How to Brew Honey Weizen

Using a Bavarian Wheat Dry Malt Extract base is important for building a smooth, full beer base. Wheat also helps create that signature hazy pour you want in your glass.

A specialty malt that enhances the honey-like sweetness without requiring actual honey. Our Honey Weizen making kit uses Honey malts to pull this off, along with Biscuit Malt and Golden Naked Oats for nutty flavor, malty backbone and a creamy, full mouthfeel.

Hops wild mild bitterness, like Cluster hops, balance the honey sweetness without overpowering it. Cluster hops are an excellent choice because of their floral and earthy character that complement actual honey.

A honey weizen is a wheat ale, after all! Safale WB-06 German Wheat Beer Dry Yeast is an excellent strain. It provides fruity & phenolic character - those signature banana & clove esters that wheat beers are known for. This yeast strain also remains quite suspended during fermentation, which leads to hazy and unfiltered finished beer.

Honey makes the honey weizen! While it’s optional, we highly recommend it. You’ll use 3.2 oz of honey per gallon to add real, natural honey flavor to this delicious beer style. Use any variety you like, whether that’s a floral, citrusy Orange Blossom Honey or a neutral Wildflower Honey.

You’ll need a stock pot that can fit as close to a full gallon of liquid as possible. You’ll need a few inches of room to prevent boil overs. Don’t use too large a pot - this can increase evaporation rates and result in volume loss. Your pot should have a lid, which is used when chilling the beer before pitching the yeast.

It’s important to closely monitor and maintain temperatures at different points in the brewing process. Our Honey Weizen making kit includes a glass lab thermometer, but you can use any food-safe thermometer, like a digital thermometer! Key temperatures your thermometer must reach are 155ºF and 75ºF.

A funnel helps you transfer the wort (unfermented beer) from your stock pot into the carboy. A 4” funnel is included in our Honey Weizen making kit.

A 1 gallon carboy is where yeast turns the wort (unfermented beer) into an American Honey Weizen. A rubber stopper plugs the neck to maintain a proper seal. A carboy  is included in our basic Honey Weizen Making Kit.

A racking cane is a rigid plastic tube that is submerged into your beer to start a siphon transfer. Siphons reduce oxidation and help lift your fermented beer up off of sediment and into bottles. A racking cane is included in our Honey Weizen making kit.

After fermentation, you’ll need to carbonate your beer in bottles. You can use flip top bottles, like Grolsch style bottles, or you can use pry-off beer bottles, caps and a capper tool. You’ll need roughly ten 12oz bottles per gallon of beer. That’s about eight 16oz bottles per gallon or four 32oz bottles per gallon.

Step 1: Sanitize Everything

Before you begin brewing, proper sanitation is critical. Any bacteria or wild yeast can ruin your beer. Mix half of the included sanitizer packet with 1 gallon of water in a bucket or pitcher. Submerge all equipment that will touch the beer after boiling (fermenter, funnel, airlock, tubing, thermometer). Let everything soak for at least 60 seconds. No need to rinse—just let the sanitized equipment air dry on clean paper towels.

Step 2: Heating the Water & Steeping the Grains

Pour as close to a gallon of water as possible into your brew pot while leaving a few inches of space to prevent boil-overs.

Heat the water on high heat until it reaches 155°F (68°C).

Place the specialty grains into the grain steeping bag, tie it off, and steep in the water for 20 minutes.

Remove the grain bag and discard—do NOT squeeze it, as this can release tannins and create unwanted bitterness.

Step 3: Boiling & Adding Malt Extract

Increase the heat and bring the wort (unfermented beer) to a boil.

Once the first bubbles appear, remove the pot from heat and slowly stir in the dry malt extract to prevent clumping.

Return the pot to medium-high heat to maintain a gentle rolling boil. Set a 20 minute timer. After 20 minutes, turn off the burner and remove the pot from heat.

Step 4: Adding Hops

Start a timer for a 60 minute boil and add your “Bittering” Hops to the brew pot. 

At the very end of the 60 minute boil, when removing the pot from heat, add your optional 3.2 oz of honey and stir to dissolve.

Pro Tip: Watch for boil-overs! If your wort foams up, turn off the heat and stir to prevent spills.

Step 5: Cooling the Wort

After boiling, the wort must be cooled to a yeast-friendly temperature before fermentation can begin.

Create an ice bath in your sink using ice and cold water.

Place the pot in the ice bath and cover it with a lid to avoid contamination.

Stir the surrounding ice water occasionally to speed up the cooling process.

Use a sanitized thermometer to check that the wort is below 75°F (23°C).

