First brew questions

[joelmole]

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.

 

[Richabt]

I think your plans looks sound. I agree with your secondary idea for this type of beer.
The initial pitching temp seems a tad high, but it's a Belgian and that may be fine.
Best of Luck!

 

[joelmole]

I think your plans looks sound. I agree with your secondary idea for this type of beer.
The initial pitching temp seems a tad high, but it's a Belgian and that may be fine.
Best of Luck!

Thanks for the vote of confidence. It says cool to 80 degrees, then top off to 5.25 gallons, so I imagine pitching temps should be ok. If I do a full boil I imagine I'll need to cool to below 70 degrees since the only topping off would be to account for evaporation during the boil. Of course this might be harder without a wort chiller. This is Houston and it's been in the low to mid 90s already here (yikes!) so I don't know how effective an immersion chiller will be without a pre-chiller to boot.

 

[BillyBroas]

If you do use a secondary, make sure you don't transfer it until the beer is done fermenting in the primary. The secondary is for conditioning, not fermentation, so it the S.G. shouldn't drop any more once it is in the secondary. Although I wouldn't even bother with the secondary. Especially on your first brew where you want to keep things simple.

 

[pkeeler]

Sounds like you know much more about brewing than most people do going into their first batch. Everything you posted seems reasonable to me. The kit is not the greatest thing I've ever seen. More water would probably give better results with the steep and hop utilization. Without a wort chiller though, I wouldn't boil more than 3.5-4 gal. You can boil 2 gal. the night before and put it into the fridge. You can add this to the wort after boiling to help rapidly lower the temp. Don't mix them in the fermenter (since your pot is big enough), since your wort will be too hot and will oxidize.

There is nowhere in your house that is a little cooler? Trying to keep the fermentation temp. stable with ice has got to be tough.

I'd leave it in the primary for 2 weeks at least. You will probably want to do something by then, so take gravity readings over a couple of days after that. However, you could probably just bottle.

 

[frazier]

The instructions seem to have you adding the extract to boiling wort - turn off the flame when you do, and have it well mixed before you turn the flame back on.

Regarding the airlock "problem", you can: a) buy a second airlock to use when the blowoff is over; b) use scissors to snip the hose off as close as possible to the stem, then just drop the inner piece onto that and reassemble the airlock (this is what I did the first time I had this problem); c) take it off the bottle (cover the neck with foil if you feel you must), run the stem under hot water to loosen the tubing, and work it off, then reinstall; d) just leave it as is, the blowoff tube is an airlock after all.

 

[joelmole]

@BillyBroas: I probably won't secondary. We're taking a week long trip the week of June 14th. That gives the beer up to 3 full weeks to primary before I bottle, but then I'll have to leave the bottles unattended while we're gone. I guess this would give the bottles the bit of warm time to carbonate, but I worry about it being too warm. I can try to figure out something after I get back to cool the bottles off if any of you think I should. I understand development of off flavors due to high temperature is most likely during active fermentation, and during bottle conditioning I mostly have to worry about accelerated aging.

@pkeeler: I'm one of those guys who have a bunch of book learning but no practical knowledge on the matter. I've been reading up on this stuff pretty voraciously so I have a decent idea of how things are supposed to work theoretically, but I have no real world experience yet.

I might try a 4 gallon boil and try to get that extra top off gallon ice cold to chill the wort down as much as possible. I probably will buy spring water. We don't drink straight out of the tap because the chlorine is so bad.

I don't have anywhere in the house that is cooler, at least not cool enough make the use of a swamp cooler unnecessary. Houston is near sea level, so unfortunately houses are just not built with basements around here.

@frazier: The instructions gave the same advice you did, I just shortened the instructions for brevity, as mentioned in my OP.

I have a second airlock. The airlock with the tubing on it will be a permanent blow-off assembly. I'm really just wondering if it's ok to sanitize the blow-off assembly as a single piece like that, or should I really separate the airlock and the tubing. I tried soaking in warm water to no avail, but I could work at it some more tonight. If it's ok to just sanitize it as is and leave these pieces permanently attached together, I'll do just that.

Thanks again everyone. I think my only real remaining question is whether bottle conditioning at 78 degrees or so will be a real concern, or just a case of fretting too much on my part.

Edit: Whoops, just redid my math, only have two full weeks until the week of the 14th, so that only means 2 weeks for primary. Wonder if I should just wait.

 

[KevinW]

joel, hops utilization can be affected by wort volume at boil. I am not a good reference for this but I would recommend that you not do a "full" boil just in case.

