First time brewer...

[Nummey]

First time brewer here with a few basic questions. I am brewing my first batch tomorrow which will be the American Wheat Ale from Northern Brewer that comes with their single stage starter kit. I'm looking to add some flavoring to the end of the boil....vanilla, orange peel and cinnamon. I'm planning on using a vanilla bean split and scraped, a couple of cinnamon sticks and half a zested orange peel.
Questions:
1. Should I filter the above out prior to transferring to my fermenting bucket or should I leave them in the fermenting bucket? If filter, what is the best way to filter these things out?
2. I have a large refrigerator in my garage that has some space. Should I make use of this space to cold crash the beer after fermentation ? Are there any benefits in doing this? Or should I just stock it up with more beer for consumption while my brew is fermenting/bottle conditioning?!

thanks

 

[Whattawort]

Orange peel in the boil (remove before cooling). Put the vanilla and cinnamon in the secondary. My advice for a 1st time brewer would be to forgo the adjuncts and make the beer per the recipe. This way you get a good picture at the process and the outcome without the potential foul-ups that would come with adding adjuncts. That's 3 (4 if you count the act of using a secondary) additional variables that can alter or screw up your beer on top of the dozens already inherent to the normal brewing process. I'd save the adjuncts until you get comfortable with the brewing process.

 

[mcbaumannerb]

My advice for a 1st time brewer would be to forgo the adjuncts and make the beer per the recipe.

+1 on that. If you feel you have to do it then I would suggest using half of what you are contemplating. A beer with muted spice/flavor additions is still drinkable; over do it and you might not like the result.

 

[billl]

Personally, I'd recommend ditching the plan to add extras. Just brew a nice simple batch and get the basics down.

1)If you decide to do it anyway, a simple colander works ok. I use the 5 gallon paint straining bags from Home Depot. They fit right over the bucket and you can pour right into them and just lift them out. Whatever you use should be sanitized.

2) Cold crashing is a great way to clear your beer up before bottling. Your beer need to be DONE fermenting though, not just "close". Definitely taste it before cold crashing. If there are any off flavors, let it ferment longer.

 

[unionrdr]

He's brewing a wheat beer,so it shouldn't be clear. Unless it's going to be a German krystal wit.

 

[billl]

Lots of american wheats are clear.

 

[unionrdr]

The yeast does settle in the bottles by the time you get them & has to be swirled up.

 

[Nummey]

Thanks for the info and tips. To clarify, this will only be single stage fermentation, trying to keep things simple for my first batch but looking to add a bit of holiday flavor to the beer. Hope to have it ready on or after Christmas.

 

[Knightmare]

I would recommend doing this straight up. It's a good beer as is. Adding all the extra adjuncts will require a lot of extra conditioning. Think about waiting 12 weeks to try it. It will take that too condition and blend. The vanilla probably won't work really well with this style. If you decide to still add spices to this brew, I recommend trying one at a time to understand their impact on the final product. I know that we all wanted to go mad scientist on our first brew, but doing a kit straight up will give you an idea of how good the base recipe is without resulting in a beer that you're not sure you like. This can frustrate new brewers and they never make another beer again.

 

[tre9er]

You can add all of those things in the boil, the last 10-15 minutes should be good. I'd throw them into a hop-sack/muslin bag/voile cloth if you can and remove before racking to fermenter. You can also throw the spices into the fermenter after fermentation is done, about 10-14 days (stable gravity reading to confirm). Leave them in for a good 3-5 days or so, again, probably in a bag. No need to cold-crash a wheat beer. Yeast gives it some flavor.

Be careful with the spices though. Cinnamon can overpower a beer easily. The orange zest doesn't concern me. We've used 4 zested oranges in a 5g batch, in the boil, and it wasn't super detectable. The cinnamon and vanilla slightly worry me, though. They can overpower easily.