First time brewing - please grade me?

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met4lhead

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Hello all:

After a trip to Munich, Germany and consuming many a hefe-weizens, I decided to try and create it here in my home. It was awesome drinking two liters of superb fresh beer and waking up in the morning headache-free. My manager (and friend) at work gave me his basic brewing equipment kit and I started reading. One of the books he gave me ("Clone Beers" by Tess/Mark Szamatulski) included a list of directions and ingredients to make cloned Paulaner Hefe-Weizen so I decided to use it. I could not remember what the name of the German beer was so I thought this good as any. I should have used a kit for my first batch, but I wanted a little more of a challenge and control of the ingredients.

Please use the following information to give me advice and/or grade my first brew. I have a couple issues I need help troubleshooting; I will describe these below in bold type.

Here is a rundown of what I bought following the suggested recipe in the book:

4 oz. of German Munich Malt (uncrushed)
6 lb. wheat DME (65% wheat, 35% barley)
1 oz. pellet German Hallertau Herbrucker hops @ 3.8% AA
1 slap pack of Wyeast 3056 Bavarian wheat liquid yeast

Here is what I did (this book did not give me a lot of specific details, but I did my research - sanitized and resanitized everything throughout the process):


1) Crushed Munich malt with a rolling pin - I did not get really aggresive when crushing (as I read that you don't want it to be dust) - hard know whether or not I crushed it enough. After I was done 10-15% was powder and the rest looked somewhat still intact.

2) Steeped Munich malt in 1/2 gallon boiled tap water at 150*F for 20 minutes (using a grain nylon bag). I tried to keep the temperature of the water at 150 as much as possible by continuing to turn down the stove temp during the 20 minutes. Is it necessary to keep it at 150*F for the entire 20minutes or just let the temp drop naturally? Yes, I'm that anal....

3) Strained the grain water and sparged wet grain with one gallon of 150*F water into the brew pot (22 quart - stainless). Brought this 1.5 gallon mix to boil and removed from stove.

4) Added all 6 lbs. of DME and the hops at this time. The recipe called for hops to be 3% AA, but I received 3.8% AA from the website. How do you order hop pellets at particular AA's? I did not see an option to select the desired AA. I also slapped the Wyeast pack at this time and I ensured the nutrient pack was broken and well shaken. Yeast pack was fully inflated in 3 hours time.

5) Added one gallon of boiled tap water (boiled water for 20 minutes to remove possible clorine; I can smell it in our tap water - i'll use spring water next time...) for a total of 2.5 gallons and brought the wort mixure to boil. Boiled wort for one hour and immediately placed the wort into an ice bath for rapid cooling. At no time did the ice bath water get into the wort (i'll get a wort chiller soon - I have read they are very important).

6) Strained wort into primary and added 2.5 gallons of water to help bring down temp. I used a large plastic spoon to create the whirlpool and took regular temperature readings. Recipe said to pitch yeast when wort was under 80*F - I santized slap pack and pitched yeast at 74*F. Stirred the 5 gallon mix well to distribute yeast. Took OG reading - it was 1.055.

7) Placed primary (plastic pail with airlock) into dark room. I monitored temp on outside of pail. Over the course of 8 days, temperature stayed at 68-70*F for 95% of time. Wife turned up the air and primary went to 76*F over night. She was verbally thrashed accordingly - how might have this effected the beer? I believe it was at 76*F no longer than approxiately 8 hours. Had great bubble action after 24 hours and CO2 burps slowed to every 45 seconds on day 8. Opened the primary and took a FG reading. It was at 1.013 so I assumed it was done (book states 1.011-1.012). The fumes of alchohol down near the surface of the liquid about made me pass out it was so strong!

8) Racked to the sanitized secondary with spigot. I read that secondary is not really important and I wanted to make sure enough yeast was still active/alive for carbonation so I moved on to bottling. Would the secondary prove useful for this type of beer? I have read that keeping this in the primary for two weeks and skipping the secondary would have been better.

9) I mixed 1 cup of boiling water and 1 cup of table sugar together and let it completely dissolve and cool to 95*F. I mixed this sugar solution in a whirlpool fashion to the secondary and started bottling. Was this correct or do you add the priming solution to the bottle and then fill bottle with beer?

