recipe critique-weizenbock

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this was taken from a book and only slightly altered

11 lbs liquid wheat extract
1.5 lbs liquid munich extract
.5 lbs 2 row caramel 40 steeping grains
.5 lbs 2 row caramel 120 grains
.25 lbs pale chocalate malt grains
2.5 oz hallertau hops although the recipe called for 1.6 oz
white labs hefeweizen liquid yeast

the yeast is about a month past its best before date and this will be my first time making a starter. mrmalty recommended a 2.95 liter starter but i only have enough malt for 1 liter. will this be ok? also, would a sanitized coke 2 liter be ok for a starter?

the book recommends fermenting at 62 F but i think i saw somewhere else that the WLP300 did best at a slightly higher temp

 

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forgot to add:

OG 1.069
FG 1.018
preboil volume 7 gallons, end up with 5

its from the book brewing classic styles by zainasheff and palmer

 

[buzzerj]

Be careful with the hops. Weizenbock doesn't use alot of hops. I usually aim for only 15-20 IBU. A two liter plastic bottle means what type of airlock are you using? I use a growler for my yeast starters or an Ehrlenmeyer flask. A growler accepts a #6 stopper so my airlock works well.

I'd mash this at 152 degrees F for 60 minutes minimum, 90 minutes optimal. My preferred Weizenbock yeast is Wyeast 3333. I do recommend making a starter but if I had only a plastic bottle to use to make the starter in, I'd skip it and just add the yeast from the tube and wait. 1.069 isn't an overly big starting gravity to worry about.

I definitely recommend a 62-64 degrees F fermentation temperature. 62 degrees F is good for wheat fermentations. Jamil knows best.

 

[hillhousesawdustco]

you could just sanitize a bit of tin foil and throw it over the top of your coke bottle for your starter- i've never used an airlock with mine and havent had a problem. Never used a coke bottle either but I guess if you have it nice and santized you'll be okay. if you're going to be making more starters in the future you really might as well get a flask.

i'm a little rusty on extract recipes- does he really need to mash the crystal/chocolate for 90 minutes or is it really just more of a steeping to get the color and maybe a little bit of extracted sugar?

 

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yes, i was planning on using aluminum foil for a top.

i probably will decrease the hops. i tried using brewbuilder.com and it kept telling me my IBU was too low for this style. that's why i increased them. i don't know if anyone has used that site or not, but for volume for recipe parameters, i wasnt sure if i should put 7 or 5 gallons

 

[buzzerj]

Agreed you could just steep the grains.