input on recipe and brew instructions

I'm posting this for any advice after two very medioker attempts of brewing from my LHBS DME brew kits.
heres the recipe and the instructions.

Blueberry Hill Ale (make a 5 gallon batch)
2-1/2# Wheat DME
2 oz Crystal Hops (boiling)
2 tsp Gypsum
1 tsp Irish Moss
1 Blueberry Nat fruit flavor
1 American Hefeweizen Yeast (WLP320)

1) Place 6 qts h2o in brew pot, (at least 16 qt) and bring to a boil with 2 tsp gypsum. Remove from heat and add DME, stir to dissolve completely. Return to boil.
2)Add Boiling hops and note time. Continue to stir often and watch for boil over.
3) After 30 min add 1 tsp Irish Moss, continue to boil 15 min.
4) Place brew pot in ice bath for 15 min to cool to 140 or lower.
5) Fill clean sanitized carboy with 1-1/2 gal cold h2o
6) Pour wort into carboy through funnel and strainer to strain out hops. top up with more cold h20. NOTE: if using bottled water you may need to oxidize wort.
7) when beer wort is between 70-75 add yeast per package instructions
8) place blow-off tube in carboy and other end in pot of h2o.try to maintain 65-72 for the duration of fermentation.
9) 2-3 days later, (when blow off is complete or beer is post high kraeusen), Remove hose and transfer to second carboy. be careful not to aerate. Place airlock on carboy.
10) when 2-1/2 to 3 min between bubbles transfer away from sediment. NOTE: allow a max 7 days in second carboy even if fermentation is still apparent transfer after 7 days.
11) Allow 1-2 days in third carboy diacetyl rest at fermentation temp. this helps smooth out beer.

then it goes on to bottling instructions, but at this point I keg.

I've asked the guy who puts these kits together about why adding the gypsom with out a proper water report and his answer was, "Here in the PNW generally our water is not hard, so by adding the gypsom your making hard water and beer likes hard water."
To all that, I am on well water where I live and brew, water tastes great untreated. I have brewed with out the gypsom and had successful batches, it's just my most recent couple that I have added the gypsom, per his advice and instructions, and had poor beer. Some of it probably was due to my inexperience and raking too soon, and some just say raking at all... I know theres a huge argument about to rack or not to rack.
Th bottom line is I have already bought this kit, so I have the ingredients, and probably should be brewing this soon as I want to be able to serve it at a party coming up in mid July.

Please advise
Thanks and
Eric

 

If you liked your beer without the gypsum then I would skip it without knowing your water profile.

As far as the racking to secondary, I never do it unless I am aging for an extended period such as with a sour beer. I believe it takes the beer off the yeast too soon and is another opportunity for an infection.

 

yea forget the secondary.

 

Gypsum... That is on you. If your beers pre-gypsum are good for you, work on your process before you start tinkering with water additions.

I would simplify it if I were you.

- Brew the wort by adding the DME to the water and bringing to a boil.
- Add Hops, boil for the 30 minutes it specifies and add your moss, boil the remaining 15 minutes to give you your complete 45 min boil.
- Cool beer as quickly as possible. Dont stop at 100ish degrees. Get it as close to fermentation temps
- Transfer to sanitized fermentor(if using a carboy you will most likely be using a funnel, dont fear getting some sediment/hop matter in there) and top off with sanitary water (preboiled and cooled, or what have you). Also make sure you get a measurement of the OG/SG (original/specific gravity)
- WLP320 is a liquid yeast. It may behoove you to make a starter for it a couple days in advance. I know it says its enough for a 5 gallon batch, but it really helps. I promise. Regardless. Pitch it into the wort when its at fermenting temps (or a little lower)
- Add your blowoff tube into a container of water (preferably sanitizer, just in case some gets sucked back) and let it ferment keeping it at the appropriate fermentation temp for the yeast
- For early brews, I find it is best to let it ride for 2ish weeks. Yeast is a living creature and can be fickle. It could be done in 2 days, it could take two weeks. It depends on yeast health, temperature, how much and how fermentable the sugars are, etc.
- After you think the beer is done fermenting, measure the Specific Gravity, measure it again two days later. If the readings match fermentation is done, if it is dropping, wait longer and repeat until it stops dropping.
- Mix your flavoring with the beer either in secondary if you are sold on using one, or add it to the keg/bottling bucket and rack your beer into it.
- Wait for carbonation/conditioning or not, its your beer.
- Drink and be merry.

 

I'm totally with leaving the gypsum out, especially since I have had a good beer with out...
I'll give this batch a shot with out a secondary, it does one thing for sure, eliminates the possibility of any form or amount of aeration during transfer.

 

Thanks

 

Thanks

 

DrunkleJon has very good advice, so I won't repeat any of it. Is the beer five gallons with only 2.5 pounds of DME?

 

That is the recipe that came in the box kit. Built by me LHBS. I have not had any success with this stores kits yet, hence me raising the questions, looking for answers.

 

That's what I was thinking. Unless it's actually 2.5 kg that recipe is going to give you like a 1.022 beer so about 2% or less ABV. You need to check with them on that.

 

Hey Eric

Glad to see you posted your questions in the forum.

2.5lbs of DME for 5 gallon is no good.

You should check out the recipe section and don't bother with kits anymore. Especially given the kits you seem to be getting. No bueno by the looks of things

If you are looking for a great crowd pleasing Hefeweizen with a fast turnaround (Brewing to drinking from keg in 2 weeks), look no further than Edwort's Hefeweizen. It can easily be converted to extract recipe. Just go through the thread and you will get the info on that. There are tons of great recipes there.

