Brooklyn Brew Shop's "Summer Wheat" Beer

[TasunkaWitko]

Today, I brewed a 1-gallon batch of Summer Wheat, from Brooklyn Brew Shop. As with all of my "Tips and Advice" threads, this will be a running account of the experience and the things that I learn during the process.

As usual, I'll start with the particulars:

Informational link: http://brooklynbrewshop.com/beer-mak...wheat-beer-mix

Instructions: http://brooklynbrewshop.com/directio...structions.pdf

Awesome, must-see video: https://vimeo.com/40614450

This is Brooklyn Brew Shop's go-to wheat beer, made with American wheat and brewed with Styrian Golding hops. Brooklyn Brew Shop describes it as a light, crisp and slightly spicy ale that promises a refreshing taste of summer any time of the year. After brewing this mix and encountering the aromas of the grains and hops, I am inclined to agree.

This brew went well without any complications, following the instructions above and referring to BBS's "How to Brew" video:

https://vimeo.com/11354805

The wort is tucked away in my closet, with a space heater keeping temperatures in the optimum zone, and with luck, the fermentation and bottling will go off without a hitch. One thing that I did differently during the mash was to keep the lid on my pot (an enameled, cast-iron Dutch oven); this was a big help in keeping temperatures steady and constant, and I had little trouble staying with in the desired temperature range of 144-152 degrees.

One interesting aspect about this variety is that it lends itself extremely well to experimentation. BBS offers 7 suggestions here:

http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/...at-seven-ways/

Each of them looks interesting, and of course, one could try a limitless number of other ideas; however, for this first time making Summer Wheat, I kept it simple and simply brewed it "by the book."

I'll update the thread as the progress continues, and will try to design a label this week, as well. If anyone has any experience with this particular recipe, or has been considering giving it a try, please feel free to follow along and post comments, feedback or other replies any time.

Ron

[CoffeeCreek]

Keep us updated, really want to know how it turns out, love wheat beer

[TasunkaWitko]

G'morning, CC, and many thanks for the interest! I'll be sure to post a "diary" of my progress with this beer.

I looked in on my beer this morning, and things seem to be going great so far. The ambient temperature is holding fairly steady at 68 degrees, give or take a couple of degrees, and there were definite signs of active fermentation. The colour of the beer was looking very nice, somewhere between light caramel and butterscotch.

Brooklyn Brew Shop's instructions advise to allow fermentation to continue for two weeks before bottling, but I have found that three weeks seems to be necessary for full fermentation, and four or six weeks will not hurt the final product at all. I am not sure if this has to do with temperature variations or other factors, but my beers has been consistently good to very good, so I don't fight it. With this in mind, I will switch over from the blow-off tube to an airlock on Wednesday and then try to forget about it for a while, until it is time to bottle.

More as it happens, etc. &c....

[Slanted88]

interesting...

[CoffeeCreek]

wondering, why the switch from blow off to airlock?

[TasunkaWitko]

Thanks, S88!

CC - The main reason as I understand it is that the blow-off tube is very effective during the early stages of fermentation, when the activity is high. This keeps the whole thing from blowing out in a big mess of krausen all over the place, like a fatty stuffed too full of cheese. After 3 days, the fermentation slows down, but still continues for another two weeks or longer, depending on factors. The airlock can then handle gassing off the lower quantities of CO2.

[CoffeeCreek]

yep, she can blow like crazy, just wondering why not just leave the blow off tube for the entire fermentation?

Oh, and where's the pic's?

[TasunkaWitko]

why not just leave the blow off tube for the entire fermentation?

There probably is a specific reason, but I don't know what it is. They say to do it, so I do it.

One reason might be that with a blow-off tube, there is a slight chance that temperature fluctuations might occasionally run the risk of having sanitiser from the "reservoir" getting sucked back up into your beer. This really isn't a huge deal if a little is sucked back in, because the sanitiser is perfectly safe and actually contains some nutrients that yeasts will feed on, if I remember correctly - but still ~~

Oh, and where's the pic's?

Well....

Couple of reasons there ~ I'm without a camera right now, and to me, the phone/iPod camera just doesn't cut it for really nice photos.

Plus, my kitchen, closet and everywhere else I'd be preparing the beer is awfully cluttered - can't have pix of my mess!

[Bama BBQ]

You can use a blow off for the entire process - I do it all the time. But the airlock is simply less cumbersome if you need space for another fermenter.

[TasunkaWitko]

Thanks, 'bama! I've often been curious about that!

[CoffeeCreek]

If you use boiled water and have a aggressive fementation you can capture a lot of yeast. I'll get enough with mine for four or five more five gallon batches. Saves a ton on yeast

[TasunkaWitko]

I've heard of this, but I haven't yet tried it. I am going to see about giving it a go sometime this year, as I will be using a (supposedly) specialised yeast for wheat beers.

I did swap out the blow-off tube for an airlock when I got home from work today. The beer looked great - just a bare shade darker than I expected, but in a beautiful way, as described in my post above. It also had a really nice aroma, which I am assuming is coming from the combination of the malts and the Styrian Golding hops, with a nice earthiness coming from the wheat, too.

Ambient temps are holding nicely right about 68 degrees, and and conditions seem just fine.

So far, so good ~

[CoffeeCreek]

Do you have a temp strip on your carboy or whatever you're using to ferment in?
It really help to know what temp it's at, fermentation creats heat and can rise well above ambient temps.

Brewing and Q'ing is messy, we want to see the pic's

[TasunkaWitko]

I bought a couple of the temp strips, but haven't used them yet. My concern is that they will come off when I wash the fermenters!

These are just 1-gallon batches, so I assumed (we know what that will lead to!) that any rise in temperature would be negligible; on top of that, considering the time of year and our hard-to-heat home that was built when Theodore Roosevelt was President, I figured that an extra degree or two of insurance might not be a bad thing.

But back to the temp strips, do they hold up well over repeated washings? If so, I'll definitely use them!

As for pix, I'll have to just bite the bullet and try posting a few with the camera from my iPod. Like I said, we're totally cluttered around here, and with 4 kids things are always a mess, but pix would definitely help when I'm getting some descriptions across.

[CoffeeCreek]

Yes, they hold up quite well and let you know what temps your fermention was really at, helps a lot to make any needed adjustments and be able to repeat a batch and get the flavor you expect. Just going by ambient temps can let you be way off.