My Cherry Wheat Is Done

[DecoJuicer]

A week in primary, over 3 weeks in secondary, 2.5 weeks in bottles. Tonight I am going to put it out on the back proch where it should get nice and cold.

It is still a bit hazy in the bottle, but it is a wheat beer, so I am not that worried about it.

I don't mind saying that I am nervous about having one of these. It is, after all, my first homebrew to come to term.

How long should I let it chill on the porch for? Is 8 hours enough, or should I give it a full 24 hours?

[danno]

Originally posted by DecoJuicer
How long should I let it chill on the porch for? until it's cold! drink up already... :D

[DecoJuicer]

I made the decision earlier, I am going to have one when I get home in the morning. I figure that it will taste really good after a hard night at work, and then good work out.

[DecoJuicer]

I opened a bottle this morning and was excited when I heard that familiar hiss. I was even more excited when I poured it in the glass and got a good head on it. Imagine my surprise when I took a sip and it didn't suck!! I am not a huge fan of wheat beers myself, so I couldn't be a good judge, so my wife had a little drink and she said that it was, "pretty good." She said that it is a little bit "wheatier" than a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, but all in all it is a beer that she would drink. Which is good, because I brewed it for her.

I MADE BEER...AND IT DIDN"T SUCK!!

Yeah me!

[toneyc]

Woohoo!! Ain't it great!?

:D
Toney.

[Dextolen]

[i]She said that it is a little bit "wheatier" than a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, but ... [/B]

I'd consider that to be a plus, not a "but..."

[BrewDog]

Wahoo! Congratulations!

[Spicoli]

Right on brother. Congrats!! Now whats next??

[DecoJuicer]

I have 3 beers in secondary right now. An Abbey Ale, a Cherry Sweet Stout, and a VERY hopped up IPA. I still haven't gotten around to making my mead, but I will probably do it this weekend while the family is at church...yeah, I know, but it is the only time that the I don't have a bunch of kids running around and wanting "to help."

Also, I think that I am going to get a second fridge this weekend, so maybe next week, I'll get a temp controller and do a lager. I have also been thinking about doing a vanilla porter, since I have a whole bunch of vanilla beans now.

And finally, I would like to have another go at making rootbeer or ginger ale...perferably from scratch this time, if I can find the ingredients.

I have lots of ideas bouncing around in my head, but at least they keep the voices quiet.

[fretlessman71]

Just remember - the voices aren't real, even though they may have some good ideas. ;)

[DecoJuicer]

I'm thinking about letting the voices make my decisions from now on. They can't be all that bad.

By the way, does this mean I am officially a homebrewer now?

[eyepah]

No.

You have to send us all a bottle first. Call it Hazing. :D

[toneyc]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
Just remember - the voices aren't real, even though they may have some good ideas.

How are the voices in my head any less real than you, who are nothing but a collection of glowing phosphors on my screen that forms words and sometimes pictures?

:D
Toney.

[Beefsteak]

Originally posted by toneyc
How are the voices in my head any less real than you, who are nothing but a collection of glowing phosphors on my screen that forms words and sometimes pictures?

:D
Toney. Whoa...that was deep. I think I need to chill out, have a beer and mentally digest that.

[DecoJuicer]

Originally posted by eyepah
You have to send us all a bottle first. Call it Hazing. :D

I would, but I ran out of 2 cent stamps. Sorry.

[eyepah]

Not a problem. I can send you a plethora.

[fretlessman71]

How many 2-cent stamps in a plethora? ;)

[eyepah]

Plethora: overabundance, excess, plenty, surplus, surfeit, glut, repletion, engorgement, profusion.

In other words many, many more than I have 37 cent stamps.

Do you need some Frett? If you are just going to send them to deco, save the stamps! Ill just send all of mine.




;)

[fretlessman71]

Shouldn't you be able to send stamps for free? I mean, aren't you just furthering the USPS' cause?

[DecoJuicer]

Fret, what are you doing?!?! Never question the USPS!! They secretly control the whole government. Speaking out against them could have terrible consequenses. I may have said too much all ready.

Oops, wait, that's my diatribe for the OTHER message board that I am part of. Nevermind.

[fretlessman71]

Hey Deco - since this cherry wheat of yours turned out so well, how would you feel about posting the recipe?

[DecoJuicer]

Well, this particular brew was a comedy of errors. It started off as a simple Brewers Best Weizenbier kit with the following ingredients:

6.6lbs Wheat Extract(LME)
Bittering Hops-Hallertau AA 3.5 1oz
Finishing Hops-Hallertau AA 3.5 1/2oz
Nottingham Dry Brewers Yeast 11g
5oz Priming Sugar

Then I added:

4oz ID Carlson Cherry Extract

Then I screwed up. I thought that the hydrometer reading on the O.G. was 1.020. After about a week I hadn't seen any bubbles in the airlock(probably because I AM BLIND), so I took a hydrometer reading and the s.g. was 1.020. Without going back to my brewing log, I paniced and thought that fermentation had never occured. So on the advice of the guy at my LHBS, I added another 3lbs of wheat DME and pitched another packet of yeast(I gave him bad info, so he told me what he thought I should do). As soon as I pitched the second packet of yeast, I went to write down what I did in my brew log, and discovered that the ACTUAL o.g. had been 1.040. Waited a few days, the s.g. again dropped to 1.020. Then instead of using the priming sugar, I used DME, so the new recipe kind of looked like this:

6.6lbs Wheat LME
3lbs Wheat DME
1oz Hallertau AA 3.5 Bittering
1/2oz Hallertau AA 3.5 Finishing
2 packets Nottingham Brewers Yeast
1 1/4 cups of DME for Priming
4oz ID Carlson cherry extract.

I am sure that I will make another wheat beer, but next time I will use frozen cherries instead of extract.

To tell the truth, after how bad it started out, I was just happy that it didn't suck. One of my bosses took a bottle home for his wife on wednesday, and thursday asked me for a couple more for her. I obliged of course.

[wortchillergoal]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
Just remember - the voices aren't real, even though they may have some good ideas. ;)

I meant to reply to this earlier. Being a hockey goalie I think I can help you guys with those voices. I have 43 ot them under control with another 17 ready to sit down at the table to work out an agremment and I still haven't given up on the others. Some of those others though only speak up after a slapper to the head.