1st Kit - Brewers Choice - Bavarian Weissbier - with pics

[Phild]

Hi there,
I've been a lurking while I brewed my first beer in several years. I decided my first beer would be a Wheat beer as it's my drink of choice these days. I haven't ended up with the beer that I was expecting, but it's drinkable and pretty strong (about 5.3%)...I guess I wanted something a bit lighter like the wheat beers you'd find on the supermarket shelf. If anyone has any tips, or pointers where I went wrong, please let me know. I am a noob to this, the last time I brewed it was from a Boots kit!


I brewed the Bavarian Weissbier as per the packet instructions, with Brupak Premium Grade Malt Extract, with a starting gravity of about 1052. After about 3 days the fermentation seemed to have stopped, I tried rousing the yeast from the bottom and added Yeast Vit but fermentation didn’t re-start and gravity never dropped bellow 1018. At 5 days I transferred to a secondary fermentor with airlock.


At day 7 the gravity was still 1018 so I thought 'sod it' and siphoned it into primed bottles.

Tonight...day 11, a little early to be supping I guess, I've poured myself a pint. As you can see it's quite dark for a wheat beer, nice and cloudy. The gravity now seems to be 1011. It’s pleasant and drinkable, but is too strong for my taste, though having finished it I’ve had to venture back under the stairs to find another bottle to throw in the freezer for 10 minutes

Would I have been better off using 1Kg Spray-Dried Malt Extract instead of the 1.5 Kg Brupak Premium Grade Malt Extract?



(The glass is no indication of what I was expecting )

Would like to make a lighter, more refreshing wheat beer next if anyone has any tips - I've searched the forums but not found too much about wheat beer...

Cheers

Phild

[mysterio]

Hi Phil and welcome to the forum. I brew all-grain wheat beer often but not kits.

Would I have been better off using 1Kg Spray-Dried Malt Extract instead of the 1.5 Kg Brupak Premium Grade Malt Extract?

I think this would be a good start. These extracts tend to be designed for English ale brewing and so tend to contain more unfermentable sugars which contribute to the heavy mouthfeel. By using more malt extract, as opposed to wheat extract, you are tipping the balance more towards the malty side. German wheat beers tend to be around the 60/40 wheat to malt ratio.

If you can find it, I think Muntons do a wheat spraymalt, which I presume is a 50/50 mix of wheat and malt extract. I would try a kilo of that, or to lighten the body even further, 500g of the Muntons wheat extract and 250g of plain white sugar. Sugar, while generally avoided in large amounts, will ferment completely and leave you with a drier beer. Another thing to keep in mind is German weissbiers are generally very highly carbonated - this will also help contribute to the light mouthfeel. You can experiment with this but be careful that you don't make bottle bombs and use heavy bottles.

What kinds of wheat beer are you used to drinking and which ones do you prefer?

[Phild]

What kinds of wheat beer are you used to drinking and which ones do you prefer?

I have to admit that the two most common brands are most often in my fridge: Hoegaarden and Kronenburg Blanc (too fruity to be honest, but love to glug it after hard work or a hot day). Most other guest (?) wheat beers I've tried in supermarket's I haven't enjoyed as much but hopefully I'll broaden my tastes now I've started home brewing

There is an extra light spray malt available, that might give you the results you want. Certainly lighter than pale lme and doesn't require boiling.

Here's another wheat beer recipe courtesy of Mr C

Thanks, was wondering about the extra light spray malt when I saw it in an online shop. Yeah, I saw that recipe and am tempted to try that next

[mysterio]

I have to admit that the two most common brands are most often in my fridge: Hoegaarden and Kronenburg Blanc (too fruity to be honest, but love to glug it after hard work or a hot day). Most other guest (?) wheat beers I've tried in supermarket's I haven't enjoyed as much but hopefully I'll broaden my tastes now I've started home brewing

Weihenstephan & Franziskaner are two of my favourites, and not too hard to find usually.

