American Wheat Beer (Yummy Success)

[CrealCritter]

Ingredients:
2) 3.3 lbs wheat liquid extract
1 lb white table sugar
1 oz Palisade hoops
5 gallons spring water
2) packets brewing yeast (Ale)

Directions:
Bring 2 1/2 gallons spring water to a gentle boil. Stir in 1 lb white table sugar, 3.3 lbs wheat liquid extract & 1 oz Palisade hoops. Bring back to a gentle boil, and boil for 40 minutes. Turn off flame and add another 3.3 lbs wheat liquid extract. Add flame and bring back to a gentle boil. Boil for an additional 20 minutes.

Remove from heat, cover and place in sink of cold water to cool. You may have to replace the sink water several times to cool the wart or add ice to the sink water but not the wart.

Once cool to 70 degrees or less, pour into carboy add 2 1/2 more gallons of spring water to the carboy. Airrate by rocking the carboy back and forth for a minute or a little longer. Add two packets of brewing yeast (Ale) to the carboy. Bung and airlock the carboy. Set carboy in a dark cool place to ferment.

Original Gravity = 1052ish, potential alcohol content = 6.7%ish

 

[CrealCritter]

Day 9 - Its bottling day

Syphoned the good stuff off the trub and into my bottling bucket.

Boiled 2 cups of water and 5oz of priming sugar, put the pot in cold water to cool and stirred it into my bottling bucket. I filled and capped 52 bottles but only have 51 shown because I drank one. Its mighty tasty even warm and flat

Here is what's left of the last bottle from the bottling bucket.

Now it needs to bottle condition for two weeks. Then I'll toss a couple in the fridge and see how they taste cold and carbonated.

 

[CrealCritter]

One active brew, had to install a blow off tube. The water in the bucket is gurgling.

Duct tape to the rescue... With all this CO2 don't show AOC, she might want to outlaw beer production

 

[CrealCritter]

Day 1 - gurgling has been reduced to a fast burping. What a mess inside the carboy. I'm so glad that's where the mess stayed though. That's 5 gallons of beer in a 6 1/2 gallon carboy.

 

[CrealCritter]

Day 6 - I never had beer clear so fast before on its own accord, without using gelatin. It looks like its going to be ready to bottle in the next day or two. The reason I have it on the bucket is so I can syphon into the bottling bucket where its at. That way I won't disturb the trub on the bottom by having to move it.

 

[CrealCritter]

Day 7 - beer is ready for bottling. I designated Wednesday bottling day. I cleaned 60 12oz longnecks, I just hope I remember how to use the bottle capper. I may practice on a couple of empty bottles first. This is my first homebrew beer since my college days, when I used to brew with one of my professors. Now I'm the chief cook & bottle washer

Some good looking homebrew in there.

Nice layer of trub settled on the bottom.

 

[CrealCritter]

Day 19 - cracked my first bottle 10 days since bottling, man this stuff is yummy

Golden American Wheat. Has a slight sweet bread taste at first, then a slight bitterness of the hops when you swallow - It's absolutely delicious.

 

[CrealCritter]

Day 20 - Yummy, what a great tasting Ale. I WILL be brewing this again and not changing a thing about it.

 

[CrealCritter]

Sláinte!

Next to be brewed is a Irish Red Ale. I hope to get it in the kettle this weekend.

 

[CrealCritter]

Day 21 - I put a 12 oz bottle in the freezer for a little over an hour. When I popped the top and poured, it had just a little bit of ice. It poured with a tall head in the pint mug.

After about a minute it settled down to a normal looking rich creamy blonde head.

Lacing of foam, you can almost count the number of swallows it took me to finish this mug. Back in my brew days like (30 years ago) lacing on the inside of the glass was how we determined the beer was fully carbonated. I would say this batch of homebrew Golden American Wheat, is fully carbonated now for sure.

I really don't drink much at all really, a glass a day during dinner is good enough for me. I don't like crappy store bought big name beers. Brewing your own at home is a great way to produce good quality tasting beer for a lot cheaper than you would pay at the store for the same quality, taste and style. Plus most store bought beer the yeast is killed off and it is carbonated with co2 gas which makes it taste nasty to me and give me the burps. Naturally carbonated beer with the same yeast that it was fermented with, originally is so alive and much better tasting. Live beer has to be better for you than dead co2 gassed beer.

Anyways this last post of pictures for this batch of home brew. Its now complete and ready to enjoy. I really just wanted to take you through soup to nuts of what it takes to brew up a awesome batch of homebrew ale and I hope you all enjoyed this little thread.