And thats where I am at this point. Here are my issues - I had to drink a beer at this point just to get a preview:

>>> Took a whiff and it has a great nose full of banana and clove. It seems to me that it is slightly sweeter and has more pronounced hop bite than the version I drank in Germany. The sweeter does not bother me - the hop bite is more than I would have hope for. The biggest thing that gives me concern is aftertaste- it is very strong. I'm guessing the hops is the contributing factor? Or lack of carbonization? Was it because it was 3.8AA and not 3.0AA? Added too early to the boil? The book said right before the 60minute boil...

>>> Can these issues above (tad too sweet, a little hoppy, strong aftertaste) be cleared up or greatly reduced with the bottle conditioning? Will the bottle conditioning help at all? How long minimum? Three weeks?

>>> I took three bottles and put them into the fridge to see if it made any difference in taste, head retention, and carbonization. What are your thoughts on bottle conditioning of ale in fridge temps? Unnecessary? Useful?

>>> I used table sugar because I forgot to get the M&F wheat DME. Was this a big mistake? How will effect the beer? Should I get some carbonization tablets just in case the fizz is lacking after 3 weeks?

Thanks all for any advice whatsoever - sorry about the novel!
 
Is it necessary to keep it at 150*F for the entire 20minutes or just let the temp drop naturally?
You should try to keep the temp constant. It's not a big deal to lose a few degrees. Use the smallest pot that still holds the required amount and it will maintain temp better.

How do you order hop pellets at particular AA's?
You don't. You adjust your recipe to the AA's available. FWIW most AA% aren't exact anyway, they are an average for the specific crop. In the end the difference for a specific variety is really small. Don't worry about it too much.
how might have this effected the beer?
That's really late in the fermentation process. It probably didn't matter.

Would the secondary prove useful for this type of beer?
Nah. Use of secondaries is controversial in general. Read more threads about it on this board. But for hefe's, I don't know many that use them.

I mixed 1 cup of boiling water and 1 cup of table sugar together and let it completely dissolve and cool to 95*F. I mixed this sugar solution in a whirlpool fashion to the secondary and started bottling. Was this correct or do you add the priming solution to the bottle and then fill bottle with beer?
Yes, you add the solution to the bucket, not each bottle.


And thats where I am at this point. Here are my issues - I had to drink a beer at this point just to get a preview:
Your beer isn't ready to drink yet. Let it condition at 70 degrees for 3 weeks then try it. It's fine to drink it now to taste it, but don't judge it yet.

I used table sugar because I forgot to get the M&F wheat DME. Was this a big mistake? How will effect the beer? Should I get some carbonization tablets just in case the fizz is lacking after 3 weeks?
Sugar is more fermentable than DME. If the recipe called for 1 cup of DME, you should have used less sugar. In general people use corn sugar and not table sugar. It's hard to say what your outcome will be because 1 cup can vary a lot (if you can use weight measurements, they are more precise). You will likely end up with a highly carbonated beer, which is in style for hefe, so don't worry about it too much. If you start to notice overcarbonation to a dangerous level, read up on some threads about bottle bombs here.
 
1) Hard to know without a picture, but crushing grains for steeping is not as crucial as crushing grains for mashing...
2) Not necessary to keep temperature at 150 F. 150 to 165 F is good when steeping grains. If you were mashing, then temperature would be very important.
3) One gallon is fine, although a cup or two will do to rinse the grains and then top off with as much water as your pot can handle (leave room for DME and boilovers).
4) You don't. AA% varies from crop to crop. If you needed 1 ounce of 3% AA then you need 3 AAU (1 x 3). If you got 3.8% AA hops then you add only .78 ounces (3 AAU/3.8% AA).
5) You can do fine with ice baths, until you move to all-grain and have to cool 5+ gallons of boiling wort...
6) As long as the wort wasn't too hot when you strained it into your fermentor, you're good...
7) sounds good... one degree change in temperature for yeast is like 15 degrees for us... going up in temperature is not too bad, but coming down can send your yeast into dormancy and stop fermenting...
8) No secondary for this type of beer. Better to drink it while it's fresh... 10 days would even be better than 14 imho...
9) You've done good... 1 cup may be pushing it... this beer is highly carbonated and just under a cup is the most I do... worst that can happen is you'll hear a loud pop, which means you'll have to go clean up some beer and shattered glass... hopefully you won't... (I've had to a couple of times)...