3 weeks in primary is fine, I just bottled a batch that I brewed on 4/17 and it tasted great, mind you that was at about 68°. No secondary for me but that is entirely up to you! I am assuming you will primary in your 6 gallon bottle and just using the blowoff tube should suffice.

78° can be a bit warm for ferment but then again you are doing a Belgian. The temp will not be a problem for conditioning in the bottle though and you should not get off flavors from bottle conditioning at higher temps.

+1 on taking kettle off the heat before adding the LME. When topping off your batch be sure to mix very well before you take a gravity reading, extract batches are notorious for giving poor gravity readings due to incomplete wort/water mixing.

Sounds like you should be enjoying some good beer in just a few weeks! Good luck!

 

[mikebiewer]

Seems like you've got a good plan.

A couple of things I would change and may be listed in posts above me, but I'll mention it anyway.

If you do a full boil, which I think you could, cut your hops down about 25%. That seems to be the standard conversion for when you move from a partial boil to a full boil.

Secondly, once your grain is done steeping, I personally just add in my first additions of extract. It is pointless to bring it up to a boil and I do believe in Palmer's book he mentions just putting the extract in then coming up to a boil. Its more preference I'm assuming, so do what your comfortable with.

Other than that, looks solid.

I'd love to hear how it turns out! First batches are always fun to see how they turn out!

Good luck!

 

[munche]

Not to be a negative nancy, but I just brewed a Dunkelweizen with T-58 and I'm not happy with it really. Not sure if it's the yeast or something else I did wrong, but I'm sort of suspecting the T-58.

 

[joelmole]

Not to be a negative nancy, but I just brewed a Dunkelweizen with T-58 and I'm not happy with it really. Not sure if it's the yeast or something else I did wrong, but I'm sort of suspecting the T-58.

After buying the T58 I did a little looking and saw some mixed reviews.

My options are to either go for it, or run down to the LHBS and get some WLP400 or Wyeast 3944. With these I'd need (or I'm at least strongly advised) to make a starter, and I don't have the gear for this yet. Maybe it wouldn't be as big of a deal to not make a starter with a smack pack, especially since it's not a huge beer. I dunno, I just thought I'd give the T58 a try and attempt to keep the ferm temps on the low end to limit the funkiness.

 

[munche]

Go mad scientist on it, pitch them both??

....probably a bad idea.

Edit: As I just ready Revvy posting in another thread, you don't really need much fancy equipment to make a starter. You can sanitize a jar or whatever, boil the DME, cover jair with foil, profit

Quoting Revvy from another thread:

If you can make koolaid then you can make a starter.

Step one Boil 1/2 cup malt extract in 2 cups water in a sauce pan.
Step two Sanitize a mason jar, plastic water bottle or any other container and a piece of tinfoil large enough to cover the mouth of it.
Step Three cool the wort in your sink for 30 minutes or so.
Step four Add cooled wort to your container.
Step five cover your vessel with tinfoil and shake shake shaker.
Step 6 remove tinfoil and pitch yeast
Step 7 re-sanitize tinfoil and put it back on or sanitize a fresh piece.
Step 8 leave it sit overnight

Pretty easy eh?

 

[Shooter]

Just a thought, if you don't get a huge hot break don't be alarmed. I've never had anything like egg drop soup when making extract batches. My all grain batch had a much more obvious hot break.

 

[joelmole]

Alright so it looks like I only have two weeks for fermentation before our week long trip. Aside from hiring a beer sitter, it looks like if I brewed it now I'd be able to control temps for the first two weeks of fermentation, but then if I left it in the fermenter it would be unattended while we are gone.

The only think I can think of that might make the temps ok is that we have a half bath downstairs that I can put the fermenter in and keep the door closed. If I can convince the wife to run the AC a little cool while we're gone, then I imagine with the door closed that half-bath would stay pretty cool. There is an AC register in there. I could still keep it in the swamp cooler to dampen the effect of any temperature fluctuations, and maybe purchase or borrow a fan to do the t-shirt trick. At that point my novice understanding is that fermentation would be done, so I wouldn't have much extra heat from yeast activity, it would just be conditioning and settling out.

If you were in my shoes would you do this, or just wait until you got back from the trip to brew the beer? Also, assuming it might be a little on the warm side while we're gone, would there be any issue with leaving it on top of the yeast cake in the primary, or would you rack it over to secondary?

BTW I tend to over-analyze things, if you haven't gathered this yet.

