5 gal kit from Northern Brewer.
4 gal in the kettle
No steeping grains. Filled up the kettle with filtered tap water, and brought to a boil.
3 lb Wheat LME - 60 mins
1 lb Wheat DME - 60 mins
1 oz Tettnanger hops 2.7% AA - 60 mins
3 lb Wheat LME - 30 mins (trying to keep the coloring lighter)
1 tablet Whirlfloc - 15 mins
Killed the heat, whirlpooled, and set kettle in metal bucket for ice bath. Took two 20 bags of ice to get down to 74 in about 30 mins. Poured wort through the double-mesh strainer into a 6.5 gallon Big Mouth glass carboy. Took a gravity reading and topped off with about 1.5 gal of cold water to bring volume up to 5 gal. Took gravity reading, was 1.049. Pretty close to the 1.046 I was shooting for. Could've topped off with a bit more water if I wanted to nail the SG. Pitched Wyeast Weinhenstephan Weizen 3068, which hadn't fully swollen, despite being smacked 5 hours earlier. The guy at Northern Brewer told me that a stressed a Hefe yeast can bring out more of the banana esters, which is what I was going for. My wife loves the banana bomb beers of summer. Attached the airlock and put it in the car to drive 45 mins back home. My apartment sits a bit warmer than my father-in-law's basement, and I've been told that higher fermentation temps help accentuate that banana character. I knew the yeast would be a vigorous foamer, so I attached the blowoff tube and put a tshirt over it to keep out of the light before going to bed. Total brewday time ~ 3 hrs.
(krausen at 11 hrs post-pitch)
Target OG: 1.046
Actual OG: 1.049
est IBU: 8.3
est FG: 1.011
est SRM: 3.74
est ABV: 4.99%
Update: 10/21/15
Took a gravity reading at 10 days. Nailed the FG! 1.011 Will be bottling this weekend before we head out of town.
Tasting update: 11/0915
Bottled up 6 six-packs and a 22 oz bottle before we left town and came home to wonderfully carbonated beer. I decided to forgo the carb drops and make a priming solution with 5 oz of corn sugar, which I probably could've cut back to 4.5 oz but the style typically calls for a high level of carbonation, so I'm not worried about it. My lovely brewing assistant helped bottle fill while I capped them all.
This thing is seriously good. Thick head that sticks around, slight sweetness, and medium body. The cloves are more present than the banana esters. I'd like to make it again in the spring and see if I can get more banana aroma. It's my wife's favorite light beer style (she's a stout woman), so it won't last long. Plan on entering it in a competition next month, so hopefully we'll still have a few bottles to send off by then.
