Batch 21 - Hefeweizen

After a year of remodeling my basement (and beer room) I'm back in the saddle!

I've started with the same recipe as Batch 14, except using Wyeast #3638 Bavarian Wheat yeast. After stocking up on supplies, I started brewing but forgot the order. I ran around the Internet looking for directions, forgetting I listed them here, so my technique was a bit different.
Ingredients:

• 6 lbs wheat malt extract
• 1 lb german light crystal malt
• 1 lb german wheat malt
• 1 oz hallertauer hops
• Wyeast #3638 Bavarian Wheat yeast

Steps:
1. Heated around 2 gallons of water - when it was at a near boil I added the grain. Boiled for 10 minutes until there was a fast, foamy boil. Drained bag into pot. Fed some of the grain to my dogs, who love the stuff.
2. Added extract. Returned to boil for 10 minutes.
3. Added hops. Boiled uncovered (I read a tip that this is a good thing) for 45 minutes.
4. Turned off heat. Removed hops. In 10 minutes, moved to ice water filled sink. Left it there for around 30 minutes.
5. Poured into primary container. Shook to aerate for a minute, added a gallon of water. Repeat unti at 5 gallon mark.
6. Added yeast. Cover, bring down to basement to brew. Basement is currently 66 degrees, wort is 74 degrees.

Pitched: 10/14/07
OG: 1.053

Batch 20 - Cider

6 tubes of apple cider
yeast

7/30/06 Brewed

Batch 19 - Another Hefeweizen

8/13/06 Brewed

Batch 18 - Casserole Beer

4/3/06
It was time to brew and I had quite a few hops sitting in my refrigerator, so I decided to use them. I bought some extract, boiled in my hops, added some yeast I had in the refrigerator, and called it a beer.

6 lb. pale extract
1 oz nugget hops, pellet, 12.1% AA, 60 min
1 oz Cascade hops, leaf, 6.7% AA, 5 min
1 oz mystery hops, leaf, 5 min (I'm guessing Fuggles, but it had no label)
Wyeast 3333 yeast - German wheat yeast

1.053 OG

Pitched at 68F (cold ground water this time of year)

4/4/06
I pitched last night at 9 pm. As of 6:30 am, still no bubbles. Temperature of wort is 61F. Later in the day I realized 3333 is a wheat yeast. Unless it starts bubbling by the time I come home from work I'll add some of my 1272 American Ale II yeast (I think that's what I have in the refrigerator). It works all the way down to 60F and will likely give better results with normal extract than the wheat yeast.

(later)
Still almost no bubbles. Turns out the only yeast I have is 3333. I left some warm up and added it, in case there was something wrong with my other yeast.

4/6/06
Still few bubbles, and I'm getting worried. The wort temperature is down to 59, so perhaps even though this fermentation is going to be slow maybe that's too cold for bacteria as well. Wish my beer luck.

4/9/06
Bubbles started up late in the day on the 6th. It's been bubbling fairly fast since then - about a bubble every 2 seconds. It will be a long fermentation, but hopefully it will still be a good fermentation.

A while later...
This beer was not good. That is, it was far too bitter for my taste.

Batch 17 - Not Quite Pale Ale

This recipe came from a book called Clone Brews, though I've modified it to fit with what I had available.

Wyeast 1272 American Ale Yeast II
10 oz 55L British crystal malt
3 oz Black Poter (was supposed to be chocolate malt, but I grabbed the wrong grain)
6 lb light LME
1 oz Chinook hops @ 60 min
1 oz Mt Hood hops 3% AA @ 60 min
.5 oz Tettnanger hops @ 15 min
1 tsp Irish moss @ 15 min
.5 oz Fuggles hops @ 10 min
.5 oz Fuggles hops @ 1 min
.5 oz Cascade hops @ secondary

Because I ended up using Black Poter it isn't very pale. So I guess I'll just call it an ale. This batch I tried making a starter. I added a yeast sample saved from my last batch, together with a bottle of a Mexican beverage called Malta Goya. I opened the Malta, poured out about a third, added yeast, and placed a rubber stopper and airlock on the bottle. The next day it was bubbling and ready to add to the batch.

Brewed: 10/30/05
Secondary: 11/15/05
Bottled: 2/22/06 in 3 Tap-a-Draft bottles

Batch 16 - Seattle Style Bitter

Another recipe modified from The Cellar Homebrew, my local brew shop.

