Stuck Hefeweizen

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BlackRockBees

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Hello All,

I am trying my first wheat beer, a Hefeweizen recipe I found at Mean Brews you tube channel. It is 60% wheat/40% Pilsner basically and I used Escarpment Labs Uberweizen yeast. 12 hours after pitching the yeast (and nutrient) it was going great. It went from 1.053 to 1.025 in under 36 hours and then just stopped.

I have raised the temp to over 70, aerated twice, and added more nutrient and there is ZERO activity. It has now been stalled for 6 days. The only other thing I can think of is to go get another packet of yeast?

Any advice would be welcome. I am half tempted to just keg it and see what it comes out like.

Thanks
 
Did you measure SG with a hydrometer or refracto meter?
In case of refracto, you need to adjust for the presence of alcohol.
I just put the figures in a calculator and if you did measure with a refractometer, your fermentation is close to finished.
But leave it for a while longer for the yeast to clean uo unwanted stuff.

If you measured with a hydrometer, it might be stuck
 
I know nothing about wheat beers or that yeast so of limited help but...

Seems like you tried all the obvious and the usual.

I would be very tempted to keg it and get it under gas. If it tastes OK then it's beer, if it wants to start fermenting again in the keg it will let you know.
 
My guess is you've either used a refractometer, or your mash thermometer is WAY off. What was your mash time(s) and temperature(s)?
 
I rarely use a refractometer, I use Tilt hydrometers for all my brews.

I mashed at 158 for an hour. I don't think my thermometer is out but I will give that a check.

I am not sure which wheat malt it was. My local shop does not have much variety and has very basic labels. I normally buy malts in Toronto but haven't been there in a while to stock up.

Is it possible that it is actually done? Can you ferment a beer in 2 days? Maybe the mash was off and all the sugars have been dealt with? I don't know. As I said, I might just keg it and see what happens.
 
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I have seen beers get done it 2 days, but if it's only at 1.025, it's not done.

Add a packet of us05 and get it going again. It's mostly done so it shouldn't harm the flavor.
 
BlackRockBees said:
I rarely use a refractometer, I use Tilt hydrometers for all my brews.

I mashed at 158 for an hour. I don't think my thermometer is out but I will give that a check.

I am not sure which wheat malt it was. My local shop does not have much variety and has very basic labels. I normally buy malts in Toronto but haven't been there in a while to stock up.

Is it possible that it is actually done? Can you ferment a beer in 2 days? Maybe the mash was off and all the sugars have been dealt with? I don't know. As I said, I might just keg it and see what happens.
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If you are going only on what the tilt is telling you, that reading could be off. There may be some crud on it causing it to misread. A tilt should only really be trusted to confirm gravity stability. I would take a gravity sample.
 
What he ^^ said. Measure a sample with a hydrometer.

Bonus: you get to taste and smell the beer!

My Hefeweitzens usually ferment in 3 days, generally down to 1.017-ish, sometimes a tad higher. The style is a little sweeter than, say, an IPA. But yeah, 025 is a bit high.

If a hydrometer confirms that reading, a packet of US05 can restart it and really not touch the wonderful flavors.

My tilt is NEVER accurate at FG, lots of crud on it is why.
 
OK so it's a combination probably of the Tilt reading too high and the mash thermometer reading a few degrees too low. Boom.
 
Sandy Feet said:
I haven't tried a Hefe yet, but isn't 158 a tick high for almost anything?
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it is at the upper limit, you wont kill enzymes until about 166°F. a hotter mash will give you a more dextrus mash and it will be less fermentable (maybe the issue here?) will have a fully body too.
 
I screwed up the mash temps on my pumpkin beer and forgot enzymes. The FG finished VERY high but ended up being a low alcohol blessing for Christmas. If it is finished, bottle/keg, see what happens, and drink it if drinkable. Write down the errors and learn from the mistake.
That beer got me pissed at my propane stove for a number of reasons, and it led me to buy the Blichmann and a pulley to make the bag more efficient.
I'm glad I had both last weekend.
 
Sandy Feet said:
I haven't tried a Hefe yet, but isn't 158 a tick high for almost anything?
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Nope, I have brewed Hefes many times and the final rest is at 158. I do take pains to stay below 160 though.

Hefes are never strong but start high gravity and end high too. Like 1.058 and 1.016. So not as much ABV.
 
Updates:

Thanks everyone, lots of good insights.

I did compare gravity measurements, Tilt is reading 1.025, Hydrometer is about 1.022, so not off by much but it is a little. I have always had really good results with the Tilt, I like the fact that I can monitor activity without disturbing the fermentor.

I did get some US05, pitched over 24 hours ago and no signs of life. Going to give it a few more hours but I guess this beer is done.

I guess my mash must have gotten a little to high (I have not tested my thermometer yet). Still trying to upgrade some of my equipment so I can be more precise on the hot side.

All that is left is to keg it and see what I get.
 
Should be fine, just a little sweeter than you planned, for a hefe, won't be bad
 
Please give feedback once you had a glass.
 
BlackRockBees said:
I mashed at 158 for an hour. .
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Hey Thanks for supporting my channel. Got a question, did you follow all the mash steps or just jump straight to 158? The meanbrews recipe kind of assumes you're ramping up from the proten rest to that 158 step and getting conversion through the beta rests along the way. If you jumped straight to 158, you probably have alot of unfermentable dextrins in the beer
 
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