second beer for this rookie

[cadarnell]

ok ... I went out and bought a brewer's best witbier kit for my second beer (the first one is almost ready to bottle) ... I hear on here that the yeast provided might not be what I should use. It is safbrew WB-06 ... some thoughts on that would be helpful ... also it came with a spice pack ... contents: bitter orange peel and coriander seed .. 1/2 oz. of each ... should I use that or not ... I've heard some say it's great and others say get fresh orange zest ... opinions would be great ... I want to brew this soon .. thanks

 

[WrongCoastBrewery]

I would always go with the fresh orange zest. You never know how long those spice packs have been sitting. Also get some corriander from the good ol' grocery store too. It will be much better that way and you will actually have the taste of it in your beer and not just a slight hint.

 

[Pixalated]

Hey, that's exactly what I brewed yesterday. I used everything from the kit, didn't buy any additions. I don't know if this is a sign that the yeast is good, but my airlock is bubbling as of this morning. I don't know about using fresh zest, I just used the content of the pack.

The only thing that I was a little annoyed by was the steeping of the grains. "How to Brew" suggests no more than one pound of grain per bag, but the kit only came with 1 bag and 2 pounds of grain. Since I only heated 1 gallon of water, i couldn't submerge the whole bag. First, i kept tilting the pot to try to wet all the grains. Then I stared using a ladle to pour the water over the bag. After about 15 minutes of that i realized that I could just smoosh the bag to the bottom of the pot to the get it totally submerged. I moved it around every 10 minutes or so.

 

[thethirsty1]

ok ... I went out and bought a brewer's best witbier kit for my second beer (the first one is almost ready to bottle) ... I hear on here that the yeast provided might not be what I should use. It is safbrew WB-06 ... some thoughts on that would be helpful ... also it came with a spice pack ... contents: bitter orange peel and coriander seed .. 1/2 oz. of each ... should I use that or not ... I've heard some say it's great and others say get fresh orange zest ... opinions would be great ... I want to brew this soon .. thanks

Just use what came with the kit Im sure it will turn out just fine follow the directions relax and have fun

 

[thethirsty1]

ok ... I went out and bought a brewer's best witbier kit for my second beer (the first one is almost ready to bottle) ... I hear on here that the yeast provided might not be what I should use. It is safbrew WB-06 ... some thoughts on that would be helpful ... also it came with a spice pack ... contents: bitter orange peel and coriander seed .. 1/2 oz. of each ... should I use that or not ... I've heard some say it's great and others say get fresh orange zest ... opinions would be great ... I want to brew this soon .. thanks

Just use what you have follow the directions and have fun your beer will be just fine

 

[maxamuus]

I brewed my own version of this a couple brews ago and it came out FANTASTIC!

I used the dried orange peel and the coriander. Had a perfect hint of orange in the flavor.

For yeast i went with White Labs Belgian Wit WLP400. You would be fine with that yeast i think but i have been learning when to shell out the extra money for the "fancy" yeast and when not to and since the wheat beers can get flavors from the yeast it was worth the upgrade i thought YMMV.

Also i added a pound of Orange Blossom Honey.

 

[cadarnell]

Just use what you have follow the directions and have fun your beer will be just fine

I'm sure that's really solid advice for a newbie ... I have just read so many places on here that the yeast can make a huge difference in the final taste of the beer ... I know less than zero about yeast, so I guess i was just looking for someone who knows this yeast maybe, and their opinion of it in a wit ... my deal is here that i really want a nice smooth beer that my SWMBO will drink ... if I hit on a good brew that she likes, getting more budgeted for my new hobby in the future has a better chance

 

[WrongCoastBrewery]

I'm sure that's really solid advice for a newbie ... I have just read so many places on here that the yeast can make a huge difference in the final taste of the beer ... I know less than zero about yeast, so I guess i was just looking for someone who knows this yeast maybe, and their opinion of it in a wit ... my deal is here that i really want a nice smooth beer that my SWMBO will drink ... if I hit on a good brew that she likes, getting more budgeted for my new hobby in the future has a better chance

Best thing you could invest in would probably be starter equipment. Shoot, just get a Erlynmeyer(sp?) flask, some DME, and yeast nutrients. Before I built my stir plate, I just shook it up everynow and then. All the beer that I did that with was WAY better.

 

[cadarnell]

Hey, that's exactly what I brewed yesterday. I used everything from the kit, didn't buy any additions. I don't know if this is a sign that the yeast is good, but my airlock is bubbling as of this morning. I don't know about using fresh zest, I just used the content of the pack.

The only thing that I was a little annoyed by was the steeping of the grains. "How to Brew" suggests no more than one pound of grain per bag, but the kit only came with 1 bag and 2 pounds of grain. Since I only heated 1 gallon of water, i couldn't submerge the whole bag. First, i kept tilting the pot to try to wet all the grains. Then I stared using a ladle to pour the water over the bag. After about 15 minutes of that i realized that I could just smoosh the bag to the bottom of the pot to the get it totally submerged. I moved it around every 10 minutes or so.

thanks for the info ... I've been reading on here that one gallon of water per every one pound of grain is a good rule of thumb for steeping ... I don't know why the instructions say to use just one gallon for the two pounds of grain that came with the kit ... I'm also reading that you don't want to use too much water as that can give the beer an off taste due to some PH issues ... so maybe the best thing to do is get the water just barely above the top of the grain bag ??? ... I'm learning ... thanks !!

 

[mixedbrewer]

Safebrew 06 is for Bavarian wheat beers... esters and phenol. Yay!

 

[cadarnell]

Safebrew 06 is for Bavarian wheat beers... esters and phenol. Yay!

so you think it's a good one for a wit mixedbrewer ??

 

[mixedbrewer]

Of course it is!