New Year Hefeweizen "German wheat 'mit' yeast made to bring in the New Year." Recipe: ******* 4.00 lb Wheat Extract (DME) 4.00 lb White Wheat Malt (grain) 0.25 lb Cara-Pils (grain) 0.25 lb Belgian Aromatic 1.00 tsp Irish Moss Hops: ***** 1.00 oz Hallertauer (4.4% AA - 4.4 AAU)(25 min) Yeast: ****** 2.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient White Labs "Hefeweizen Ale Yeast" WLP300 Best Before: Mar-30-09 Lot Number: 1300TBIKOND1 Notes: ****** 5.5 gal OG: 1.053 FG: 1.012 22.5 Cups of water at 175 F. Adding grain bag brought temp down to mid 140s. Held temp between 153 and 158 for the next 1 hour and 15 min. Iodine test never showed complete conversion. Temperature spiked as high as 165, and as low as 145. Sparged at 160 - 175 for 15 minutes (22.5 cups of water also). Combined sparge and mash together with 11 cups of water (3.5 gal total now) and brought to a boil. Lid was required to create full boil. Waited for foam to break, but never was able to achieve a complete break. 30 minutes remaining - 1 lb of Wheat DME was added. 25 minutes remaining - hops in clean grain bag to the boil. 15 minutes remaining - Irish Moss was added to grain bag with hops with yeast nutrient. 10 minutes remaining - entire 3 lb bag of wheat dme was added to pot. 0 minutes remaining - 1 gal of cold water to pot. Cooled pot in sink to 100 F by adding ice around pot and slowly stirring with sanitized spoon. Poured into carboy (grain bag must have a hole as hops plugged filter). Added enough water to fill carboy to 4.5 gal to take specific gravity. SG at 4.5 was aprox 1.068 Added 1 gal of Water SG at 5.5 gal: 1.053 Pitched yeast (85 F) Color much darker than expected ~ 22 SRM. 2009/01/01 ********** Temperature at 1200 was approximately 75 F (24 C). Very active fermenation. May need a blow off tube Proteins have settled nicley to bottom of carboy. Color has lightened ~20 SRM. Nice banana aroma. 2008/01/03 ********** Temperature at 1000 was approximately 66 F (19 C). (Temp had steady decline from 75 over past couple days) Moderatly active fermenation. Had blow off tube on and off the past couple days... seems to have stabalized now and air lock has been replaced. Nice slimey layer of yeast on top with very small partciles flying thoughout. Color has lightened to a cloudy ~12 SRM. Very nice banana aroma with no hint of sulfer. 2008/01/19 ********** Temperature at 1000 was approximately 61 F. Very low level of fermentation SG at 1.012 Moved to secondary because of noticable fermination taking place. Flavor was balanced with no off flavor... makes me wish I had gone right to keg insted of secondary. (Batch is ready to keg.) Banana and clove undertones with slight bitterness. Not noticably wattery or thick feeling in the mouth. Color is in the ~6-8 SRM range when in a glass. In the carboy it still looks ~12 SRM. I estimate that this batch was probably ready to keg ~ 2009/01/15. 2008/01/31 ********** Kegged batch today, and harvested the yeast from the carboy. FG at 1.012 Force carbed for a bit to get an idea of taste. Nice german wheat flavor, with banana and clove notes. Bitterness seems balanced, with slight hop aroma. Color ~8 SRM and cloudy. 2008/02/15 ********** Fully carbed now at about 12-15 PSI. Great lightly tart wheat taste with fruity overtones. Slight hop aroma and flavor. Starting to clear a bit, so I may shake up the keg to get yeast back in suspension. 2008/04/26 ********** Umm... Its gone?! Time to brew another batch!