 

[mjohnson]

While you're getting your water up to a boil, soak the bottle of liquid malt extract in hot tap water. It makes it much easier to pour out when you're adding it.

Seems like most people are fine with leaving the beer in the primary for a long time (sometimes months). Many belgian breweries will let the fermentation go to high temps (like 85F). I'd just put the fermenter in the coolest place you've got and see how it turns out. That way, you'll have a baseline for what is possible and you can tweak the process in the next batch.

 

[joelmole]

Just finished brewing the beer with my wife. It took a while. We started in earnest around 11:00, didn't finish until about 3:30.

I think things went very well. I made an ingredient/equipment checklist and a detailed step by step guide to help us do everything in order and not forget anything and have to scramble. The hot break was actually pretty substantial. We just did a 3 gallon partial boil to stick somewhat to the AHS recipe, so I wasn't in danger of a boil over since we had a 30qt pot, but it was a bit of a revelation after adding the extract to see the foam climb up and up, and then dissipate away completely. We added the bittering hops at that point and went through the 30 minute boil. Cascade smells so good. I know that's not a traditional witbier hop (hallertau?) but I can see how it will accentuate the citrus character.

After boiling we added 2 gallons of cold spring water from the fridge, and then made an ice bath for the kettle in our ice cube cooler. Our sink is too shallow so I figured this would be a good alternative, and the drain at the bottom was handy for cycling out the water. I didn't time it but I'm sure it took less than 30 minutes to cool the wort down to pitching temperature. I took the kettle out of the ice bath at about 75 degrees, but then had to top off with about 3/4 gallon to get to 5.25 gallons, so it was likely lower than 70 degrees when I pitched.

I left the ice bath water in the cooler and just added a splash of bleach for the swamp cooler setup. Unfortunately the water was about 45 degrees so I had to bail some out and add hot tap water to warm it up a bit. It's at 55 degrees right now, but the temperature inside the fermenter probably hasn't equalized out so I think it will probably be in the 60s shortly.

Unless I did the reading wrong, my OG was 1.056. Seems high since the target was 1.048. Hopefully this won't make for a sweet beer, maybe just more alcohol. We'll see.

Now I'm just waiting for the yeast to kick in to gear. No ice packs in the water right now, but I have a bunch waiting in the wings once the temps start to climb.

 

[mikebiewer]

Nice work!

Might want it just a tish warmer. The yeast could be slow to start under 60. Do you know the optimal range for your yeast?

Good work! Was this your first batch?

 

[joelmole]

Nice work!

Might want it just a tish warmer. The yeast could be slow to start under 60. Do you know the optimal range for your yeast?

Looks like 59 to 75 Fahrenheit. I got the water temp up to 65, so we should be in good shape there now. I hope to see some activity tonight so I can see if temps start to rise a bit. I may want to throw in an ice pack or two before I go to bed to keep it steady throughout the night.

Good work! Was this your first batch?

Yes, it was. Everything pretty much went as well as I could have hoped for. The only thing I worried about is that as I dumped the ice into the ice bath to cool the wort, a couple of the cubes fell on top of the lid of the brew kettle. When I removed the lid to dump the wort into the fermenter, the water from the melted cubes dripped into the wort. The bag of ice we used was frozen solid so we smashed it a bit on the concrete in my garage. Unfortunately this means some foreign elements may have been introduced into the wort, but at this point all you can do is hope for the best.

Otherwise, when it comes to sanitation, I had a bucket of LD Carlsen Easy Clean and another one of Starsan at hand the entire time, and when I needed a quick spot sanitation I used a spray bottle filled with Starsan as needed. My wife chuckled at how obsessed I was with the spray bottle.

 

[beerman1957]

There is NO WAY that a few cubes of ice is going to ruin the beer unless they were made from used toilet water or something. I think you are being really too anal about it. I used to be the same way, but now I am just cautious. I have put my entire hand into the wort to get a ladle, for example. I just wash my hands with plain soap and water and that is IT!

With beer all you have to do is be cautious. It's not brain surgery!

 

[KevinW]

There is NO WAY that a few cubes of ice is going to ruin the beer unless they were made from used toilet water or something. I think you are being really too anal about it. I used to be the same way, but now I am just cautious. I have put my entire hand into the wort to get a ladle, for example. I just wash my hands with plain soap and water and that is IT!

With beer all you have to do is be cautious. It's not brain surgery!

+1 on beerman
Looks good joel, relax and let the yeast do their job as long as you can be patient I think you will be pleasantly surprised!

