Newbie after a 15 year lay off, Weiss came out dark. Options

[WeissLover]

After laying off winemaking and brewing for 15 years, my wife and I returned to see family in Germany. We fell in love with a Weiss called Tucher. We like the banana and clove esters and the beer was very refreshing. I came home and had the itch to start brewing again so I bought a brew kit, Brewer's Best Weizenbier. It had the following:
6.6 lbs. Plain Wheat Extract (Alexander's I think)
1 oz. Hallertau Hops (Bittering)
1/2 oz Hallertau Hops (Finishing)
5 oz. priming sugar
60 ea Crown caps
1 ea. Dry Beer Yeast (Lavlin EC-1118)
I did a 60 min boil with the first 1 oz. of hops, and 5 mins at the end with the finishing hops according to recipe. Wort at 70 degrees I added yeast, beginning OG of 1052 which fermented out in exactly 6 days at 1.010. Added the boiled priming sugar and bottled the batch. After 2 weeks I put a bottle in the fridge overnight to do a first test, came home from work today and popped it open and served it up. The smell of the beer seems perfect but without the esters of course - wrong yeast, the head is building nicely (maybe another week or two), the alcohol seems balanced, but beer is too dark for a normal Weiss. I am not ready at this point to do grains (maybe after the next batch), and I have 6 lbs. of Northwestern Wheat extract, Wyeast 3068, and Hallertau on hand for another batch. My question is; Is the beer dark because of the liquid extract, the boil, or can I add an additional extract with the Northwestern Wheat to get closer to a true Weiss? Any help or advice?
WeissLover

[SnakeAle]

The older the liquid extract, the more color it takes on. Was the extract fresh? Also late additions of extract (at least part of it) can help prevent darkening as the boil progresses.

In my experience, lighter colored ales are easier to acheive with dry extract. In extract brews, I almost always go for the lightest colored extract suitable to the style and get my color from steeping grains.

Welcome back! Switching to all-grain is NOT that big a leap..... Do some checking around. Homebrewing has changed a lot in 15 years.

[Pseudolus]

Couple possibilities:

1) Old extract. LME turns darker as it ages. Solution: Buy fresh LME from a shop with higher turnover -OR- switch to DME which has a much longer shelf life.

2) Browning in boil. Solutions: Boil less vigorously; increase your boil volume; add most of your extract later in the boil, say, with 10 minutes left or even right at flameout.

[WeissLover]

Couple possibilities:

1) Old extract. LME turns darker as it ages. Solution: Buy fresh LME from a shop with higher turnover -OR- switch to DME which has a much longer shelf life.

2) Browning in boil. Solutions: Boil less vigorously; increase your boil volume; add most of your extract later in the boil, say, with 10 minutes left or even right at flameout.

Thanks for the fast replies! Like I said I bought a kit to start out with and have been reading up like crazy on all the new brewing techniques. I have some fresh Northwestern Wheat LME on hand and will try adding it in 2 increments and not boiling it so rapidly and see how this batch comes out. I guess I have some more reading to do about AG brews or switch to DME for some trials. This batch is very drinkable but not a true Hefeweizen yet.
Thanx,
WeissLover

[ChefLamont]

Welcome back! We've been waiting for you. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/biggrin.gif)


I have had little experience with extract hefe's, but you're right they have been good but not quite there.

This is a style that I would look to AG for. (Settle down fellas I am not trying to flame up the extract vs. ag debate.) All I will say is that AG is really not that hard. Do some reading. Look up Denny Conn's Batch Sparging info and start there.

From there the recipe couldnt be simpler. 50% pilsener malt, 50% wheat malt, ~17 IBUs of German Noble hops for bittering, and a good hefe yeast. Bingo. Good hefe.

[Zulu]

Just change yeast and use new clean extract.

WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale Yeast from White Labs, great cloves and banana. Ferment it cold too - like 62-64 deg which is against conventional wisdom - which says warmer, but it makes a difference

[malkore]

the fact that batch #1 is drinkable is a step in the right direction. consistency in all your brewing habits, experience, and figuring out the right ingredients will help you craft the beer you seek.

I will say that partial mashing, or just going all grain, does give you infinite flexibility with recipes, and will help produce beers of correct color too.

[DJ in KC]

Welcome back! I don't understand anyone sitting on the sidelines for 15 years though. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/devil.gif)

dj

[WeissLover]

Welcome back! I don't understand anyone sitting on the sidelines for 15 years though. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/devil.gif)

dj

I guess life just got in the way, parents passing, older brother passing, new grandchildren. Life goes on, worts get brewed, great beer gets enjoyed. Thanks for all the help. I'm glad I'm back at the brew pot.

WeissLover

[Kellermeister]

welcome back!

[DJ in KC]

I guess life just got in the way, parents passing, older brother passing, new grandchildren. Life goes on, worts get brewed, great beer gets enjoyed. Thanks for all the help. I'm glad I'm back at the brew pot.

WeissLover

It was a joke, you will love what has happened to make brewing better beer easier. Like you, life got it the way and I didn't find the time. I sat out two decades until my son got the bug. Now it's pretty much stay out of my way on brew day......

dj