With the arrival of summer in Maine, it was time to brew a hefeweizen. I used the Wyeast Weihenstephan Weizen strain, and did my best to ferment in the mid to low 60s. This was my second wheat this year, and this brew went much better than the last one, thanks to a lengthy protein rest in the step mash.

This year’s recipe was nice and simple, 7# of pale malt and 6# of wheat malt, with 1oz Tettnang at 60 minutes and 0.5oz at 5 minutes. I’m pleased to say that with the mash schedule I used, I didn’t have to use any rice hulls, and had a perfect lautering process. My steps were 113/122/147/170.

The finished beer is light and refreshing, with a subtle banana aroma in the nose, and a zippy clove finish in the beer. I’m looking forward to repeating this recipe several times this summer, with slight variations of the above formula to see what I like best.

Prost!