Hefeweizen: secondary or not

[CarlJF]

I'm about to brew my first hefeweizen and, by looking at many different
recipes, find out that many peoples don't rack in secondary for this
style of beer, some even strongly recommend NOT to do it.

So, my question is, based on your experience brewing this style beer,
is it better to let the beer sits in primary until fermentation is
complete and then bottle immediately, or rack in the secondary and
wait a few weeks before bottling ?

The only argument I may think of against racking in a secondary is that
some of the typical banana/clove aromas of the hefeweizen may get lost
by evoparation through the airlock if staying too long in the
secondary. Does it make sense ?

[Gerard Eberlein]

Post by CarlJF
I'm about to brew my first hefeweizen and, by looking at many different
recipes, find out that many peoples don't rack in secondary for this
style of beer, some even strongly recommend NOT to do it.
So, my question is, based on your experience brewing this style beer,
is it better to let the beer sits in primary until fermentation is
complete and then bottle immediately, or rack in the secondary and
wait a few weeks before bottling ?
The only argument I may think of against racking in a secondary is that
some of the typical banana/clove aromas of the hefeweizen may get lost
by evoparation through the airlock if staying too long in the
secondary. Does it make sense ?

I secondaried my first hefe and it came out tasting very much bananna not so
much clove. Personally I think it tasted great (didn't last very long, I
killed 5 gallons fast) and plan on doing it the same way next time. I did
notice it didn't have the well known hefe cloudiness, but from tasting brew
pub hefe's I would say the taste is the same.

Gerard

[John 'Shaggy' Kolesar]

Post by CarlJF
I'm about to brew my first hefeweizen and, by looking at many different
recipes, find out that many peoples don't rack in secondary for this
style of beer, some even strongly recommend NOT to do it.
So, my question is, based on your experience brewing this style beer,
is it better to let the beer sits in primary until fermentation is
complete and then bottle immediately, or rack in the secondary and
wait a few weeks before bottling ?

Secondaries are optional anyway, and the amount of aging is going to be
personal opinion. I'd probably go with a secondary, but mainly because
it's part of my standard routine for most beers. Hefe's are supposed
to be cloudy though, so racking to a secondary for clearing shouldn't
really be necessary.

Post by CarlJF
The only argument I may think of against racking in a secondary is that
some of the typical banana/clove aromas of the hefeweizen may get lost
by evoparation through the airlock if staying too long in the
secondary. Does it make sense ?

That can happen if the aroma components are really volatile. I don't think
a short secondary will cause that much loss though. If you wanted to
secondary it for months, it might be a different story.


John.

[Randal]

Post by CarlJF
So, my question is, based on your experience brewing this style beer,
is it better to let the beer sits in primary until fermentation is
complete and then bottle immediately, or rack in the secondary and
wait a few weeks before bottling ?

If you are bottling then I would definitely do a short secondary. When
I bottled my hefes without secondary I had way too much sediment (for
me) in each bottle. A short secondary and you will have less sediment,
but still plenty if you want to swirl the bottle and dump it in to get
that nice turbidity.

When kegging a hefe I just go straight from the primary into the keg.

Also I have found that, if you are making an all-grain hefe, a ferulic
acid rest @ 108 F will enhance the clove flavor and pitching the yeast
without a starter (combined with warm fermentation temps) will enhance
the banana.

_Randal