My first brew - Weiss Beer

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Alexbrew

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Good day fellow brewsters.

I’m currently under Corona lockdown where alcohol prohibition pushed me towards brewing my own beer. I got equipment and ingredients via a online brew shop and so like to post my experiences, including some mistakes I made, hoping for some feedback.
The brew shop sell 15litre premixed grain bills and I chose the Weiss Beer –below is the recipe.

This brew is currently 10days in the fermentor (I've got a 5gal plastic carboy with a blow-off type bubbler setup - pvc tube in a bottle with water) and bubbling (physical bubbles inside the carboy) has almost stopped, with the occasional bubble rising - does this mean that fermentation has finished? The recipe states 1-2 weeks in the fermentor. Can I start racking the contents into bottles for secondary fermentation soon - or shall I leave it in the fermentor till week 2 is done, then decant?

I made some mistakes I realised afterwards:
1. I left the lid on while boiling - thinking I'm saving precious beer drops, only to learn afterwards about dimethyl sulfide (DMS).
2. Other mistake I did was to add too much water during the sparging process, thinking I’m collecting more beer. Doh. I didn’t reach my gravity. It measured 1038, instead if 1048 – obviously as my solution was diluted. If I would have realised I added to much sparge water, I could have let it boil for longer and leaving the lid on didn't help either.
Ai ai .. oh well, lessons learned

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A Quite Naas Spicy Weiss – 15 Litre Recipe

Thirst quenching is what this Weiss recipe is all about. A very basic wheat and pilsen malt profile and subdued hop bitterness level, lay a platform for yeast produced esters and phenolics to shine. Banana, bubblegum, clove, coriander are all there at different levels depending on your fermentation temp. Lower…more spicy higher more fruity.

Ingredients:
2kg Pale Wheat Malt
1.2kg Pilsen (2 row)
0.2kg Munich Malt
0.1kg Cara Aromatic (50 EBC)
14g Mittelfruh Hops (60 min)
10g Mittelfruh Hops (15 min)
3/4 of a sachet of Safbrew WB-06 Wheat Beer Yeast.

Mash:
Add 8.5 litres of water at 78°C to the mash tun and allow to cool to 74°C.
Add all grains.
Temp should drop to 67°C (Add cool/hot water to reach this temp).
Steep for 60 min.
Temp should remain constant.

Sparge:
(2-Step Batch Sparge)
Step 1: Add 5 litres of water to the mash tun at 78°C. Tap off wort into Boil Pot until water level is just above the surface of grain bed.
Step 2: Add another 9 litres of water to the mash tun at 76°C. Tap off wort into Boil Pot.

Boil (75 min):
Boil Size: 20.5 litres.
Add 14g Mittelfruh Hops at 60 min.
Add 10g Mittelfruh Hops at 1 min.

Ferment:
Cool wort to 22°C, pour/siphon into fermentor, aerate well and pitch yeast. Estimated Original Gravity (OG) is 1.048 SG. Ferment between 18- 24 degrees. Allow to ferment for a week or two or until Specific Gravity (SG) readings are identical over a 24-hour period. Estimated Final Gravity (FG) is 1.014 SG. Once fermentation is done, tap off and bottle/keg.
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URL: 15 Litre Grain Bill - A Quite Naas Weiss (Grain Only) | BeerGuevara
 
This brew is currently 10days in the fermentor (I've got a 5gal plastic carboy with a blow-off type bubbler setup - pvc tube in a bottle with water) and bubbling (physical bubbles inside the carboy) has almost stopped, with the occasional bubble rising - does this mean that fermentation has finished?

Bubble or lack of bubbles are not a good quantitative indicator. Do you have a hydrometer? Two identical hydrometer readings, 2-3 days apart, that are in the neighborhood of the final gravity expected*, indicates that attenuation is complete. At that point, if there are no off flavors, it's okay to go ahead and bottle.

