Royal Wittelsdanken Hefeweizen Recipe - Weissbier - 10A

July 29, 2026

A historic, classic Bavarian beer with mandatory wheat, determined after brewing with wheat was prohibited. Wheat on! Wheat off!

For this article, hefeweizen=Weissbier. Hefeweizen translates to "yeast wheat," while Weissbier is "white beer."

Basics
Get cute with process
Recipe
Sensory comparison resources
German wheat beer history

Overall experience

Paraphrasing the BJCP guidelines, Weissbier has a signature "fluffy body" achieved by its high usage of wheat malt. This combined with distinct clove and/or banana flavors and aroma from Weizen yeast is what makes this style beloved. Typically hazy and pale, straw, or golden color and a white foamy head, it looks pretty in a large glass such as a half gallon glass boot. Highly carbonated with a dry finish, it is highly drinkable and refreshing.

IBU	8-15
SRM	2-6
OG	1.044-1.053
FG	1.008-1.014
ABV	4.3-5.6%

Get cute with process

This recipe attempts to catch a few traditional processes that seem to have fallen off from modern hefeweizen brewing - at least largely in the American brewing space. But these factors are worth considering to turn a good beer into great: double rest mash, single decoction, and open fermentation.

The classic and best versions of this beer have 4 (vier) ingredients: wheat malt, pilsner malt, German hops, and a Weissbier yeast.

Like many German beers, it's best to not try and get too cute with the recipe. Rather, get cute with the process. Scanning through Weissbier recipes, some elements stand out more than others: (1) incorporating a "ferulic acid" rest, (2) incorporating at least one decoction to help develop malt flavors, and (3) open primary fermentation in addition to good temperature control. These distinct methods point toward definitive style traits: helping the yeast bring out banana and clove flavors, supporting the unusual "fluffy" body, dry finish, and enhancing malt depth with otherwise basic malts.

"For the all-grain version, we recommend a mash temperature of 152°F."

-MoreBeer.com German Hefeweizen instructions

While you could just mash at 152 and it might even make good beer, this one-size-fits-all brewing advice turns a blind eye to unlocking Weissbier's true potential.

Ferulic Acid Rest

Ferulic acid in a mash is optimally produced around 113 - far more than in the saccharification range. This acid, when fermented by Weizen yeast, produces clove flavor and aroma. A 10-15 minute rest in this range helps ensure clove is pronounced instead of having to guess if its present.

Yes, modern malts are highly modified and even when using 60% wheat malt, the mash is a bit more gummy than usual, but especially with the help of rice hulls there shouldn't be significant lautering issues. However, a rest in the beta-glucanase range will help to break down mash gumminess and improve extract. The point is to highlight how "we don't need to do a beta-glucanase rest with modern malts" does not have to do with producing ferulic acid.

Decoction

Since we're doing a ferulic acid rest at 113, might as well decoct at least once to get to saccharification range. Decocting is traditional to most German styles, with one or two rounds for Weissbier. Pilsner malt and wheat malt are going to taste quite bready all alone. After one decoction, it will still taste a bit bready, but expect a tinge of deepening golden color in the finished beer and a hint of more malt character.

Decocting helps elevate the beer out of that 1-dimensionsal malt character. Many German brewers including some referenced below decoct, as do American brewers that specialize in German beers.

Open Fermentation

A better way to put this to make it sound less scary is "Reduced Pressure Primary Fermentation." Not trying to attract the next cool yeast mutant into the Royal Wittelsdanken Hefeweizen. Reduced hydrostatic and CO2 back-pressure is known to significantly improve Weizen yeast production of banana and clove compounds. It performs best in long, shallow vessels with little/no backpressure. Easy methods of achieving this are fermenting in a bucket since they are usually wider than carboys, and removing or attaching a dry airlock during primary to remove the backpressure of its seal. Keep everything sealed before and after primary fermentation. Who knows what the returns are for this, but its a low-effort, low-risk intervention.

Base Recipe

Buy here: Royal Wittelsdanken Hefeweizen

Fermentables

6 lb Root Shoot Malted White Wheat
4 lb Proximity ReGenMalt Pilsen
- Option: 4 lb Root Shoot Pilsner
- Option: 4 lb Weyermann Pilsner

Hops

1 oz Tettnang, 60 minutes
- Option: 1 oz Czech Saaz, 60 minutes
- Option: 1 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh, 60 minutes

Yeast

Fermentis SafAle W-68 German Wheat Beer Yeast
- Option: Omega Hefeweizen Ale I - OYL 021

Brewer's Friend Recipe - see all tech specs, copy, and modify.

