First ever brew question!

Northern Brewer General
1

Hi everyone,
I am brand new to home brewing, and just got my first batch into the fermenter. I have a couple of questions for anyone willing to share some knowledge!

I made the American Wheat extract kit, the wort boil went well, after seeing some reviews and discussions on here, I added in 2 pounds of clover honey for the last 15 minutes of the boil. The kit says the OG should be 1043, I ended up with 1058, does this sound to be about where I should be. Considering the honey addition?

I know I’m still weeks away from getting the brew into bottles, but its hard to wait, so my other question is about priming. I got the bag of priming sugar from NB, I was wondering what kind of sugar is that for measuring purposes? Corn sugar? Also will the added honey effect how much priming solution I need to prevent over carbing?

Thanks in advance for everyones help!

2

The honey made the gravity higher. It will mostly ferment out, so your priming (corn) suger will remain the same.

Let it ferment at least 2 weeks.

Welcome to the obsession!

3

Welcome! Yes, let it sit 2 weeks. That beer style doesn’t need more time than that. It’s a quick turn around beer. Use this to calculate how much sugar you need to use for priming.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

P.S. And as soon as your fermentor opens up, brew something else right away. Then go buy yourself a few more fermentors. I’d recommend no less than 3 or 4.

4

Welcome indeed! And I know from personal experience, that just about everyone and anyone here will gladly and openly share as much knowledge as we have. Its why were here.

+1 to more fermentors. The hardest thing to do is wait. So if you’ve got more fermentation room, you can stagger your brew-days and always have a home brew ready.

5

that was how i did mine and came out about the same, that said next time i brew i won’t add the honey

6

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome… and I woke up to lots, and lots of activity in my airlock!

I have definitely already been thinking about getting at least one more fermentor. I’m thinking I’d probably be best off getting a carboy or better bottle instead of another bucket so if I want, I can start doing secondaries, and all that. Now I just need to win the argument for more space in the house for it… haha

rhino,
Just out of curiosity is there any reason you’ll avoid the honey in the future, or just more of a personal preference thing?

7

[quote=“NewBrew28”]

rhino,
Just out of curiosity is there any reason you’ll avoid the honey in the future, or just more of a personal preference thing?[/quote]

Honey will boost the alcohol, but to me seems to add heaviness to the brew while adding nothing to the taste.

8

Yeah that much honey will boost the abv, but add no flavor and thin out the beer. I’m sure it’ll still turn out great, but there are other ways to boost you abv without thinning out your beer, you just have to do research on different forums and feel out your own recipes until you find the way you like it.

On the priming sugar question, I just buy those 5oz bags (its corn sugar) from northern brewer and use the whole thing. Boil it with 16oz of water, let it cool, pour it in you bottling bucket and rack your 5 gallons on top. I’ve been told by several people you don’t need to stir it, but I always do.

Welcome to the addiction…I’ve only been brewing since march, but I’ve got 8 batches brewed already and I can’t stop. Haahaha