*Regarding expected Final Gravity, i.e. 1.014 from the recipe. If the 1.038 you measured was post-boil, that will also affect your expected FG....

Original recipe: (1.048 - 1.014 ) / (1.048 - 1) = 70.8% Apparent Attenuation
New Estimated FG: Expected FG = (1.038 - 1) x (1 - .708) + 1 = 1.011
 
Yes, I have a hydrometer - I will take a measurement today .. then again in 2 days time - or should I take measurements everyday to establish FG ?
 
Yes, I have a hydrometer - I will take a measurement today .. then again in 2 days time - or should I take measurements everyday to establish FG ?

Take two readings, 2-3 days apart. Taking more reading(s) in the middle of those two doesn't tell you anything useful, and just unnecessarily opens your fermenter.
 
Having the lid on the kettle is not such a big issue with todays malts. In fact it is becoming more recommended with a gentle boil. Leave it off for the last 15 mins. That is enough to resolve the DMS.
 
...“bubblegum”?

Hefe yeasts (and some belgian yeasts) can produce esters reminiscent of bubblegum. I don't know precisely which ester(s) this is/are, but I do know that actual bubblegum is flavored with esters.
 
Yep, I've found saison yeasts to throw bubblegum flavors at high temps.. Hefe yeasts will too. Depends on what you are looking for in a beer. Some beers(bjcp) are supposed to have bubblegum, or diactyl(butter?), or even DMS(canned corn?) notes..

Todays modified grains don't produce much DMS, I don't know that a full covered boil is recommended, but probably not nearly as bad as it was in the past.
Too much water might make it a little thinner than you would like, but live and learn.. You'll still get beer, and this way you can have more..

Follow the advice above about sample as infrequently as possible, it reduces the chance of something going wrong.

Enjoy it and make sure to report back how it came out. Welcome to the club..
 
Hefe yeasts (and some belgian yeasts) can produce esters reminiscent of bubblegum. I don't know precisely which ester(s) this is/are, but I do know that actual bubblegum is flavored with esters.
I never considered bubblegum as I was drinking a hefe. Banana for sure. Clove spiciness, check. Possibly a ginger or gingerbread note. Maybe something floral. Gotta shoot for bubblegum now.
 
Good day.
Quick feedback: I took SG readings with my hydrometer, Monday (2days ago) 1.007, today Wednesday 1.006. Bit low as the recipe shows 1.014 FG. Why's that ? Would it drop anymore? - guess I'll measure again tomorrow .. if again 1.006, then I'll bottle the brew. Tomorrow will be 12 days in the fermentor.
 
Bit low as the recipe shows 1.014 FG. Why's that ? Would it drop anymore?

One factor is that your OG was lower than expected, so with the same attenuation % assumption, you should now expect your FG to be lower than the recipe. See post #2.

Another question is...where does the expected attenuation % come from in the first place? I went ahead and popped your specs into BrewCipher and get an expected attenuation of 73%, which would land the predicted FG at 1.010. But let's say you didn't actually hit the mash temp of 67C (~153F), and instead hit something a little lower, which would land the predicted FG even lower. Or let's say you mashed a little longer than the recipe called for. And then there are little measurement errors possible on the OG and the FG.

One last thought...since you're concerned that your FG is lower than expected...are you reading the hydrometer at the bottom of the beer's meniscus? (You should be.)
 
Your starting gravity was low, and typically the amount of sugars your yeast will consume(attenuation) is expressed as a percentage, so it stands to reason that your final gravity will be lower as a result.
There are other things that will affect this, and this is not a comprehensive list..
Mash temp:
There are enzymatic reactions that happen at different temps creating simple and complex sugars, The yeast will readily eat the simple sugars, and take longer(or even not consume) the complex sugars. This is not shown in your hydrometer sample, so it takes some learning to dial in where you want this for different beer styles, and what temp to mash at. Typical I think is somewhere in the 152-154F range, but might be higher for a sweeter style, and lower for a drier style.
Infection:
This would probably lower final gravity, but more than likely take a longer time to do so. I would not worry about this if you followed the cleaning steps. Also, new equipment makes this much less likely, so if it's your first time through..
Temp:
Fermentation temp may(will) affect yeast activity. generally speaking the warmer you go the more active the yeast will be. All of this comes with flavor changes dependent upon temp..