Process

Mash-in all the grains with a target rest of 113. Mix well. Hold for 15 minutes.
Decoct. Remove about 1/3, or 20-40% of the mash, placing into a brewing pot or a large, heavy-bottomed pot. There should be more grains than liquid - a thin layer of liquid should cover the grains. Raise this separated pot to 150 and hold for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, boil the separated mash for about 20 minutes, stirring constantly. Add back into the main mash. Additional decoctions, usually up to 3 total, can be taken if deeper color and malt sweetness is desired.
Heat or ensure the main mash has increased to 145. Hold for 30 minutes.
Increase the mash temperature to 168 to mash out (optional) or begin sparging and lautering with 168 water. Collect 5.5 gallons of wort.
Add 1 oz of low AA hops (Tettnang, Saaz, Hallertau Mittelfru) for 60 minutes of boiling, or during wort collection (first wort hop). Target 8-15 IBU.
Begin cooling the wort after boil to around 70, or as cool as quickly possible.
Transfer to sanitized fermentation vessel. Bucket ideal. Pitch rehydrated dry yeast or liquid yeast.
Ferment as close to the yeast manufacturer's target temperature range as possible, usually the upper 60s.
Modified(?) open ferment. Once fermentation starts, set the lid loosely on the bucket. If using a carboy, remove bung if in a clean place or set the airlock dry. The goal is to reduce backpressure on the yeast. Replace lid and refill airlock after primary.
After final gravity has been achieved for at least 3 days, cold crashing is helpful before transferring to a keg or bottling.
Target higher carbonation levels - around 3 volumes. If bottling with a target more than 3 volumes, use a thicker glass bottle.
Serve in German Weizen glassware to recreate child-on-Christmas joy. There's a reason for this.

Sensory Comparison

Compare your Weissbier to commercial examples to see if it's world-class. These are easily found in larger liquor stores. Helpful to drink one and listen/read the score side-by-side, then compare to yours.

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier: Audio | Scoresheet

Paulaner Hefe-Weizen: Audio | Scoresheet

Hacker-Pschorr Weisse: Audio | Scoresheet

German Weissbier History

Weissbiers have a wild history that went from Bavarian state prohibition to a state-sponsored industry in 86 years. As soon as wheat beer brewing was attempted to be suppressed in Bavaria 500 years ago, exceptions popped up and were exploited. Brewing with wheat simply could not be put down.

In 1516, Wilhelm IV and Ludwig X, two Bavarian Dukes during the longstanding Wittelsbacher dynasty, issued the Bayerische Landesordnung - a broad-scope collection of laws intended to standardize many aspects of trade, including brewing. One section of it became the Reinheitsgebot, which restricted brewing ingredients to barley, hops, and water. There were no apparent recent bad harvests or inflationary events - rather, managing grain stores in the context of unpredictable harvests in 16th century Bavaria was a constant headache and uncertainty. The main rationale behind this was to reduce wheat and rye demand by brewers, thereby keeping bread costs low. But the hop restriction is also interesting. Bavaria was part of the Holy Roman Empire at the time, and it's possible the Dukes had a religious conservatism angle to restrict additives such as gruit herbal mixes and wormwood, which have hallucinogenic properties and were likely used in some pagan rituals. And/or it was simply understood that hops were best for beer preservation, and was intended to get the bad stuff off the streets.

The codification of the purity law effectively forced the wheat beer category to be defined in a way it was not before. Almost as soon as the Reinheitsgebot was enacted, exceptions were cut in. The Degenbergs, a noble Bavarian family, effectively bought an exception to the law in exchange for payments to Duke Wilhelm IV. Another family, the Schwarzenbergs, also gained the exception to brew with wheat for a time.

The arrangement came to a close in 1602, when the line of Degenbergs ended. This exclusive right was transferred to Maximillian I, Duke Wilhelm IV's grandson. At this point, the original intention of the law - protecting grain stores - appears to be irrelevant, and the main purpose became tax revenue. Maximillian I took the exclusive right to brew beer with wheat and turned it into a state monopoly that lasted for 270 years. Weissbier consumption was now encouraged and taverns were forced to sell it.

The formal 50% wheat minimum is rooted in traditional grist ratios for the style. Labeling and packaging requirements in the modern era seem to be what cemented this standard as a way to describe and define the product.

Decoction mashing is another tradition pertinent to this style. While modern malts have removed most of the need to perform full triple decoction mashes, there are still reasons to decoct that are unrelated to working with highly modified modern malts. Many traditional German brewers - those that brew the world class examples - and American brewers that specialize in German beers continue decocting today.