Clarkson Integrator

Issue date: 1/21/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Ben Brown-Steiner Even the glass and pouring method are important for these beers.

Beers can come in a large range of colors, from pale yellow or golden to amber or coffee black. The glassware used to serve these beers are a key factor. This accentuates the nuances of the variety of beer styles and their chemical make up. One of the more surprising and potentially unnerving beers is the South German Style Wheat Beer (hefeweissbier or hefeweizen). The most distinguishing feature of this style is its thick, cloudy appearance.

This beer does not have the crisp and clear appearance that we see in many beer commercials, when poured into the appropriate glass. Its appearance bears no small resemblance to industrial waste waters. Keep in mind: this is intentional and delicious.

The suspended particles in hefeweizens are the yeast and wheat as implied by the name; hefe means yeast and weizen means wheat. These two ingredients are critical to the early brewing process. Early brewers used any form of grain they could get. Wheat was often bought by the bakers first, leaving only barley for the brewers. Today, barley is usually preferred over wheat. Barley has well-formed husks, which act as a natural filter. Wheat, on the other hand, lacks these husks, and therefore results in a cloudier brew. However, wheat was never completely abandoned. It has a distinctive taste that barley cannot match. Most hefeweizens are brewed with large amounts, up to 50% of the initial wort, of wheat. Wheat and yeasts give a naturally cloudy appearance, when combined.

Unlike most beers, which are filtered to take out these particulates, the wheat and yeast particles are left in the beer. Many beers were conceived before filtration was practiced.

In 1040 AD, a Benedictine Monastery in Freising, Germany happened to be located near large hop gardens. It was no coincidence that this monastery was granted a brewery license from Friesing. They brewed the early forms of wheat beer. The Monastery suffered fires, raids, plagues, and earthquakes. In fact, between 1085 and 1463, the Weihenstephan Brewery burned down four times and was hit by three plagues.

It has been nearly half a millennium since the Monastery officially started to brew beer. The Bavarian Duke, Wilhelm IV, promulgated the Reinheitsgebot, which declared that all beers brewed in Bavaria could only use barley, hops and water. It wasn't until later that the yeast microbe was identified and determined to be a crucial portion of brewing. Oddly enough, this discovery changed very little in the brewing regulations and process. The breweries always used yeasts, sometimes unintentionally, and sometimes by traditional brewing practice. They continued to do so, and the Purity Law of 1516 has not been amended to include yeasts.

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