Hopefully some of this helps,
Kevin
 
One factor is that your OG was lower than expected, so with the same attenuation % assumption, you should now expect your FG to be lower than the recipe. See post #2.
Yes, saw the percentages - lower FG expected. Makes sense.

Another question is...where does the expected attenuation % come from in the first place?
From a recipe from an online brewshop webpage - see URL in my original post.

But let's say you didn't actually hit the mash temp of 67C (~153F), and instead hit something a little lower, which would land the predicted FG even lower. Or let's say you mashed a little longer than the recipe called for.
I've got a digital thermometer (probe on a string) and was surprised to notice my accuracy re temp control - don't think it's that. Mashing inclusive with sparging most definitely went in excess of 60 min. The mashing was probably 5-10 min extra - I mean with adding grain, stirring it in, onced stirred set timer. I brewed this batch in a bag, then the sparging is also a lengthy process - dripping the bag out, etc. Perhaps a rough guess 60+30mins before the boil process.

One last thought...since you're concerned that your FG is lower than expected...are you reading the hydrometer at the bottom of the beer's meniscus? (You should be.)
Yes.

I would not worry about this if you followed the cleaning steps. Also, new equipment makes this much less likely, so if it's your first time through..
I'm aware and have taken special care about hygene and sanitising the equipment - doubt is that will be an issue. I smelled and tasted the brew while taking SG's - tastes like flat beer to me.

Fermentation temp may(will) affect yeast activity. generally speaking the warmer you go the more active the yeast will be. All of this comes with flavor changes dependent upon temp..
I'm staying within the recommended temp range as specified on the recipe and confirmed on the yeast packet. Goes up to 22 degC towards the end of the day and to about 18 degC early morning when it is coldest. Got one of them stick on thermometer strips on the fermentor.

Then I would like to say thanks to you guys for helping me out, confirming my doubts and explaining how this all works. I'm learning and consuming it all - much appreciated indeed.

.
 
Then I would like to say thanks to you guys for helping me out, confirming my doubts and explaining how this all works. I'm learning and consuming it all - much appreciated indeed.

For further reading (and perhaps an insomnia cure), here's a link to my club's library, where you can view/download a slide presentation I made a while back on attenuation factors.

http://sonsofalchemy.org/library/
 
Thanks, will check out the link.

One last question for today: I don't think SG will go below 1.006 - I'm anticipating bottling tomorrow. Considdering it's a Weiss beer, will it be a good idea to cold crash it a bit so that the yeast can settle down before bottling? I know the recipe doesn't call for it - just a though to remove as much as possible suspended yeast from the brew - or will this cause not enough yeast to remain for secondary fermentation? I know Weiss is a hazy type beer - so maybe not a good idea. I dunno - it was just a thought.
Thanks
 
Considdering it's a Weiss beer, will it be a good idea to cold crash it a bit so that the yeast can settle down before bottling?
I know the recipe doesn't call for it - just a though to remove as much as possible suspended yeast from the brew - or will this cause not enough yeast to remain for secondary fermentation? I know Weiss is a hazy type beer - so maybe not a good idea.

Personally, I wouldn't cold crash a hefe. But even if you do, there would probably still be enough yeast left in suspension for bottle conditioning.
 
Report back: I then went ahead and bottled the brew. Added 6g priming sugar (unrefined cane sugar or brown sugar) per litre. I managed to syphon about 16litres into the bottling bucket and bottled 21 x 750ml bottles. I sampled one last night (impatience) and turned out awesome. Nice and fresh, crisp. I'll leave the remaining for another night when carbonation matures - though it was good as it was.
 
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