Topics

76

General Homebrew Discussion / Help Me Tweak My Hefeweizen

« on: December 18, 2010, 11:18:37 AM »

I am closing in on what I want in my recipe.  I have the right sweetness and a nice balance of banana and clove.  What I am now wanting to eliminate is a bit of tartness.  It might be bitterness, I'm not sure.  I only used around 18 IBU of Tettnanger (60 and 15min additions) so I don't know if this is it.  I use Best wheat malt, not sure if this is a source of tartness.  The yeast is WY3068 starter, fermented around 64F using swamp cooler/ice bottles.  I now have a temp-controlled fermentor if that would help.  I  have upped my crystal malts to 9%, not sure if a little more sweetness would cover the tartness.

I should mention that our favorite hefes are Ayinger Ur-Weisse and Schneider Edel Weisse.

Any suggestions on what to do to remove this last little flaw in my hefeweizen?  The wife likes these so I have a real interest in getting this recipe right.  Thanks in advance for suggestions.

77

All Grain Brewing / Flavor of Fat Tire/2 Below, Which Malt?

« on: January 03, 2010, 05:00:01 PM »

I bought some New Belgium 2 Below awhile back and loved it.  Then I had a Fat Tire (my first) and it tasted like a slightly weaker version of the 2 Below.  Both beers have what I think is a distinctive chocolate flavor to them.  I read where Fat Tire is brewed with Munich and Victory malt though, no chocolate.  Is the flavor I'm getting coming from the Munich malt?  I haven't used much of it, and not in a Belgian ale.

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All Grain Brewing / My First 1.100 Beer

« on: December 24, 2009, 04:05:04 PM »

I set out to make a big beer since my RIS and barleywine supplies from last year's batches are getting low.  This time I came up with more of a DIPA, although I htink with age it'll drink like a barleywine.

The grist for this 2gal batch is:

4lb Maris Otter
1lb wheat malt
1/2lb Victory
1/2lb Biscuit
1/2lb rye malt
1/2lb Crystal 60L
1/8lb Caramunich II
3/4lb sugar

Mashed at 150F-148F for 90min, batch sparged.

The hops schedule is:

2oz Magnum 90min
1oz mix of Willamette, Centennial, Summit and Cascade added at 15,5 and FO.
Did a 30min stand after flameout.

Yeast was a US05 yeast cake from a previous 3gal batch.

Everything went well enough, I hit 1.100 OG on the nose and got my 2gal.  It went in the fermentor a week ago, I used a swamp cooler and ice bottles to keep the ferm temp in the low 60's.  After six days the krausen had dropped so I brought it upstairs to warm it so it would attenuate to the maximum extent.  Out of curiosity I checked FG today, it was surprisingly low at 1.015.  I'm glad it isn't underattenuated, I was worried about using so much Victory and Biscuit (I didn't know they weren't considered base malts).

I tasted the SG sample and its hoppy to ay the least, very bitter with a citrusy flavor.  It has the characteristic mouthfeel of a rye beer, thick and slippery.  The alcohol is noticeable at this point, guess I have to expect that.  I tried to detect diacetyl and/or fruity esters and didn't find any although in this hop bomb it's tough to find anything else.  It'll be very interesting to see what carbonation and chilling do to the flavor of this beer.

I'm going to let this sit another week and bottle late next week.  I'm half-tempted to keg just to get it "to market" faster, but this is no keg beer so bottling seems the only reasonable course of action.

Anyway, just wanted to crow about my first 100 beer, and my best attenuation of a big beer to date.  Fred Bonjour's website was a big part of the success of this aspect of the brew.  Cheers!

79

Yeast and Fermentation / S23 Lager Yeast from Fermentis

« on: December 24, 2009, 10:07:36 AM »

Anyone have experiences with this yeast?  Ive heard only bad things about it so far.  I bought two packets and was going to brew a few lagers this winter, but I'm growing up some WLP830 now because I'm kind of scared to try S23.  I really don't want a fruity lager, I went through that last winter with the Brewferm lager yeast and it was a big waste of time.