Another option would be Northern Brewers Hefeweizen. You don't need to buy the kit. You can get the ingredients locally if you want. Again the instructions regarding yeast management are not very good. That is a common thread with kit instructions it seems. I brewed a few NB kits when I was starting out. They have good recipes and great customer service.

As a coincidental side note from your previous thread about yeast bite. I am brewing a Kolsch tomorrow.

Best of luck and welcome to the forum.

 

I agree skip the kits, go on youtube and search for brew in a bag or BIAB. Make small batches at first until you figure out a good process that works with your equipment and time constraints.
I've had some good extract beers but its not that hard to use grain so get a BIAB bag and some grain and go for it. Happy Brewing , Cheers!

 

I am very close to pulling the plug and switching to BIAB.
One question that I have is that the kits NB sellers for BIAB seem to all be 3 gal batches. All the equipment I own is for 5 or larger, I know it WOULD work, but, back to the question, will ANY of the NB all grain kits work for BIAB on the 5 gal scale?

Or just stay totally away from ALL kits?

Is there a few beers that I should try making first before others in regards to BIAB?

Thanks
Eric

 

Can some one tell me how much DME I should use the, also the kit only came with 2 oz bottle of blueberry extract, I also question if that is enough for a 5 gal batch.

 

Any all grain kit can be done BIAB. The main difference is BIAB'ers often crush a bit finer as you don't need to worry about a stuck mash and it helps with efficiency. Also any recipe can be scaled to any size, so you could take the 3 gal recipe multiply the ingredients and buy them individually. One nice thing about a 3 gal BIAB recipe is you can do it in a 5 gal pot which you likely already have (amd it's fine to ferment in a larger vessel). On the other hand if you want to regularly brew 5 gal all grain batches you're going to want an 8-10 gal pot. You can make a concentrated 3 gal wort and top off with water to 5 gal but you're going to be limited on OG and I probably wouldn't recommend it for your first few batches. There's also the option to get into partial mash/partial boil with your current equipment and do the mash BIAB style.

I don't think you have to stay away from all kits if it's easier for you to buy ingredients that way, but I would go with reputable vendors like Northenbrewer, Morebeer, Austin, etc. You can usually find reviews of specific kits online or post if you are unsure.

For the average hefe you should have had about 5.5 lbs DME. Can't help you with the blueberry.

 

Be careful with extracts. While I have not used them yet myself I have heard horror stories of people using too much. It really all depends on the extract. Read its label, it should give you an idea of how much to use.

 

Ok fellow brewers, I went back and had a discussion with my LHBS about his kit and instructions... got a lil snipy at first, but explained that he designed that kit to be a light beer with a touch of Blueberry...

OK...

So I brewed up My version Saturday.

2-1/2# wheat DME
1-1/2# Light DME
2 OZ Crystal Hopps 45min boil
1 tsp Irish Moss

I skipped the Gypsom that he provides...

I got a OG of 1.032, according to brewers friend I should have got a 1.031 (felt pretty good about that)

Pitched the WLP320 at room temp (about 75 it was a hot day) and my Wort was 68.

Put it in the fermenter set at 70, finally saw activity yesterday mid morn, turned temp down to 68.

My thoughts were to let go to completion a FG of 1.008 (according to brewers friend)
put 2oz of extract in the keg, and put beer in on top... carbonate and taste... if not strong enough, add more extract.

My goal is to try to clone Backwoods Brewing Company's Blueberry Wheat beer... 20 ibu, 5.2ABV... I must say tastes like your drinking a boo berry cereal beer... Delicious

I know this version i just brewed falls short on the ABV, but after all its an experiment.

 

update bump

 

I am not sure what you are seeking...are you asking for feedback on your process and plan?

 

Yes, any input please... if someone in the PNW knows of the beer I'm trying to clone... that maybe could help...

 

I think you made some smart decisions to improve the kit you got. I haven't had the beer you are trying to clone, so I can't really comment on that.

As for the recipe itself, most wheats would have a bit of a higher gravity, so as suggested earlier, I would have upped the light DME 1-2 pounds to try to get it closer to the 1.050 mark.

You seem to have the ferm temp correct. My only suggestion is that you probably want to start it at the lower temp, and then raise it if need be after 3-4 days. I usually just let mine ride at the original temp throughout the fermentation, but some people do raise it incrementally.

As for the extract, you can always add more, but never less. I would personally add 1 to 1.5 oz an check it. 2oz is typical for a 5 gallon batch, but strength can really vary depending on the source.

 

Today I checked the gravity as the bubbling was subsiding and the krausen was falling back into its self... I got a 1.008!!! wa hoooooo. according to beer friend its done... left off the blow off tube, and wrapped the opening with tin foil, and turned the temp down to 34. tasted my sampling and it is nice and light, clear, and just a hint of hopps, it should taste really well with the blueberry extract!!!

Just a couple more days...

 

Well done. Glad to hear it is turning out well.

 

Well after cold crashing for 48 housrs (ish) I kegged it today... tried first with just 4 oz of blueberry essence/extract... and not nearly the flavors I'm going for, so I added the second bottle of 4 oz, and were pretty close... gona let her sit and mellow and carbonate in the keg now for a week and see how she really turned out... excited...

After surfing more here and there, I really see how this particular beer could benefit from all grain, at a higher mashing to bring out a bit more sweetness, vs the extract brewing.

 

On further review of the beer that I am trying to clone its not the previously stated beer...
I retried that beer and it is very light on the blueberry flavor, and not sweet at all... good, but in a different sense.

Still in search of the beer that I had from my growler store that has put me on this path.

In my notes I've added "little less wheat, and more Light DME" Color is not what I remember it to be.