A classic Bavarian wheat beer brewed from a high proportion of malted wheat and fermented with a special top-fermenting yeast that produces signature banana and clove aromas. Unfiltered and cloudy, it is poured into tall vase-shaped glasses and is a cornerstone of southern German beer culture.
A protected Bavarian style with centuries of brewing tradition, Hefeweizen is a wheat beer fermented with yeast that gives prominent banana and clove notes, brewed under the German purity tradition.
Cloudy gold and softly effervescent, with a creamy wheat body and a lively head. Aromas of ripe banana and clove rise over a gently tart, refreshing finish.
The top-fermenting weizen yeast produces isoamyl acetate and 4-vinyl guaiacol during warm fermentation, the compounds responsible for the beer's signature banana and clove character.
Variations
Kristallweizen filtered clear, dark Dunkelweizen, strong Weizenbock, alcohol-free wheat beer
On the Palate
Where Hefeweizen sits in the German flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 20How it's made
8 steps · 1 hour
- 160 min
Mash malted wheat and barley malt in hot water to convert the starches to sugar.
Watch outHold the mash in the right warm range so the starch actually converts — a drop of iodine should not turn blue-black, or the wort won't be sweet enough to ferment.
- 260 min
Hold the mash through temperature rests, then lauter to separate the sweet wort.
- 330 min
Sparge the grain bed with hot water to rinse out the remaining sugars.
- 460 min
Boil the wort with a modest, restrained addition of noble hops.
Watch outGo light on the hops and keep a steady rolling boil — this beer should taste of banana and clove, so too much bitterness buries it.
- 530 min
Cool the wort rapidly and transfer it to a fermentation vessel.
- 610080 min
Pitch the weizen yeast and ferment warm to develop banana and clove esters.
Watch outFerment on the warm side so the yeast throws its banana-and-clove aroma — too cold and it comes out plain and clean instead.
- 730 min
Bottle with a little priming sugar to carbonate naturally.
- 810080 min
Condition the bottles for two to three weeks before serving cold and cloudy.
Watch outGive the bottles two to three weeks to condition and carbonate — open one early and it pours flat and thin.
