Mash and Fermenting temps for a Franziskaner

[mike v]

My wife really likes the German beer Franziskaner and I would like to brew my own. I heard I should ferment at higher temps like in the low 80 degree range. Also what is the best mash temp?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Nosybear]

You certainly do not want to ferment that high, unless you want serious bubblegum and solvent flavors! Franziskaner is a German Weissbier with a flavor balance toward clove, and weissbier yeasts throw clove flavors at lower temperatures. I'd ferment low, 60-65 degrees initially, then let the temperature rise after about half of the sugars have fermented out. As to mashing, it's likely a traditional German decoction mash, given today's malts the "Hochkurz" process. But single-infusion, it's hard to beat 152 degrees, although I might go with 150 for this beer. Step mash, use 144/156 degrees.

 

[J A]

If you make a basic wheat beer with 50/50 wheat and Pilsner malt (or even 60/40) and use a decent Hefeweizen yeast, you'll get something your wife will like. As Nosy says, 80 is too high, at least at the start. Mid 60s until krausen falls ( day or two) and then rising up naturally to 70 plus should give you a nice flavor profile. You can certainly experiment with temps to change the balance of flavors (higher temp = more fruit/banana/bubblegum) but if you start at 80, exothermic activity could put you in the 90s for wort temp. If you could keep wort temp very steady in the low to mid 70's you might get something interesting. I wouldn't go warmer than that with most yeasts, though.
Good luck.

 

[Hogarthe]

80 is too high. Only yeast I'd use that high is a saison or a kviek yeast. 68-70 is good, should get plenty of banana at that temp. 65 should favor more clove than banana, depends on what you like in a hefewiezen.

 

[mike v]

Thanks for the feedback! Much appreciated!