Homebrewing Batch #2

[Mookow]

Ingredients are as follows. It's a pretty simple Hefeweizen, except that I will be adding the zest of two lemons (basically, the shavings left over after using a cheese grater on a lemon) when I rack it over to the secondary fermenter. It should give it that lemon zing without adding the lemon bitterness.

6lbs of Munton's Wheat LME (55% wheat, 45% barley)
1.0 oz of Cascade 6.2% @60 minutes
0.5 oz of Cascade 6.2% @30 minutes
0.5 oz of Cascade 6.2% @5 minutes

WYeast German Wheat (#3333)
3tsp yeast nutrient

O.G. is 1.050. I have no idea what the F.G. is going to be, so I dont know how much alcohol will be in this one. Not too much I dont think, as the OG isnt all that high.

I made a yeast starter this time around, as my lag time seemed a bit longer than it should have been when I made my first batch.

For this batch I was working by myself, as my friend who was supposed to come over and help bailed on me :| . Not coincidentally, I also had my first boil over today, as I was trying to be in too many places at one time. Not really a big deal, I was cooking it with a turkey fryer on the deck, and had already wet down the deck in case it did boil over. I just threw a gallon or two of tap water on the deck to wash it off, and continued my boiling. On the bad new side, I appear to have scorched the bottom of my pot with some LME, and I am not happy. The cleaner I used to soak the pot appears to have discolored the whole thing, or possibly corroded the aluminum :|:|. Not that any of this really matters IMO as when the wort is in the pot it is boiling (and thus sterilized), but it is annoying nonetheless. I was planning to move on to a better pot (ie, SS pot or or a converted keg), but I wanted to hold off on it. I may not have much of a choice, we shall see how the cleaning goes.

This should be ready in 3 weeks or so, which is about when my first batch (a stout) should be ready to drink, too. Both will definitely be done in time for my uncle's wedding on the 29th of the month.

 

[SearchMaster]

Good job thinking ahead on the boilover - there's not much worse than having to clean sticky wort off a hot stovetop, especially the non-flat stoves. I wish I had the equipment to boil outdoors, but I don't.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Cascade? The stuff you use in dishwashers?

 

[broon]

I think that looks more like an American Wheat. Usually a hefe uses german hops only at initial bittering. You'll probably have more hop taste than a traditional hefe. But it should still be good.

Turkey friers should be going on sale soon. Time to pick one up if you want to do outside full wort boils. I have two...never fried a turkey.

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: broon
I think that looks more like an American Wheat. Usually a hefe uses german hops only at initial bittering. You'll probably have more hop taste than a traditional hefe. But it should still be good.

Turkey friers should be going on sale soon. Time to pick one up if you want to do outside full wort boils. I have two...never fried a turkey.

I've been thinking about getting a keg with the top cut out to replace my current pot on my turkey fryer. It's thin aluminum, and the bottom is already very slightly deformed in the areas where it is supported by the stand, presumably from having the weight of the wort on it while boiling. A keg should be nice, thick stainless steel, and I would think that the skirt on the bottom of it may increase heating effieciency by a bit. Plus it is a hell of a lot bigger at 15.5 gallons, which gives me a bigger cushion for boilovers.

A newbie question though: what is the advantage to doing full wort boils, other than higher hop AA utilization rates? Thats that only advantage I can think of off the top of my head, and it doesnt seem to be all that bad (hops are cheap in the quantities I use them in).

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
Cascade? The stuff you use in dishwashers?

No, Cascade hops. Hops are what makes beer taste bitter.

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: SearchMaster
Good job thinking ahead on the boilover - there's not much worse than having to clean sticky wort off a hot stovetop, especially the non-flat stoves. I wish I had the equipment to boil outdoors, but I don't.

Outdoors is nice, but it could get tedious in the snow here in Ohio. Boilovers are much easier to contend with.

 

[avatar08]

It's better to do a full wort boil not only for better hop utilization but to prevent unintended wort carmelization. Especially on a lighter SRM brew such as this Hefe. The other poster is right it will be a bit higher IBU than normal for a Hefe but still sounds pretty tasty to me. Don't know how much flavor you will get from the lemon zest addition but it could help abit. Most of the flavor comes from the yeast in this batch and 3333 is a wonderful hefe yeast. Had my best luck with it fermented at about 68-72. A bit lower really mutes some of the phenol ester production and higher produced to much bubblegum esters that were a bit offensive to this style. Play around with it and see what you like best.

