Homebrewing - German Hefeweizen

Homebrewing is in my blood. During the early days of the Great Depression and the late days of prohibition my grandfather helped his father make and run bathtub gin through the lake country of Minnesota. While technically spirits are quite different from beer, the idea is the same.

So on to the brewing. Any brewing session first requires a stop at SF Brewcraft - a wonderfully quaint store that could have been plucked from any Main Street of the 1950s. The proprietor lounges on a chair in the corner, donning his worn-in overalls and often enjoying some sort of food (most recently, a beignet and jambalaya). This isn't the sort of place that you can just walk into, pull the needed items off the shelf and pay at the cash register. First things first, let the proprietor know what type of beer you want to make. Anything from a pilsner to a stout to the more exotic "Absinthe Ale." He'll scribble out the recipe, another employee will grab you the needed ingredients and you'll likely engage in a discussion over the best brewing practices or more specific information needed for your current recipe.

Before embarking on my second attempt at making beer I consulted with my wife regarding what type of beer to make. This is an important decision because after the initial brewing process the beer won't be ready for at least 5 weeks and some beers can take months to finish. At first we discussed the possiibility of a Belgian Cherry Beer, but it takes 4-6 months to mature. We decided on a German Hefewiezen - a classic beer with a lighter flavor than my previous homebrewed IPA.

The complete instructions for brewing can be read about from start to finish here. What follows is the my experience with the process.

The process includes:

1. Make wort

2. Boil wort for 60 minutes; add hops and malt

3. Place in Primary fermenter and pitch yeast

4. Transfer to secondary fermenter

5. Bottle

6. Hurry up and wait!

Making the Wort

Wort is essentially the liquid that will ferment into beer. Making the wort involves boiling water and placing in a mix of grains. The grains are kept in a cheesecloth bag so that they can be easily removed. The instructions have you place the bag in before the water starts boiling, but during my first brewing expreience this resulted in a hole being burned in the bottom of the bag. This was not good. I spent significant amounts of time trying to get all the grain out of the wort - it was messy, very very messy. I digress. Put in the bag after the water heats up - this means bringing the water to roughly 165 degrees because the grains will suck out about 10 degrees of heat.

Boil for 60 Minutes with Malt and Hops

After removing the grains, it's just about time to add the malt. Malt comes in different forms. This one came as a powder, but for an IPA it was more like maple syrup. Because the powdered malt was so susceptible to combining with moisture and becoming extremely sticky, I had to put it into a pitcher before pouring into the boiling wort. Otherwise it would have stuck to the plastic bag. Once I did pour it in, it looked like the wort just puked up chunks of taffy. I stirred and stirred and worked out all the taffy-esque chunks.

A rigorous boil commenced for 60 minutes. At the start of the boil and at the 30 minute interval I added two doses of hops. No "whirlfloc" clearing agent was needed because hefs are meant to be cloudy. It's important to cool down the beer quickly, so after the boil I placed the pot in a bathtub full of ice water. I lacked a sufficient supply of ice, so the cooling down process was slow, but it worked.

Place in Primary Fermenter and Pitch Yeast

I dumped about 1/3 of the wort into the primary fermenter, then put in yeast, followed by dumping in the rest of the wort. Placing the wort and yeast in this order mixes up the yeast without any extra effort. One of the many pieces of information that I was given at SF Brewcraft was about the fermentation process. Usually, the air produced from fermenting pushes out through an "airlock," which is essentially a plastic piece that holds a small amount of water. The air can release, but contaniments are kept out by the water. However, hefs ferment so vigorously that a normal airlock would clog up and the entire fermentor top would blow off, splattering nastiness all over the walls. To prevent this, a "blow-off" tube is required. Essentially this is a plastic tube that extends from the fermentor to a bucket of water. True as told, the bucket of water was constantly bubbling. The first fermentation process takes 6 days.

Secondary Fermentation

After the primary fermentation is complete the wort is transferred to a second fermentor (a glass carboy) - actually a misnomer because little fermentation takes place at this point. This process helps to clear the beer as all the sediment moves to the bottom. After 14 days in the secondary fermentor it's time for bottling. A messy and time consuming process that is best done with two people. One to hold the auto-siphon mid-way down the carboy and the other to actually place the beer in the bottles.

Collecting Beer Bottles

First things first - collect and clean the beer bottles. Beer bottles can be purchased at Brewcraft for about 50 cents each, but I have some friends who indulge in more than a little bit of alcohol. When I know bottle are in need I start collecting at the end of parties - any non-screw off top bottles will work, but brown bottles are the best because keeping out the sunlight gives the beer a longer shelf life. Half-gallon sized growlers are also a possibility, but cost about $4 each. They are a good idea because it prevents having to fill up 50+ bottles. I think a mix is good - growlers for dinner parties and bigger events with more people, but single bottles for the occasional brew.

Sanitizing

Having sanitary beer bottles is essential - otherwise you risk growing sickness-causing bateria while the beer is conditioning in the bottle. I couldn't think of anything worse then to spend five+ weeks working and waiting only to toss out a whole batch of "poisoned" beer. To sanitize the bottles I do three things: (1) soak the bottles in soapy water for a couple days - this provides an initial cleaning and helps remove the labels; (2) wash each bottle individually in the sink and scrub the insides with a bottle brush; and (3) cook the bottles in the oven at 250 degrees for 30 minutes - this should effectively kill any bacteria. After removing the bottles I usually cover the tops with tinfoil until it's time to fill; I assume this will keep any bacteria from entering.

It should be noted that EVERYTHING, from your fermenters to your siphon to your bottles should properly cleaned and sanitized.

Filling and Capping

Fill up all the beer bottles before any capping. Fill to the top because one you remove the siphon from the bottle it leaves the perfect amount of liquid. Once you're done, start capping. This requires a light touch and there shouldn't be any need to force on the cap. Voila! You're pretty much done. Put the bottles somewhere cool and dark and wait for another 2-3 weeks. Before you know it you'll be enjoying beer of your own creation.