Nothern brewer Bavaria hefeweizen extract kit

I'm about to make my first brew ever. I have the nothern brewer bavarian hefeweizen extract kit with the 3068 weihenstephaner wyeast. Anybody have any advice for a fist timer brewer with this kit.

Great Kit. The best advice I have is to try to keep your fermentation temp in the low 60s. 62 is perfect for me. If you let your fermentation temp get too high you will have a lot of banana flavor.

Fermentation temperature control. Research "swamp cooler". And patience. If you do not have a hydrometer, get one. Don't go by the time scale in the recipe, go by the gravity of the wort. Longer fermentation is usually better than shorter. You do not have do do a secondary. 2 - 3 weeks in primary then bottle. Bottle condition for 3 weeks at about 70 degrees then chill one for a couple of days. If the carbonation is low, wait longer.

Thanks for the info guys. I brewed yesterday around 4pm. Just got up a little bit ago and it is fermenting away. The beer did brew very dark for a heif, but from what I read that is comments for extract kits. Unfortunately I don't really have a way to control the fermenting temp. And being here in Florida doesn't help. I have the fermentor in a dark cool room and it is cool to the touch. So we will just have to see how it turns out flavor wise. I just have all the first time brewer jitters, more concerned that I didn't mess anything up and it turns into beer. I have a kegerator already that I built a few years ago I have already been looking into a thermostat control for it for fermenting.

I am a total newbie but I love hefeweizen beer.

What is the cost of this kit?

How much beer can you make with it?

It was around $32 after shipping.

Beginner from SoFL here; rig yourself a swamp cooler to deal with the temperature while fermenting.

Swamp cooler with wet t-shirt and fan. Use ice blocks also if your wort temp is not in the low 60° range.
WY3068 can ferment vigorously. A blow off tube is recommended.

By ice blocks, he probably means get some empty liter coke bottles, and freeze water in them. To be honest, I did it that way a couple of times and it was a hassle. Bought a freezer off of Craigslist and a temp controller from Amazon. Much easier.

The wort is around 68 it has been in the fermentor since Friday afternoon. Sat it was going pretty good but it has really slowed down. I have a kegerator that I built out of a fridge. I think I am going to order a thermostat control for it because I really wanna make some lagers. But for now we will see how this batch turns out. Also if I was to do a swamp cooler now would it make a difference or is it to far along in the fermentation process to matter?

sks8686 said:

The wort is around 68 it has been in the fermentor since Friday afternoon. Sat it was going pretty good but it has really slowed down. I have a kegerator that I built out of a fridge. I think I am going to order a thermostat control for it because I really wanna make some lagers. But for now we will see how this batch turns out. Also if I was to do a swamp cooler now would it make a difference or is it to far along in the fermentation process to matter?

Click to expand...

The flavors are set in the first two to three days of active fermentation. Let it go as it is. Optimum temperature range of the wort for WY3068 is 64-75° F. You're good.
I have found over pitching the yeast and fermenting in the low 60° range will give more clove flavor than banana. The clove eventually fades, but I love the spiciness of the clove.