Popped the top on my first homebrew. Was a LME kit. It’s a little darker than should be. Has nice head on it and is drinkable. It seems to have a sweet tang to it. Truth be told I would be pissed if I had bought it from the beverage store. But I made and will drink it.
I did a lot of research after I made it and discovered things I did wrong. The second batch will be better. It’s been in the bottle for one week and already taste better than the first batch.
Gonna try my hand at AG this weekend. I hope it produces a better product.
It’s a Bavarion heffie. Was the only kit my local supply had. This is my first time drinking that style. May taste as it should. My not be bad for the style. I’m not exactly sure what it should taste like.
I like pale ales and Belgian ales . my AG will be a NB Sierra madra pale ale, I’ll be able to judge it a little better.
Hefeweizens have a taste of their own. If you are not familiar with the style, then you may have a very representative beer and just not recognize it as such. These beers will have banana and clove flavors that are not present in other beers. Maybe pick up a bottle of hefe at a local store and give yourself a chance to compare. Enjoy the hobby.
Jerry
[quote=“jdwilliam, post:5, topic:20679”]
Maybe pick up a bottle of hefe at a local store and give yourself a chance to compar
[/quote]yeah, good idea. I’ll pick up a six of it today.
Or in case you really do dislike Hefeweizens, pick up a single bottle. Look for Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen as a good benchmark, and it can be bought in singles at a lot of package stores.
I’ll try to find it.
Then again, ignorance may be bliss. I may find what I made to be way off… Was my first batch and mistakes where made. 1st was I did half volume boil, then used tap water to top it off. 2nd I didn’t aerate it after pitching the yeast. But it seemed to have an active fermentation. It mallard a lot.
I wish I would have found this site before brewing it.
Good news is I’m set up now for full volume boil and I have picked up a ton of knowledge from the fine folks on this site.
Dry or liquid yeast? You can get away without aerating with dry yeast, but it’s an absolute must with liquid yeast. The result will be underattenuated and sweet at best.
[quote=“BeerBelly, post:10, topic:20679, full:true”] My space for fermentation sets at 68 degrees. So what ever I make has to work in that range.
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Naw! Google swamp cooler. Cheap easy way to take those 68° ambient temps down to low 60°s. You’ll be rewarded with better beer if you can keep they ACTUALLY fermentation temps 63°-65°. Fermentation is exothermic, this will cause your fermentation temps to creep up an easy 5° over ambient. I’ve had 10° in beers with 1.065-1.070. Recently I had a 1.050 beer go 7° over ambient! The higher the OG the more heat that can be produced.
This is my swamp cooler set up. At 68°F ambient temperature I can get a 10°F drop with the fan blowing on the wet towel. This is an American Amber Ale using WY !056.
The tray is a restaurant bussing tray from Sam’s Club. $12.95 a pair. I put a tablespoon of bleach in the tray to prevent mold growth. I switched to a digital thermometer instead of relying on the thermometer strip which can be cooled by the flow of moist air.
Yeah, I tend to over think things. Being an HVAC contractor I’ve been rattling around a idea for a closet cooler… Was gonna have 300 bucks invested… This will be much easier and cheaper.
If you want something a little more accurate and don’t mind spending a little money you could buy a chest freezer. Use a temp controller to keep it from freezing. Easy PEASY and accurate.
