Wedding in 6 weeks. Will my american wheat be ready?

[Brulosopher]

Men I hope everything turns out well and they aren't overcarbed. 5oz for 3.5 gallons is about 3.5 volumes. I wouldn't go above 3vol in normal bottles.

Yeeaaahhh.......

 

[quincy07]

I originally calculated for 4 gallons of beer at about 2.5 volumes, if I remember right, and the calculator I was using said to use 5.2 oz corn sugar. I just went back and double checked and now I can't come up with the 5.2 oz so I don't know what I had put in to get 5.2. I guess I'd better go move my beer to a plastic tote in case I have some ticking time bombs in my kitchen.

 

[quincy07]

Somehow I screwed up my count on bottles, I have 42 bottles which comes out to just under 4 gallons. I also figured out where I screwed up w my priming sugar measurement. I was using my beersmith app, not the calculator I had found online I thought I was using, and looked at the required amount of DME for priming, not corn sugar. In the app they show one right above the other and I read the wrong line. D'oh! I know it won't help me w this batch but at least I know I'll be more careful next time. I moved my bottles into the garage and put them in a big plastic tote just in case.

 

[Brulosopher]

Somehow I screwed up my count on bottles, I have 42 bottles which comes out to just under 4 gallons. I also figured out where I screwed up w my priming sugar measurement. I was using my beersmith app, not the calculator I had found online I thought I was using, and looked at the required amount of DME for priming, not corn sugar. In the app they show one right above the other and I read the wrong line. D'oh! I know it won't help me w this batch but at least I know I'll be more careful next time. I moved my bottles into the garage and put them in a big plastic tote just in case.

So will you not have homemade beer for the wedding now? That's a bummer!

 

[quincy07]

They should be ready by then, assuming the bottles don't explode. I have a feeling there's going to be a ton of sediment at the bottom of the bottles though cuz they were very cloudy at bottling. I think the trub in the fermenter got stirred up when I carried it from the garage to the kitchen and subsequently got siphoned into the bottling bucket. If there's too much trub in the bottles then I probably won't take them to the wedding.

 

[m3n00b]

Just vent and recap them in a few days. You might be OK.

 

[BinghamtonEd]

You may end up with great beer and you may end up with crappy beer, or more likely somewhere in between. Here's my opinion though : if this is wedding is going to be the first time a lot of your friends have had your homebrew, don't bring it unless it's something you'd be proud of. Your friends will still be around with the completion of your next batch, or the one after that, so don't feel rushed to provide them with beer. If they ask where it is, just say "You know what, I ran into some issues with the batch, and it's not bad, but we'll all get together next time around when I've gotten the recipe more refined."

 

[m3n00b]

You may end up with great beer and you may end up with crappy beer, or more likely somewhere in between. Here's my opinion though : if this is wedding is going to be the first time a lot of your friends have had your homebrew, don't bring it unless it's something you'd be proud of. Your friends will still be around with the completion of your next batch, or the one after that, so don't feel rushed to provide them with beer. If they ask where it is, just say "You know what, I ran into some issues with the batch, and it's not bad, but we'll all get together next time around when I've gotten the recipe more refined."

This. I don't even share my batches which didn't come out properly. I secretly deplete the 2 cases on my own.

 

[quincy07]

I might have try venting the bottles. Can I reuse the cap if I vent it or do the caps have to be replaced?

 

[quincy07]

You may end up with great beer and you may end up with crappy beer, or more likely somewhere in between. Here's my opinion though : if this is wedding is going to be the first time a lot of your friends have had your homebrew, don't bring it unless it's something you'd be proud of. Your friends will still be around with the completion of your next batch, or the one after that, so don't feel rushed to provide them with beer. If they ask where it is, just say "You know what, I ran into some issues with the batch, and it's not bad, but we'll all get together next time around when I've gotten the recipe more refined."

It's my wife's extended family so I'm not too worried if I don't bring my beer. I don't know that it'll be too hard waiting to try this batch. I looked at a couple bottles last night and they had a lot of sediment on the bottom and it looked like they had formed some krausen on top. I think more yeast got sucked into my bottling bucket than I thought.

