A New Mexican Homebrewer

[geopet]

Hello, all.

I've been lurking here for about two months now and have been absolutely thrilled by the quality, and quantity, of information here. This forum is easily my main point of reading on homebrewing right now. I honestly have not felt the need to post because I simply look up my question using google and the site modifier and I find it here. Amazing.

I'm about to sample my first homebrew tomorrow. An IPA that I made from a True Brew ingredient kit. I also have on the go a carboy of Ed Wort's Apfelwein and a modified "Lovebite Weizenbeir" from Papazian's book.

Thanks to everyone here who's done such a great job of providing such excellent information.

Hello from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Geoff

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Welcome!

Whats in the lovebite?

 

[geopet]

Welcome!

Whats in the lovebite?

Thanks for the welcome!

The Lovebite is from page 194 of the 3rd edition of Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, and it is absolutely the simplest beer I've ever seen.

The recipe calls for:

5.5 lbs of wheat/barley DME
3/4 oz of Hallentauer hops
Packet of wheat yeast

I did:

6 lbs of wheat/barley DME;
1 oz of Hallentauer hops; and
1 packet of Wyeast 3333 (unforunately I could not get that smack pack to break open no matter how many times I beat that thing.)

The OG was 1.058 and the sample was quite sweet. An interesting flavor as I'm not a weizen drinker. It's got a nice amount of krausen on the surface now and all things appear to be going well.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

lol, I see I'm not the only one that often has problems getting the little bugger to break.

I haven't used that yeast but it looks like a fairly subtle weisen yeast. Let us know how it turns out.

Oh, and with a weizen you don't really need to age it. Once your FG reads the same for 3 days in a row then bottle or keg it. They are meant to be cloudy with yeast in suspension.

 

[geopet]

lol, I see I'm not the only one that often has problems getting the little bugger to break.

Honestly. That was the biggest PITA I have ever seen. Then I watch the freaking youtube video and the guy claps his hands and it breaks. Right. HAHA!

I haven't used that yeast but it looks like a fairly subtle weisen yeast. Let us know how it turns out.

Oh, and with a weizen you don't really need to age it. Once your FG reads the same for 3 days in a row then bottle or keg it. They are meant to be cloudy with yeast in suspension.

One of the appealing things about the weizen, from what I've read, is that you can bottle it early. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[geopet]

Quick question to make sure I'm on the right track. I'm thinking of leaving the weizen in the fermenter for at least a couple of weeks before testing it. Does that seem right?

Papazian seemed to suggest that it would be okay to bottle after about a week in the fermenter, and I know that his writing has been generally appreciated but other considerations are out there now, but this seems a little fast to me to even be testing after only a week.

Thanks!

 

[DragonTail]

Welcome

 

[Nurmey]

Welcome to HBT!

Some of the information in Papazian's books is a little out of date. I think he has updated some of it in later editions and articles but I would never bottle a one week old beer unless I was trying to make bombs.

I believe that beer is better for an extended time on the yeast cake. It allows for the yeast to complete fermentation, clean up its waste, and clear your beer of trub. I always leave mine in primary for 4 weeks. Sometimes I move to secondary and sometimes straight to bottle.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Nurmey, he's talking about a weizen and lots of people bottle those early. (I'm on the fence with this myself).

 

[geopet]

Nurmey, he's talking about a weizen and lots of people bottle those early. (I'm on the fence with this myself).

Exactly. The IPA I brewed I left in the primary for over five weeks. Weizens, on the other hand, I've heard can be in your mug within five. Which is why I asked.

 

[geopet]

As a followup to how things progressed with this brew here's where I am:

I ended up keeping this beer in the primary for 24 days, but on day 17 I dry hopped in the primary with another ounce of Hallertauer. I bottled and conditioned in the bottle for another 14 days.

OG: 1.056 - 1.058
FG: 1.016-1.018

A very nice beer, but with some interesting aspects which I will be posting in the beginner's section.

 

[travestyofnature]

Welcome to HBT!