Brewing This Weekend

I am brewing my third all-grain batch this weekend with Chris. We'll be making a bavarian hefeweizen.

Hefeweizens: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_beer

My first two batches have been pretty straight-forward. This time, I am adding a few levels of complexity.

1) I am brewing with wheat. Wheat has no hull and has lots of protein and ends up being gummy when mixed with hot water. That increases the chance that the gummy wheat clogs the pipes of my brewing equipment.

2) I am adding two temperature steps -- one at 111F and one at 152. The last two beers have been just one step -- 152.

I went to Joes today and watched him mill my grains. First he milled the barley (all barley from Germany) and then milled the wheat (also from Germany). Wheat is really hard so it ended up jamming his mill a few times. He gave me an additional bag of rice hulls. These act as a natural filter and help prevent clogs by adding a natural filter bed.

Back to the 111 degree temperature step. Why? Well, when I let my grains sit at 111 for 20 minutes, it is called an Acid Rest. During this period enzymes release ferulic acid from the grain. This acid is the precursor to another chemical called 4-vinyl guaiacol -- aka 4VG. This chemical helps contribute the clove flavors associated with Bavarian wheat beers. I'll be adding about 2 gallons of near boiling water to bring up the temperature to 152 -- a typical ideal temperature for converting starches to sugar -- the key to making beer.

I've spent several days researching this beer style and found a very informative forum thread at:

http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=40751

Without it, who knows what beer i'd end up with. I decided to skip making a starter. Also I will be keeping this beer in the basement -- a cool 63 degrees.

An additional note: Jes will be making dog biscuits out of the spent grain!