Got my Beer kit! First Brew will be a Franziskaner Clone HELP!

Hello everyone, so I finally bought my Brewing kit

The True Brew Gold Kit
for Beer or Wine

Kit includes:
bullet 5 or 6 gallon glass carboy

bullet 7.8 gallon primary fermenting bucket, drilled for spigot, with drilled and grometted lid
bullet Small Buon Vino drilled stopper for carboy
bullet 3-piece airlock
bullet Fast-Flow Fill Kit including:
bullet 15" x 1/2" OD Fast Flow bottle filler
bullet 27" x 1/2" OD curved racking cane with tip
bullet 5' x 7/16" ID flex tubing
bullet Fast Flow bottle Spigot

Note: this kit must be customized for beer or wine with the addition of a capper or corker

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After swimming in my head what I would liek to do first I have heard this is a simple beer and I happen to enjoy the flavor of it myself.. I have gotten the recipe from this thread "Franziskaner Dunkel Clone"
It should be noted however this is not the Dunkel recipe, but that works out in the end for me anyway!

THANKS HB99!!

Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse (from Beer Captured)

4 oz Belgian Aromatic Malt
2 oz Acid Malt

6 lb. 5 oz. Muntons Wheat Dry Malt Extract
2¼ oz. Malto Dextrin

1 oz. American Hallertauer @ 3.5% (bittering hop)

¼ oz. Spalt (flavor hop)
¼ oz. Perle (flavor hop)

White Labs #WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale Yeast

1½ cup Muntons Wheat Dry Malt Extract

OG: 1.052

1) Heat 1/2 gallon water to 155, then add the grains. Steep for 30 minutes.
2) Sparge with 1 gallon 150 degree water, then bring wort to boil
3) Add extract & malto-dextrin, top off to 2 1/2 gallons, bring to boil
4) Add Hallertauer...boil 45 minutes
5) Add Spalt & Perle...boil additional 15 mins
6) Cool and top off to 5.5 gallons
7) Pitch yeast

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Here is a breakdown of all the ingredients, and the Prices I paid for them

Muslin Sock (1) $.60
Wheat Malt Extract (6.3 lb)/$4.50 lb= $28.35
Bel Aromatic (4)/$.15= $.60
Acidulated Malt (2)/$.2 - $.40
Wheat Malt Extract (.31)/$4.50 = $1.40
US Hallertau (1) $3.00
Spalt (.25) $.75
Perle (.25) $.75
2068 Yeast (1) $7.00
Starsan (8oz) $10
TOTAL= $56.55
-$10 Starsan
1st Brew Ing. Grand Total $46.55

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And here is the log So far

Friday May 09, 2008 6:00 PM
2Pm Set out Smack Pack and Activate

2 gallons spring water SS Pot
6:07Pm Water @ 160 Degrees Remove lid, Turn off heat/ Insert Muslin Sock
6:27Pm “Sparge” Colander and ladel (7 Min) Water went down to 140 deg
6:39Pm Add .5 gal
6:45Pm + 1/3 WME Wait for Boil
6:58Pm Temp 200
7:05Pm Rolling boil achieved added 1 0z Hollertau Set timer for 60
7:10Pm decrease heat to Medium High (7/10)
7:55Pm add remaining WME and Hops
8:15Pm turn off heat
820Pm Wort in Icebath
8:38Pm Wort 110 degrees, sanitize carboy
8:45Pm Wort 100 Sanitize Airlock, funnel, stopper
8:50Pm Wort 95 degrees
8:53Pm change Ice bath water
8:55Pm Wort 90 Degrees
9:00Pm Wort 89 Degrees Place funnel on carboy
9:05Pm Wort 81 Degrees
9:15Pm Wort transferred to carboy
9:38Pm Wort 76 starting to turn blue (78 fading Green), Rinse Sanitized Baster Hydrometer (and Case)
9:50Pm Wort 76 Hydrometer Unreadable (not shaken enough?)
10:00Pm Pitch Yeast, and add Bung/Airlock
10:20Pm Carboy placed in shower with box over top Door shut (very little light will get into the bathroom and what does will not affect the beer
Saturday May 10 4:30 PM Took off and noted rapid bubbling in airlock Took pictures

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So here is my question, anything I should expect or anyone done this before, I am heading to the store now.. and I will be getting the ingredients, is there anything I don't need to buy or will be ripped off by getting? Remember all I have as of now is the kit that I mentioned above

I will be using a big stainless steel pot that belongs to my mother (she doesn't know yet) how will I get the stuff I have boiled into the glass carboy, I have also heard of people just pouring right into the bucket.. what are the pros and cons of this?

Here are some pics and Video
Me with the Wort (before the Top-off)

The day after, Fermenting in the Shower

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbIm-SDs3KE"]Here is a Video showing the Air lock[/ame] (pay no attention to the floral design of the shower curtain!!)

Well that's pretty ambitious for your first brew...Most of us recommend doing a kit recipe for the first couple times...to work on your brewing process, since the kits are foolproof and have all the ingredients you need, if the beer turns out bad, than it's not the fault of the recipe....it's something in the process of the new brewer....

