Sunday, June 19, 2011

Rapist's Wit Re-brew

Origins:
The Rapist's Wit was the first beer featured on this website way back in 2010. I decided that I needed to give this another brew.

Ingredients:

  • 8 lbs Wheat Extract
  • 2 oz Mt. Hood hops (4.6% alpha-acid, whole leaf)
  • White Labs Belgian Wit Ale Yeast (WLP400)
  • 1 lb. Flaked Wheat
  • 1 tsp crushed coriander
  • Zests of 2 large oranges
  • 1 tsp. gypsum
Procedure:
On June 19th, Fathers Day, I decided I needed to brew a some beer because my kegerator is getting empty. Since I have brewed this beer before I wanted to try something different a add an extra pound of extract and bump the alcohol level up a few points. Also since I had just completed my stir plate so I wanted to try it out.

Stir Plate / Starter Procedure:

The first step in creating a starter is to mix a cup of dried malt extract (DME) with 1000 ml of water in a 2000 ml Erlenmeyer flask. To sanitize the stir rod drop it in the flask and begin to boil the wort. After boiling for 10 minutes (I didn't know how long to boil so I figured 10 minutes should be enough) I removed the flask from the stove covered the top with foil and placed in a salted ice bath. Salt is added to lower the freezing point of water therefore the water can be colder than 0°C.


After the ice bath had cooled enough to be cold to the touch I put the flask on the stir plate. I had to cool it to colder than I probably needed because I broke my thermometer during the last brew. After I made sure that the stir plate was going to be OK, I left it there and did something else.

The following day I came down stairs to see YEAST-AGEDDON!! The yeast growth had reached epic proportions. Due the the stir plate making the yeast propagate much faster it overflowed the top and went all over the counter, stir plate and everything. This was not ideal but there was enough yeast in the flask to make a proper starter.

Brew Procedure:

I poured the flaked wheat into a grain bag and and steeped them at 170°F for 15 minutes. I haven't steeped grains like this before, I have kind of just soaked until the water reached 170°F then removed. I don't know why I haven't done this before this is closer to all grain brewing because the grains have time to extract the sugars in the malt (Flaked wheat is not malted but I thought I should get in the habit).

Hops/Ingredients Schedule:

QuantityIngredientBoiled for
1 oz.Mt. Hood Hops Entire 60 min. Boil
1 Tblsp.Crushed CorianderLast 20 min. of boil
1/2 oz.Mt. Hood HopsLast 15 min. of boil
2 (Large) Oranges ZestsLast 10 min. of boil
1/2 oz.Mt. Hood HopsLast 5 min. of boil

After the boil finished I cooled the wort took a gravity reading and pitched the yeast. I poured the entire 1000 ml flask into the fermenter. Since WLP400 is an not a flocculent yeast it would take several days for the yeast to settle enough to decant.
INITIAL WORT GRAVITY:
1.044

UPDATE 6/25/11:
The wit has been sitting for about a week and the fermentation has slowed down to a bubble ever few minutes. While packing for a trip to Alaska I remembered that I needed to transfer or the beer would be sitting on the dead yeast for another week. In a scramble (Not Ideal) I quickly sterilized all components for the beer took a gravity reading and transferred to secondary.
Gravity at Transfer: 1.012
Current Alcohol:
  • ABW=105*(1.044-1.012)=3.36
  • ABV=1.25*3.36=4.42%

UPDATE 7/4/11:
I returned from Alaska and kegged the gravity had not changed so final ABV was 4.42 ill wait 48 hours while the beer is on 30PSI and drink it.

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