My Plan on beer in primary

[BIGREDIOWAN]

So, I put my American Wheat in primary on Thursday the 6th at Noon. What I plan on doing is checking it for a gravity reading on Thursday as the bubbling has stopped in my airlock and that would give me one full week in the primary. I then will wait two more additional weeks and then bottle and conditioning at room temperature for 3 more weeks. Then try one from there, not really feeling impatient at this point, just want to make sure I have my timeline down correctly.

OG: 1.050
American Wheat Extract Kit
5 gallon batch

One concern I have is originally while my beer was fermenting the temperature was up in the 76 to 78 degree range so I have some concerns about off flavors and additional conditioning to take care of those issues. The ambient room temperature was actually around 68 to 66, but with the fermentation it obviously raised the temperature of the wort. Now that fermentation has stopped the wort is cooling down to the 66 to 68 degree range and I don't know if this is a concern? I hope to get some Johnson Controls to take care of this issue and a small space heater as I have an extra fridge. Just short on funds for right now.

 

[android]

that sounds like a great time line.

 

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Any issues with the temp situation though?

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

How do you know the fermentation temperature was 10 degrees more than ambient?

I wouldn't be too worried that you will have tremendous off flavors. You might get some off flavors but in an American wheat it isn't the end of the world. It certainly won't be undrinkable.

 

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Based on my temperature readings from my primary. I know my basement is around 66 to 68 degrees even on a cold day as I took readings for a few weeks before I even brewed. Then as I looked at my temperature gauge of the past few days on my primary I noticed that it started to fall as I was paying attention to it even from day one. I figured it might be a little bit of an issue, but I just wanted to know what I was in for. Sounds like American Wheat is gonna be a crappy beer..........lol

 

[lonniecl]

sounds fine

 

[RM-MN]

Wheat beer is supposed to mature earlier than some. I'd try a bottle at one week after bottling, another after 2 weeks, and so on until the flavor is what you expect or until it quits changing. That will give you a baseline on how long it will take for the next batch. Make notes as you go along.

 

[jkreuze]

A little estery fruitiness is within style guidelines for a wheat beer, should taste fine if it doesn't get out of hand.

 

[edie]

a wheat extract kit was my first brew and it turned out great. 1 week in primary and then another in secondary. bottle and 2ish weeks later had my first home brew. i was a little worried about temps in the beginning but my LHBS guys told me that you really need to be close to extremes to mess up a beer. only on my 10th brew but have found that beer can be very forgiving!

cheers