Hefeweizen Brewday 1/28/11

On Friday we brewed a hefeweizen. This is the simplest recipe we have brewed so far. No specialty grains and only two hop additions. It's all about the yeast in this beer.

Calculated OG: 1.048

Estimated FG: 1.012

Estimated ABV: 4.7%

Calculated IBUs (Tinseth): 14

Vol. CO2: 2.9

Yeast: Wyeast 3068 (Weihenstephan)

Starter: 1 liter

Pitching temp: 65F

Fermentation high: 72F (day 4)

Fermentation low: 63F

Fermentation vessel: Ale Pail

7 lbs wheat LME (40% wheat)

5 oz of sucrose at bottling

0.5 oz Hallertau 4.3% AA at 60 minutes

0.5 oz Hallertau 4.3% AA at 30 minutes

I made a 1 liter starter the night before we brewed. Though I had a bit of trouble popping the nutrient packet in the smack pack, my first attempt at making a starter went quite well. The starter smelled amazing, like rising bread.

On brewday, Jack was out getting new yeast for the BPA, so I performed the boil by myself. This was by far the quickest and smoothest brewday we've had. I soaked the bucket of LME in a sink of hot water, which made it so much easier to add to the boil. Unfortunately I was sick at the time, so I have no idea what the Hallertau smelled like.

My only qualm about this beer is that we used water from the hot water tap. When I realized this, I got fresh water from the cold tap for the top-up water, so I don't think we'll have any problems with infection, and any heavy substances should have precipitated out either in the boil or during fermentation, but it is the one element in this beer that could cause trouble.

2/8/11: 11 days into fermentation. Bubbling has slowed to once every 20 seconds. Specific gravity: 1.012. Tastes good. If the gravity is the same on Thursday, we'll bottle.

Bottled on 2/10/11, with plain red caps.