 

[Brulosopher]

It's my wife's extended family so I'm not too worried if I don't bring my beer. I don't know that it'll be too hard waiting to try this batch. I looked at a couple bottles last night and they had a lot of sediment on the bottom and it looked like they had formed some krausen on top. I think more yeast got sucked into my bottling bucket than I thought.

Yeast, for the most part, isn't the issue; rather, the amount of sugar you added is what can create problems.

 

[quincy07]

Yeast, for the most part, isn't the issue; rather, the amount of sugar you added is what can create problems.

Right. I still can't believe I looked at the DME column in my beersmith app and added that amount of corn sugar.

I'll probably try venting the bottles in a day or 2 and hope for the best.

 

[quincy07]

Just checked on my bottles. Looks like the small amount of krausen that had formed on the top of the beer has fallen and the beer is starting clear up. Still pretty foggy, but it is a wheat so some is to be expected. I'm thinking I'll try one this weekend and see what the carb level is at and if its good I'll chill them all to put the yeast to sleep and stop the carbing process. Then I'll have to figure out how to store them so they don't keep carbing as my fridge space is limited.

 

[Brulosopher]

Just checked on my bottles. Looks like the small amount of krausen that had formed on the top of the beer has fallen and the beer is starting clear up. Still pretty foggy, but it is a wheat so some is to be expected. I'm thinking I'll try one this weekend and see what the carb level is at and if its good I'll chill them all to put the yeast to sleep and stop the carbing process. Then I'll have to figure out how to store them so they don't keep carbing as my fridge space is limited.

In a weird way, I am excited to read about that first bottle opening

If I were you, I'd use an ice chest or two to Keep the beers cool- ice is cheap enough.

 

[quincy07]

In a weird way, I am excited to read about that first bottle opening

If I were you, I'd use an ice chest or two to Keep the beers cool- ice is cheap enough.

I'll probably put one in the fridge Saturday and try it Sunday or Monday. Glad to hear I have someone waiting on the edge of their seat haha.

I have a mini-fridge at work that I'm gonna bring home. I usually keep my lunch in it, but this is more important.

 

[brewguyver]

You inspired me to do something similar - made a few batches on the 3rd and 4th while my SWMBO was at her bachelorette party. I'm trying to do it in under 5 weeks, but I'm cheating (force carbing)..

The wheat beer was a smart way to go. The haze (as long as it isn't mud) will fit the wheat beer stereotype. Just test every few days and get them in the fridge once the carb levels seem right. Also keep them in an enclosed container (contain the shrapnel) with something to catch liquid if you get bottle bombs, and keep them cold during transport. Also, don't bring on a plane!

Good luck! I've overcarbed a bunch of wheat beers and they came out fine. You just need big glasses to pour them in, and don't get mad about the "head" jokes.

 

[quincy07]

I decided to do the same thing - made 4 5-gallon batches on the 3rd and 4th while my SWMBO

I have a feeling this statement is incomplete....

 

[brewguyver]

I have a feeling this statement is incomplete....

Yep - user error.

 

[Brulosopher]

You inspired me to do something similar - made a few batches on the 3rd and 4th while my SWMBO was at her bachelorette party. I'm trying to do it in under 5 weeks, but I'm cheating (force carbing).. The wheat beer was a smart way to go. The haze (as long as it isn't mud) will fit the wheat beer stereotype. Just test every few days and get them in the fridge once the carb levels seem right. Also keep them in an enclosed container (contain the shrapnel) with something to catch liquid if you get bottle bombs, and keep them cold during transport. Also, don't bring on a plane! Good luck! I've overcarbed a bunch of wheat beers and they came out fine. You just need big glasses to pour them in, and don't get mad about the "head" jokes.

I've gone grain to glass in 8 days on a wheat beer, force carb'd

 

[quincy07]

I have them in one of those round plastic bins w the rope handles covered w a towel and a folded up moving box. I think shrapnel will be contained ok, at least I hope so.

