What The Heck Did I Just Brew?

Last night I bottled up my so called “American Style” hefeweizen. It had been fermenting for 14 days by the time I had bottled it. And, by fermenting for 14 days, I don’t mean it was just sitting there for 14 days waiting to be bottled. I mean it was actively fermenting for 14 days.

I got the recipe and the ingredients from a local homebrew shop not too far from work, and they were nice enough to supply me with the recipe. Unfortunately, the recipe never specified how much beer it made, so I just assumed it was for a 5 gallon batch. After brewing it and waiting for 2 weeks, I tried some last night as I was bottling it.

…. What on earth did I just brew?!?!?!

This beer tasted like a cross between a wheat beer and some Jack Daniels. The alcohol content was that strong!

Now, I’m guessing this was probably a 10 gallon recipe. I’m guessing I have something that’s at least a 10% alcohol content. But, since I haven’t purchased a hydrometer yet, I have no way of knowing.

So, if you want a wheat beer that will knock you flat on your butt, come see me in a week, and I’ll hook you up with a bottle or two. As for me, I may hold onto some to use to clean off some engine grease.

Note:  It’s been over a week since bottling, and the taste is similar to what Papazian describes as “band-aid flavor”, which is symptomatic of a bacterial infection in the yeast before I pitched it.  My fault- I tried culturing the yeast for this beer to save some money, and screwed it up.   Grr…