First beer Analysis

[ploto]

Ian's Kit and Extract Excel spreadsheet may be more useful - see the pinned topic at the top of the kit/extract forum.

Wheat beer kits will not benefit from being 'toucanned' (save that for beers you want strong and/or bitter).

You can get a very good wheat beer from extracts, more so if you use liquid yeasts - but worry about that later.

Use dry or liquid malt extract in addition to the kit - better yet use wheat malt extract (coopers make cans of unhopped liquid wheat extract, home brew shops sell dry wheat malt extract).

Avoid using dextrose or 'beer enhancers' that contain dextrose and or maltodextrin.

For a less watery beer you can try adding less water. Make up to 22 or 21 litres instead of 23. Use Ian's spreadsheet to work out your desired alcohol level.

Simple kit wheat beer recipe:
1 x can kit wheat beer
1 x can liquid wheat malt extract OR 1kg dry wheat malt extract.
WB-06 yeast, 20°C, 21 litres.

Also keep in mind that wheat beers can finish fermenting quite quickly and can be drinkable sooner than you may expect. The last one I did as per the above recipe was ready to bottle after 8 days and was good to drink after only 5 days in the bottle (it tasted best between 1 and 3 weeks).

 

[wombil]

LO colo,
I am at Coomera and made a lot of kit beer with very little gear.I found that the longer time in the fermenter the clearer the beer.Usually I left it for 3 weeks
,sometimes a bit more,depending how quickly it was needed.After 3 weeks in the bottle minimum it would pour clear to the last drop.
Another good idea is to have a frige for fermenting even if it doesn't go.Shut the door and it stops the temperature fluctuating and in winter will usually stay at 18 to 20 deg.in this area.
Try freecycle for a free frige or deep freeze .Freezers are best.
Good luck with it.

 

[Colo]

Also keep in mind that wheat beers can finish fermenting quite quickly and can be drinkable sooner than you may expect. The last one I did as per the above recipe was ready to bottle after 8 days and was good to drink after only 5 days in the bottle (it tasted best between 1 and 3 weeks).

Yeah aren't they fantastic! Three weeks and its ready for drinking. Thanks for the recipe, think I will go with the liquid wheat malt next time and reduce the volume to 20-21 litres.

 

[beer-head]

Ian's Kit and Extract Excel spreadsheet may be more useful - see the pinned topic at the top of the kit/extract forum.

Wheat beer kits will not benefit from being 'toucanned' (save that for beers you want strong and/or bitter).

You can get a very good wheat beer from extracts, more so if you use liquid yeasts - but worry about that later.

Use dry or liquid malt extract in addition to the kit - better yet use wheat malt extract (coopers make cans of unhopped liquid wheat extract, home brew shops sell dry wheat malt extract).

Avoid using dextrose or 'beer enhancers' that contain dextrose and or maltodextrin.

For a less watery beer you can try adding less water. Make up to 22 or 21 litres instead of 23. Use Ian's spreadsheet to work out your desired alcohol level.

Simple kit wheat beer recipe:
1 x can kit wheat beer
1 x can liquid wheat malt extract OR 1kg dry wheat malt extract.
WB-06 yeast, 20°C, 21 litres.

Also keep in mind that wheat beers can finish fermenting quite quickly and can be drinkable sooner than you may expect. The last one I did as per the above recipe was ready to bottle after 8 days and was good to drink after only 5 days in the bottle (it tasted best between 1 and 3 weeks).

Im very new to brewing also and might give this recipe a go. My first brew was also the Coopers Heritage Lager which has been in the fermenter for about a week, I was going to bottle it this weekend but might leave it another week after reading this post. This wheat beer recipe sounds rather easy for a novice like myself, does it matter which can kit of wheat beer you use? Can you recommend one? < 3 weeks and a tasty beer sound like my style

 

[Colo]

Im very new to brewing also and might give this recipe a go. My first brew was also the Coopers Heritage Lager which has been in the fermenter for about a week, I was going to bottle it this weekend but might leave it another week after reading this post. This wheat beer recipe sounds rather easy for a novice like myself, does it matter which can kit of wheat beer you use? Can you recommend one? < 3 weeks and a tasty beer sound like my style

Hey Mate, newbies unite! :beer: .