[fivetide]

Brupaks do a full malt two can West Riding Wheat kit. I have one I haven't done yet, but bought in the first place because I'd read great things about it and thought it would make a good base for a wheat experiment. Maybe you could search around and read about that one?

[Phild]

Thanks everyone for the help, I will have to make a decision on what I'm going to do soon as I'm eager to get started again. This batch wont last too long

[Phild]

Quick question on the Hoegaarden recipe

What would you use for the '1 can Wheat beer 1.7kg'?

[edit1now]

I can also recommend Waitrose's Dark Wheat Beer (made by Arcobräu in Bavaria).

[JohnJeye]

I have been using the Hoegaarden clone recipe, thanks again Mr C ! Used a NZ kit as it was the cheapest at about 9 quid. 1kg of light spray malt. Used styrian golding hops to bitter with and Saaz to armoa the brew.

Think its slightly more bitter than was supposed to due to a slightly longer boil while I worked out how the wort would get into my fermentor while the hops didn't (Time to buy myself a hop bag!). Used Muntons gold yeast and after about 24 hours it was nearly blowing foam out of the airlock !


OG - 1045
FG - 1012

Spent 7 days fermenting and had a taste last night while it was going into a barrel. Not much like Hoegaarden but I deviated from the recipe. Was lovely though, very tasty and a nice refreshing hoppy after taste. Very pleased

[Phild]

Nice, let us see a pic of the final product.

I'm not going to deviate so my shopping list is (weights are just what is sold at):

1 x Coopers Brewmaster Wheat Beer 40 Pints
2 x 1kg Light Dried Malt Extract
1 x Brupaks East Kent Goldings 100g
1 x MH Saaz 113g(4oz) Hops
1 x Curacao Orange peel - Cut 50g
1 x Muntons Gold Premium Beer Yeast

and a couple of hops bags.
I have coriander and priming sugar.

Thats all I need right? Will get ordering later

[Phild]

I wasn't sure where to ask this, so my own thread will do:::::
Once I crack open these bags of hops, I'll be left with a lot to spare. What is the best way to store hops once you've broken them free of their foil packaging so they stay fresh until you need their services again?
Plastic zip bags, tupperware, freezing? I'll also have 700g of LME looking for a home.
If this is a common question please point me at a thread.

Will hopefully get started on this recipe on Sunday...if I'm not too hung over from the party I'm at on Saturday

[SiHoltye]

For broken packet hops storage look to minimize air, light and temperature.
Avoid these issues by brewing more, and use 'off cuts' as additional aroma where appropriate.
Happy Brewing

[Phild]

Thanks for the tips. I started the recipe today and thought I'd record it's progress here.

Loaded the Kent Golding Hopes, Curacua Orange Peel and Coriander into one hops bag (left in pic) and The Saaz hops onto another.



Weighed out the 300g of LME and slowly poured it into the 3 Ltrs of water as it heated up, followed by the other 1Kg bag.



Brought it to the boil and tossed in the Goldings bag. Accidentally boiled for 15 minutes before putting the Saaz bag in for another 5 minutes. Will this affect the final product much?



Took off the heat, emptied the warmed can of Coopers into the mix, gave it a bit of a stir then emptied into the fermentor.
I decided just to buy 20 Litres of Co-op's finest spring water rather than have the hassle of trying to filter it myself again. Only cost £8.



I airated the fermenter for a good 10 minutes (something I failed to do properly on my last batch) and it had a nice frothy head.



I left it about an hour or so then sprinkled the Munton Gold yeast evenly over the top.

Starting Gravity 1040, room seems to be a steady 23 degrees, have turned heating down slightly.

[shepp]

Phild, why do you need filtered or spring water?

[Phild]

Phild, why do you need filtered or spring water?

Just wanted something a bit better than the chlorine tainted stuff that comes out of my tap. I've also read here that people usually use filtered or just buy it from the supermarket.
Though I bought it from the co-op, so they probably just filled it from a hose around the back, lol.
Think there is a thread or 2 about water around here.