Picture of First Brew..

Here is a photo of my first brew.
A German Hefe Kit from MoreBeer.com


Spent 17 days in primary and has been in bottles 13 days at this point.

I started drinking them after 8 days in bottles and they were mostly carbed by then.
Fermentation temps were a little high and explain the Naner-Weisen flavors.

That being said they flavor is slowly but surely backing off and the beer is starting to taste really good. I'd been drinking them up until last night because I'd made them. Now i'm starting to drink them because they taste better than anything else in the fridge! I did put a hefty orange slice in it which i really enjoyed but I'm hoping that I won't want the orange in there in a week or two.

In hindsight I probably shouldn't have brewed a hefe until I had my temp control down because i'm getting the sense that temp control on a hefe is more important than most other beers.

I have a morebeer Nut brown ale kit in primary now and will hopefully be bottling.. err KEGGING (thanks SWMBO!) this weekend.

Thanks for everyone's help here. I'm really enjoying my new hobby.. err.. obsession!!

ws

Looks pretty dang tasty from here! I recently did a Bavarian hefe kit from AHS. I chose the WL Hefe IV yeast because it claimed to have less banana flavor than their regular Hefe yeast. I still had a good bit of naner flavor at 2 weeks, but it's slowly tapering off. My primary was 72 and secondary was 68. I'm trying to save some to take with me on vacation in a couple weeks, but I'm having a hard time doing that!! I've got one full case left that I'm trying not to touch. It's been hard. :cross:

I'm interested in trying that Nut Brown kit also, I have seen many people say that it is an awesome kit. Let us know how it turns out.

freyguy said:

I'm interested in trying that Nut Brown kit also, I have seen many people say that it is an awesome kit. Let us know how it turns out.

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You bet! It should be bottled or kegged this weekend. I put it in primary sat around 2:00 and sunday night there was basically a steady stream of co2 screaming out of the airlock.

I'll give an update early next week.

hopefully the safale 04 yeast that came with the kit is less temp sensitive than the hefe yeast cause it did get up around 74 for a little bit.

YEAH BEER!

ws

waskelton4 said:

In hindsight I probably shouldn't have brewed a hefe until I had my temp control down because i'm getting the sense that temp control on a hefe is more important than most other beers.

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i don't think i agree with this statement.
i think hefeweizens are some of the most forgiving with regards to high fermentation temperatures. perhaps this is because the fruity tastes associated with high ferm temps are not undesirable in this style.

Lou said:

i don't think i agree with this statement.
i think hefeweizens are some of the most forgiving with regards to high fermentation temperatures. perhaps this is because the fruity tastes associated with high ferm temps are not undesirable in this style.

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noted..

but i guess it is a matter of preference.

what is likely to happen to my nut brown if it is fermented too high?

ws

same thing. production of fruity esters. but these are gonig to be more easily masked by the flavors of the caramel and chocolate malts.

how high of a temperature are we talking about? and for how long?

i think it got as hot as 74 and i'm not exactly sure for how long.. maybe 6 hours..

I have the fermenter in a water bath wraped in a towel and i've been alternating putting a frozen 2-liter and milk jug in the bath to keep it cool.

the majority of the ferment has been between 68 and 70


ws

sounds like you've got the temperature under control to me. i wouldn't worry about being 4 degrees high for 6 hours...
but worrying isn't really something i'm prone to do....

gotcha..

Thanks for the replies!

Cheers
ws

I agree. I brew HWs all the time...OK, a lot. I don't regulate the temp and just keep the fermenters at room temp.