With your current brew, from advice in this thread I would try and keep it as cold as you can (correct temps have been mentioned in this thread) and leave it 3-4 weeks in the fermenter. I know its hard being your first brew, you just want to taste the fruits of your labour, but its disappointing when its cloudy and doesnt have the taste your expecting.

I mentioned earlier in the thread that Wheats are my favourite beer, I love a good Bavarian Hefeweizen or a Belgium Whitbier but this style of beer is unfortunatley quite expensive to buy because its all imported. For me this is the perfect beer for brewing at home because...

- Only 3 weeks until you can start drinking (2 weeks primary, 1 week secondary)
- The true style of a wheat is dirty, so you dont have to wait for it to clear up
- The yeast helps to form the taste of the beer, so you swirl the sediment back into the beer before pouring (unless your going for a Krystall).

If you are looking to brew a Wheat, have you tried one before? They dont have the strongest beer flavour and can be a bit fruity on the pallet, this suits my pallet perfectly but is not for everybody. If you havent tried a Hefeweizen before I suggest going to the booze shop and maybe grabbing yourself a bottle of schofferhofer before you commit to making 23 litres of the stuff.

For my Hefeweizen I just used the Coopers Wheat Beer kit with similar ingredients to the recipe posted by Ploto, not sure if there are better or worse kits then this one. I suggest using the recipe above though, just using the ingredients of the kit I hear makes for a pretty bland Wheat beer.


.

 

[beer-head]

Hey Colo, you are right.. leaving in the fermenter for that long is going to be hard, but ill give it a go. I have not tried the wheat beers that you mentioned, but i have tried a home brewed wheat beer sometime ago, and although it lacked a little in the taste department, it was still a nice refreshing and easy to drink beer. On that basis and the fact that its quick to brew I might create a batch of that while im waiting for the Lager to ferment as i have 2 fermenters.

The main thing im struggling with at the moment is the amount of variables that can effect the end result of your beer. So many different beers and so many different ways to brew them, it seems like it could take many brews to get it right. At the moment I just want to create a beer with a bit of taste, nothing to special or fruity, thats easy to drink and doesnt look like crap when you poor it into a glass.

Thanks for the info mate. ill let you know how it goes!!

 

[ori0]

I'm in the same boat beer-head, I have no idea where to go from kits. There was another thread about beefing up kits where the usual advice was given:
use a decent yeast n hops, maybe try specialty grains.

Next time im going to try can+dme+steeping crystal malt to compare against my pure kit APA now.

 

[Colo]

Hey Colo, you are right.. leaving in the fermenter for that long is going to be hard, but ill give it a go.

Mate, I started this thread off my first beer which was pretty average...to say the least. Whilst there were many flaws in my first brew, lessons have been learn't and as newbies some of these lessons are within our control and some aren't. Drinking my first brew, it is slowly improving but we are about 7 weeks in now, so all the boffins who have been preaching "the longer the better" are right on the money. So even something brewed in all the wrong conditions is slowly coming right.

On a side note, we have a laugh at home whenever I ask the Mrs if she wants a beer, she responds with "I'll have a Lale", cause we aren't sure if its a Lager or an Ale..ha ha. :blink:

 

[beer-head]

Hey Colo how did the lager end up? I tried mine after 2 weeks in the bottle and it was naaaasty. After the third week it was much nicer and actually drinkable, hoping this week it will be even better. So for my first brew looks like ive done ok. I also tried the wheat beer that we were talking about and after a week in the bottle in was pretty good, little under carbed but still not bad. So it looks like in the coming weeks ill have about 40 litres of beer to drink . Next im doing a draught beer, also collecting all the gear i need for kegging so that might be my first beer in the keg!!