Brewed my first batch last night

[dirtyjoedirt]

I brewed my first batch last night and all I can say is I'm hook on Home Brewing. I brewed a Brewer's Best Dunkelweizen and decided after much research to make a couple changes to the recipe. First off instead of steeping the 1lb specialty grains (Chocolate, Munich) in 2.5 gals at 155-160 for 20min. I opted to do a mini mash in a separate pot with 2qts at 155 for 20min. I also chose not to use the Danstar Munich dry yeast that came with the kit and opted for WLP300 to get more of the banana and clove profile. Other than that I followed the recipe and everything went smooth. Its currently fermenting pretty vigorously in my guest bath tub at 72 degrees. This forum has been awesome and I have learned quite a bit in a short time.

 

[grem135]

Congrats and welcome to the obsession er... I mean hobby
I use a 2 gallon coleman water cooler to steep my grains in and only loose maybe a degree in 20 minutes or so. This also frees up my kettle to get a couple gallons of water boiling. I then pour the "tea" from the grains in the kettle add about 1 pound or so of DME or LME and get the boil back up. I add the rest of the extract at flameout or just before. this helps keep those light colored beers light.
Have fun and get another primary so you can get the next batch going!

 

[dirtyjoedirt]

Interesting idea using the small water cooler grem. Has anybody tried this kit and what were your results? I plan on keeping it in the primary for 2wks and then bottle. I'm guessing there is no need for secondary on this one right?