Brew Day - Summer Lemon Hefeweizen

Trying a new arrangement in the
garage

Today I'm brewing a summer wheat. Hefeweizen aficionados will want to turn away now - I'm committing the unforgivable sin of brewing it with lemon (traditionally, hefeweizen is served without the lemon slice so often found in American wheats).

The beer itself is a mix of German and US style hefeweizen - a typical German grain/hop bill, with lots of pilsner malt and hallertauer hops, but fermented with a less estery US hefeweizen yeast. And yes, a lemon's worth of zest & juice goes into the batch.

Recipe & Brewday Below the Fold...

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Summer Lemon Hefeweizen

Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer

Type: All Grain	Date: 13-04-30
Batch Size (fermenter): 20.00 l	Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.00 %
Boil Size: 25.49 l	Est Mash Efficiency 71.4 %
Boil Time: 60 min	End of Boil Volume 21.84 l

Ingredients:

Amt	Name	Type	#	%/IBU
0.23 kg	Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM)	Adjunct	1	4.6 %
2.50 kg	Pilsner (2 Row) UK (1.0 SRM)	Grain	2	50.2 %
2.00 kg	Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)	Grain	3	40.2 %
0.25 kg	Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)	Grain	4	5.0 %
14.17 g	Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min	Hop	5	8.9 IBUs
14.17 g	Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 15.0 min	Hop	6	4.4 IBUs
1.00 Items	Lemon - Zest + Juice (Boil 0.0 mins)	Flavor	7	-
From Bank	American Hefeweizen Ale (WLP320)	Yeast	8	-

Beer Profile:

Est Original Gravity: 1.050 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG	Bitterness: 13.3 IBUs
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.9 %	Est Color: 3.5 SRM

Mash Profile:

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out	Total Grain Weight: 4.98 kg
Sparge Water: 19.53 l	Grain Temperature: 18 C
Sparge Temperature: 75.6 C	Tun Temperature: 16 C
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE	Mash PH: 5.20
Name Description Step Temp Step Time Mash In Add 11.20 l of water at 75.5 C 66.7 C 60 min
Sparge Step: Fly sparge with 19.53 l water at 75.6 C
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Keg	Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Pressure/Weight: 12 PSI	Carbonation Used: Keg with 12.54 PSI
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 7.2 C	Age for: 30.00 days
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage	Storage Temperature: 18.3 C

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Brew Day:

Juice & Zest of 1 lemon

Brew day went as well as one could hope. Hit the mash temp dead-on, collected the right volume of sparge, gravity of the sparge was slightly higher than planned (1.043 instead of 1.041). Boil was uneventful, and I got some hop trellises built once the risk of boil-over had passed.

I carefully zested the lemon, to avoid putting an pith into the beer (pith - the white stuff under a lemon/citrus skin - is quite astringent). The juice + zest went in at the end of the boil, as to minimally drive off the lemon aroma.

Post-boil gravity was dead-on predicted - 1.050, with slightly more volume than I had originally anticipated. As you may imagine, I'm hardly saddened by more beer!