#batch17

I bottled the Hefeweizen. 

The results are just okay. I used a very basic recipe from Zymurgy. It wasn’t very much work, but still. FG was 1.012. With an OG of 1.036, the ABV comes in at? 3.15%? Only water is more sessionable. 

The bigger issue than ABV is that the taste is sweet, and does not seem fermented completely. I had left it for about a week without it moving anywhere. Sort of weird. 

After bottling for a few weeks, the taste has improved. I still don’t like the overly malty, sweet flavor. Even worse, I taste something remarkably a lot like sour apple... acetaldehyde... which apparently can happen when you bottle the beer too early. 

Rather than just being frustrated let’s look at how long I left the beer in primary: 

Brew day: July 22nd. 

Bottling day: August 9th. 

That’s about two and a half weeks. I’ll wait longer next time. 

Hefeweizen

I walked into my local neighborhood homebrew shop. On the counter near the door sat a free issue of Zymurgy. I read and greatly enjoyed the entire issue, which covered the basics of homebrewing. But my favorite component occupied a mere quarter page: a basic recipe for German-style hefeweizen.

If using extract, hefeweizen is incredibly simple to brew.

6.6 lbs Bavarian wheat liquid malt extract.

1 oz Perle hops pellets.

1 package hefeweizen yeast.

Actually what makes a hefeweizen a hefeweizen is the yeast, which imparts flavor via esters (e.g. banana) and phenols (like clove). Hefeweizen is not a flavor that everyone likes, but I'm all about it.

The boil with the hops was a mere 30 minutes. Then I added cold water to the fermenter, and the wort to that. It fermented, and I will bottle it soon.

Turbo cider

I have watched at least three youtube videos about making turbo cider. One dude in a video said, "To make turbo cider just pour a bunch of motherfucking apple juice in your primary fermenter after you brewed some other shit." Well, that's not exactly how he said it. He was European. But that's how I'm going to say it. And that's how I'm going to do it.

4½ gallons apple juice

40 oz  black tea

I will check the pH of the liquid and if not acidic enough, I will add an acid blend until the pH is within the range of 5-6. Then I'll just let the whole thing sit for about a week.  

Korean oatmeal rice beer?

Suppose you buy a bunch of instant oatmeal when your wife tells you to buy "quick oats." You realize when you return home that you accidentally purchased a few pounds of Type II Diabetes inducing breakfast shaped candy. You say, "Thanks a lot Quaker," and you toss all that stuff in a cupboard.

But wait a second. Sugar + action = beer. You considered making beer with the oats. But the problem is, just like barley, you need enzymes to break down oats into sugar... enzymes that the oats don't have.

But you are a culturally aware freak, ready for that motherfucking cultural synergy. Makgeolli is a type of rice alcohol you are familiar with. It has an ABV of about 6%, and a complex, sweet, astringent, slightly bitter taste. 

But let's back up a little bit. You know that rice has the same issue as oats: rice needs to be broken down into sugar before it can be consumed by yeast.  

So how do Koreans do it? They use something called nuruk (누룩). Nuruk contains, among other things, amylase. And amylase is an enzyme in barley.

So you decide upon these ingredients:

1 pound rice

1 pound instant oatmeal

2 cups nuruk