AG wheat beer first time

[h_t]

Hi all,

Could you tell me if the following should work?

I have the ingredients already, so I prefer not to go shopping.

I'd like to make wheat beer, but I am limited in equipment and experience. I am also not entirely sure how to downsize recipes.

Limitations
5 gal boiler
5 gal fermenter

Ingriedients
'regular' 2 row malt crushed 5lbs?
malted wheat crushed 5 lbs?
Hallertau hops (1 oz 60 min, 1 oz 0 min)
Nottingham yeast (1 packet)

Plan
Heat water (15 qt) in the pot to strike temp (160F?)
Dump grain into the water, stir, wrap in blanket, mash for 1 hour
strain
add sparge water (160F?) (9 qt?) to the grain, stir, strain
bring wort to 5 gal if needed, boil 60 min
add hops
chill
pitch Notty yeast
ferment 2 weeks @65F, check SG
prime with sugar 5-6 oz
bottle
condition in the basement for 30 days
chill
enjoy


Comments?

 

[SpahrBrewing]

Are your pot and fermenter exactly 5 gallons? Also, do you only have 1 pot? Asking because recipe will need to be downsized to probably 4 gallons if so.

 

[h_t]

yes and yes, I was actually thinking I'd have to leave some headroom, wasn't sure how much...

 

[SpahrBrewing]

Nottingham is a pretty active yeast. I would suggest putting no more than 4 gallons in the fermenter. Even then, you MAY have some blow off. I know you said you don't want to go shopping so the recipe is tailored to that. I assumed a 65% efficiency rating which should be roughly where you might be at.

Here's what I'd do:

AG Wheat Beer:
Ingredients
4# 2-Row Malt
4# Wheat Malt
2 ounces Hallertau Hops
1 Pack Nottingham Yeast

• Start by heating 3 gallons of water to 164 degrees.
• Add grains and stir until mash reaches 152 degrees.
• Cover, wrap pot and let sit for 60 minutes.
• (Not sure how you're running off your mash) Run off mash.
• Batch sparge: Add 2 gallons of 180 degree water and mix. Let sit for 15 minutes then run off.
• Boil volume should be roughly 4 gallons. Keep a spray bottle of cold water handy and be ready to turn heat off momentarily if it tries to boil over.
• Add .5 oz Hallertau at 60 minutes.
• Add .5 ounces Halltertau at 30 minutes.
• Add .5 ounces Hallertau at 15 minutes.
• Add .5 ounces Hallertau at 0 minutes.

After boil, chill to 65 degrees and transfer to fermenter. Should be around 3 gallons, maybe a little more. Take a gravity reading. If it is above target SG, add water (pre-boiled and chilled) .5 gallon at a time, taking a gravity reading each time. Should end with 4 gallons in your fermenter.

Hydrate your pack of Nottingham in 100ml of 95-105 degree water for 15 minutes. Then pitch the yeast and close up the fermenter. Ferment at 68 degrees for 2 weeks.

Start taking gravity readings at day 10 (notty ferments fast) and day 13. If it's stable, go ahead and bottle. The amount of priming sugar will have to be determined later, once you know bottling volume and your FG. Use this calculator: http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

Target Values:
Original Gravity:1.049
Final Gravity:1.011
IBUs:19.5
Color:3.5 SRM
ABV:4.9%


If you have some oranges or lemons sitting around, throw 1 ounce of either peel (no pith) into the boil at 5 minutes left. Will add a good bit of flavor and aroma. Supporting the American Wheat style.

 

[h_t]

that's great, thanks for taking the time.
what's the effect of adding the hops every 15 min instead of 60 and 0 min?

 

[SpahrBrewing]

Not a problem, if you have any questions lemme know.

For the hops, you'll just get different characteristics out of them by differing the times. Tons of references out there but here's a succinct one: http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/hops/how-are-they-used