Bottle conditioning will help, although leaving the beer in the primary would be better if you want to reduce off flavors... not sure what you are calling "aftertaste", but give beer time in the bottle... I usually try a beer 2 weeks in, but they are usually better after 3 weeks (except for hefes)...

Lower temperatures will take longer to condition... you don't want to hot either... ideally it would be cellar temperature...

table sugar is fine for carbonating...

Great novel!
 
Just a few other notes reaching 76 deg. for a while is not a bad thing for a wheat.Most of my other ales i try to keep in mid to low 60's. Sounds like you did well, did you get the 1 cup sugar using a priming calc. it is higher than the normal 2/3 rds. i think but wheats are more carbed up too from what i remember so i think your good there.
Wheats are said to be fast and easy to make although i find that 2 months start to finish is where i like drinking most of mine.
You may also want 170 degree sparge water or steep your grains up to 170 at the end then pull them out.I always sparge or rinse my grains.Small amount not too big a deal.
I dont recommend piching yeast above 70 with any other ales from my experience but as long as you get your temp down to the yeasts range its ok.
Also are you aware of cholormine? It cant be boiled out if you have that but chlorine can if your shure you have that.
When you crush grains make shure you get the grains crushed into pieces.I use a wine bottle and from experience getting precrushed grains usually arnt crushed enough and i have to crush them a little more.
Adding half of your extract at last 15-flamout is recommended for lighter color and or not carmalizing if your doing a partial boil and topping off, but i wouldnt worry about it.This can also increase the bitterness up to 20 percent so account for that in the future if you add half extract near flameout.
 
Cool thanks for the feedback guys. I want to perfect this type of beer. Some of the German guys said that only the ladies drink hefe's in Germany but they can kiss my *** lol.

Describing "Aftertaste" - the taste in my mouth remains there for a long time after a few gulps. The Hefe's in Germany washed down really cleanly with no lingering taste. Did this biting aftertaste happen from adding the hops before the 60 minute boil? That's what I'm guessing...
 
met4lhead said:
Describing "Aftertaste" - the taste in my mouth remains there for a long time after a few gulps. The Hefe's in Germany washed down really cleanly with no lingering taste. Did this biting aftertaste happen from adding the hops before the 60 minute boil? That's what I'm guessing...

Maybe, but seriously, let it bottle condition first. You probably bottled it too soon, and it hasn't finished bottle conditioning yet. The flavors may blend more when its done. Give it some time, then figure out what you like/don't like and change it next time.
 
Not sure if anyone else touched on this, but I thought it should be said: you can't bottle condition at fridge temps. Bottle conditioning is really just a re-fermentation of the beer. You're adding sugar so the the yeast in suspension can feed on it and produce CO2. However, unlike your fermenter, your bottle is air tight, so the CO2 has nowhere to go but back into your beer. Hence, carbonation.

The problem with sticking it in the fridge before it is fully bottle conditioned is that yeast will go to sleep if it's too cold. You could wait a lifetime and those yeast won't carbonate your beer if you stick it in the fridge. Instead, leave them at room temperature, around 70 degrees, for a few weeks and they will bottle condition properly. Then move them to the fridge and leave them for about a week, which will encourage your yeast to drop out of suspension and your CO2 to fully absorb into your beer.
 
My last batch was a Hefe and I used LME with steeping grains half at the beginning and half at 15, been in the bottle now 2 weeks and I also have a "hop bite" on the back end. I have been putting a orange slice in it and letting it sit for 10 mins and that seems to absorb it. Good job on your first brew. I'm new too, I don't use a wort chiller either just an ice bath and I can go from boiling to pitching temps in under 10 mins.
 
Ok - good information! I put three in the fridge. Should I take them out as well?

yes.. they'll wake up but take a few days longer to carb than the ones that were left at normal fermantation temperature. Put 1 or 2 in the fridge after 2 -3 weeks to sample. Wait AT LEAST a day or two after refridgerating before opening... it needs time at cold temps for all that CO2 you made to actually absorb into the beer - which only starts to happen when chilled. Much of the CO2 is in the headspace of the bottle and not in the beer untill its chilled out a couple days.
 

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