UPDATE! The beer has been brewed. Skip to this post for details.
Hi everyone, My wife and I are getting ready to brew our first batch of beer this weekend, and I want to make sure I've got my procedure down right so my mind is clear on brew day, so I thought I'd come by here looking for critiques and pointers.
Our first beer is going to be the Belgian White Beer kit from AHS. I went for the liquid extract option with Safbrew T58 dry yeast. I know some say there's really no substitute for the liquid Belgian yeast strains, but I'm gonna give this a try and just see how it goes.
AHS doesn't post the entire ingredient bill for their kits online, but I wanted to do this here, as well as their general (abbreviated by myself) directions included with the kit. The thing about the AHS directions is that it is pretty much a form letter, with the ingredients and boil schedule specific to this recipe plugged in, but the actual directions otherwise are completely generic. So I wanted to find out if I should just follow it, or I should deviate to fit the needs of this beer. I hope it's kosher to post it, shouldn't be a trade secret or anything IMO. I want to stress that the directions are abbreviated by me, I'm not expecting advice like, "make sure to stir in the liquid malt after you add it". I just omitted common sense steps like these for the sake of brevity.
Batch size: 5 gallons
Boil volume: 2.5 gallons
Target OG: 1.048
Target FG: 1.010
Steep for 25min @ 155 degrees
8oz flaked wheat
8oz white wheat
8oz Belgian pilz
Bring to boil and add:
7lb liquid wheat extract
Wait for hot break (doesn't say this, but it says "Once the boil is under control", which I take to mean the same thing)
Boil additions:
1/2 oz Cascade pellets @ 30min
1/2oz cracked coriander seed and 1/2 oz bitter orange peel @ 15 min
1/2 oz Cascade pellets @ 5min
Cool to 80 degrees, transfer to primary, add water to reach 5.25 gallons.
Take OG reading
Add yeast (hydrated)
Ferm schedule:
Primary: 5-7 days
Secondary: 5-7 days
Bottle condition: at least 3 weeks
I notice there are several unique things to these directions, and I wanted to point them out as well as ask questions:
1) Boil volume: I figure the 2.5 gallon boil volume is instructed for ease of use since these kits are probably geared more towards novices. I have a propane burner and a 30qt stockpot, so I'd like to consider a full boil. I don't think the effect on the hop utilization will be great enough to warrant changing up the hop schedule, but I'd like advice here. I don't have a wort chiller, plan on chilling in the sink or in a cooler full of ice water, so I won't be topping off and I'll have to deal with the extra heat.
2) Boil duration: The directions appear to call for a 30 minute boil. I don't think this is an accident, so I plan to stick to this, don't want to caramelize the malt too much, and the fact that I'm possibly increasing the boil volume and in turn, the hop utilization might actually work out in my favor since the boil duration is short. It looks like this recipe is pretty light on the IBUs so I don't think a bit more bitterness will hurt the recipe.
3) Use of secondary: I hear a secondary is not beneficial for a witbier, so I'm wondering about just doing a long primary and going straight to bottle. If I do this, should I go straight to bottle when the SG readings stop dropping, or should I give it at least a couple of weeks in the fermenter? It doesn't sound like a witbier really needs to be allowed to clear. My fermenters are 6 gallon and 5 gallon Better Bottles.
4) Ferm/bottle conditioning temperature: My place is pretty warm now here in Houston, TX. We keep it at about 78 degrees. I plan to pick up an Igloo Ice Cube at Academy in a couple of days and do the frozen water bottle technique to control ferm temps. What should I do for bottle temps though? I know there are a lot of threads here on this. Do you think room temps will be ok for me? I know a week or so of warm temps for carbonation is supposed to be OK, but then people say to drop the temps to about 60ish for conditioning. I don't know that I have this option.
5) Blow-off: I have a 3 piece airlock with 1/2" ID tubing pushed onto the center post. Is this sufficient? I know wheat beers are supposed to ferment vigorously. A side question: I can't pull this tubing back off the airlock! Any pointers here? Does it really matter? (wanted to sanitize separately).
