First Brew of NB's Dunkelweiss

Northern Brewer General
1

Hello,

I brewed my first brew yesterday the Dunkelweiss kit from NB. Fermentation this morning was awesome, I’m surprised actually. I have it in a glass Carboy.

What can I expect? I don’t want to put in a Secondary, but keep it in the Carboy. I assume I can bottle from the Carboy?

Appreciate any comments as this is my first batch.

Prost!
Dunkelweiss

2

How do you plan on priming? If using corn sugar you’ll want a bottling bucket. Add your priming sugar BEFORE transfering it to a bottling bucket to help ensure it mixes well.
Congrats on your first batch and welcome to the forum!

3

Thanks Loopie!

Yes, guess I should think of priming. I can use a pale I used for sanitizing. To be honest I have not thought too much at this stage; in regards to the Priming (then bottling).

I was planning on boiling table sugar then pour into a bucket prior to bottling. I just checked my carboy and the airlock is cloudy with what I assume is part of the “brew”/ fermentation. Should I be concerned?

Prost!
Dunkelweiss

4

Welcome to the world of homebrewing.

One thing you should be concerned about with a weizen or dunkelweizen is whether or not you have enough headspace in the fermenter. Weizen yeast are very active and typically need a blow off tube vs a simple airlock. If the airlock gets full of thick krausen you should consider switching it out with a blow off tube for the next batch. Others might be able to comment on how to deal with a plugged airlock in the short term. I imagine you would pull it, cover the carboy with sanitized foil, clean, sanitize and replace but have never done so myself.

You don’t need a secondary. Just let the fermentation run it’s full course (approximately two weeks or so but check for no airlock activity for a few days) before bottling to ensure that all sugars are consumed. This makes sure that the food the yeast use for bottle carbonation is solely based on your priming sugar.

If you haven’t done so, please go checkout John Palmer’s How To Brew online book. The online version is free and the best resource I know of to get started. You should consider buying the newer edition in print to have as a reference.

Let us know how it turns out.

kraypd

5

Thanks for the advise Kraypd,

I check the carboy twice per day just in the event of blow off. The airlock has changed to a cloudy liquid, but no signs of clogging. Temp is averaging 62deg. It’s only day three.

Thanks again. I post the final results hopefully with pics.