jimmypop13
Well-Known Member
Well I brewed my first beer last night and I definitely learned quite a bit in the process. I used How to Brew by Palmer and Radical Brewing by Mosher to learn about brewing and got all my ingredients and equipment on Thursday and did the brew last night. I made a wheat beer, it's not specific to one style so I hope it comes out well. Here's what I did and what I used.
I call it C-LAW's Wheat Elision (c-law is my nickname, shortened version of my first and last name)
Malt:
6 lbs wheat LME
1 lb corn sugar
Steeping Grains:
1/2 lb cara-vienna
1/2 lb honey malt
Hops:
1oz fresh Liberty hops but the hops I bought from the brew store smelled awful when I got home and opened them so I used 1oz Hallertau pellets instead
optional aroma hops(I didn't use any since a recipe I saw for Shiner Bock didn't have any and I wanted a similar hop experience)
Yeast:
Wyest american wheat 1010
Special Ingredients:
1oz coriander
zest or peel of orange/lemon/lime(I used all three)
Priming Sugar:
3/4 cup corn sugar OR
1/2 cup honey
(I havn't decided which one to use yet)
I steeped the grains in 1 gallon of water for 30 minutes at 156*
Then I threw them in the backyard and my dogs decided to eat them. wow, there was grainy poop all over the backyard this morning, ugh!
Then I poured in 3lbs of LME and 1lb of corn sugar and stirred them to dissolve
I added water to get to 3 gallons and brought to a boil.
Once the hot break occured, I added the hops in a hop bag to keep the pellet goo from getting all in the wort.
Then I started my hour boil.
At 45 minutes, I added coriander, and the peels of lemon, orange, and lime into the hop bag.
At 55 minutes, I added the last 3lbs of wheat LME to pasteurize it
For $3 at walmart, I found these really cool nylon mesh strainers, you get two big ones in a pack, and I used those to filter the wort into the fermenter since I read that the aluminum strainers were bad.
I added several blocks of ice that I had boiled the night before and filtered cold water to the fermenter and poured in the wort.
This is where I screwed up because I put a spoon in to taste it and hadn't sanitized it!
I also hadn't sanitized my stir rod so I covered it in hand sanitizer and washed it clean for a few minutes in the sink to get all the stuff off.
I aerated it for a while and then opened up the yeast, the pack had grown to a good size by this time, and pitched it in.
Following Palmer's advice, I put on the lid, covered the hole, and shook it up really good to get the yeast dispersed really well, put on the airlock, and stuck it in my closet.
The OG at 60 translated to 1.049
This morning I woke up and heard it bubbling! It was at about 2 second intervals. Right now it's at 1 second intervals!
I'm pretty excited. I just hope my sanitation screw ups aren't gonna ruin my brew.I'm in love with homebrew right now. I already wanna make another batch when I transfer this to the secondary, lol. My kitchen smelled pretty good last night.
thanks for all the help you guys gave me in my first thread about brewing!
-Chris
EDIT: I just thought I'd add that some of the biggest things that helped me to have a relatively smooth first batch was to spend some time the morning before on my computer with Palmer's book next to me writing out the recipe in MS Word. I wrote out all the equipment I needed to use and sanitize(missed some!), typed out the ingredients and used the book to get all the instructions and tips typed out, and then printed that out to make sure I followed everything as best as possible.
I also labeled the side of my 5 gallon kettle in 1 gallon increments.
I felt like doing this helped a lot
I call it C-LAW's Wheat Elision (c-law is my nickname, shortened version of my first and last name)
Malt:
6 lbs wheat LME
1 lb corn sugar
Steeping Grains:
1/2 lb cara-vienna
1/2 lb honey malt
Hops:
1oz fresh Liberty hops but the hops I bought from the brew store smelled awful when I got home and opened them so I used 1oz Hallertau pellets instead
optional aroma hops(I didn't use any since a recipe I saw for Shiner Bock didn't have any and I wanted a similar hop experience)
Yeast:
Wyest american wheat 1010
Special Ingredients:
1oz coriander
zest or peel of orange/lemon/lime(I used all three)
Priming Sugar:
3/4 cup corn sugar OR
1/2 cup honey
(I havn't decided which one to use yet)
I steeped the grains in 1 gallon of water for 30 minutes at 156*
Then I threw them in the backyard and my dogs decided to eat them. wow, there was grainy poop all over the backyard this morning, ugh!
Then I poured in 3lbs of LME and 1lb of corn sugar and stirred them to dissolve
I added water to get to 3 gallons and brought to a boil.
Once the hot break occured, I added the hops in a hop bag to keep the pellet goo from getting all in the wort.
Then I started my hour boil.
At 45 minutes, I added coriander, and the peels of lemon, orange, and lime into the hop bag.
At 55 minutes, I added the last 3lbs of wheat LME to pasteurize it
For $3 at walmart, I found these really cool nylon mesh strainers, you get two big ones in a pack, and I used those to filter the wort into the fermenter since I read that the aluminum strainers were bad.
I added several blocks of ice that I had boiled the night before and filtered cold water to the fermenter and poured in the wort.
This is where I screwed up because I put a spoon in to taste it and hadn't sanitized it!
I also hadn't sanitized my stir rod so I covered it in hand sanitizer and washed it clean for a few minutes in the sink to get all the stuff off.
I aerated it for a while and then opened up the yeast, the pack had grown to a good size by this time, and pitched it in.
Following Palmer's advice, I put on the lid, covered the hole, and shook it up really good to get the yeast dispersed really well, put on the airlock, and stuck it in my closet.
The OG at 60 translated to 1.049
This morning I woke up and heard it bubbling! It was at about 2 second intervals. Right now it's at 1 second intervals!
I'm pretty excited. I just hope my sanitation screw ups aren't gonna ruin my brew.I'm in love with homebrew right now. I already wanna make another batch when I transfer this to the secondary, lol. My kitchen smelled pretty good last night.
thanks for all the help you guys gave me in my first thread about brewing!
-Chris
EDIT: I just thought I'd add that some of the biggest things that helped me to have a relatively smooth first batch was to spend some time the morning before on my computer with Palmer's book next to me writing out the recipe in MS Word. I wrote out all the equipment I needed to use and sanitize(missed some!), typed out the ingredients and used the book to get all the instructions and tips typed out, and then printed that out to make sure I followed everything as best as possible.
I also labeled the side of my 5 gallon kettle in 1 gallon increments.
I felt like doing this helped a lot
