1.046?)
2:28p- vigorous boil
3p- hops added
4pm- whirlfloc added, chiller added
4:15p-heat cut, chiller started
7.5 gallons post boil
5pm- 80F lowest it would go with it being 90F + outside
total volume: 7 gallons
1/2 gallon lost to cooling
5.5 gal into fermenter
OG 1.051 Pitched at 76F, ferm set to 66F, pitched with no airlock (tin foil)

Brewer’s Thoughts

Tried a lot of new things with recipe. Finally moved to a 2 vessel system with propane, which sped up my brew day considerably. I also tried a decoction mash- pulling off some of the mash, boiling it, and then returning it to raise the overall mash temperature.

Another component is the open fermentation. I left a piece of sanitized tin foil over the top of the fermenter for the first week instead of an airlock. I had read about how this can impact the flavor of wheat beers and it helped get that desired flavor mix of clove and banana.

Tastings

Spot on. This was a tasty one and very close to my desired flavor of Paulaner. There were still some minor flaws to it. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. The real test will be if this can be replicated consistently.