#3 Regular Hefe

Batch #3 (Brewed Wednesday, January 21, 2009)

Goal:
Normal ("helles") Hefeweizen like Weihenstephan or Paulaner

Ingredients:
3.3 lb. can of un-hopped Munton’s Plain Wheat liquid malt extract
1 x 3lb. bag of Munton’s Wheat DME
0.75 lb ground Weyermann Munich (Light) Grain
0.75 lb ground Briess White Wheat Grain
2 oz. Hallertau Hop pellets (see addition schedule below)
Deer Park Spring Water
About 1/3 gallons filtered tap water to top off at 5 gallons wort
NO Irish Moss (forgot to get it at the store)
Wyeast Strain 3068 (Weihenstephan Weizen)

Notes:
Brought 2 gallons water to 150⁰ and steeped grain for 30 minutes. Removed grain bag from pot and placed in colander over another pot. Turned heat to maximum and when temperature reached 180⁰, added liquid and dried malt extract. When wort reached a boil, added 2 cups chilled water to avert initial foaming action. When boil resumed, started 60 minute boil clock. I stirred the batch occasionally throughout.
With 40 minutes boil time remaining, added 1 oz. hops.
With 12 minutes boil time remaining, added ½ oz. hops.
With 2 minutes boil time remaining, added ½ oz. hops.
Chilled COVERED in ice bath. Reduced temperature of the wort to 120⁰ and poured the wort through a strainer filter.Helper let go of his grip and the filter fell into the wort. Dumped crud, washed and sanitized filter and another bucket. Poured wort into new bucket and filtered again into primary fermentation bucket. Put on lid and prepped airlock. Realized hadn’t taken gravity measurement, so removed lid, sterilized turkey baster and took sample. I replaced the lid without further sanitization.
Opened primary fermenter on Saturday, January 24, 2009, and there was quite a bit of foam on top of the beer. I replaced lid to continue watching for further fermentation. There was a slight bit more and by Monday evening, I was convinced that primary had ended.
Took sample using wine thief and hydrometer; measurement was 1.013 @ 72 degrees.
Racked to secondary carboy after 5 days.
Bottled after 3 more days. My buddy, Mark Jensen, was here to help.
Two nights later, Saturday, we had a friend over for dinner and tried a few out. They had already bottled conditioned, or at least they were already fully carbonated.
Color was a little bit dark (but still OK to me) and the beer is slightly cloudy (well, for a Hefe; it’s probably VERY cloudy for a regular beer). Aroma was great, nice and thick with banana and clove. Taste was wonderful!
Put the whole batch in the fridge on Tuesday, February 03, 2009.

Original Gravity: 1.051 @ 72 degrees (corrected value is 1.052)
Final Gravity: 1.013 @ 72 degrees (corrected value is 1.014)
Calculated Alcohol %: 4.99% ABV

Lesson learned: Even small screw-ups can be fixed. I was very leery when the filter fell into the beer, but a new rack with a freshly santized filter seems to have worked like a charm! Great batch!!!