A Hundred and Ten in the Shade

1 07 2009

It was as hot as I can ever recall in Gainesville on Father’s Day. The thermometer on the back porch hit 100 degrees (in the shade). With heat indexes into the 110′s, there was only one sensible thing to do; move the brewing operation to the stove-top. This Father’s Day began a new tradition with the Denny family: giving Dad time to brew. Summertime is time for wheat beers. At the risk of being redundant, I’m once again creating a Dunkelweizen (OK, so this time it supposed to be a Dunkelweizen, not a Dopplebock).

Nothing says summer like a good German Wheat

This is also my first “stew brew”, meaning I’m using ingredients left over from prior batches. The vital statistics are as follows:

4oz Chocolate Malt
4oz CaraMunich 40 Malt
2lbs Munton’s Light DME
1.45 lbs Weyerman Hefeweizen LME
3.3 lbs of Breiss Weizen LME
0.6oz Glacier Hops (6% AA)
Fermentis Safbrew WB-06 Yeast

I steeped the specialty grains for 15 min at 152 degrees then added the LME, DME and hops and boiled for 45 minutes. My O.G. was 1.050, which was in the range for the style. Fermentation is proceeding nicely at 70 degrees. I hope to rack to the secondary in time for the Red, White and Brew party coming up this Friday.