Thanks for any advice.
Hi everyone, My wife and I are getting ready to brew our first batch of beer this weekend, and I want to make sure I've got my procedure down right so my mind is clear on brew day, so I thought I'd come by here looking for critiques and pointers.
Our first beer is going to be the Belgian White Beer kit from AHS. I went for the liquid extract option with Safbrew T58 dry yeast. I know some say there's really no substitute for the liquid Belgian yeast strains, but I'm gonna give this a try and just see how it goes.
AHS doesn't post the entire ingredient bill for their kits online, but I wanted to do this here, as well as their general (abbreviated by myself) directions included with the kit. The thing about the AHS directions is that it is pretty much a form letter, with the ingredients and boil schedule specific to this recipe plugged in, but the actual directions otherwise are completely generic. So I wanted to find out if I should just follow it, or I should deviate to fit the needs of this beer. I hope it's kosher to post it, shouldn't be a trade secret or anything IMO. I want to stress that the directions are abbreviated by me, I'm not expecting advice like, "make sure to stir in the liquid malt after you add it". I just omitted common sense steps like these for the sake of brevity.
Batch size: 5 gallons
Boil volume: 2.5 gallons
Target OG: 1.048
Target FG: 1.010
Steep for 25min @ 155 degrees
8oz flaked wheat
8oz white wheat
8oz Belgian pilz
Bring to boil and add:
7lb liquid wheat extract
Wait for hot break (doesn't say this, but it says "Once the boil is under control", which I take to mean the same thing)
Boil additions:
1/2 oz Cascade pellets @ 30min
1/2oz cracked coriander seed and 1/2 oz bitter orange peel @ 15 min
1/2 oz Cascade pellets @ 5min
Cool to 80 degrees, transfer to primary, add water to reach 5.25 gallons.
Take OG reading
Add yeast (hydrated)
Ferm schedule:
Primary: 5-7 days
Secondary: 5-7 days
Bottle condition: at least 3 weeks
I notice there are several unique things to these directions, and I wanted to point them out as well as ask questions:
1) Boil volume: I figure the 2.5 gallon boil volume is instructed for ease of use since these kits are probably geared more towards novices. I have a propane burner and a 30qt stockpot, so I'd like to consider a full boil. I don't think the effect on the hop utilization will be great enough to warrant changing up the hop schedule, but I'd like advice here. I don't have a wort chiller, plan on chilling in the sink or in a cooler full of ice water, so I won't be topping off and I'll have to deal with the extra heat.
2) Boil duration: The directions appear to call for a 30 minute boil. I don't think this is an accident, so I plan to stick to this, don't want to caramelize the malt too much, and the fact that I'm possibly increasing the boil volume and in turn, the hop utilization might actually work out in my favor since the boil duration is short. It looks like this recipe is pretty light on the IBUs so I don't think a bit more bitterness will hurt the recipe.
3) Use of secondary: I hear a secondary is not beneficial for a witbier, so I'm wondering about just doing a long primary and going straight to bottle. If I do this, should I go straight to bottle when the SG readings stop dropping, or should I give it at least a couple of weeks in the fermenter? It doesn't sound like a witbier really needs to be allowed to clear. My fermenters are 6 gallon and 5 gallon Better Bottles.
4) Ferm/bottle conditioning temperature: My place is pretty warm now here in Houston, TX. We keep it at about 78 degrees. I plan to pick up an Igloo Ice Cube at Academy in a couple of days and do the frozen water bottle technique to control ferm temps. What should I do for bottle temps though? I know there are a lot of threads here on this. Do you think room temps will be ok for me? I know a week or so of warm temps for carbonation is supposed to be OK, but then people say to drop the temps to about 60ish for conditioning. I don't know that I have this option.
5) Blow-off: I have a 3 piece airlock with 1/2" ID tubing pushed onto the center post. Is this sufficient? I know wheat beers are supposed to ferment vigorously. A side question: I can't pull this tubing back off the airlock! Any pointers here? Does it really matter? (wanted to sanitize separately).
Thanks for any advice.