• 6 lbs light malt extract


• 1 lb amber dry malt


• 1 lb german light crystal malt


• 1.5 oz chinook hops (mine were 14.3%) for 60 min


• 1.5 oz cascade hops (mine were 6.3%) for 5 min


• American Ale II yeast (saved from previous batch)

Regular extract brewing process here. The Cellar calls "Bitter Lake Bitter", a version of an English Ale, modified for the Seattle style. They predict an OG of 1.053-1.059.

The yeast was saved from my primary bucket of my last batch. How I do this is just shake the bucket a bit after I've transferred the wort to secondary, and pour the trub into 3 clean, sanitized bottles. I fill the bottles only about 1/2 full to leave plenty of head space in case they keep fermenting. I cap them, and put them in the refrigerator (opening the caps a little every few weeks to make sure pressure isn't building up).

9/19 Update: Transferred to secondary.

FG: 1.012
Brewed: 9/4/05
Bottled: 10/22/05
Status: Bottled

Batch 15 - Blackberry American Hefeweizen

This will either be a simple American Hefeweizen or a Blackberry American Hefeweizen - I have about 3/4 pound of frozen blackberries, and I've been told a simple wheat beer works well as a base for a berry beer. My original reason for brewing this was to compare American Hefe vs. German Hefe - I've been told us Americans aren't used to real hefeweizen with it's strong bananna and clove flavors.

Since this yeast has a max temperature of 72F and my basement's right at 72F, I may wrap frozen water bottles next to my primary bucket with a towel to drop it a degree or two.

Update 8/21/05: I've wrapped a towel with frozen water bottles around it this morning when it was at 72F and bubbling every few seconds. Looks like I caught it right before it's rapid stage of fermentation - as of 4pm it's bubbling several times per second and is at 69F.

Update 9/2/05: I've transferred to the secondary carboy, and decided to go for the berries. I had about 3/4 pound of blackberries in the freezer, and heated them in a sauce pan then pureed them in a blender to break open the berries. I added this to my secondary container along with the beer.

Update 10/22/05: Finished bottling. I transferred to the bottling bucket using a sterilized new nylon sock as a filter, clamped to the end of my siphon tube. This managed to seperate out a few berries and some fruit pectin that would have ended up in my bottles.

Ingredients:

• 6 lbs wheat malt extract


• 1 oz hallertauer hops


• Wyeast 1272 American Ale II


• ~3/4 lbs blackberries

Brewed: 8/20/05
Bottled: 10/22/05
OG: 1.041
FG1: 1.014 (FG before I added berries - looks like it wasn't really a final gravity)
FG2: 1.012 (final gravity at bottling)
ABV: 3.5%
Status: Bottled

Batch 14 - Hefeweizen

Recipe modified from The Cellar Homebrew.

Ingredients:

• 6 lbs wheat malt extract


• 1 lb german light crystal malt


• 1 lb german wheat malt


• 1 oz hallertauer hops


• 3333 German wheat yeast, saved in bottle from last batch

I started with about 2 gallons of tap water, and added grains in a bag. I heated this to a boil, and removed heat for 10 minutes. I then strained grains and rinsed with another gallon of hot tap water. I added the extract, and stirred as the extract came back up to a boil. I added the hops, and waited an hour.

I then cooled the pot in an ice water filled sink, removed the hops, poured into my primary bucket, and rinsed hops with enough cold water to make 5 gallons. I then aerated the wort and pitched the yeast.

7/22/05: Bubbling away, about once per second. I pitched at about 80F, and it's down to 74.

7/24/05: Still bubbling a few times per minute. Temperature is now down to 69 (basement temp at 68).

7/29/05: Transferred to secondary carboy. Looks and smells like a hefeweizen. Basement temp and beer temp at 72F.

8/7/05: Bottled. Tasted a bit - I haven't had a German hefe before, so I'm not sure what to expect. Much different than the American hefe's I've had - I think I'll have to wait for the carbonated version to be sure if I like it.

Pitched: 7/21/05
Bottled: 8/7/05
Status: bottled, waiting for it to carbonate
OG: 1.041
FG: 1.014
ABV: 3.5%
Results: 8/21/05 Wow, certainly much different from what I'm used to. Fairly strong of bananna and clove (at least I assume. I'm still working on my pallete, but it smells fruity and spicy). Definately much more flavor than the hefe's I'm used to - they must be American hefe's.