Needing some advice on my very first batch.

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cjtahoe26

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Hello everyone, TONS of helpful stuff here.

Made my very first batch on Saturday, a honey lemon wheat beer, extract brewed. Everything went off without a hitch, estimated SG and actual OSG were SPOT ON! Got it into the closet right after pitching but we've had a heat wave here in Colorado. I used ice and a fan in the same closet to cool it down but it wasn't happening fast. By the time it started bubbling out of my blow off tube (advised against using airlock at my homebrew store) temp was at about 75F. I kept cooling but it was going veeerrrryyyy slow. By Sunday morning I was down to about 73 and CO2 was SCREAMING out of the blow off tube, about 3 bubbles per second. Finally got it down to 68F (recommended for Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephen/WLP300) and bubbling surprisingly slowed and then stopped. Churning was very violent when temp was a little high and then slowed a little when the temp went down. It's still rolling and rocking in there and the little yeasties are moving around nicely, just no more off gassing and action is at about 60% of where it was at 75F.

Everything I've read says to be patient and it will be fine. I was just curious what everyone thought about the perceived 'slowing' of gas and action with the temperature drop. Plan for now is to keep in primary, take a SG at 2 weeks and rack right to bottling bucket. Then I was going to let it sit overnight to settle and bottle the next day assuming SG was where it needed to be. Sound good?

Bonus question. Forgot to add the Irish Moss at 15 mins left and remembered at 5 mins left. Added anyway. Will the clarification ability be diminished by this?

Thanks in advance guys, appreciate any feedback!
 
Sounds ok to me. The first couple days fermentation can be pretty vigorous even at lower temps. I've had fermentation temps in the mid to upper 70s plenty with no real ill effect. It's pretty normal in my experience for the bubbles to slow considerably by the third day. In fact I made a hefe on Saturday and by bedtime it was blowing off like crazy(in a tub of water with some ice) and this morning is hardly bubbling at all.
 
You're fine without Irish moss...it's a wheat beer anyway..not like clarity is the #1 objective.

Add some gelatin finings to secondary or cold crash before bottling if you want, that would help.
 
Temps - a little high but not out of control. I'd expect more banana flavor, but nothing crazy. You might want to bring it back up to room temp for the last couple days.

Bottling - don't add the priming sugar and then let it sit in a bottling bucket for a day. Just transfer to the bottling bucket (with priming sugar) and bottle.

Irish moss - slightly less effective, but not really an issue with a hefe anyway.
 
Took a SG at the 10 day point, all the SG calcs were SPOT ON to estimated, tasted it and it was amazing. Bottling on Friday, thanks so much for the advice fellas. I even started a Belgian batch on Monday to keep some in the pipeline. So glad I joined this. Thanks again.
 
I would never put cloudy beer in my bottling bucket waiting for it to settle before bottling. No need to worry about that autolysis boogieman any more. Just be patient & leave it in primary til it settles out clear or slightly misty. During this time,it's also cleaning up after itself. Don't push to hurry it along to being done. The yeast have their own timetable & know what to do without any help from us. You'll get better beer in the end with patience.
 
Also, the FG number from a kit/recipe aren't an indication that the beer is done. Your conditions are different, everybody's are. Look for stable readings over 2-3 days and even then, give it a few more at room temp to clean up a bit. I bottle my wits around 10 days but that's when ferm is verifiably done after 5.
 
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