Summer beer idea

[jimny14]

Ok i've been thinking about a brew for going on my summer hols. The way I see it is if I stick something on pretty soon (next month or so) it should be great come first week in august. I'm looking at a wheat beer as they're lovely on a summer afternoon. I was thinking something along the lines of this :-

Coopers brewmaster Wheat beer kit,
500g Wheat spray malt
300g extra light spray malt
Maybe a Saaz hop tea at the start
And maybe some dry hopping too for a week or two.
Thinking making it up to 20l ish.

Any thoughts from the masses would be much appreciated. What do people think would be the best hops for a tea or dry hopping? Would Saaz give a nice aroma and a good head?

I'm hoping this should be good for the start of July, so I can have a test around my birthday and then should be even better come august. Am I right in thinking it might take a bit of maturing if i'm putting lots of hops in it?

Cheers All.

[Manx Guy]

Hi!

Sounds like a good idea to me!

The conditioning time will also depend on how much hops you add to your hop tea...
25-30g of Saaz shouldnt extend the conditioning time beyond four weeks IMHO

If you want to add more then maybe it will....

I've not made the wheat beer kit myself but have heard good things about it... I'm not sure what type of yeast (Ale/Lager) the kit comes with...
Will you use the supplied kit yeast? What temprature will you ferment at?

Good luck!

Slainte!

[jimny14]

Hi Manx, i'm thinking that i'm gonna use a proper wheat yeast. Probably use WB-06 n do it at about 18C ambient temp, starting it off while the wort is probably 20-22C ish. How does that sound to you? Do you think i'm pushing it leaving it bottles 3+ months? That is if I can leave it that long.

[brysie]

when`s your birthday?

[jimny14]

Its July 14th Brysie, so still got loads of time to get this on the go. Any ideas for me? Re hops especially? When to add etc? I'm pretty new to this sort of thing.

[brysie]

a week before mine! ...lets trash your place first!
ive added steeped hops to lager kits myself in the past but not with much success. i`ve just started a coopers european with an added `brupacks lager flavour` additive
but i think the whole `lager` thing involves specific yeasts, significantly slower brewing at lower temperatures and long `lagering` or
conditionimg at low temps.
maybe dry hopping in the later stages may have more of an effect on the final flavour of the beer, thats where my next line of
research is heading, but i havn`t brewed a lager yet, from a kit, that i`ve been really excited about.
you have to wonder why england cant seem to brew lager even though us louts seem to love it. carling? i ask you.

now a wheat beer? maybe a different kettle of fish altogether. erdinger clone anyone?

[Manx Guy]

Hi!

I dont think that leaving it in the bottle for 3+ months is an issue...

I dont have any experience of Wheat beer yeasts myself so I cant help you there I'm afraid...

as for the hops I would add 2-4 litres of water (depending on size of pan- you need some head space for the boiling phase) to a (clean & sanitised pan) heat to about 40C add some (100g) of the DME and stir until disolved ( this helps it to disolve and avoid burning)

Bring the wort to the boil and add 25-30g of Hallertaur hops or similar lager hops (loose) to the wort and boil for 10-15mins.
Turn off the heat and allow to cool to <80C and then add a further 15g hops and place a lid on the pan.
Allow to steep for 30 mins
Using a clean & sanitised seive( prefereably a s/s one especialy for this purpose-cheap from wilkos) strain the liquid into the FV
Then make your beer in the usual way

Assuming of course that you take care of the usual sanitisation of bottles & brewing equipment etc...

I'm drinking a Brewferm Ambiorix at the moment which about 5 months old! it continues to get better with age!
I've also tried a Coopers Aussie Pale Ale ( about the same abv) after 8 months and that was great too!

Good luck!


Slainte!