First Brew - Need some help

[GreenBastardBrewing]

I recently bought a Anvil Foundry 10.5. Looking into making my first brew and thinking of a black berry wheat ale. This is what I got so far and I pulled ideas from different recipes. I’m looking for help on editing it to make it actually taste enjoyable and help me with my mash time and ferment times. I’ll list the recipe I was gonna follow and my reasonings behind each ingredient.

(Unsure of mash time)
8# American wheat grain
5# Pilsner
1# 10l Crystal
1# rice hulls

60 minute boil
1 ounce of Mt Hood @60 minutes
1 ounce of motueka @5 minutes
.5 Tablespoon of Irish moss @5 minutes

Use Safale us-05 for yeast.

ferment for 14 days in primary

secondary ferment for 7 days with mashed (frozen and thawed 3x) inside of a hop bag for flavor inside of a corny keg.



ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 21
—————-

reasonings:

American Wheat grain: I was looking for a light grain that would add alcohol percentage with minimal flavor.

Pilsner: I’m guessing people use this for Variety and to give it a little bit of flavor and color? I’m not really sure why this is needed vs adding more wheat grain.

10l Crystal: Using it for a better head, lighter color and a little sweetness.

rice hulls: I read that you need to add 1 pound of this if using over 5 pounds of American wheat or else it will dough up.

Mt. Hood: has a low alpha percentage which will allow me to give it a flavor (not sure exactly what flavor that is) without adding much IBUs.

Motueka: adds a fruity finish that has a hint of lemon. I was thinking this would leave a refreshing taste to the beer and I only chose 5 minutes because any longer will cause the IBUs to go up. I’m trying to ensure that it doesn’t get too bitter due to people in my family not liking it too hoppy.

Irish moss: I read that it adds clarity to your beer.

Safale US-05: Is said to be a good yeast for most lighter beers and will allow me to ferment inside my house without needing a chiller at this time due to its wide range of optimum temperature.

Primary Fermentation: 14 days seems to be what others do for light beers. Unsure of how I’ll know when it’s ready besides checking specific gravity with the estimated final specific gravity through brewbuddy.

Secondary Fermentation: will get kegged from the primary into a corny keg which will be in my kegerator. Unsure on if the temperature will be optimum for it considering I’m not trying to ferment anymore I’m trying to get the flavor of the blackberry’s. Refer to above on if my method of adding the blackberrys is a good one.




Thank you for reading through this in advance. I’m not sure what I don’t know and I’m trying to teach myself using the internet and it’s getting to become a lot.

 

[brewkinger]

Start here

 

[McKnuckle]

I’m not sure what I don’t know and I’m trying to teach myself using the internet and it’s getting to become a lot.

That's because you're biting off a bit more than the average first morsel! Now, nobody can or should stop you from creating your own recipe and adding whole fruit to your first beer. But... it's not necessarily the best or easiest way to learn the processes of brewing. There are too many factors, too many variables, and you have no mastery of the basics yet. So if something goes south; first of all, you may not even realize it. And second, even if you do realize, you may have no idea how to rectify it. Especially the fruit. Don't... not the first time. It's more of an intermediate to advanced technique. And nobody puts fruit in a keg... Kegs are for finished beer.

So this is just a suggestion, and again, meant with good intentions only: Pick a simple, established recipe, and work through the brewing, fermenting, and packaging processes with that. At least you'll know that, in theory, the recipe itself is tried and true. Pick a style you like, obviously. Look at the most popular recipes here on HBT for starters. Or the book "Brewing Classic Styles" by Zainasheff/Palmer.

It's not necessarily that the recipe you're crafting is flawed. It may even be a winner. But it's clear from your write-up that you're picking individual ingredients based on isolated things that you've read about them, perhaps out of context with each other. You don't have to brew 100 batches of beer before you make your first original recipe - of course not. But maybe a half dozen? Or at least one!

 

[IslandLizard]

Although @McKnuckle is is right about the approach of learning to brew, I don't see anything really wrong with your recipe. But I don't know how good it will be either.

If you're up for it, I'd say go for it, provided that:

8# American wheat grain

Is 8# of wheat malt (malted wheat). Not (unmalted) wheat berries.

Secondary Fermentation: will get kegged from the primary into a corny keg which will be in my kegerator. Unsure on if the temperature will be optimum for it considering I’m not trying to ferment anymore I’m trying to get the flavor of the blackberry’s.

If you're not fermenting anything in your keg, just using it for serving, it is NOT a secondary fermentation. You actually try to prevent fermentation to keep the blackberry flavor and the beer sweeter. That's fine.

Mash at 152-156F for 60'. Mashing toward the higher temp will keep it sweeter with more body.

 

[IslandLizard]

Your grain should be crushed prior to mashing of course.

Especially with the wheat, they're small kernels, the milling/crush should be rather fine. Not to a powder, but there shouldn't be any whole kernels visible either. If crushed at your LHBS, crush 2 or 3 times, to make sure they all get cracked into small bits. Don't mill the rice hulls.

How are you mashing? BIAB (using a bag inside your kettle)?

If you use municipal tap water for brewing, treat it to remove chlorine/chloramines with 1/4 pulverized Campden tablet (or a good pinch of K-Meta powder) per 5 gallons, before heating it up.

 

[IslandLizard]

Read applicable parts of How to Brew.