Good job btw:rockin:

 

[joelmole]

Oh yeah, I'm sure it's fine. I understand it's getting a bit anal.

Still looking for signs of life in the wort. Hope to see something moving tomorrow. Thanks again.

 

[beerman1957]

Some fermentations take 24 hours or more, depending on the style of beer (fermentable sugars) and the yeast strain.

I am pretty much using SafAle US05 for every beer I make.

 

[joelmole]

Aaaaaaaand we're off.... I'm hearing a bubble every two seconds or so in the blowoff pitcher. I draped the towels back over and added a single ice pack for the night. Don't know if I would need more. FWIW the temperature in the swamp cooler really hasn't budged since I brought it up to around 65 earlier today. I just don't know how much heat these little yeasties put off.

 

[ctufano]

They say upwards of 10 degrees sometimes once it gets goin. Wasnt too bad for the yeast to start.. mine took about 24 hours to start real slow, and at 36 they were flyinnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Congrats!

 

[joelmole]

We're up to one bubble per second this morning. A nice krausen has started to form. Water temperature is about 63 degrees so it looks like that single ice pack did a nice job.

 

[joelmole]

 

[mikebiewer]

Looking good my friend!

Nice job.

 

[joelmole]

Looking good my friend!

Nice job.

Thanks. Up to about 4 bubbles per second, sounds kinda like a metronome. Replaced the first ice pack, still holding steady at about 63 degrees. When I picked up the Igloo cooler I also got 4 of these ice packs at a local sporting goods store, they were 99 cents a piece (16oz). I have some frozen water bottles too, but these store much more easily. Supposedly "colder than water".

 

[joelmole]

At around 3:00 today

 

[beerman1957]

Looks normal to me! Nice idea for keeping it cool. It should be very easy to keep within 2-5 degrees!

 

[joelmole]

Woke up this morning to find the water bath at around 66 degrees. I think yesterday I put my last ice pack in a bit earlier in the evening, so it didn't maintain quite a low temperature. I dropped two ice packs in to get it back down to the 62-63 range.

Krausen today looks pretty much the same as yesterday, the frequency of bubbles in the blow-off pitcher is about the same too. What's stronger today is the smell. I took a whiff of the "exhaust" coming from the blow-off pitcher. It's a bit sulfuric. I think I'm picking up some banana notes, but it's more like the flesh of a green banana, not a ripe one.

 

[beerman1957]

3 degrees is not going to cause any noticeable effect especially for the time it took to get above that temperature. 66 is also fairly low anyway. I have found that constant fluctuation of temps causes more issues than keeping it constant. Everyone here has had a wort heat up, sometimes just on it's own as fermentation DOES produce some heat. Some= a little.

Some styles may benefit from going high to low and vice-versa. For example, a lager usually is raised quite a bit at the end of the cold fermentation to activate any yeasts left over and reduce diacetyl production:

From John Palmer's site:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter10-4.html

To remove any diacetyl that may be present after primary fermentation, a diacetyl rest may be used. This rest at the end of primary fermentation consists of raising the temperature of the beer to 55-60 °F for 24 - 48 hours before cooling it down for the lagering period. This makes the yeast more active and allows them to eat up the diacetyl before downshifting into lagering mode. Some yeast strains produce less diacetyl than others; a diacetyl rest is needed only if the pitching or fermentation conditions warrant it.

 

[joelmole]

Nothing really new since yesterday. Fermentation never got violent or threatened to overflow the carboy, maybe because of the cooler temps. Bubbling has slowed a bit, I think the krausen may be a bit thinner than before, wondering when it's gonna drop. I haven't taken any SG readings yet, figured there isn't much of a point for a week or two.

I couldn't convince my wife to take a whiff of the exhaust coming from the blow-off pitcher, but I left the door closed to the room where the fermenter is sitting last night. She got a pleasant surprise when she walked in there this morning.

I have an unrelated question, but don't care to open a new thread. Most of this brewing kit was a birthday present for my brother-in-law, but he and my sister are gong to be overseas for a couple of years, so I'm borrowing it until they get back (I'll probably just buy them a new kit when they return).

I got it for him around September of last year, along with an Autumn Amber Ale recipe kit. He never got around to brewing it, so I have it sitting here. It has pre-crushed specialty grains in a plastic bag. He never broke the box open on the kit and I imagine it wasn't refrigerated. I stuck the hops and yeast in the fridge, but I'm wondering what to do with the grains. They aren't vacuum sealed. Should I refrigerate them or freeze them? Should I toss them and just go to the LHBS and re-buy the grain bill when I'm ready to brew it?

