First beer (with recipe)

[BrightDevil]

Alright everyone, I'm starting my first beer this weekend. I took a 1 gallon recipe from my LHBS and modified it a little bit and wanted to get your opinions on it. I'm going to be doing BIAB.

Mash temperature: 152F
Mash time: 60 min
Pre-boil volume: 2.37 gal
Grains:

• 1.3 lbs Wheat malt
• 1 lbs Munich Type II
• 4 oz Caramel 40
• 2 oz Chocolate wheat

Hops

• .12oz Hallertauer - 60 min
• .1oz Citra - 5 min

Yeast: Wyeast 3068

Thoughts? Should I change anything? I basically tried to take a wheat beer and take it more to a dunkelweizen. I'm planning on letting it go in the fermenter for 3 weeks or so then bottle condition.

 

[ncbrewer]

A wheat beer might not be the best for a first all-grain brew. It crushes different from barley, and sometimes it can cause a stuck run-off. You could add some rice hulls (maybe 2 oz) to help with the run-off. Good luck.

 

[m00ps]

I think you should go for it. With biab you don't need to worry about stuck sparge

Advice on yeast: pitch in mid 60s leave there for more clove character. Climb close to 70 for bananananana


You may not need caramel. Bavarian and get me an wheat yeasts have a way of making a sweet silly body that comes across as sweet

I like the citra addition. Its different. Most hefes only have bitteing addition. It is 0.1oz right?

 

[BrightDevil]

I like the citra addition. Its different. Most hefes only have bitteing addition. It is 0.1oz right?

Yeah, just .1oz. I was hoping to get something a bit different than usual there. Thanks for the temp advice. I'll do the best I can, but since I'm new to this, I don't have many good options for chilling it down. I'll get the pitch temp to 60 with refrigerated water and I'll keep it sitting on an AC vent (and definitely take it off when it switches to heat for the winter).

 

[ncbrewer]

I think you should go for it. With biab you don't need to worry about stuck sparge

You're right - I was thinking of the cooler mash tun. Biab shouldn't have a stuck run-off problem. The crush could be an issue. It might be a good idea to crush it separately and inspect it. Double crush if needed.

 

[spark_plug]

With 3068, don't ferment it too warm, that yeast is very very very aggressive! If you can hold it at 68F you will get a nice combo of banana/clove. I made a mistake of fermenting that yeast to warm once, and I might as well put peppercorn in the beer. Took months for it to be drinkable.

This is the one yeast that I have learned that the German rule of thumb definitely applies, pitch + ferment should equal 30. Pitch the yeast at 12C and ferment at 18C, and you will have an excellent beer.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

This might be helpful:

http://eurekabrewing.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/wheat-yeast-comparison-results-part-2-tasting/

 

[m00ps]

To cool it just leave it outside once its sealed up for an hour or so. That's how I've been cooling my batches the past few weeks all the way down to 60