My first batch - Craft-A-Brew Hefeweizen Kit

[presstab]

Got this kit for xmas. I pretty much know nothing about brewing, other than talking to a friend that seems pretty experienced. This forum seems to have tons of info, and wish I would have read through it before starting!

Here is a picture of what it looked like about 15 hours into fermentation.

After this picture I placed this into a dark closet for two weeks, and will be pulling it out tonight. My brother, who doesn't live in town brewed it with me and is leaving in two days, so we will probably just have to drink it flat without bottling it :'( , hopefully it will be good enough and my next brew will be even better.

Also, should I have any worries about the buildup at the bottom?

 

[BrettMan]

Don't worry about that sediment at the bottom. That's normal. Just try not to suck it up when you siphon into your bottles. It's totally harmless, but you want to try to minimize what gets into the bottle. I'd suggest you add the sugar and bottle it. I'm not sure how good it will be flat. I know your brother will miss out, but you can send him a picture of you enjoying your first home brew. My two cents.

 

[flars]

The build up at the bottom is trub and yeast. The darker layer at the bottom is the trub. The layer on top is yeast. Your beer was just like a yeast starter with flavorings. You can harvest this yeast and have enough for three more brews. Each of the new brews will result in enough yeast for three more brews.

Harvest, with sanitary conditions, and you won't have to buy new yeast for quite a while.

I would suggest racking to a bottling bucket, with the priming sugar in it. Bottle and save him a few for when he returns, if it will be withing 6 months. Hefes can start losing flavors after 6 months.

 

[presstab]

Thanks for the advice. I decided just to taste it together, and to bottle it all and continue the rest of the process. And it tasted yummy