First homebrew in the fermenter!

[Nubster]

Well, I did it for better or for worse...here's the run down:

4oz Belgian aromatic
4oz Flaked oats
4oz Rice hulls
8oz Flaked wheat

2 gallon Steep @150 for an hour, one gallon sparge @ 170 degree.

Added 6 pounds (actually more, used two 3.3# cans but I didn't scrape them clean) Belgian wheat extract and 8oz of Soft Candi sugar after bringing the above to a boil.

Added 1oz German Hallertaur hops (4.3%) at 60 minutes, 1oz at 15 minutes.

Added 1oz of bitter orange at 15 minutes

Added 1oz of Coriander at 5 minutes.

Cooled in ice bath to 70 degrees, moved to 5 gallon fermenter bucket.

Pitched one tube of White Labs Belgian Wit yeast (WLP400).

Added water to bring to 5 gallons.

OG: 1.042

Sealed it up, added the airlock, and moved to a spare room to keep it in the low 70's until fermentation starts, then I'll move to the basement where the temps are mid to high 60's.

It was fun, a little stressful, still stressin' really, I guess I will be for the next couple weeks in anticipation as to how/if this all turns out. I was as careful as I could be, just hope it was enough to prevent infection. I also hope the yeast takes off and does its thing...no reason it wouldn't I guess, just one of those things you'd worry about I suppose. I should know how that's going in the next day.

[Bluek24a4]

Good luck! I always wanted to try and brew my own beer. Let us know how it tastes when you're done.

[Nubster]

Definitely...it'll be about 4 weeks of long, impatient waiting. In the meaning time, I need to design a label for the bottles and plan my next batch. I'm thinking a brown ale would be good.

[Bluek24a4]

That sounds delicious to me.

[Wasserpest]

Sounds good to me... if you continue down that road, consider getting a chiller. Refractometer is nice to have too.

I usually do a starter with liquid yeast, this will tell you if it is viable, and gets a better quantity of yeast for higher gravity brews.

I moved to All Grain earlier this year, now on my batch #30.

[Nubster]

Originally Posted by Wasserpest

Sounds good to me... if you continue down that road, consider getting a chiller. Refractometer is nice to have too.

I usually do a starter with liquid yeast, this will tell you if it is viable, and gets a better quantity of yeast for higher gravity brews.

I moved to All Grain earlier this year, now on my batch #30.

haha...yeah, already thinking about a temp. controlled fermenting cabinet and I am going to RadioShack this week to get the stuff to build a stir plate to use for my next batch to make a yeast starter. I have a hydrometer which is ok. I also have a refractometer from my days doing SW tanks and even though it's different, from what I read it can be used with brewing though it will probably just be easier to get an actual brewers refractometer