Paulaner Heffe-Weissbier

This was a commissioned beer, and my first all-grain brewing attempt. I did many things wrong; I went for cheaper ingredients, forgot to sparge (the horror), diluted the wort afterwards as if it was an extract brew, and finally I am tasting it very early (barely 3 weeks in the bottle). The surprising thing is that I still have an enjoyable thirst-quenching drink, which to me is vindication of all-grain homebrewing; as long as you adhere to good sanitation practices, it's very hard to make an undrinkable beer.


Of course when it comes to homebrew can kits, it's a whole other story (that stuff is just nasty).


This is a classic wheat beer (as the name suggests) modeled after the Paulaner recipe. The total cost for ingredients came out at about 40 AUD, largely as there is only one hop variety used and I chose to go for a dried wheat beer yeast rather than a liquid one.

Method: All-grain

Specialty grains: German dark Munich malt.

Hops: German Hallertau Hersbrucker.

Additional: None.

Yeast: Wheat beer (dried)

Comments: I added finings to clear the beer in the primary fermenter and bottled with carbonation drops after a week and a half.

ABV: 4% (the recipe suggests 5.4%).

Yield: 19 litres

Tasting notes: I'm drinking this early so the flavours will mature in the next two to three weeks when it is primed for tasting. There is no hop aroma as the Hallertau is only used for bittering so what you get is the lovely wheat malt smell right out of the bottle. It pours with a lovely light straw colour and a white head made of large bubbles that quickly dissipates (they will refine a little more as it ages and as the carbonation improves in the bottle, so will head retention). The flavour is of a wheat beer that has decided it wants to see what life is like as a lager. You expect a little bit more body but it isn't there, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. My home brewing error has created a beer that will be perfect for the event it has been brewed for (an all day poker tournament with a German food theme). I like this beer. It's a hot day and this had turned out to be a very refreshing drop. Definitely a beer I will brew again, if only to see what it tastes like when you make it properly.

What I learnt: 

1. Sparging is an important step that should not be left out of all-grain brewing.

2. Read the bloody instructions you fool!