Make It Special or Keep Basic

torilen · Sep 15, 2016

So, I'll be buying ingredients for my next two brews this weekend - which, by the way, will be my second and third beer attempts. My first attempt was okay...a bit too thick, but that's an easy fix.

I'm going to have 1/2 a pound of wheat lme left (along with some steeping grains) after making these next two, and I was looking at what to do with it. So, I figured I would try for making a specific style - dunkelweizen. (one of the two I'm doing this weekend is a style, too...a porter...trying to keep with styles so I can learn more about brewing beer).

I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts - should I keep it as a basic dunkelweizen, to see if I can simply create a good one and leave it there, or should I do just a little something to make it special. I've already added a bit of honey to it, to make it a honey dunkelweizen. Would it be a good idea to up the honey a little more, to accentuate that flavor, or should I add some orange peel to it? Any thoughts.

Here is what I have so far: 1/2 gallon batch Honey Dunkelweizen
0.5lb wheat lme
3oz honey
0.5oz chocolate malt
2oz crystal 60L
simcoe, 0.5g for 60min, 0.5g for 10min
est. ABV 5.35 srm 18.94, IBU 11.15

saltymirv · Sep 15, 2016

I'm just impressed that you're brewing 1 beer at a time

torilen · Sep 15, 2016

Only because I don't have much space. I have a small box, now located in the downstairs laundry room (actually stays nice and cool in there in the summer). I can put four or five 1 gallon glass carboys in it. I have three right now that I have been using to make wine and ginger beer. I finally got up the courage to make a beer, and as I said, the attempt was mostly successful.

I actually have a 4th glass carboy that needs to be cleaned better. A friend had gotten it for me from out in the country...it was just sitting outside an abandoned house, and was pretty nasty inside. I cleaned it, but there is a lot of residual white stuff stuck to the inside walls. I've been meaning to use some CLR or something similar to try and get it clean so I can use it.

I also have a 32oz growler that I use for little test batches - 2-3 cups - when it is not being used to hold drinks in the fridge.

But, as I said, I've been doing wine and ginger beer and cider...things like that...up until now. I've all four available containers filled and in use, for the most part. I need to pick up a couple more airlocks. I have 3. When one wine or ginger beer had finished fermenting, and
was just sitting, aging a bit or waiting to be bottled, I would throw a ziplock bag over it and hold it tight with a rubber band. It worked
well enough.

So, I'll be doing these next two beers at once, and the 1/2 gallon will be going in, as well, once I bottle the one beer I've already brewed.

I'm a little excited. I have a pretty good store of wine and ginger beer, but they all need to age for a couple of months at this point. As I understand it, beer turn-around is a lot quicker, usually just a couple of weeks.

catdaddy66 · Sep 17, 2016

only your 2nd batch? Definitely keep it simple! You will have time to delve into the more complex grain bills in due time. I suggest simple recipes for 8-10 brews to get your process down, then expand your repertoire.

Best to walk before you run, just my humble opinion. Oh, and try a lot of styles!

torilen · Sep 17, 2016

That's what I'm sort of doing, catdaddy. I've started researching actual styles, and I'm trying to create recipes based on those, making as close as I can for what I want and like. For instance...IPA, I know those are typically very hoppy, and I'm not going to like that style exactly. But I might decide to research IPA style a lot, then take some recipes and boil it down to what I would like and create a recipe from that.

I've also been researching individual hops and grains a lot, to make sure I know exactly what each might be used for, and what styles the would be used with. Learning lots.

catdaddy66 · Sep 19, 2016

That sounds perfect. I know when people are new to brewing they get super excited about all of the possibilities (infinite) and will ask about a chocolate cherry citrus double IPA with oak chips that is cask aged in whiskey barrels charred with dragon's flame... You get the point.

Learn, brew then drink. In that order. A great way to learn ingredients is by doing sMasH beers (single malt and single hop). At least that is how I have learned best. Cheers!

torilen · Sep 19, 2016

I've brewed three now - one is bottled, two I just got on this weekend. They have all been fairly simple. I am using one hop (simcoe), mainly because I know that's used in one beer I like and that's what I bought, so I'm using it since it is on hand. I'm using LME's and maybe two or three steeping grains at most. Except for the roasted barley, I'm looking up styles and recipes and planning around those steeping grains until they are gone, they'll I'll find something new to use and go from there.