What better way to spend the day than brewing a beer! Summer is just around the corner and I wanted a summer beer to be on tap when the temperature heats up. It has been a while since I’ve brewed a “summer” beer so I decided a wheat beer would be my summer libation this year. Well, at least the first summer beer. 
I had invited quite a few people over to the day’s session. All in all, I think there were close to 15 people here. I just hoped I wouldn’t disappoint them. Some, it would be the first time they saw beer made from scratch… others, well, they’re pretty experienced in the brew session game.
There was one new addition to the brewery for this brew day, my in-line water filter. Read more about it in this post. My initial plan was to use a shutoff valve (attached to the water filter) to regulate the flow… Well, that plan was nixed about 10 seconds into the brew day when I realized that I had two male ends. So, that wasn’t going to work. To get around it, I just screwed the hose into the filter and controlled the flow by the spigot. Not the most ideal way, but it worked. This filter worked really well and I’m hoping that the quality of my finished beer will increase as well.
While the Hot Liquor Tun was being filled up with the filtered water, it started to drizzle a little. No big deal, I’ve brewed in the rain and snow before. However, the rain started to come down a little harder and I didn’t want to get soaked while brewing. So we moved our chairs into the garage to stay some what dry and watch things happen with the brew system. You can see the wetness in the picture on the right. As summer showers tend to do, this one vanished in a few minutes and we were back out in the Carolina heat.
After hitting the strike temp, I started my mash procedures. Things were progressing rather well until my mash temp ended up 8 degrees to low. The low mash temp will net a beer that is slightly dry and maybe more alcoholic. Not a big deal, but it did irk me that I missed it by that much. Oh well, guess I should have paid more attention to the mash tun than filling my pint glass.
I like to time my brew day so I (and whoever is over) can enjoy a few pints of homebrew, some pizza, and a cigar over the sparging process. Normally, if there aren’t any problems, I collect about 5 gallons per hour sparging. It’s a nice break and it gives us time to enjoy the food and beer.
Today, instead of pizza, I fired up my Big Green Egg and we all had brats with sour kraut! Unfortunately, I don’t have a pic of the Egg loaded up with lunch… The brats were awesome and I believe everyone enjoyed them. There were times I should have been duplicated as I tended the grill and the brew system. I’d like to thank my buddies for the excellent help on the brew system; the day couldn’t have been possible with out you!
Once I collected the 6.25 gallons of wort by fly sparging, it was time to get the boil on! The wort was brought to boil with no big surprises, as the boilover stayed in check and all additions were made with ease. The wort was chilled down using the counterflow chiller and into the fermenter it went… Success!
So, to cap it all off I’d say this was a very successful brew day. My only mishap was the mash temp being 8 degrees low. We’ll have to see what effects this actually has on the beer. Everyone had a great time, even the kids…though they tore up my daughter’s bounce house so I’ll have to patch a few holes…
Recipe Specifics:
1 lbs Rice Hulls
6 lbs White Wheat Malt
4 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US
0.50 oz Cascade (60 min) 9.0 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade (15 min) 4.5 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade (5 min) 3.6 IBU
0.25 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
0.25 oz Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Wheat Ale (Wyeast Labs #1010) Yeast-Ale
Estimated OG: 1.054
Actual OG: 1.046
Estimated FG: 1.012
Actual FG: 1.010
ABV: 4.7%
UPDATE (5/31/11):
The beer is very nice! It’s a very light, easy drinking summer beer. The wheat ratio may need to be adjusted if I re-brew it as it doesn’t have that ‘wheaty’ taste that some wheat beers have. Some may like this beer over the big commercial brews because of the taste. I guess, you could say it’s an ‘intro to wheat beer’ beer. Even with the slight wheat taste, it is a very good beer and I don’t think it will last too long in the keg.
Till next time,
Cheers!
