hagbardceline
Well-Known Member
Yesterday I brewed a Hefeweizen and used new techniques to hopefully improve my brew but now I am actually more concerned about it. (New to this brew- WLP yeast, DME, aquarium pump, siphon sprayer, whirl pooling, racking into fermenter, blow off tube)
60 minute boil with 3 gallons of Water
I steeped 1 LB of Flaked Wheat starting at 140 degrees and slowing over 25 minutes brought that up to 170 and left it at 170 for 5 minutes (did I need to use munich or something similar to help convert the starches?)
@ 60 minutes added 2 lbs Briess Wheat DME and 1 oz Tettnang hops
@ 20 minutes I started adding in the remianing 4 lbs of Wheat DME stirring in until 15 minutes were left.
Once the boil ended I created a small whirlpool then put the kettle in the sink / ice bath. I cooled down to 110 and racked to the primary fermenter using a auto siphon and siphon sprayer.
Added cold water until I got an original gravity of 1.050
Then I aerated using the aquarium pump and diffusion stone for 30 minutes.
I pitched WLP300 @ 63 degrees. I attached a blow off tube and stuck the other end in my bottling bucket full of sanitizer (left over).
The temp rose throughout the day to 67 even tho I had a wet towel wrapped around it. I was hoping to maintain a fermentation temp of 62. It should be better today as it isn't so warm out. This morning I noticed bubbles in the bottling bucket so fermentation must be underway.
Now a few questions
When I am aerating with the aquarium pump do I need to worry about the top of the fermenter being uncovered for 30 minutes?
I decided to boil with 3 gallons to try to get better color and be closer to a full wort boil. Previously I boiled with 2 gallons. One issue I had is that it took much much longer to cool 3 gallons. So I'm wondering as along as I am doing a partial boil does it make that much of a difference if I use 2 or 3 gallons?
The color is way darker than I want. It looks just as dark as the IPA I brewed last as it is sitting in the carboy. When I pulled to test the OG it actually didn't look too bad but not the creamy yellow I was looking for - but maybe that isn't possible with extract.
Adding the DME it stuck and clumped together horribly. Is this normal with DME or specifically the wheat?
When I poured in the WLP300 it ran down the side of the carboy so I swirled the wort to try to get as much of it into solution as possible. Is that the best way to go about it?
I would really appreciate any critique of my method. For some reason I am really concerned about this brew...
Thanks
60 minute boil with 3 gallons of Water
I steeped 1 LB of Flaked Wheat starting at 140 degrees and slowing over 25 minutes brought that up to 170 and left it at 170 for 5 minutes (did I need to use munich or something similar to help convert the starches?)
@ 60 minutes added 2 lbs Briess Wheat DME and 1 oz Tettnang hops
@ 20 minutes I started adding in the remianing 4 lbs of Wheat DME stirring in until 15 minutes were left.
Once the boil ended I created a small whirlpool then put the kettle in the sink / ice bath. I cooled down to 110 and racked to the primary fermenter using a auto siphon and siphon sprayer.
Added cold water until I got an original gravity of 1.050
Then I aerated using the aquarium pump and diffusion stone for 30 minutes.
I pitched WLP300 @ 63 degrees. I attached a blow off tube and stuck the other end in my bottling bucket full of sanitizer (left over).
The temp rose throughout the day to 67 even tho I had a wet towel wrapped around it. I was hoping to maintain a fermentation temp of 62. It should be better today as it isn't so warm out. This morning I noticed bubbles in the bottling bucket so fermentation must be underway.
Now a few questions
When I am aerating with the aquarium pump do I need to worry about the top of the fermenter being uncovered for 30 minutes?
I decided to boil with 3 gallons to try to get better color and be closer to a full wort boil. Previously I boiled with 2 gallons. One issue I had is that it took much much longer to cool 3 gallons. So I'm wondering as along as I am doing a partial boil does it make that much of a difference if I use 2 or 3 gallons?
The color is way darker than I want. It looks just as dark as the IPA I brewed last as it is sitting in the carboy. When I pulled to test the OG it actually didn't look too bad but not the creamy yellow I was looking for - but maybe that isn't possible with extract.
Adding the DME it stuck and clumped together horribly. Is this normal with DME or specifically the wheat?
When I poured in the WLP300 it ran down the side of the carboy so I swirled the wort to try to get as much of it into solution as possible. Is that the best way to go about it?
I would really appreciate any critique of my method. For some reason I am really concerned about this brew...
Thanks