This isn't the best picture to show how foggy the beer is but it's the best I could do. I definitely wouldn't call it muddy. It also has quite a bit of sediment on the bottom of the bottle. WAY more than my first brew. But that's my fault for sucking up trub when I racked to the bottling bucket.

 

[EarlyAmateurZymurgist]

Huh? 6 weeks is plenty of time for a wheat. Pitch and ferment properly and your beer won't be green to begin with.

+10,000

A properly made and pitched bottle-conditioned ale should be ready to drink within three weeks. Commercial breweries often ship ale eight days after the yeast is pitched. Green beer flavors are usually the result of inadequate pitching and/or poor brewery hygiene. When a potential brewer asks me if he/she can learn how to make good beer, my answer is always the same; namely, how well can you clean? Biological quality control is what differentiates homebrew that tastes like homebrew and homebrew that tastes better than any thing that one can buy. Fermentation is little more than controlled spoilage.

 

[EarlyAmateurZymurgist]

Get on it. Wheats are good young but you don't want to push your luck. 2-3 weeks in the fermenter and 2-3 weeks in the bottle. You should be ok.

It takes three to four days to fully attentuate a properly pitched normal gravity ale. A properly pitched ale will clear in the secondary within another three to four days as long as a brewer maintains good brewery hygiene.

 

[quincy07]

I kept it in primary for 2 weeks then bottled on Saturday. I know it was done fermenting as I'd gotten the same gravity reading 2 days in a row.

 

[brewguyver]

I have them in one of those round plastic bins w the rope handles covered w a towel and a folded up moving box. I think shrapnel will be contained ok, at least I hope so.

This isn't the best picture to show how foggy the beer is but it's the best I could do. I definitely wouldn't call it muddy. It also has quite a bit of sediment on the bottom of the bottle. WAY more than my first brew. But that's my fault for sucking up trub when I racked to the bottling bucket.

Looks about good to me. A clear wheat beer is a crime against nature ;p just make sure to pour the beer for the homebrew-uninitiated ...

Except for you're really annoying GDRs. I've seen a few jackasses try to slug an overcarbed beer from the bottle, only to have it spray out their nose. Hilarious!

On second thought, given it's your wedding (and your wife's family members), this probably isn't the right time for shenanigins.

I kept it in primary for 2 weeks then bottled on Saturday. I know it was done fermenting as I'd gotten the same gravity reading 2 days in a row.

Seems like general consensus is that you're in good shape.

 

[m3n00b]

My honey wheat is one of my clearest non cold crashed beers.

 

[quincy07]

Looks about good to me. A clear wheat beer is a crime against nature ;p just make sure to pour the beer for the homebrew-uninitiated ...

Except for you're really annoying GDRs. I've seen a few jackasses try to slug an overcarbed beer from the bottle, only to have it spray out their nose. Hilarious!

On second thought, given it's your wedding (and your wife's family members), this probably isn't the right time for shenanigins.

Seems like general consensus is that you're in good shape.

I'm still not sure I'm gonna take it yet. I wanna taste it before I make that decision. And it's actually my wife's cousin's wedding. And I will definitely pour it myself. I do want my bottles back afterall.

 

[quincy07]

Moved one into my fridge this morning to try tomorrow. Will post a pic of it in the glass.

 

[quincy07]

Here is the first pour after a day and a half in the fridge. It had a weak head that dissipated quickly. It tastes pretty good, though not the best beer I've ever had, and it's a little under carbonated. This is only 1 week in the bottle though so I kind of expected that. I'll try another one next week and see how it is.

 

[Brulosopher]

Here is the first pour after a day and a half in the fridge. It had a weak head that dissipated quickly. It tastes pretty good, though not the best beer I've ever had, and it's a little under carbonated. This is only 1 week in the bottle though so I kind of expected that. I'll try another one next week and see how it is.

The weak carb could be a good sign at 1 week!

 

[quincy07]

The weak carb could be a good sign at 1 week!

I think so too. Haven't had any bombs either so in thinking, hoping, I got my priming sugar evenly mixed into the beer even though I added it to the bucket after I racked the beer into it.