Having said that, be aware that with the hops shortage NONE of those hops may be available ala cart for your recipe, and you'll have to find the appropriate hops substitutes.

If you go with a beer kit, you WILL have the right hops for whatever kit you will choose.

Good luck!

As far as other things to get, I didn't see any sanitizer, I would recommend Star San, but there are other good ones. And if you don't have one, get a spray bottle - it's handy for quick sanitizing of surfaces. Also, you should get an auto siphon - I don't use it on brew day, but definitely any other time I rack my beer.

Revvy said:

Well that's pretty ambitious for your first brew...

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bah...my first brew was an IPA partial mash and dry-hopped, and I've helped others through similar first-brews. If you've ever taken a chemistry lab, then it shouldn't be a big deal. So, that said, I respectfully disagree with you .


As for the recipe...you probably won't find Spalt hops. Hallertau or Tettnanger would be fine substitutes. Because this is a german hefeweizen, you want to use Noble, German hops like I just listed.

Usually, you transfer to the carboy (after cooling) with a racking cane or with a funnel. Make sure both are sanitized. Also, make sure that the wort is cool (or neutral) to the touch before you pitch your yeast.

Post up here if you have any more questions.

That said, brew on!

We've been coaching Timber in the chat. He should be OK.

OK Just got back from the brew shop, they guys there were really nice, I guess its set up as a "self service" but since it was my first they walked through and got everything for me.

I have added this breakdown to the first post of this thread to make it more condensed

Thanks a ton to everyone who coached and Held my hand through the whole thing in the chat room, I would of been a mess without you all. I will post a few pics tomorrow.. and here is the log I made, if anyone has suggestions to make more complete logs in the future please make note

I have added the Log to the first post of this topic to make it easier to navigate

Thanks again to everyone for their help.. now I have a lot of cleaning to do after I finish this beer..

Timber said:

Muslin Sock (1) $.60
Wheat Malt Extract (6.3 lb)/$4.50 lb= $28.35
Bel Aromatic (4)/$.15= $.60
Acidulated Malt (2)/$.2 - $.40
Wheat Malt Extract (.31)/$4.50 = $1.40
US Hallertau (1) $3.00
Spalt (.25) $.75
Perle (.25) $.75
2068 Yeast (1) $7.00
Starsan (8oz) $10
TOTAL= $56.55
-$10 Starsan
1st Brew Ing. Grand Total $46.55

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Entering the wonderful world of homebrewing.......Priceless.

Uploaded pics and Video, howeverI cant get the Video to Embed into the post.. anyhelp?

Timber said:

Uploaded pics and Video, howeverI cant get the Video to Embed into the post.. anyhelp?

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Nevermind...

Ok I think I got a "quasi-embed" but hopefully a mod will come fix it in the meantime that will do )

76°F is a little on the high side. Next time you will want to make sure that it is lower. Youre hefe will have more banana notes than clove. It might taste a bit hot on the alcohol side.

But it will be beer none-the -less.

where do I want it to be temp wise, I have never tasted banana in Franziskaner, hope it will still taste like that

http://www.ebrew.com/beer_yeast_wyeast_labs/3068.htm

68F

wow i dont even keep the house that cold, how would i get it down to that temp? I thought the high mid 70's was a good temp

Fermentation is an exothermic process. It creates heat. Therefore, even though the air is 70, the wort temp can be much higher.

You can fill the tub up with water to buffer the temperature change. A large body of water will have thermal mass and resist temperature changes. Some people add ice to the water. You can also cover your fermenter with a t-shirt. Adiabatic cooling is what it is called. Think wet t-shirt contest.

Here in AZ, I use a fridge with a temperature override so I can keep things at 60 degrees.

See also:

Son of Fermentation Chamber

olllllo said:

Think wet t-shirt contest.

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You don't have to ask me twice.

Update, just got done cleaning up from bottling and I ended up with about 51 semi 12 oz beers (im sure I missed some or had more here and there, all and all, it was not to tough, there was one part the bottle gun fell off I lost maybey half a beer to the water shooting out and what not, thank god for tile floors, the Antique capper did a good job, put a dent in a lot of the tops, but Im not complaining.. Next up, Apfelwein being made tomorrow..

Good Job Timber! Good luck trying to sit on it while it carbs up.

How'd I miss this thread? Must have been on travel or something...

Sounds like a winner.

Keep us posted on the sampling...

OK, I followed the instructions and ingredients. Just moved my wort to the carboy and it looks like Timber's but it tastes a little weak compared to all my other brews. Is that normal (to anybody who has brewed it)? The only difference was the 6.5 lbs of Muntons - I used LME and 1 1/2 cups of Muntons dry. It tastes like the Franzikaner but weak. Maybe the carbonation will make the difference.

As I always do, I put about a half a cup of wort in a glass and sipped it to distinguish the flavors and try to anticipate the final taste. I think it will mellow but I don't think it will get stronger. I did get a little taste of the alcohol and noticed the effect of higher alcohol content than others I did. Just seems weak tasting.

feedback?

PM

So how does it taste?