Step 6: Transferring to the Fermenter & Pitching Yeast

Using a sanitized funnel, transfer the cooled wort into the sanitized fermenter, leaving any thick sediment (trub) behind.

If needed, add cool water to reach the "one-gallon" fill line.

Cut open the yeast packet and pitch the yeast (sprinkle the entire contents into the fermenter).

Aerate the wort by sealing the fermenter and shaking it vigorously for one minute. This helps the yeast thrive.

Step 7: Setting Up the Blow-Off Tube & Monitoring Fermentation

Insert a sanitized blow-off tube into the fermenter’s rubber stopper. Place the other end in a half-full glass of water. This prevents foam overflow.

Place the fermenter in a dark, temperature-stable location (ideally 60-75°F).

Within 24-48 hours, you should see bubbling activity as fermentation begins.

Step 8: Swapping the Blow-Off Tube for an Airlock

After 4-5 days, once bubbling slows down, swap the blow-off tube for an airlock filled with water. Continue fermenting.

Step 9: Preparing Bottling Equipment & Priming Sugar

Sanitize bottles, caps, siphon tubing, and the bottling wand.

In a stockpot, heat 1.5 cups of water with 2 Tablespoons of sugar. Stir until dissolved and boil for 5 minutes.

Allow the sugar water (priming sugar) to completely cool before using.

Step 10: Siphoning Beer into Bottles

Place the fermenter on a high surface and the pot of priming sugar on the floor.

Siphon the beer into the pot, carefully leaving sediment behind.

Gently stir the beer to evenly mix in the priming sugar.

Using sanitized tubing, siphon the beer into bottles, filling just to the neck. Cap the bottles.

Step 11: Carbonation & Aging

Store bottles in a dark, temperature-controlled area (68-75°F) for two weeks to allow carbonation to develop.

After 14 days, refrigerate and enjoy your homebrewed honey weizen!

Pro Tip: If your beer is under-carbonated, let it sit at room temperature for an additional 3-5 days before chilling.

✅  Stick to recommended amounts: 3.2 oz (by weight) per gallon of beer.

✅  Use Wheat Dry Malt Extract in your base and specialty grains with natural honey flavor.

✅ We recommend using hops with a low alpha acid with relatively mild flavor qualities. Cluster hops are perfect because of their ~5-9% alpha acid content, which means they won’t contribute excessive bitterness to the beer.

Proper sanitation is one of the most important aspects of homebrewing. Any bacteria or wild yeast contamination can ruin your beer. Sanitize ALL equipment that touches your beer after the boil, including fermenters, airlocks, siphons, and bottles. Use a no-rinse sanitizer (like the one included in our Honey Weizen Kit) for convenience. Always rinse out your siphon and tubing immediately after use to prevent buildup.

Honey is a key ingredient in a Honey Weizen, but WHEN you add it makes a big difference in the final flavor and aroma. Be sure to add it at the very end of the boil - this helps dissolve the honey for even distribution, but it also helps preserve the honey’s flavor and aroma! Adding honey at the very beginning of the 60 minute boil will result in most of the aromatics being boiled off.

Fermentation temperature has a significant impact on the final flavor of your Honey Weizen. Too warm, and the yeast can create harsh, boozy off-flavors; too cold, and fermentation may stall. Maintain a stable fermentation range between 65–70°F (18–21°C) for optimal yeast health and a balanced hop-malt profile. 

To become a better brewer, you must learn from past missteps and take pride in your improvements! The best way to monitor your progress and brew better beers is to log everything. Get yourself a simple brew journal and log everything from ingredients and their weights, to dates, temperatures, tasting notes and everything in between.

Don’t worry - it can be improved! Low carbonation usually just means that the yeast needs some more time to create CO2. If you’ve moved all bottles from your batch into the fridge, bring them out and let them stand at room temperature for another 3-5 days before chilling a bottle & testing again. Low carbonation can also be caused by: too much headspace in bottles, carbonating in too cold an environment, not using enough priming sugar or having an improperly sealed cap.

Don’t worry - haze is a hallmark of the Honey Weizen Ale style! Wheat ale yeasts typically exhibit low flocculation, meaning they stay suspended in the beer even after fermentation is complete. Wheat has higher protein content than other malts, which creates a hazy appearance & promotes a smooth, fuller mouthfeel.

We recommend enjoying your homebrew within 6 months of bottling for the freshest flavors and aromas. Be sure to store bottles in the fridge cold (35–40°F) to slow hop degradation and keep yeast dormant (so they do not continue fermenting)!. Store away from light and oxygen to prevent off-flavors.