Feasibility Study

So I have 2 Northern Brewer extract kits, just waiting for our equipment to show up. As soon as it does, I am brewing the Cream Ale. After that is where things get iffy... The California summer is coming on fast and I don't have a fermentation chiller or even air conditioning. On average, we start seeing high's of 75 degrees around the beginning of April, but this has been an unusually mild winter...

I would like to ferment for 2 weeks (like the kit instructions say) and bottle. Then wash the yeast (Safale US-05), brew the American Wheat, and get that batch in the fermentor. Is that feasible in one day for a brand new brewer who has just read forums and watched YouTube videos for the last 3 months?

Why wash the yeast? Why not rack right on top of it? I’d brew the American Wheat and while it cools bottle the Cream Ale. By the time you are done bottling, the wheat should be cool and you can just rack on-top of that. As long as you follow proper sanitation you should be fine. Though I keg, I’m sure with the bottling and brewing it’ll be a long day… if you have help then no worries.

But, for a wheat (hefeweizen) I’d use a liquid yeast meant for a wheat as you want some yeast-cloudiness in the glass. More important, imo, the wheat yeast adds 80% of body and flavor to a properly brewed wheat. At 75*F you’ll get good banana flavor; at 65*F you’ll get some good citrus. Anything above 78*F and you’ll get either extreme banana to off flavors. I don’t think you can get that with any other yeast than a wheat yeast (i.e., Wyeast: 1010; White labs: wlp300 (I like), 320, 351, 380.

As far as a ferment chamber, if you’re diy and have room, you can build a chamber. I built a son of ferment chamber… if you search HBT this and just ferment chamber you’ll find tons of info. I live in Vegas and figured I could do this for around $50. After all materials (foam insulation, wood for the base, glue, foil tape, air conditioner control, foil wrap, computer fan, wire, etc) I spent close to $200, not including time and labor. That’s almost half the price of a 14+cf chest freezer at sears (not including a temp controller), plus I need to keep feeding it ice bottles… but it works, and I made it. Though it takes up a lot of room, I know I’ll be passing this thing down to my grandkids… who will probably trash it.

Seriously, if you focus and kept it simple, you could do it for far less.

Hope this helps, it takes some time but it really is EASIER than it seems! Trust me! If you need more info, let me know.

My first thought was to rack on top of it, but then I read a couple of Bob's posts and I don't think I want to make Bob mad...

I recently brewed my first wheat beer and used the Danstar Munich yeast as I am too cheap to buy the liquid yeast just yet. I was very happy with it and the beer tastes great so if you are trying to keep things on a budget I recommend that yeast. I agree with discooby, you want to make sure you use a wheat yest for a wheat beer to get the right flavor

S-05 is perfectly fine for an american wheat, its supposed to have subdued esters and not the usual clove/banana. don't rack on top of the whole cake, you'll be vastly over pitching, 1 cup is enough

I don't know if it makes a difference, but we are planning to add about a gallon of fresh pressed blueberry juice at flame out. The guy I am brewing with had a Blueberry Wheat from SLO that he really liked so we are trying to do something along those lines.

bleme said:

I don't know if it makes a difference, but we are planning to add about a gallon of fresh pressed blueberry juice at flame out. The guy I am brewing with had a Blueberry Wheat from SLO that he really liked so we are trying to do something along those lines.

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Don't do it. I just bottled a blueberry ale with 6 pounds of blueberries added to the secondary and while I have a pretty beer that looks like grape koolaid, there is only a hint of blueberry. I feel like I wasted my money buying wild blueberries for this.

bleme said:

So I have 2 Northern Brewer extract kits, just waiting for our equipment to show up. As soon as it does, I am brewing the Cream Ale. After that is where things get iffy... The California summer is coming on fast and I don't have a fermentation chiller or even air conditioning. On average, we start seeing high's of 75 degrees around the beginning of April, but this has been an unusually mild winter...

I would like to ferment for 2 weeks (like the kit instructions say) and bottle. Then wash the yeast (Safale US-05), brew the American Wheat, and get that batch in the fermentor. Is that feasible in one day for a brand new brewer who has just read forums and watched YouTube videos for the last 3 months?

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Since you intend to brew more beer and you are short on time for the season, why not blow about $30 for a pair of plastic fermenter buckets with lids and airlocks and get 3 batches going at once. That allows time for the beer to ferment out fully without feeling the need to rush to bottle. 2 weeks might be plenty for your beer but I think mine tastes better and matures faster in the bottle having had 3 weeks in the fermenter.:rockin:

RM-MN said:

why not blow about $30 for a pair of plastic fermenter buckets with lids and airlocks and get 3 batches going at once.

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I had considered this but it also has a couple of drawbacks.

First, if I brew them both at the same time, and there is something I have over-looked and screw up, I could possibly mess up 10 gallons instead of just 5.

Second, and most importantly, my wife is already starting to show not-so-happy feelings about the expense of my new hobby. I don't have a LHBS, so shipping adds a bunch to everything. I am trying to minimize expenses anywhere I can without sacrificing quality. I have a whole list of equipment I'd like to add eventually, but I am trying to minimize the upfront sticker shock.

One a side note, if anyone can suggest a cheap but reliable mail-order supplier, I would really appreciate it. In my initial research, I checked out a bunch: eBay, Amazon, Midwest, Bellsbeer, Northern Brewer, Beverage People, and a few others. I settled on Amazon (Monster Brew) for my equipment and NB for my ingredients.

bleme - I use NB for most of my stuff. I like the customer service. There are a couple of places that will waive the shipping if you order $100 worth of stuff, like Austin Homebrew Supplies.

Next time your wife brings up the cost, remind her how much you save vs store bought beer.

Ingredients for 5 gallons of extract brew - about $50
2 cases of good craft beer - $200+

I live in the desert where it gets up to 120+ in the summer and I brew well into summer without a problem. Look up "swamp cooler". Basically, you put your fermenter in a bucket of water, cover it with a shirt and maybe have a fan pointed at it to keep it cool. What I personally do is put the fermenter in a keg tub full of water and put in frozen water bottle changed out twice a day.

not my pic, but here's what i'm talking about

I had heard about the swamp cooler but didn't realize it could be this easy, especially since I already have all this stuff.

Is there any drawback to fermenting all my batches in a water bath? It seems like even when temperatures are optimal, the water bath would keep temps more steady.

Yep the great thing about a swamp cooler is most people have all the stuff required laying around the house.

Start buying in bulk. Saves money!

+1 to the swamp cooler if your temps are not too much higher. After your wife gets used to you brewing, or you get a divorce, then you can think about a fermentation chamber to make it more convenient!