First Brew

[daveooph131]

I am about to start my first brew (waiting for the water to boil)

I got a Bavarian Hef. from a kit. It came with:

-2 oz Liberty Hop Pellets (Alpha 4.1%)
-6.6 ibs Wheat Malt Extract
-11.5g Safbrew WB-06 yeast (1 pack)
-5 oz Priming Sugar (dextrose)

Target OG – 1.045 – 1.049
Target FG – 1.008 – 1.012
Target IBU – 5

When should I put in the hops? I mean should I spread it out, and put 1oz in at 60, .5 oz in half way through, and .5 in the final 15 min of boil? Thanks.

 

[Kungpaodog]

If you use all those hops you will be closer to 18 IBUs on the schedule you suggested. You might try more like .75 oz at 60 minutes and .25 oz at 15 min, and keep the other oz in the freezer for another batch. That would be around 10 IBUs. (all numbers courtesy of Beersmith) This would probably get you the desired bitterness.

 

[Clonefarmer]

Did the kit have instructions with it? Usually recipe kits come with the recipe and hop schedule.

 

[daveooph131]

No the instructions sucked! Pretty much completely oposite of everything on this forum. And acutally the termanology on the instructions said hop bittering Units = 5. Is this the same as IBU?

 

[llazy_llama]

Are you doing a full or partial boil? If partial, how much water are you boiling? That's going to affect your hop schedule.

Then again, if all you want is 5 IBU, you might just rub some hops on the outside of the pot for 10 minutes.

And yeah, hop bittering units and IBU should be the same thing. IBU = International Bittering Units

 

[llazy_llama]

Oh, also... does the recipe call for dry hopping at all?

 

[Clonefarmer]

No the instructions sucked! Pretty much completely oposite of everything on this forum. And acutally the termanology on the instructions said hop bittering Units = 5. Is this the same as IBU?

I'm not sure but someone more technical minded will probably chime in soon.

In the future I would recommend Austin Homebrew Supply they have easy to understand directions, a great selection of recipe kits and flat rate shipping.

 

[daveooph131]

Umm I am doing a 3g partial....just put in the LME. No it didn't call for dry hopping, but I could do that. I want this to be a bad a first brew Let me know what ya'll recommend.

 

[llazy_llama]

Liquid or dry malt extract?
Any steeping grains?

I'm having a hard time getting 6.6 lbs down to ~5 IBU with two ounces of hops assuming LME and no steeping grains.

 

[llazy_llama]

I'm showing 18 IBU (which doesn't match your recipe, but falls within BJCP style guidelines) using the following hop schedule:

.5 oz. at 60 minutes
.5 at 15
.5 at 10
.5 at 5

If we have some specialty grains to steep, that could help bring down the IBU a bit.

 

[daveooph131]

Liquid no steeping grains.

 

[daveooph131]

I'm still a big newby...What is BJCP?

 

[llazy_llama]

Following Kungpaodog's hop schedule, I show about 17 IBU, which is still within style guidelines, and would let you keep an oz. for later use, for dry hopping, or for dropping a pellet into a glass of BMC to add some flavor.

 

[llazy_llama]

The BJCP is the Beer Judge Certification Program. Most big name competitions will use BJCP certified judges, and they publish the style guidelines that most of us use.

 

[Clonefarmer]

I'm still a big newby...What is BJCP?

Beer Judge Certification Program

 

[daveooph131]

Should I rehydrate the yeast?

 

[Clonefarmer]

Should I rehydrate the yeast?

I do near the end of the boil. Never sprinkled it dry so couldn't tell if there is a difference.

 

[llazy_llama]

Should I rehydrate the yeast?

You should, but it's not 100% necessary. It's not going to ruin the beer if you don't, but it will taste better if you do. I didn't on my first few batches, and I didn't notice much of a difference.

 

[SumnerH]

Beer Judge Certification Program

BJCP 2008 Style Guidelines - Index

has the current style guidelines. They're pretty useful as long as you take them with a grain of salt; I like to look at them, and then pop onto ratebeer and beeradvocate and a few other places to get their views of various styles as well. If 2-3 sites agree and one of them doesn't, I'll usually go with the majority consensus.

BJCP's guidelines occasionally don't align with what the rest of the world thinks--e.g. their "California Common" category is really an "Anchor steam clone" category, while the rest of the beer world views it as a much broader category applying to beers made with the "lager yeast at ale temperature" method. And their witbier guidelines skew a bit fruitier than what most beer rating sites would consider a best-of-class wit.

But 90% of the time they're pretty close, and they give a good set of data (especially for trying styles you're unfamiliar with).

 

[daveooph131]

Alright, well I just put in the carboy, so hopefully all went well. HOw long before I should bottle? I was thinking about 2 weeks, but do I need more or less time?

 

[daveooph131]

Well it's been about 8 hours and it is starting to do its thing

Thanks for the help, hopefully it taste good in a few weeks

 

[llazy_llama]

No problem. I'm sure that brew will be tasty when it's ready to drink (in 4-8 weeks for most hefes)

 

[daveooph131]

Should I leave it in the primary for about 6 weeks, then bottle and leave for another 2? Where do you find how long beers should ferment for?

 

[LaurieGator]

I usually go primary for 3 weeks then bottles for 3 weeks. The keg gals/guys go by a different timetable. I find 3 weeks in primary seems to settle the beer pretty well and give the yeast time to do what the yeasts do naturally...