Brewing Master

Question:

I lived in Bamberg, Germany for 3 years with my german wife while she went to school there. I had the luxury of drinking many fine and delicious beers. When I returned to the states last year I started home-brewing so I could continue drinking German type beer. I especially fell in love with what are called (in Bavaria) Cola Weizens and Radlers. A Cola Weizen is: (1) A weizen glass is filled half full with Coke (not Pepsi, Germans hate Pepsi). (2) You then fill the rest of the glass slowly with Crystal Weizen. A Radler is: A beer krug is filled with half and half with limo (sorta like 7-up) and a pilsner (I preferred Jever or Bitburger). Now my questions. Both of these drinks were available premixed in a bottles at the grocery store. I would like to brew and ferment some Crystal Weizen (Hefe Weizen is to strong to make a Cola Weizen with. Trust me, when Crystal Weizen was unavailable I used Hefe and it tasted like crap) and then mix in cola at the bottling phase. Same goes for the Radler. I am confused about the steps I should take my experiment and am also looking for any input before I start. The question I have asked myself are…. 1) Will the sugar in the cola and 7-up be enough to add carbonation or should I boil 3/4 cup? I don’t want exploding bottles!!!! 2) Should I let the cola and 7-up go flat or use it already carbonated? 3) Is cola and 7-up sterile out of a 2 litter bottle? And if not what will happen if I boil it? 4) Does anybody have a recipe for Crystal Weizen? I have never seen it in any magazine or in any books, does someone out there have a extract recipe? Thanks, am looking forward to any ideas. And will lets you all know how it turns out!!! Rodney

Response:

Based on Miller book page 316. Crystal Weizen beer is just Hefe-Weizen that has been filtered after fermentation.  The yeast is removed to stop further fermentation and to clear the beer.  $$$, That means you need a draft system with two Soda kegs and a filter. Williams , http://www.williamsbrewing.com ,  has a filter setup for homebrewers, I have never tried this. But someone here my have success with gravity feed filters. I think you would need the pressure from the C02 to move the brew through the filter. 4) Does anybody have a recipe for Crystal Weizen? I have never seen it in any magazine or in any books, does someone out there have a extract recipe?

On the soda, from what I have read in books and in this newsgroup you are asking for trouble.  The soda has way TOO much SUGAR, unless the yeast is filter-out, like the commercial companies do.  My brother makes soda pop, they throw the stuff in the frig to stop the yeast after carbonation is high enough. Otherwise, the yeast just keeps going and going. I just mix the finished beer with a fresh can of Coke.  Prost! Also, I am going to make a Hefe-Weizen as soon I finish moving. The yeast seems a key profile.  I plan to use White Labs WLP300 German Hefe-Weizen yeast.  There are American Wheat yeast strains that don’t give the same character of the German Hefe-Weizen beers. Good Luck, Zum Wohl! Bart,

Response:

Nope, that wasn’t me.  I was in Cologne at University from 92 to 94. cheers, -Alan You didn’t happen to be in Germany with the Canadian Army in the late 70’s were you?  Just wondering as I killed *many* a brain cell one night in northen Germany with a bunch of Canadian soldiers during a REFORGER exercise.  And I thought *I* could drink beer!  Then the very next night I fell in with a bunch of Scottish soldiers….  God….  It so happened that about a half dozen or so of the Scottish soldiers also had the last name of Wilson.  They treated me like some long lost cousin. Good Lord….  Beer and Scotch Whiskey.  LOTS of beer and Scotch…  It took me about a week to recover from those two nights.  My head hurts just thinking about it!

–    "Brewers make wort, yeast makes beer"     – Dave Miller’s Homebrewing Guide http://www.magma.ca/~bodnsatz/brew/tips/

Response:

Beautiful city Cologne.  I only got to visit there on a few occasions. I wish I could have spent more time there. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Nope, that wasn’t me.  I was in Cologne at University from 92 to 94. cheers, -Alan You didn’t happen to be in Germany with the Canadian Army in the late 70’s were you?  Just wondering as I killed *many* a brain cell one night in northen Germany with a bunch of Canadian soldiers during a REFORGER exercise.  And I thought *I* could drink beer!  Then the very next night I fell in with a bunch of Scottish soldiers….  God….  It so happened that about a half dozen or so of the Scottish soldiers also had the last name of Wilson.  They treated me like some long lost cousin. Good Lord….  Beer and Scotch Whiskey.  LOTS of beer and Scotch…  It took me about a week to recover from those two nights.  My head hurts just thinking about it! —    "Brewers make wort, yeast makes beer"     – Dave Miller’s Homebrewing Guide http://www.magma.ca/~bodnsatz/brew/tips/

– So many beers…  So little time….

Response:

I started home-brewing so I could continue drinking German type beer. Same reason I started

You didn’t happen to be in Germany with the Canadian Army in the late 70’s were you?  Just wondering as I killed *many* a brain cell one night in northen Germany with a bunch of Canadian soldiers during a REFORGER exercise.  And I thought *I* could drink beer!  Then the very next night I fell in with a bunch of Scottish soldiers….  God….  It so happened that about a half dozen or so of the Scottish soldiers also had the last name of Wilson.  They treated me like some long lost cousin. Good Lord….  Beer and Scotch Whiskey.  LOTS of beer and Scotch…  It took me about a week to recover from those two nights.  My head hurts just thinking about it!   — So many beers…  So little time….

Response:

I made a draft style cider, a la Woodpecker, last year that turned out great. You could probably use the same methods to produce your Cola Weizen, but beware, this requires some specialized equipment and some definite work. First you’ll have to brew your weizen.  I don’t have a Krystal recipe, but you might try Cat’s Meow or some of the other suggestions here. Second you’ll need to completely shut down the yeast.  There are a couple of things you can do and you probably ought to think about combining a couple to guarantee the death of your yeast.  Any live yeast will at the very least ferment out the Cola and thereby remove the sweetness, or much worse, create bottle bombs.  You can heat the finished beer to 150 or so and hold it there for 15 minutes or so. (Keep it covered or you’ll drive off the alcohol.)  You can add potassium sorbate, and you can filter with a .5 micron absolute filter. Once this is done you’ll need to mix in the cola and then force carbonate in a keg system.  Then you’ll have to counter pressure fill your bottles. It’s a lot of work.  It was well worth it for the cider I got this way, but it will cost you a few bucks for the equipment.  If you try this I’d love to see you post the results. Good Luck, Eric

Response:

One other thought: do we know that pop/soda does not have stabilizers/preservatives that would prevent the yeast from carbonating? Dan Cole

Response:

: One other thought: do we know that pop/soda does not have : stabilizers/preservatives that would prevent the yeast from : carbonating? A bigger worry is that sodas ususally have a very low pH, that’s why they taste good with all that sugar.  Usually they have phosphoric acid or something like that added.  The end result would probably be something really sour. Add the soda to the beer right before you drink it, if you want to. –arne DISCLAIMER:  These opinions and statements are those of the author and do not represent any views or positions of the Hewlett-Packard Co. : Dan Cole

Response:

[describes "Cola Weizen" and Radler . . .] First of all, I don’t think I’m a snob, but I don’t think these concoctions appeal to me. First there was Radler. Next came Ru