As for the pot. Go to the grocery store and in the cleaning supplies is something called BKF Bar Keepers Friend. Make a thin paste with it and scrub the pot up. It has saved some pretty nasty boilovers for me and is a great cleaner. Really cheap to. On the plus side this cleaner is mainly oxacilic acid which will aid in rebuilding some of the anodization layer that was on the pot. Clean well and dry thoroughly then let it set in the air for at least a week to rebuild the anodized layer and you are good as new and probably better.


Using a converted keg is way better than most of the other pots I've used. I've been through tons of different options and always go back to the keg. Nice and sturdy just be sure you have the proper support on your burner stand to deal with the weight of it. A trick I've seen some brewers use if the keg won't fit into the stabilization ring is to go to a hardware store and buy one of the heavy duty grill grates that fit over the top and then set the keg on top of that.

whewww better get back to work now
more ??s send em on.
I love talking zymurgy.

Michael

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: avatar08
It's better to do a full wort boil not only for better hop utilization but to prevent unintended wort carmelization. Especially on a lighter SRM brew such as this Hefe. The other poster is right it will be a bit higher IBU than normal for a Hefe but still sounds pretty tasty to me. Don't know how much flavor you will get from the lemon zest addition but it could help abit. Most of the flavor comes from the yeast in this batch and 3333 is a wonderful hefe yeast. Had my best luck with it fermented at about 68-72. A bit lower really mutes some of the phenol ester production and higher produced to much bubblegum esters that were a bit offensive to this style. Play around with it and see what you like best.

As for the pot. Go to the grocery store and in the cleaning supplies is something called BKF Bar Keepers Friend. Make a thin paste with it and scrub the pot up. It has saved some pretty nasty boilovers for me and is a great cleaner. Really cheap to. On the plus side this cleaner is mainly oxacilic acid which will aid in rebuilding some of the anodization layer that was on the pot. Clean well and dry thoroughly then let it set in the air for at least a week to rebuild the anodized layer and you are good as new and probably better.


Using a converted keg is way better than most of the other pots I've used. I've been through tons of different options and always go back to the keg. Nice and sturdy just be sure you have the proper support on your burner stand to deal with the weight of it. A trick I've seen some brewers use if the keg won't fit into the stabilization ring is to go to a hardware store and buy one of the heavy duty grill grates that fit over the top and then set the keg on top of that.

whewww better get back to work now
more ??s send em on.
I love talking zymurgy.

Michael

If my current stand wont accomodate a keg, I'm going to ask my former co-worker to weld me a stand (he's a welder at the fence company I used to work at) and mount my current burner inside the new stand. I'll just have to make sure whichever metal he uses will handle the thermal stress of being a burner stand. Depending on price (it should be cheap, he'll probably end up using scrap angle iron from the fence shop) I think that would be a better solution.

My grandparents basement (the only place I have access to that has a cold, stable temperature with a dark room no one goes into) has a temperature of about 66°-67°F.

I havent been too worried about scratches with my aluminum pot, as I figure anything that doesnt get cleaned out of those scratches will be sterilized during the boil. Am I wrong in thinking that?

Do you use a brewpot with a spigot? Personally, I've found no problems using my autosiphon, and can't see how a spigot would be worth the extra cost/complexity associated with it on a brewpot.

What do you use to mount your thermometer on your fermenter? I've got one of the flat, flexible thermometers, and was wondering whether I should just scotch tape it on, or if I should find some thermal epoxy. I'm thinking eventually enough water would hit the scotch tape and make it fall off.

When you talk about wort caramelization, how significant is this on the taste of the brew? I know it will darken it up, but as I'm just starting off, I'm much more worried about taste than color/clarity (not that a hefe is going to be clear, anyway).

