Greetings!
I am a new brewer from Oregon and an engineer (EE) by education, so this topic is a little apropos of my interests. That said, I'm still on the steep side of the learning curve for sure, but working hard to plateau. Currently working my way through both the Palmer and Papazian texts, as well as supplemental reading here and elsewhere on and off when specific questions come to mind. To wit, thank you all so much for the web resource and being willing to share answers!
I just put my first batch on ferment Wednesday and am pleased to report that it is happily (read:vigorously) bubbling away!
I figured that (a) because of my German heritage and (b) because they are one of my faves that I would start with a Hef. After much tribulation and existing posts from this forum and others, I settled on the extract version of Harold-is-Weizen, seen here:
http://byo.com/body/item/2265-german-hefeweizen-style-profile
It seemed to be a relatively straightforward recipe which would be easier to follow
I opted to use DME, a slightly higher pitch rate (due to yeast age), and a partial boil due to equipment limitations.
Here are my notes from the brew (Time from start up front):
+0000 Act 2x Wyeast 3068, leave at RT (70deg)
+0230 Start boil 1.75G H20, +0305 Rolling boil and FO
+0430 Start boil 4.25G H20 main boil
+0500 H20 Boil, pitch (is this the correct use of the word?) 3.75Lb Bavarian Wheat DME & .75 oz (measured via eye and weighed ex post facto) Hallertau Hop Pellets in strainer bag.
+0608 Stop Boil
+0646 Stop Cool,
+0805 Add 4.25 and 1.75 to 6G carboy, OF 1.036 Pitch 2x Wyeast 3068 & Aerate
+0820 Into temp chamber and cleanup
+0840 Done.
+2000 Fermentation observed (very) active, ambient 59F, Actual (IR) 65.9.
So my lessons learned are:
-Measure the whole wort volume for boiling, not just preboil water, estimated ACT preboil vol 6.2G
-One Pot boil would greatly simplify process
-As well as a wort chiller
-Starter would save $, but didn't have time, this time.
Now, my concern is with the measured OG vs expected (1.049). I ran the numbers, and the discrepancy observed in volume certainly does not account for it, nor my boil time. Fortunately, I think the pitch rate is still correct (assuming lower survival rate due to yeast age), which leaves me with one of two possible conclusions:
-OG reported on the recipe is incorrect, OR
-Discrepancy in the expected DME vs used (different malt or absence of ingredient on list)
Is there anything I am missing here? Has anyone brewed this recipe before?
Thanks all for your answers and discussion. Eagerly awaiting the opportunity to sample my product!
Gratuitous ferment porn:
I am a new brewer from Oregon and an engineer (EE) by education, so this topic is a little apropos of my interests. That said, I'm still on the steep side of the learning curve for sure, but working hard to plateau. Currently working my way through both the Palmer and Papazian texts, as well as supplemental reading here and elsewhere on and off when specific questions come to mind. To wit, thank you all so much for the web resource and being willing to share answers!
I just put my first batch on ferment Wednesday and am pleased to report that it is happily (read:vigorously) bubbling away!
I figured that (a) because of my German heritage and (b) because they are one of my faves that I would start with a Hef. After much tribulation and existing posts from this forum and others, I settled on the extract version of Harold-is-Weizen, seen here:
http://byo.com/body/item/2265-german-hefeweizen-style-profile
It seemed to be a relatively straightforward recipe which would be easier to follow
I opted to use DME, a slightly higher pitch rate (due to yeast age), and a partial boil due to equipment limitations.
Here are my notes from the brew (Time from start up front):
+0000 Act 2x Wyeast 3068, leave at RT (70deg)
+0230 Start boil 1.75G H20, +0305 Rolling boil and FO
+0430 Start boil 4.25G H20 main boil
+0500 H20 Boil, pitch (is this the correct use of the word?) 3.75Lb Bavarian Wheat DME & .75 oz (measured via eye and weighed ex post facto) Hallertau Hop Pellets in strainer bag.
+0608 Stop Boil
+0646 Stop Cool,
+0805 Add 4.25 and 1.75 to 6G carboy, OF 1.036 Pitch 2x Wyeast 3068 & Aerate
+0820 Into temp chamber and cleanup
+0840 Done.
+2000 Fermentation observed (very) active, ambient 59F, Actual (IR) 65.9.
So my lessons learned are:
-Measure the whole wort volume for boiling, not just preboil water, estimated ACT preboil vol 6.2G
-One Pot boil would greatly simplify process
-As well as a wort chiller
-Starter would save $, but didn't have time, this time.
Now, my concern is with the measured OG vs expected (1.049). I ran the numbers, and the discrepancy observed in volume certainly does not account for it, nor my boil time. Fortunately, I think the pitch rate is still correct (assuming lower survival rate due to yeast age), which leaves me with one of two possible conclusions:
-OG reported on the recipe is incorrect, OR
-Discrepancy in the expected DME vs used (different malt or absence of ingredient on list)
Is there anything I am missing here? Has anyone brewed this recipe before?
Thanks all for your answers and discussion. Eagerly awaiting the opportunity to sample my product!
Gratuitous ferment porn: