TasunkaWitko
Well-Known Member
Tonight, I brewed my first beer using a recipe that I had developed from scratch. I'm sure it won't be perfect, but we'll see what happens.
Here are the particulars:
Das OtterWeizen
(Name inspired by @jjeffers09)
ABV - 5.61%
IBU - 23.36
Batch size - 1 gallon
1 pound Maris Otter
1 pound wheat
60-minute mash between 144 and 152 degrees
60-minute boil
0.10 oz Mandarina Bavaria at beginning of boil
0.10 oz East Kent Golding at 30 minutes
0.10 oz Saaz with 5 minutes left in the boil
Yeast - 5.5g of DanStar Munich
The brew went off with no trouble at all; in fact, it almost seemed too easy. Mash temperatures effortlessly stayed well within the range described above, the sparge went very quickly, and the boil was without incident. After cooling the wort down below 70 degrees, I pitched the yeast with no trouble, and the fermenter is now sitting in my closet with ambient temperatures in the high 60s. I'm considering bumping that up a bit, in order to promote some of the banana and clove highlights that German wheat beers are famous for.
I went back and forth over which hops to use and finally settled on an English hop, a German hop and a noble hop, added in descending order according to alpha acids. This is all a little more elaborate than my usual usage of hops, but I figured it couldn't hurt, and my hope is that it will produce a beer with mild bitterness and a fair amount of aroma.
My first impression is that the hops here might be a bit on the subtle side. It is possible that I would have been better off with .15 oz of each hop, rather than .10, but I am happy to wait and see the final result before passing judgement. In any case, it sure smells good, and makes an interesting companion to the unique qualities of the Maris Otter.
I considered throwing the peel from one orange into the boil with 2 minutes left, but elected not to. This is definitely something to consider in the future, as it would add a little bitterness and, of course, flavour.
As far as I know, things are off to a good start, and I am eager to see what I end up with. Assuming that fermentation kicks off as I expect it to, I'll replace the blow-off tube with an airlock on Sunday.
Feedback, comments and questions are always welcome. I am still new to brewing, and consider myself very much a novice. If I committed any glaring errors, please feel free to let me know. If I'm on to something good, please feel free to let me know that, as well!
More as it happens, etc. &c.
Ron
Here are the particulars:
Das OtterWeizen
(Name inspired by @jjeffers09)
ABV - 5.61%
IBU - 23.36
Batch size - 1 gallon
1 pound Maris Otter
1 pound wheat
60-minute mash between 144 and 152 degrees
60-minute boil
0.10 oz Mandarina Bavaria at beginning of boil
0.10 oz East Kent Golding at 30 minutes
0.10 oz Saaz with 5 minutes left in the boil
Yeast - 5.5g of DanStar Munich
The brew went off with no trouble at all; in fact, it almost seemed too easy. Mash temperatures effortlessly stayed well within the range described above, the sparge went very quickly, and the boil was without incident. After cooling the wort down below 70 degrees, I pitched the yeast with no trouble, and the fermenter is now sitting in my closet with ambient temperatures in the high 60s. I'm considering bumping that up a bit, in order to promote some of the banana and clove highlights that German wheat beers are famous for.
I went back and forth over which hops to use and finally settled on an English hop, a German hop and a noble hop, added in descending order according to alpha acids. This is all a little more elaborate than my usual usage of hops, but I figured it couldn't hurt, and my hope is that it will produce a beer with mild bitterness and a fair amount of aroma.
My first impression is that the hops here might be a bit on the subtle side. It is possible that I would have been better off with .15 oz of each hop, rather than .10, but I am happy to wait and see the final result before passing judgement. In any case, it sure smells good, and makes an interesting companion to the unique qualities of the Maris Otter.
I considered throwing the peel from one orange into the boil with 2 minutes left, but elected not to. This is definitely something to consider in the future, as it would add a little bitterness and, of course, flavour.
As far as I know, things are off to a good start, and I am eager to see what I end up with. Assuming that fermentation kicks off as I expect it to, I'll replace the blow-off tube with an airlock on Sunday.
Feedback, comments and questions are always welcome. I am still new to brewing, and consider myself very much a novice. If I committed any glaring errors, please feel free to let me know. If I'm on to something good, please feel free to let me know that, as well!
More as it happens, etc. &c.
Ron