Wheat Beer
Around 10 years ago, I tried my luck at home brewing. I made a pale ale similar to Sierra Nevada. It turned out pretty good. Over the next 2 to 3 years I made a few batches of pale ales and a stout. Since then my equipment has been lugged from home to home (I even tried to dump it off at Salvation Army…they wouldn’t take it). I assumed I would never make another batch of beer since the bottling process was a pain in the rump.
Never say never. Last Thursday I brewed up an American style wheat beer. I researched recipes online but ultimately used the ingredients recommended by my brew store. Once I dig up their business card I’ll post the brew store information online. The store exists in Hayward and they were very helpful on getting me back on track. Here is the process I followed.- Cleaned existing equipment
- You have to pick up the yeast at least 24 hours in advance so it can sit at room temperature for that length of time.
- Filled my boiling pot with around 2.5 gallons of tap water (we have very good tap water here)
- I filled a grain bag with 1 lb Crystal malt 20L and placed in the pot. I tied the bag to the pot handle to keep the grains off of the bottom
- I cooked the grains for 30 minutes. I kept the water temperature around 160 degrees F.
- I removed the crystal malt and brought the water to a boil.
- Once boiling I removed from heat and added 6 lbs pale wheat extract
- I returned the pot to heat and brought to a boil
- Once boiling I added 1.5 oz Hallertau hops
- After boiling for 58 minutes I added .5 oz Hallertau hops
- After boiling for 59 minutes I added .5 oz cascade hops (this was not part of the brew stores recipe)
- I cooled the wort to the low mid 80 degree range in the kitchen sink.
- Poured the wort into the 6 gallon fermenter and added water to bring it to the 5 gallon mark
- The temperature dropped to 76 degrees F. I took the specific gravity reading.
- Added American wheat yeast and aerated.
- Closed off fermenter and attached vent