My first shot at it ! 1 question.

[HomebrewSupply]

Wish they would have given me a big sack of patience with the brew kit.

Don't we all, haha! I still maintain one of the hardest part of homebrewing is waiting for the next batch to be ready.

 

[ruascott]

Ok, I moved (carefully) my secondary to a room that I maintain at 63-64 F. It did "burp" for the first day. Seems to have either stopped or slowed down considerably. I'm not concerned, seems logical. I think she's done but will leave the brew in there, undisturbed for another week or so. At the end of another week, I'll take gravity readings to make sure she's ready to bottle.
After reading many posts on the forum, I've purchased another fermenter, bubbler, star-san, stoppers etc from Northern Brewer. I also ordered one of their extract kits. I've read that their kits are fresh and on the money. I love Hefe and the reviews for the kit were all 5 stars. It's their "Bavarian Hefeweizin" kit and I opted for the upgraded yeast, "Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Wheat".
Any opinions on their kits?
I'm sure I will eventually move into BIAB, and all grain brewing but for now, till I get my techniques and knowledge base down, the extract kits seem to be my best option. I'm afraid my kids have created a monster. Wish they would have given me a big sack of patience with the brew kit.

I'm sure the hefe kit will make a good beer...but it's really the process more than ingredients that give you a good finished product.

Do some reading on good extract brewing technique....particularly adding most of the extract late in the boil (likely different than the instructions tell you).

Also, try to boil the maximum volume possible. I don't know your equipment size, but after being less than pleased with my first extract brew, increasing to a full boil has really helped. At least try to get as close as possible, limiting top off water.

Finally, research advice for the particular yeast you are using. It's likely a bit different in behavior than the one you used for the nut brown...regarding ideal temp, activity, etc...may even need a blow off tube for this one.

 

[Gavin C]

"Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Wheat".
Any opinions on their kits?

Good kits. I made a few when I was starting out.

That yeast is a very good idea for a hefe as it is the big player in the resulting flavor of the Hefe.

Make a starter if you can. (More on making one in my sig below)

Make sure you have plenty of headspace in your FV. This yeast needs a lot of room.

Here it is in action on a ~5 gallon batch in a 6 gallon carboy. (Beer at 66F) A too narrow blow off was in place but not needed this time.