New to the Home Brew; Festa Brew Wheat with Honey!

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SeamusMac

Well-Known Member
Joined
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Location
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Hey guys n gals!

I'm a Canadian university student who has just gotten into brewing his own in order to save some dollars so I'm really excited about learning how to make some great home brew!

My favorite beer is Propeller Honey Wheat, a micro brewed beer here in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It's what I'm trying to replicate.

I'm living in an apartment but I'm still able to find enough room for a couple of carboys in the closet :D A couple of days ago I began Festa Brew's Wheat beer and added 700g of unpasteurized honey to the primary as per a local brewing store's instructions. It smells fantastic so far! Not an awful lot like beer yet, it's still very sweet smelling but once its bottled I won't touch it for at least 2 weeks.

Once the Festa Brew moves to the secondary I'd like to start another kit, this time something less expensive. Perhaps a Cooper's Wheat with honey and malt extract?

UPDATE, Now with pictures! Sorry some of these are sideways, photobucket is a piece of garbage.

A close up of the top of the secondary, I was a little worried about fermentation restarting after I switched it from the primary, but it started again after half a day.

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I have the secondary sitting in the closet near my front door at a pleasant 21*C, it was a great smell to come home to when I had my primary in the same spot.

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There is still evidence of fermentation going on. I added 700 grams of honey to the wort, which was in addition to the fermentables already in it, although I was told it wouldn't increase the ABV by very much, I'd like it to be under 6%.

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Welcome to the addiction!
I've only been doing this for a few months (lots left to learn for sure!) but saving money isn't really one of the perks of homebrewing so far...at least not in my case.
I find that using good ingredients and yeast and the bottles and carboys and sanitizer and...
You get the idea. Good luck with your brews for sure. I hope you stick with it even though you may find the savings are as great as many think vs. buying commercial beer.

Cheers!
 
If your LHBS sells bulk LME, that'll be cool to buy the LME or DME. You can buy 1oz of hallertaur for a simple german wheat beer.... If don't want german style, just sub the wheat yeast with ale yeast... you'll get a pretty smooth wheat ale...

Wheat bier are great... you can drink it fresh.. but adding honey would certainly needs some time to age. I made a honey wheat 2 batches ago... It took a month for the honey to mellow into a smooth honey wheat... otherwise, it could be a harsh honey flavor beer... just be aware.
 
Thanks for the support guys!

shaudesjardins, regarding the cost of the home brew. I think I can produce the triple the amount of beer for the same amount of money :D Here in Nova Scotia beer and liquor are expensive, especially microbrews! I pay $13.49 for a case of 6 propeller, which means I'd end up paying $148.39 for 66 beer, which is what I've been told is the average haul from a 23L carboy. For the Festa Brew, 700gr of honey, 66 caps and the approximate cost of sanitizer per batch I paid a total of about $50. If I were trying to replicate something like Bud or Coors the savings would be considerably less and I'd probably just drive to Quebec and load up a truck :D

undallas, I'll definitely be fooling around with different types of yeast. I can make two batches of brew almost simultaneously so I can get a pretty good idea of how they taste at similar ages. Regarding the aging of wheat ale with honey I did a little research and found that Propeller puts it's Honey Wheat ale on the shelves about 6-8 weeks after bottling; luckily for me they put the bottling date right on the box. I'll try one every 2 weeks after bottling just to see how it progresses over time.
 
Interesting development.... I just checked the primary and the thick frothy freuzen (sp?) that was once present has now all but vanished, in only 30 hours! The beer is still active, I could see quite a bit of activity while I had the lid off for a brief moment but I'm puzzled. I was expecting to have to wait AT LEAST 2 days before the foam would go away, now it looks like it should go into the secondary already...

Anywho, I'll do it tomorrow night after work.
 
STOP!;) Just cause the krausen has fallen does NOT mean fermentation is done. Check SG at 5 days, check again on day 7. If it hasn't changed ur ok to transfer. U can also leave in primary longer or never use a secondary... ur preference. I like atleast 2 weeks in primary.
 
I knew I became a member of this forum for a reason, a reason like yourself strider haha. I'd like to start another kit next weekend, this time something less expensive so I think I'll transfer it to the secondary if the SG hasn't risen between wednesday and friday, as per your advice. It's ok to leave the lid loosely placed on top of the bucket the entire week? I was under the impression that once the krausen had fallen that the fermentation had slowed to a rate appropriate for a glass carboy w/ airlock?
 
Your primary bucket doesn't have a hole for a airlock or stopper and airlock? I haven't seen on that doesn't. Even w/ out though, you should be fine. Might be a slight increase for contamination, but slight. Can't speak from personal experience in this as I've always used buckets w/ airlocks, but ppl do make beer w/ open systems just fine.
 
There is an indentation that can be cut out in the center of the lid, but I'd have to go buy another stopper and airlock to fill it. I'll check it and its SG tonight, which will have been 48 hrs. after pitching the yeast. If it is still really active I'll leave it for another day, otherwise I'll transfer it to the secondary so it can finish fermenting in a closed system.

I believe the instructions said that 2-5 days after the fermentation began the krausen would fall and it could be racked into a secondary to finish. In this instance fermentation began within a very short period of time after pitching.

I'm still somewhat surprised it didn't take longer, I added a lot of extra fermentables to the brew!
 
I'd leave it be. Even if your at your FG the beer will improve with a bit extra time on the yeast cake. 1 week is generally consider'd minimum around here. On your next brew cut out the indentation and for the first few days use a blow-off. Easy way to make one for a bucket is 1/2" tubing slipped over the center tube of the airlock. Cut off the little X thing at the other end. Stick the end of the tube in a container of sanitizing solution. Use this in place of a normal airlock for the first few days of the primary.
 
