Well, with all the chaos in the house (me being sick last week, the wife having contractions and sending us into the hospital, and my son barfing all night), I was able to get some bottling done in the midst of this.
Batch number 5 was the weird b@$tard brew that I made by throwing all the ingredients I got from a home beer kit I got from Christmas. I bottled it up last Thursday while feeling horrible. There was so much sediment in it that the bottling hose got clogged several times. I couldn’t find my gelatin to add to it to settle that junk down, so I have 23 bottles of this stuff with massive amounts of sediment. I tasted some- despite the sediment it was just ok, kinda like a real weak amber ale. Once it bottle ferments and is chilled I’ll see how it tastes.
Now, batch 4 was the attempt at making a hefeweisen. Not following a recipe, but following the advice of a friend, we got the ingredients last month, went to brew and realized we’d got the wrong stuff. The extract that was supposed to be 100% wheat was actually 65% wheat and 35% barley. That added to the light malt extract and we had a recipe for an amber type beer with a bit of wheat in it. Also had 4 oz. of Hallertauer hops. I started bottling and poured a sample to taste.
Whoa! It was amazingly interesting! It was similar to a hef, but closer to a bock. It had a light body, darker than a regular hef, but the hops were amazing! Bitter with a great floral and citrus finish. I have a feeling that will be a great beer, unlike anything I’ve ever had.
I’m excited about brewing some more. I’m planning on doing an English bitter, an IPA, a real Hefeweizen, and an oatmeal stout made from steel cut oats. I have to purchase a grain bag and the other goodies I will need, but I’m looking forward to it.
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I was wondering you knew of a way of getting the dregs out before the bottling process? Also, check out my new, and very, very crude new blog. It sure needs some traffic other than just my own:)
The only way I know of is to transfer your beer to a secondary container and filter it. If you still have leftover junk you don’t want to drink, then add a bit of gelatin when you bottle.
thank you very much. Happy brewing:)
Kansas City here. Ive never heard of a hefeweisens. I enjoy amber the most so far. Just got into a Porter – Bully Porter from the Boulevard Brewing Co. here in KC. It was a rather sweet beer, sweetalicious, I’d say:). You sound like a much more experienced microbrew man than myself, I’d love to here more about your choices!
Hey, thanks for the traffic…what a pal!
Aww, heck. I just like beer. I’ve been visiting a little pub her called The Horse Brass. Pretty much every microbrewer has had their first commercial sale there. Of course, now that I’m married, I don’t get there very often anymore. It helps living in a place like Oregon where there are a ton of craft breweries.
Excellent. I’d like to visit the great northwest some time. I hear the landscape is beautiful!
Kansas City has a few nice pubs for that, but I live north just a little ways in St. Joseph (Jesse James & the Pony Express). Unfortunately, the place with the largest selection of microbrews here is at HyVee:)
Grew up in Denver Colorado. They’ve got some great pubs there.
I put up a couple of new posts on porter and stout – trying to get some people talking and sharing some of the local microbrews they like. Check it out and leave a comment or two when you get a chance.
Later,
Mario 🙂