 

[avatar08]

That is a good idea on the stand.
Here is what I did with mine, basically a square that fits the keg with legs.
Burners

Scratches would not be a problem because of the boil obviously but they are much easier to clean w/o scratches. I would not use a pot w/o a spigot anymore. Working with extract and a hop bag I would be ok but doing allgrain creates more hot/cold break and I don't like bagging my hops so the siphon would clog within no time. I installed the weldless fitting with a copper diptube that goes down to the bottom of the keg and a copper scrubber fitted over the tip. Never have had it stuck yet and crystal clear wort comes out as opposed to the old days when I had tons of break making it into my fermenters.

On the temp the stick on ones are great. I would use the tape and then take them off each time you wash the carboy. Getting them wet will quickly destroy the crystals that make them display the temp. It is ok for a few times then they are destroyed.

The carmelization is probably not too bad if you are only doing a 60 min boil but I would do at least 3 gals nothing less than that in the kettle. If you are only doing partial boil because of getting the temp down quickly head out to the hardware store and get 25/50 ft of 3/8 copper tubing and rollup an immersion chiller they are way to easy not to use.
Plenty of into online on how to build one of these.

 

[broon]

There are two ways to do a full wort boil. I started out doing them on the stove in two pots. Now I use a converted keg and turkey fryer. There are some excellent brewing forums out there with info on how to convert kegs, convert chest freezers into nice kegerators, build counter flow chillers.

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: broon
There are two ways to do a full wort boil. I started out doing them on the stove in two pots. Now I use a converted keg and turkey fryer. There are some excellent brewing forums out there with info on how to convert kegs, convert chest freezers into nice kegerators, build counter flow chillers.

I doubt if I'll get a kegerator just yet. I may be building a CFC soon enough, but on the other hand I've found that I can chill my wort down to 70°F within thirty minutes if I use the sink and two seperate loads of ~7lbs of ice mixed with cold water. How long does it take to chill 5 gallons of wort with a CFC?

 

[MrBond]

What I've been doing to cool my wort (and it seems to work pretty fast) is take it off the stove, put it in a sink filled with cold water and stir it until the water in the sink is warm. I take it out of the sink, set it on the opposite counter, then refill the sink and repeat.

I then add it to the other half of my water, which has been in the freezer for ~3 hours. It's not long enough to freeze it, but it's very cold and the wort doesn't take long to hit 70F.

 

[avatar08]

It usually takes about 10 minutes to cool 12gallons of wort depending on time of year and groundwater temp. It gets really hot in the summer but luckily quite cold in the winter so the mainline brewing season is kicking in.
I like to be able to cool the wort quickly for sanitary reasons and also to get a good hard cold break happening. Without it it can take a considerable amount of time for decent clearing in some of my beers. I have used a few CFCs and never really liked using them without a pump. An immersion chiller works great for me.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

nice brew, and congrats on #2


I would guess that will be about 4.5 - 5% abv

edit: you'll care a lot less about the looks of your brewpot after while.... or least that was my experience.

:beer:

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude
nice brew, and congrats on #2


I would guess that will be about 4.5 - 5% abv

I was thinking about 5% +/- 1%, but your guess is rather better than mine, so that is good to hear.

edit: you'll care a lot less about the looks of your brewpot after while.... or least that was my experience.

:beer:

I dont care about the looks so much as the potential for it to give off flavors in my beer.

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: MrBond
What I've been doing to cool my wort (and it seems to work pretty fast) is take it off the stove, put it in a sink filled with cold water and stir it until the water in the sink is warm. I take it out of the sink, set it on the opposite counter, then refill the sink and repeat.

I then add it to the other half of my water, which has been in the freezer for ~3 hours. It's not long enough to freeze it, but it's very cold and the wort doesn't take long to hit 70F.

Thats essentially what I've been doing, except I put almost 7-8 lbs of ice in the water each time before I put the pot into the water. I almost ended up making my wort too cold to pitch right away.

 

[Mookow]

I racked this to secondary last night, along with the zest of two lemons. One gallon fermenter has just the lemon added, and one has the lemon plus 18oz of rasberries. The FG is 1.016.

I will taste test and review them after bottling. It still has a couple weeks to go, though. Also, I threw my weizenbock on top of the yeast cake from this hefe.