Also, instead of cutting the center u can drill a hole off to a side to fit a gormmet(sp) to fit a airlock. Mine have all come pre-drilled so I don't know the size, but hit up the search. I'm sure its in there.
 
I'm going to get another bucket to try the primary fermenter only method. I'll take a trip to the brew store and Home Depot to see what kind of fixtures I can get.

Regarding my Honey Wheat. I racked it into the carboy a couple of hours ago and I'll admit I'm surprised that the wheat beer isn't acting like the Morgans IPA I brewed with my father months ago. There was still fermentation going on when I opened the bucket this evening. I racked the beer into the secondary and placed an airlock ontop. With the IPA fermentation never stopped, although I can tell that there is no build-up of positive pressure in the carboy now.

I'm sure it'll be bubbling a bit by tomorrow morning, until then I shall continue researching!
 
I just used a 1" Hole saw on the top of one of my buckets then got a stopper to fit it.

I'm doing a Ale right now in a bucket with the top just sitting on it, I've done 3 like this now. Basically I like to wait 4-7 days before I transfer it to the 2nd. I like some fermentng to take place in the 2ndary in order to push all the air out. I've also done Primary only and had good results.
 
Hey TJ-Bill,

When you were brewing with a primary only did you just pop the lid down after 4-7 days instead of transferring to a secondary and then let it finish as if it were in a glass carboy? That's my plan for a blonde I'd like to try in time for St. Patrick's Day. I actually made another thread on it here. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/university-party-prep-st-pattys-100040/
 
I transfered to a secondary. I have a carboy and a bucket that have the air locks and 1 bucket without. So depending which one if free for the primary depends if I rack to a secondary. I think I might eventually just stay with the primaries. buckets are cheap so are plugs and air locks.
 
I brew these Festa Brew all the time and I do it exactly as per the instructions (I assume you got this from Noble Grape in Nova Scotia.. If not check out there instructions on their site).. I always put the lid on loosely without an airlock and transfer within 5 days.. Every beer has turned out perfect..
 
^Good to hear about your success with Festa and Noble. That's what I'm working on now.

Hey guys,

I'm another noob here in NS. Actually, quite a few years ago I brewed "the old fashioned way". My neighbour gave me a West Coast IPA a month ago. It was good so it made me think of getting started. Looking forward to reading and hearing more from the experts here.

I've got my first batch of Festa - Red on right now. Racked it nearly a week ago to secondary so hopefully will be bottling soon.
 
I'm glad to hear from some Maritime home brewers! The Noble Grape on Quinpool Rd. is where I get most of my stuff from, although I have to say I prefer going to the one in Clayton Park as those guys are absolutely obsessed with what they do, it's great!

Update: My Festa kit is still bubbling after 28 days! Every 35-40 seconds I'm getting some airlock action but it's getting very boring now. My last kit was a Morgan's canned kit and that was in the bottle within 5 weeks, fermentation had stopped late in the third week. So I'm getting a little antsy, I'd love to prime and bottle this batch so I can get one step closer to sampling it!

I suspect the honey is the culprit, I've read that it takes a long time to ferment and even longer to mellow out. It's a good thing I started a Blonde Ale kit from The Noble Grape not long ago because I'll need something to drink while I wait for the Festa kit to condition properly.
 
Update: I bottled the brew last night. It was still off-gassing quite a bit, which increased as I bottled it. I added 1.25 cups of dextrose to the bottling bucket and I was hoping that the swirling beer coming from the carboy into the bucket would dissolve all of it. I discovered about 1/4 cup of dextrose left in the bottom of the bucket after bottling was done, I doubt this will make a huge difference in the level of carbonation. It's a wheat beer anyways, IBU's are low and I don't think the carbonation has to be very aggressive. This one might make for a great shandy!
 
Hey guys, it's been 8 days since I bottled the wheat and I just tried one. I'm really pleased with this one! It was my first entirely solo brew and I'm surprised how well it came out. It's not what I wanted it to be, the only hint of honey is in the nose. It tastes like a solid wheat beer and the juice from a quarter of a clementine does just the trick. It pretty well carbonated but I'm going to leave it in my closet (aka conditioning chamber) until next weekend when I suspect it'll be as good as it'll get.

The boys and I will be hitting the cases hard when this brew is on deck ;)

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man there's lots of haligonians here eh? I just started a Festa kit from the Noble Grape last night with one of my roommates. Got the cream ale in the primary now, and once we rack it to the carboy we'll start the brown ale in the primary. Can't wait to see how they turn out! I'm definitely glad to hear that people have followed the instructions to the letter and it turned out great; I'm all for experimenting to improve things, but for my first few batches I think I'll stick to the instructions, rather than try and experiment myself, just to get a feel for it.
 
Hi all, Dave here from PEI. Just starting out here too. I've got a BrewHouse Lager that I just bottled and a FestaBrew Cream ale in the secondary.
Next up for me is the FestaBrew wheat ale. I'll start it next week. So many different beers to make, I want to try them all.:cross:

mikebowman, how did your cream ale turn out?
 
Hi all, Dave here from PEI. Just starting out here too. I've got a BrewHouse Lager that I just bottled and a FestaBrew Cream ale in the secondary.
Next up for me is the FestaBrew wheat ale. I'll start it next week. So many different beers to make, I want to try them all.:cross:

mikebowman, how did your cream ale turn out?


I can't speak for mike, but I made the Festa Brew Cream Ale a few months ago and was pretty happy with it!

Overall, I've made the Brown Ale, Cream Ale, Blonde Lager, and I have a Continental Pilsner ready to go now.
 
From Halifax here, just started my first brew sunday night. A cream ale from Festa brew kit. So far so good. I am pretty lit about this new hobby!! :)
 
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