Simplified Wheat recipe for a first timer.

Just want to thank everyone for their contributions and input on the forum. I've been lurking a while and am going to make the transition from Mr. Beer.

I stopped in my lhbs today and picked up a 3.3 of unhopped lme, 1 oz of hallertau and a pack of dry ale yeast. Going to attempt a cherry wheat with extract. All of the recipes I see for 5 gallons uses 6.6 oh malt extract.

Questions:
Is 3.3 of malt extract enough?
How long to steep the hops and can I add the malt after flame?
Also considering adding honey to the secondary. If that's a good idea how much and should I pasteurize it?

Thanks knowledgeable brewers.

3.3 lbs of LME is enough if you want to scale everything down to 2.5 gallons instead of 5 gallon. If you tried to make a full 5 gallons with that little LME, it is going to taste VERY watered-down.

If you go ahead with the 2.5 gallon batch, you'll also scale the hops down 50%, so you'd add 0.5 oz of the Hallertau. You don't steep the hops, you boil them. The entire 0.5 oz Hallertau addition would go in at the beginning of the boil for a Wit, and boil for the whole 60 min.

If you add honey, add it immediately AFTER the boil, not in secondary. Actual honey is pretty hit or miss on what flavors it contributes to the beer, depending mostly on the florals the honey was made from. What honey WILL do is dry out the beer and bump the ABV a bit, so you don't want to overdo it. About 8 fluid oz in a 2.5 gallon batch would be fine. Honey is VERY sanitary, and will be pasteurized when you add it to the hot wort after the boil, so no need to sanitize it.

BTW, if you scale down to the 2.5 gallons, you DO NOT scale down the yeast. Use the whole packet either way.

Hope all that helps!

Cool, thanks. I was thinking you keep the hops at around 160 degrees for 60 minutes.
I'll pick up another 3.3 of LME and do without the honey.
I add the LME post-boil?

Johnnyhamer said:

Cool, thanks. I was thinking you keep the hops at around 160 degrees for 60 minutes.
I'll pick up another 3.3 of LME and do without the honey.
I add the LME post-boil?

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Are you making 2.5 gallons in your Mr. Beer keg or 5 gallons?

Going to just get a few 6 gallon food grade buckets over the next few days and do a 5 gallon batch. The Mr beer keg currently has something in it and the 2 gallon batches are entirely too small and costly(if using Mr beer products.

When should I add the malt to the boil?

Johnnyhamer said:

Cool, thanks. I was thinking you keep the hops at around 160 degrees for 60 minutes.
I'll pick up another 3.3 of LME and do without the honey.
I add the LME post-boil?

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No, that does not sound right. You want to boil hops (212F).

You might be confusing with the "mash", which you do not need to do since you are using extract and not grain. Mash temps are typically 150-160.

Also...is the LME wheat LME? If not, you won't have a wheat beer.

Here's a good place to learn some brewing basics - www.HowToBrew.com - read the first parts about extract brewing and you'll be good to go!

You should add half the extract up front. You can wait until 10 minutes or so left in the boil to add the other half. This will help keep the beer from getting too dark.

Where does the wheat come in? Is your extract wheat LME? How are you going to add cherry flavor? I always use fresh ones but pureed cherries are probably better.

It's a Bavarian Wheat unhopped extract produced by Briess. Also grabbed an oz of US Hallertau hops and us-05 ale yeast.

Johnnyhamer said:

It's a Bavarian Wheat unhopped extract produced by Briess. Also grabbed an oz of US Hallertau hops and us-05 ale yeast.

View attachment 108971

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Yep, that'll work. BTW, although that says wheat malt, it's probably 60% wheat malt and 40% barley. That's how they make wheat extract I believe. Which is perfect, since that is a great ratio for a wheat beer.

80% wheat solids. Should I consider adding or just go with extract for a first batch?

Johnnyhamer said:

80% wheat solids. Should I consider adding or just go with extract for a first batch?

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Go with it. No problem at all. Really, don't worry. Get that extract wet, boil with the hops for an hour, chill to room temp or below. Tear open that yeast packet, pour it in, and wait.

You've chosen the best beer style for a new brewer. There's lots of ways improve on the process I just outlined, and you'll learn all of them by hanging out around here, but for now don't worry and enjoy it all.

Cool. Going to boil the malt and hops for an hour. Chill it then add it to my water. Add yeast around 72 degrees and ferment for 2 weeks. Lastly, adding cherry extract before bottling.

If you can cool it lower you'll get better beer.

For the first run I'd suggest leaving the honey AND the cherries out to keep it as simple as possible. The major issues in the beginning are maintaining sanitation and the more steps you add, the more complicated it is, and the more spots there are for something to go wrong.

What yeast are you using?

Thanks Yeastherder, I'm using us-05 ale yeast. I'm starting to lean away from cherry extract and maybe a little orange zest for the last 5 minutes of boil.

I see so many delicious ideas! It's hard to pick one. Any experience with citrus zest?

And thanks Corky. Would you suggest the upper 60s degree range?

Johnnyhamer said:

And thanks Corky. Would you suggest the upper 60s degree range?

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Upper 60s will work fine. FYI: With the yeast you got, it will make an clean refreshing American wheat, not a German wheat with clove, banana, and ester flavors.

Johnnyhamer said:

Thanks Yeastherder, I'm using us-05 ale yeast. I'm starting to lean away from cherry extract and maybe a little orange zest for the last 5 minutes of boil.

I see so many delicious ideas! It's hard to pick one. Any experience with citrus zest?

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Just zest about an ounce or two of orange/lemon zest. Add it in the last 5 - 10 minutes of the boil or you can soak it in vodka for a couple of days and add it after fermentation has started. Since this is your first 5 gallon beer, I would add it to the boil.

I just made an American wheat beer with 3 lemon and 1 orange zest, 2 weeks in primary tomorrow, can't wait to try it.

I prefer to ferment mine as close to 60F as I can, I really prefer the clove flavored wheats.

Great. I'm reading conflicting things about boiling the unhopped lme.

Do I boil that for a full 60 or half @60 and half @30?

I've heard that boiling the wort with the hops (LME in this case) is beneficial to the hop extraction (or alpha acid isomerisation?) process, but at the same time, the LME will darken in colour (and possibly in flavour - caramelisation -don't quote me on that though!).
You could do half at 60 and then the other half at flameout as it is in a separate tin (just sanitize the outside of the tin and the can openers, and keep the tin warm so it pours in easily and stir). If it was all from one tin I would add the second lot at 15 minutes to go to sanitize after having the tin open.

Yeah, there are many different viewpoints on how to do it. They all seem to work too, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. I say pick one way and do that this time, next time try doing it differently and see which way you prefer - that's one of the things that makes brewing your own beer so awesome.

Brewed tonight. Made a 2.5 gallon batch. Boiled the hops for 60 with a third of the extract then added the more at 30 and 10. Added zest from one and a half orange to the boil at 5. Some made it into the primary. Should be interesting. I'm definitely glad to have gotten away from standard Mr. Beer refills aka water-beer. No hydrometer so ferm time about 2 weeks?

Without a hydrometer or comparable piece of equipment, you are guessing on when it is done. 2-3 weeks is probably safe to call it, but your next piece of brewing equipment really REALLY needs to be a hydrometer. I've never had a bottle bomb, but from what I've read (go check out the cider forums) they are genuinely dangerous.

Actually ordered one today along with the ingredients to make Dubbel Dach's Watermelon Wheat. I'm just replacing the German wheat malt with wheat DME
http://www.dubbeldachs.com/recipes_watermelon.htm#5