1st Brew... worried about FG

Recipe

Steep...
8 oz. Chocolate
8 oz. Munich

60 min. boil...
6.6 lb. Wheat LME
1 lb Maltodextrin
.5 oz. bittering hops
1 lb honey

15 min. boil...
1 oz. flavoring

Being nervous as **** to keep the yeast hydrating properly and the wort cooling, I forgot to take an OG reading, but the FG after 1 week in primary is 1.020. The honey wasn't part of the recipe but I liked the idea. Also, I skipped adding about 1/4 gallon of water because of how much trub I avoided transferring, so there was about 4.75 in the primary.

It's a Brewer's Best Dunkelweizen kit, and it says the OG should be between 1.049 and 1.053. I figured that the honey might add a bit to that, but 1.020 seems a little high. I was planning on getting a carboy this week and maybe transferring to secondary, so my question is whether or not to pitch some more yeast. I know I should have left it alone for another week, but I couldn't help myself. Thanks for your input.

I think the yeast in that kit is Nottingham. The recent run of that yeast has been known to have some slow starts and potential problems.
That being said, I think your beer is fine. Leave it alone for at least another week and then make sure your gravity is stable. Then bottle.
It's not uncommmon for kits to end with a higher gravity and especially kits with a # of malto in them.
RDWHAHB!
Bull

Also, a lot of extract brews suffer from the curse of the 1.020 FG. If you search for it here you'll find lots of examples. It is possible that you beer is finished fermenting.

Also, I'm pretty certain Munich malt needs to be mashed and not steeped.

Well, I have a slightly different take on this. The recipe seriously has a POUND of maltodextrine? That's probably why you have such a high FG. It's weird to have a pound of honey, which thins and dries the beer, and then a body builder like maltodextrine. MD is a "thickener". My son used too much in rootbeer, and made root beer jello. That recipe is kinda weird. Plus, you're down a quart (of water).

Anyway, with a pound of MD, it's done.

agreed with Yooper....the maltodextrine seems a bit out of place with a dunkelweizen....but I can't say I'm a huge fan of them to begin with. Maltodextrine is going to add body (in the form of unfermentable sugars) so you'll end up with a higher OG and FG than without it.

As said before, 1.020 is probably about done, if not already. Definitely leave some time for the yeast to clean up after itself, at *least* another week or two before you bottle.

As for the munich, it does technically need to be mashed. Honestly though, with most a mash conversion taking place in the first half hour anyway, I'm sure steeping it for 20-30 minutes will at least get you partial conversion. It has enough diastatic power to convert itself, so you're fine with the munich.

Thanks for the replies.

I was a little weary of the maltodextrin after doing some reading, but I thought I'd just follow the recipe for my first shot. I'll just leave it alone for a while and see how it turns out. Thanks again.

Oh yeah... the steeping was part of the instructions as well. The more I read, the more it seems like kits are just a bad idea. I think I'll just follow someone's recipe and buy everything individually next time. I'm trying to find a clone for Brooklyner Hopfenweisse, but haven't had any luck. Anyone have any ideas?

I can't help with that recipe (never heard of it!) but I don't think kits are a bad idea at all! That recipe is weird, especially with the honey which doesn't fit at all, but most kits are really pretty good. I'd go with a kit from austinhomebrew.com or northernbrewer.com- they have great fresh ingredients and perfect instructions.

Austinhomebrew.com has about a million (well, probably not quite that many, but LOTS) of kits, from "clone" kits to styles. Just make sure you get an ale kit, not a lager kit.

LuBrew said:

Thanks for the replies.

I was a little weary of the maltodextrin after doing some reading, but I thought I'd just follow the recipe for my first shot. I'll just leave it alone for a while and see how it turns out. Thanks again.

Oh yeah... the steeping was part of the instructions as well. The more I read, the more it seems like kits are just a bad idea. I think I'll just follow someone's recipe and buy everything individually next time. I'm trying to find a clone for Brooklyner Hopfenweisse, but haven't had any luck. Anyone have any ideas?

Click to expand...

Kits are fine and plenty of people (including myself) have used them and gotten some fine beer. The thing is to follow the included recipe with the ingredients provided.

You did not do that by adding honey. It should be fine though so I wouldn't worry about it.

Yooper_Brew said:

Austinhomebrew.com has about a million (well, probably not quite that many, but LOTS) of kits, from "clone" kits to styles. Just make sure you get an ale kit, not a lager kit.

Click to expand...

+1

MAYBE EVEN 2 MILLION .. but seriously - i just tried two of them, and was very satisfied with the quality and freshness - you could smell the difference on brew day .

I'll definitely check out AustinHomeBrew. I also just discovered that Annapolis Home Brew, which is close to me, makes their own kits. Probably good to support the local store. I'm pretty eager to start crafting on my own, but using kits will probably give me a good idea of what I like before I go out on my own.

On a side note, I was looking at your (Yooper) Ruination clone and it looks great. I'm getting a fresh 1/2 lb Chinook and 1/2 lb Cascade from a coworker who grows, and I was curious as to whether or not I could substitute these in. They're definitely much lower acid, but does that combo make sense at all?

Yeah, the honey was a random decision. I also steeped 1/3 of the finishing hop as a FWH to see if it would retain more of the flavor, but that was most likely a bad idea as well. Obviously I'm a little over-anxious to tweek, so hopefully I'll learn my lesson early.