Spiced wheat beer

1 gallon of American Wheat beer
10 cardamom pods
1 t fenugreek seeds
1/2 t coriander seeds
1 4in piece cinnamon stick, broken into smaller pieces

Deeeeelish! this one was a favorite of myself, Beer Sissy and Spouse. Beer Bro liked it as well however he likes the fruited beers more. Those are good too, but this has a nice flavor, almost savory, complex and different. We're hoping to make a full 5 gal batch of the spiced beer next time!

American Wheat

A simple recipe recommended by Rocky Mountain Brewery aka Wine Crafters, a local home brew store.

7.0 LME wheat
.5 grain Belgian aromatic malt
.5 grain German Vienna malt
1.0 yeast safe ale S-04
1.0 muslin bag - hop
1.o Willamette hop pellets 1 oz

Clean and sterilize all brewing equimepnt except for bottle and caps which will be done later.

steep grain like making tea
once everything is clean start by taking your yeast out of the refrigerator to let warm to room temperature. Now add 2.5 gallons of water to your stock pot and heat DON'T BOIL. Put grains into the grain bag and tie very loose, fiving the grains pleanty of room to expand. Then put the bag into the heated (not boiling - 155F should be about right) water. Let 'steep' for thirty minutes and then remove grain bag.

Now remove pan from the heat. Stir in your malt extract (syrup in the bucket or can). Once the extract is dissolved, put the pan back on the heat. Bring to a rolling boil, watch very carefully and stir slowly to avoid a boil over. Once you get it to a nice rolling boil start the clock (60 min) and follow the following 'hops schedule'
add 1 oz willamette for 60 minutes

Remove from heat and start the cooling process. Fill your sink part wfull with the coldest water (pre chill some water if possible) availble and set the pan in it to cool the liquid (which is called wort). Repeat until it is cooled down below 80F.

now add 2 gallons of cold water to your primary fermenter and begin ladling the contents of the wort in also. Ladling will help to further cool the wort as you add it slowly to the cold water.

then top off to 5 gallons with cold water and mix vigoriusly. Take hydrometer reading at this point.

now that your wort is cooled down to room temp and the yeast has warmed up to room temp you can now add the yeast and stir vigorously.

fill your air lock half way with water and set in place once the lid or stopper is sealed air tight on your fermenter.

Fermentation should start within a few hours and finish in 2-5 days. Leave in the primary for 7 days

once it has set for the 7 days then its is time to 'rack it' or transfer it to the secondary fermenter.

now this will set for another 7 days. this is the clarifying stage

Welcome!

The Beer Bros, Brian & Dan

To the first post of the Brew Brothers blog. Dan and Brian are the brewers here. So far here's what they've brewed:

Cherry Wheat - used cherry puree as well as extract.
~~Thoughts: Not too bad for a first brew. The extract clouded the beer a lot. Dan thinks it added too much cherry flavor. Brian says it gets him buzzed but agrees on the extract. After some thought we've concluded that we used too much extract - the entire bottle was for 5 gallons. However the cherry puree was added in a 2ndary ferment, so some of the quantity of brew was lost there - and the sediment of the 2ndary ferment also caused another loss of liquid, so too much cherry was added. Next time we try this brew we'll use less - if any extract. Recipe used will be posted under a separate post.

Wheat beer - metallic flavor, not sure if its from the pot used or the hops. It tends to be very hoppy, not necessarily a good thing. Recipe to follow along with tasting notes.

Ideally we'll be posting the recipe used to brew, the results along with tasting notes. Beer Bros are looking to find their own signature brew, something thats easy going and flavor filled. Join them in their homebrewing fun!