Brew #4: Honey Hefeweizen, July 13 2014

Brew #4 marked a minor milestone for me. This was the first brew that I intentionally modified the kit's recipe. I started with a Hefeweizen extract kit from Bailee's but added 2 lbs of clover honey late in the boil, as well as switched out yeasts from the kit's Safbrew WB-06 to White Labs WLP 300 Hefeweizen Liquid Ale Yeast.

Recipe
Batch Size: 5 gal
Boil Size: 3 gal
Target OG: 1.048-1.052 (did not include honey)
Target FG: 1.012-1.016
Style: Hefeweizen
Recipe Type: Extract
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Water:
Acadia bottled spring water

Specialty Grains:
None

Fermentables:
6.6 lbs Wheat LME
1 lb Wheat DME
2 lbs clover honey @ 10 min.

Hops:
1oz Hallertau (pellets) @ 60 min.
1oz Hallertau (pellets) @ 10 min.

Yeast:
WLP 300 Hefeweizen Ale Yeast

Brewing Notes
7/13/2014 - Brew Day:

• Sanitized (star san) my cold side equipment in the big mouth bubbler primary.
• Brought 3 gal water to boil  in 5 gallon economy stainless kettle on the stovetop.
• Removed kettle from the burner.
• Added 6.6 lb wheat LME and 1 lb wheat DME and stirred well
• Return the kettle to the burner and brought back to boil
• Set timer for 60 minutes and added hops per the recipe schedule
• At 10 minutes, paused the timer, removed the kettle from the burner, and added 2 lbs honey
• Returned to boil and resumed the timer, added the 10 minute hop addition.
• At 0 minutes, moved the kettle to the ice bath in my sink to chill. Chilled to 68F.
• Transferred to the BMB by siphoning and added water to get to 5 gal volume
• Took an OG reading of 1.072
• Pitched the yeast directly
• Put the BMB in the beer corner of the dining room
• Still reeling from the blowout in Brew #3, and wishing to keep my wife happy I rigged a blowoff tube just in case.

7/13-7/25 Fermentation:
The liquid yeast tore through this bigger beer with no trouble.  There was nothing else of note, which is probably good

7/25/2014 - Bottling:
Prepped bottles by washing in oxyclean and sanitizing in the dishwasher overnight. Everything else got sanitized with star-san. We attempted to prime the bottles using a 1/2 cup of honey boiled in 2 cups of water, but this boiled over on the stove, so we went back to the 3/4 cups of corn sugar, boiled in water for 10 minutes. Final gravity was 1.012, which I calculated to mean 7.9% abv. Yield was 51 12oz bottles.

??? - First Taste:
Again, no date, no notes.  This one drank very well, I and my friends were pleased with how this one came out.