Back in the saddle-- wit homebrew!

Tommish · 12-31-2007, 03:30 AM

Today I brewed my first batch of beer in 15 years. I was a n00b then (having only made 5 batches of extract brew and one mead) and I am still a n00b, albeit a very well-read one. I decided to try to recreate a Belgian white that was my 4th batch back in the day. Because of ingredient availability and time constraints, I had to adapt the recipe quite a bit and it looks like it might end up being more like a "doppel-wit" of sorts.

6 lbs extra-light house blend malt extract syrup from High Gravity Brew here in Tulsa (not sure of the brand-- they have it in 100 gallon barrels)
2 3/4 lbs light honey
1 oz. Hallertau (60 min.)
1/3 oz. Hallertau (15 min.)
3/4 oz. crushed coriander (15 min.)
3/4 oz. crushed coriander 5 min.)
1/2 oz. dried orange peel
1/2 oz. Hallertau (2 min.)
White Labs Belgian Ale Yeast WLP550

O.G. 1.064

It's pretty much the Grand Cru from Joy of Homebrewing but with an 6 lbs malt syrup instead of 5 lbs spray malt. Also, I was short of whole coriander so I subbed a small amount of ground coriander (a tsp.) for 1/2 oz crushed.

I had a couple of mishaps which I hope will not affect the ferment (fingers crossed). My primary is a plastic bucket and to cool the wort, I immersed it partially in a sink filled with cold water. Unfortunately, the adhesive thermometer I am using did not seem to register a temperature, even when the bucket began to feel cooler than the air. I pitched the yeast at what I believe was about 65 F. Oddly enough, the thermometer began to work 4 hours later...

The other think that happened was that the little gasket in the lid of the primary where the fermentation lock fits got pushed into the wort! It was thoroughly sanitized so I am not worried about it hurting the beer, but I had to come up with an alternative very fast. I took some foam rubber that my hydrometer was packed in and jammed it in the hole with the lock to make a seal. It's funny but I had actually sanitized the foam rubber out some some OCD tendency. I did have to apply some tape to the exterior of the lid in order to keep the fermentation lock standing up straight, but I am pretty confidant of the seal.

Anyway, I am soooo happy to be brewing again. I had not met my wife when I used to brew and was pleasantly surprised when she seemed to like the boiling smell as much as I do.

BuffaloSabresBrewer · 12-31-2007, 04:31 AM

Welcome back! But wouldnt the gasket just go right back in the lid? I actually have a few extras laying around from my restaurant days (extras always good) and I just pulled them out an would push them back in. But mostly welcome back to the hobby/obsession.

jds · 12-31-2007, 06:05 AM

Welcome back! I, too, took a long hiatus (about 8 years) from brewing. Welcome back to the fold.

**BierMuncher** · 12-31-2007, 05:51 PM

Nice job on your return to brewing.

Make sure to rely on your hydrometer for your beers progress and not the "bubbler".

**c8h12n4o3** · 12-31-2007, 08:39 PM

I've been out for a long time too, ten years!?....Should be brewing in a week or so...Looking to do a Pale Ale or Wheat and start a mead for a friend....decisions decisions...

Tommish · 01-01-2008, 03:25 PM

Thanks for all the welcomes, as well as all the advice throughout this forum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BierMuncher

Make sure to rely on your hydrometer for your beers progress and not the "bubbler".

Don't worry. My bubbler is not working correctly anyway-- the foam rubber I used to jam the lock in place is likely a fair barrier to bacteria, but it is definitely not holding back the CO2.

This is definitely my most hapless effort to date. In addition to the gasket and thermometer issues, I made a couple more mistakes (which don't seem to have sabotaged the ferment-- so far...). My wife was a little nervous about having fermenting wort in the house so I bought one of those heated beer belts and decided to put the primary in the garage. So of course, it got really cold Sunday night and when I checked the thermometer Monday morning the temp was 55F. Eek! Not only that but I did not use a starter since I had only used liquid yeast once and that was in the summer. I didn't even read about starters until after I had pitched the yeast (dough!).

Needless to say, fermentation had not yet begun as of yesterday morning as the ideal temp for the strain I used is about 78F. I quickly found an empty cabinet which happened to have an outlet inside it. I stashed the wort there and plugged in the beer belt, hoping Ashley (my wife) would not mind too much. The temp rose throughout the day yesterday and was about 76F last night but no bubbles (going on 36 hours).

When I got up this morning, I opened the cabinet and although there were no bubbles in the lock, I knew that it had started-- definite fermentation smell. Thermometer was at 78F. Perfect! Just to be a total n00b, I opened the lid a crack to check and there were about 4 1/2 inches of foam on top. I closed the lid and I will not take a hydrometer reading until Saturday!

This batch has been a definite learning experience. It's a wonder I never had any of these issues when I used to brew long ago.

Tommish · 01-02-2008, 02:36 AM

I found a rubber gasket about the right size to seal the fermentation lock in place. After sterilizing the gasket and popping it into place, LOTS of bubbling activity appeared where none was evident before (except by smell).

Because the ferment took over 36 hours to begin, will the beer be more "estery?" I like some ester flavor but not necessarily with a white beer.

Tommish · 01-28-2008, 06:22 PM

Bottled the batch yesterday-- the F.G. was 1.008. The sample tasted lovely with nice Hallertau/coriander spiciness. The "extra-light" LME I used is not as light as I had hoped making this more of a blond that a wit-- next time I will go with some wheat extract. It was a bit more bitter than my previous effort with this recipe (1993?), but I think that's because this time I used orange peel I bought at the LHBS rather than shaving my own zest (that sounded a little... wrong

).

Waiting... waiting... waiting... ah heck, I just need to start another batch

Tommish · 03-10-2008, 04:09 AM

Loving this batch still. Next time I will shoot for the lower end of the yeast temp range, but the 'hot' taste has really mellowed.