I also have a Rye Pale Ale kit I ordered along with the Belgian Wit that I plan to brew after the Wit is in bottles. It has specialty grains too, but not as old, ordered in May, should be brewed late June early July.

 

[beerman1957]

Nothing really new since yesterday. Fermentation never got violent or threatened to overflow the carboy, maybe because of the cooler temps. Bubbling has slowed a bit, I think the krausen may be a bit thinner than before, wondering when it's gonna drop. I haven't taken any SG readings yet, figured there isn't much of a point for a week or two.


I got it for him around September of last year, along with an Autumn Amber Ale recipe kit. He never got around to brewing it, so I have it sitting here. It has pre-crushed specialty grains in a plastic bag. He never broke the box open on the kit and I imagine it wasn't refrigerated. I stuck the hops and yeast in the fridge, but I'm wondering what to do with the grains. They aren't vacuum sealed. Should I refrigerate them or freeze them? Should I toss them and just go to the LHBS and re-buy the grain bill when I'm ready to brew it?

I also have a Rye Pale Ale kit I ordered along with the Belgian Wit that I plan to brew after the Wit is in bottles. It has specialty grains too, but not as old, ordered in May, should be brewed late June early July.

I think you are doing very well on your current brew. I would expect it to take a least a week to test the gravity. Did you take an SG reading when you started or have an idea where it should be? You should take SG during before you actually ferment, but it can be calculated if you have brew software. You also have to estimate your efficiency, but 75% is a good number.

As far as the old grains, I would compost them or toss them away, especially since they are cracked. Grain stays pretty healthy if whole and sealed in a container. Once the outer husk is cracked, then it is time to use them as quickly as possible. I usually do mine within a few weeks. If they are vacuum sealed, then you would get a much longer shelf life. Also, refrigeration of grain will also add shelf-life. It is good to ask your LBS when the maximum shelf-life would be because they record every lot of grain that comes in.

I put all my dry yeast into a freezer. If you have liquid yeast, you can't freeze it, of course. But they do have a nice shelf-life that is printed on the yeast bottle.

Any current crushed grains should go into a zip-lock freezer bag, push all the air out you can and put it in the fridge. I have also read of people putting them in the freezer and see no issues except possible freezer burn, which COULD affect the brew.

 

[joelmole]

Thanks beerman. A bit of searching on the forums confirmed this for me. I'll stick the rye pale ale grains in a freezer bag, squeeze the air out, and stick them in the fridge. Should brew this once the witbier is bottled. The steeping grain bill for the autumn amber ale was pretty small (I think 12oz total), so I'll just toss them and re-order at the LHBS when I'm ready to brew.

Regarding the SG. I took the OG reading on brew day, came up 1.056. The target OG on the instruction sheet said 1.048. Being new at this I wondered if I mixed in my top-off water sufficiently, or if the few bubbles in the thief from residual starsan foam / oxygenating the beer messed the reading up. The other thought I had is that I steeped the grains in 3 gallons of water rather than 2.5, but I wouldn't think that half a gallon would make that much of a difference in the efficiency of the steep.

I'll just have to trust the reading and see what happens to my FG!

 

[joelmole]

Krausen fell for the most part yesterday. All that is left is a patchy layer of CO2 bubbles and that brown scum. Activity really appears to have slowed down. Contemplating taking a hydro sample on Sunday.

 

[joelmole]

Just took an SG reading. I'm at 1.012. This stuff tastes great! The orange peel is really shining through. I think my buddy who is almost OCD in his affection for Belgian Wits is gonna think it's great. I'm considering just bottling it up this weekend before the trip, assuming SG is steady (probably since it's already at 1.012).

This will allow me to bring a couple of bottles to my in-laws (wife's sister and brother-in-law) and tell them not to crack them for a month.

If my OG was accurate this puts me at 5.9% ABV.

 

[MetallHed]

looks almost like gatorade from that pic!

no head? or was this glass have drank?

congrats on the first brew!

 

[ctufano]

looks almost like gatorade from that pic!

no head? or was this glass have drank?

congrats on the first brew!

I dont think he's bottle conditioned and carb'd it up yet

 

[joelmole]

looks almost like gatorade from that pic!

no head? or was this glass have drank?

congrats on the first brew!

The flash from the camera made it look a bit neonish, but it is darker than is probably typical for the style. I have a New Belgium Mothership Wit right here and it's more of the pale straw color that is probably more to style.

This isn't the finished product, it's a sample from the fermenter, hence the lack of a head.