The difference of beers?!
The difference of beers?
I was wondering what the differences between a Hefe Weizen, a Kristal Weizen, and a Dunkel Weizen are. Are these lagers or ales?
Answers:
First off these are all traditional german style ales.
Hefe: south German style of wheat beer. A yeast that produces a unique phenolic flavors of banana and cloves with an often dry and tart edge, some spiciness, bubblegum or notes of apples. Little hop bitterness, and a moderate level of alcohol. The "Hefe" prefix means "with yeast", hence the beers unfiltered and cloudy appearance.
Kristal: a filtered hefe, so no cloudiness
Dunkel: more roasting of wheat malts to produce a darker brew
Source(s):
beeradvocate.com
dunkel is "dark", and they are usually a little more potent. not sure of the meaning of "hefe", but they are usually white, sort of cloudy (Belgians)
never heard of Kristal....must be a marketing scheme....
i like beer
Hefeweizen is a German style of wheat beer in which the yeast is not filtered out. Though Kristallweizen (clear), Dunkelweizen (dark) and Weizenstarkbier or Weizenbock (higher alcohol content) varieties are available, they are not considered true hefeweizen unless left unfiltered. The filtration which takes the yeast out of Kristallweizen also strips the wheat proteins which make Hefeweizen cloudy. Bavarian weizen beers are fermented with a special strain of top-fermenting yeast, Torulaspora delbrueckii, which is largely responsible for the distinctive flavor.
According to the place in which the beer is brewed and small variations on the recipe, several different names are used for wheat beer:
Wei?bier, short Wei?e: these terms are used almost exclusively in the southern German state of Bavaria. "wei?" is German for "white" referring to the colour of the foam which arises during the top-fermented brewing process.
Weizenbier, short Weizen: this name is used outside of Bavaria to indicate the same thing.
Hefewei?bier or Hefeweizen: "Hefe" is the German word for yeast. The prefix is added to indicate that the beer is bottle-conditioned and sedimented.
Kristallwei?bier or Kristallweizen: if the wei?bier is filtered, the beer will look "clear" (or "kristall").
Dunkles Wei?bier or Dunkles Weizen: a dark version of a wheat beer ("dunkel" is the German word for "dark").
Thay are all ales.
Hefe-Weizen is wheat beer with yeast floating around in it (cloudy).
Kristal-Weizen is the same beer with the yeast filtered out.
Dunkel-Weizen is wheat beer that is dark in color. It can be "mit hefe" (with yeast) or filtered as well.
Don't forget the Dunkel Hefe-Weizen Dopple Bock...like a fine wine!!!
I would say ales as tasting it I know its made out of mashing & not refined by vine.
Hefeweizen: wheat beer with yeast. Not necessarily with bottle conditioning, it can be just unfiltered (sometimes even pasteurized including yeast and all). Note the difference between "mit hefe" (with yeast) and "mit flascheng?rung" (with refermentation in the bottle) that you may come across reading the label more closely.
Kristallweizen: filtered wheat beer.
Dunkel Weizen: dark wheay beer (usually unfiltered, so with yeast).