Secondary for Hefe?

[jsmurphy]

I always run a secondary fermentation, but just brewed my first Hefe and don't know if I should do a secondary or not. I don't want it to clear.

What are your experiences and thoughts?

Also, I'm bottling it, so those of you that bottle, do you use the same amount of priming sugar or DME with a Hefe? I want high carbonation, but I'm paranoid about creating bottle-bombs. I think as long as the FG is in range, I should be OK, correct?

BTW- I am relaxed, and I'm having a homebrew. (A tasty IPA) Thanks...:D

[brewmonkey]

I always do a secondary on my hefe's but it is a short 48 hours to make sure that I do not rack any trub at package time.

Can't help you with the bottling though as I force carbonate.

[lordkenpo]

Don't worry about it clearing if you're only secondary-ing for a few days. My roomate had his in secondary for 5-6 days, and it hardly cleared at all. It was also fantastic. Of course, if you're looking for cloudy, it helps a bit if you skip the irish moss in this recipe.

From our first experience with the Hefe, you should use the same amount of priming sugar as usual (ours comes in kits with standard amounts of sugar for each batch). A little less head is always a less regrettable state than 48+ schrapnel grenades. If you do a good job of sanitizing, carbonation/head retention should be no problem anyway.

Also, did you use a heatbelt? Esters = yum.

[MrMethane]

If your really worried about exploding bottles I have come up with an idea to make them less dangerous. If you have a large cooler you can probably fit all or most of your bottles in it. Put them in there to condition, it should hold room temperature pretty nicely and if any bottles explode it will contain the sharpnel and beer in to an easy to clean area. You should be able to get one at Walmart for like $20. As someone who has experienced bottle bombs, I would say its a worthy investment. That was over a year ago and I'm still finding pieces of glass in the room, I'm just glad I wasn't home at the time.

[jsmurphy]

Originally posted by lordkenpo

Also, did you use a heatbelt? Esters = yum.

No, but my fermentation room is 74-75*. I walked in and the banana smell nearly knocked me over. It's going to be very good.

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll do a short secondary and take readings. I figure when I hit my target FG, I won't have a problem with bombs.

[jsmurphy]

Update: Did a 2-day secondary and bottled. Beer looked great, nice and yeasty. Great Hefe nose, and tasted awesome.

[davesarman]

I've done probably a half dozen differen hefes over they last few years and have never had any bottle bombs and have always used the normal amount of priming sugar. Carbonation was high and head retention good. In fact in the 5+ years I've been bottling I've only had one incident with an exploding bottle, and that was a maibock that got infected. Even then it was only 2 or 3 bottles out of 48+. Happy Hefe'ing! :)