February 10, 2008 - Beer Batch 3 Part 1 - Dan Krill's BLOG on BinaryBedlam

Beer Batch 3 Part 1
February 10, 2008 08:15:26 PM

     For batch number 3, I thought I'd try brewing something from my other favorite beer family, wheat beers! So this time I am going for a Hefeweizen.
     As far as following the recipe, this is actually a little easier than making the pale ale in batch 2. Because there are no dry grains involved with the wort, there is no need to monitor the temperature so carefully, in fact, this one came be taken to a full boil right from the beginning.
     As far as the body, instead of dry grains, this batch used a second can of malt extract. This is done because the end result of a wheat beer's body should be more creamy rather than sharp and crispy (for lack of better words). The malt extract is a thick caramel like fluid created from the mixing, condensing, and heating of a variety of grains which ultimately provides the wort with flavor, body, and the sugars needed for fermentation.
     My deviations from the recipe this time included the addition of dextrose, and a few dashes of yeast nutrients. So just before I was done the boil, I added about 12oz of pure dextrose (a 100% fermentable sugar) . This was more of an experiment, but I wanted to see if I could raise the final alcohol content by about 0.75% Since there are no preservatives added to home brew, the only thing giving it any shelf life at all (since it is basically liquid bread) is the alcohol. By increasing the alcohol content, and maintaing the proper ratio between body and alcohol, you can increase the shelf life of the beer, and still have a great taste.
     The yeast nutrients are sort of like steroids for yeast. It enhances the yeast's ability to ferment. Since I added extra sugars this time, and I intend to leave the primary fermenter undisturbed for 2 whole weeks, and the yeast packet has been sitting on my shelf for 2 months, I wanted to ensure that the yeast will remain healthy for the duration of the process.

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