Wedding Bell Weissbier

This is a 1999 BJCP style 17a beer. It is being brewed in honor of Ken's and Jill's December 27th wedding and is the first beer to be brewed on my newly aquired Basement Brewery stove.

Recipe: Bavarian Weizen
Volume: 5 gallons
Dates:

Brew date: Nov 16, 2003
Transfer to secondary: Nov 27, 2003
Bottling: Dec 12, 2003

Ingredients:

Water source: basement utility sink filtered dispenser
Yeast: White Labs WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale (pitchable vial)

7 Bridges Weissbier all-grain kit

Grain bill

	Potential sg pppg	Points per gal
5 1/2 lbs Weyermann pale wheat malt 2 lbs Briess pale 2-row malt 2 lb Weyermann Vienna malt	1.039 1.037 1.035	214.50 74.00 70.00
	Ideal: Pre-boil: Target:	358.50 358.50 358.50	/ 5 gal = 71.7 >>> 1.072 * 70% / 6 gal = 41.8 >>> 1.042 * 70% / 5 gal = 50.2 >>> 1.050

Hops

1/2 oz German Spalt Select hops - bittering - 5.6% avg alpha Utilization: 60 minutes @ 1.042 = 25%	*IBU = 0.5 5.6 * 25 * 0.75 / 5 = 10.5**
1/2 oz German Tettnanger hops - flavor - 5.8% avg alpha Utilization: 20 minutes @ 1.042 = 15.1%	*IBU = 0.5 5.8 * 15.1 * 0.75 / 5 = 6.6**
1 oz German Hallertauer Mittlefrueh whole hops - aroma - 5.2% avg alpha Utilization: 5 minutes @ 1.042 = 5%	*IBU = 1 5.2 * 5 * 0.75 / 5 = 3.9**
	Total IBU = 21

Other

1/2 teaspoon Irish Moss
20 minutes 2 teaspoons gypsum
beginning of mash 4 oz rice hulls
beginning of mash

Activity Log

Yeast Starter:

About 24 hrs before brew, boiled 2 oz of pale malt extract in 20 oz of water in flask for 10 minutes. Cooled in cold water bath in small pot. Pitched vial of yeast and fitted stopper and airlock.

Mash/Lauter/Sparge:

Added gypsum to 3 1/2 gallons of 140 f water and infused onto grain. Allowed protein rest at 122 f for 15 minutes. Added 1 1/2 gallons of 200 f water to mash and adjusted temperature with burner to mash at 152 f for 30 minutes. Scooped into lauter tun, recirculating until relatively clear. Sparged with 170 f water until sparge stuck at about 2 gallons of run-off. Poured grainbed back into pot, cleared screen and then recirculated again. Sparged with 170 f water until run-off reached 6 1/2 gallons

Boil:

Boiled through first break then added bittering hops. Boiled for 40 minutes then added flavoring hops and Irish Moss. Boiled for 15 more minutes then added whole aroma hops in mesh bag. Sanitized cooling coil in iodophor solution. Cooled to ~75 f with coil and siphoned to fermenter taking a reading of 1.056. Aerated by rocking carboy on folded towel and pitched yeast starter. Fitted with blowoff tube and put on fermenting bench.

Fermentation:

The temperature of the carboy on the fermenting bench is ~68.1 f.
Observations of primary stage (4 PM start):

13 hours: 1 inch foam, 1 group of bubbles per second
28 hours: 3 inches of foam, 1 group of bubbles per second
Switched from blowoff tube to 3 piece airlock
38 hours: 2 inches of foam, 1/2 bubble per second
63 hours: 2 inches of foam, 1/3 bubble per second
144 hours: 1 inch of foam, 1/7 bubble per second

Transferred to 5 gallon carboy and fitted stopper and airlock.

Bottling:

Siphoned a 2 liter bottle 4/5 full, squeezed the air out and forced carbonated. Took FG reading of 1.010 which puts the alcohol content at about 5.8% ABV. Boiled 5 oz of corn sugar in 2 cups of water for 10 minutes and cooled flask with ice bath in bowl. Placed sugar solution in bottling bucket and siphoned from secondary into bottling bucket. Filled and capped 40 12 oz bottles.

See Wedding Bell Weissbier labels here.

Results:

TBD