Beer Week: Honey Wheat Ale Recipe (2024)

*Disclaimer: This post is intended for people of legal drinking age, 21 and older. Drink responsibly.*

Welcome back for another day of brewing with Household 7!

Today, we’re going to go over the basic brew process forextract recipes using my honey wheat recipe.

What you’ll need:

• 6lbs of Wheat DME (Dry Malt Extract)
• 3tbsp of Cocoa Powder
• ½ tsp of cinnamon
• Nutmeg (just a dash, very little)
• Wyeast 1010 American Wheat Yeast (Smack Pack)
• 2 to 2.5lbs of honey (I used 2.5lbs)
• 1oz of Cascade Hops (Pellets)

The first step will be to get all of your ingredients listedabove together. Also gather up your equipment. You will need your brew kettle,stirring spoon, primary fermenter with lid and airlock, thermometer, andhydrometer.

Make your sanitizer solution in your primary fermenter. Ilike to do 4 gallons of water in there. You will mix 1tbsp of the one-step pergallon. Drop all your items (except the brew kettle) into the fermenting bucketand attach the lid. You don’t need to sanitize the brewpot because the boilingwater will do that for you. Now plug the hole in the lid with your thumb andshake it really well being sure to get all interior surfaces covered. Now thateverything is sitting in the sanitizer, we can move on.

Grab your yeast out of the fridge and follow theinstructions….i.e: give it a good hard smack to get those puppies started.There is a nutrient pack inside and it will give your yeasties something to eatto get nice and healthy before going to town on your wort. Set this aside fornow in a place away from your heat source.

Measure about 2.5 gallons of water into your brewpot. 3gallons is better if you have a bigger brewpot, but I started with a small one.(Don’t worry about exacts, we will finish with about 5.5 gallons either way)

Now, bring that sucker to a boil!

With your water boiling you will introduce your 6lbs ofWheat DME and ½ ounce of the hops into the brewpot. This is important! Move thebrewpot to a burner that is not turned on and pour the DME in while stirring.This will reduce the risk of a boilover (you don’t want it….it creates a HUGE,SITCKY mess) and will prevent the DME from sticking. Also, it will reduce theamount of steam that clumps the DME before it makes it to the brewpot. If youhave a small brewpot like I did and you are already close to the top, drop adrop or two of fermcap into the brewpot. That stops boilovers too. Now you canreturn the brewpot to the heat source and continue to stir while adding the ½ounce of cascade hops.

Hops added earlier in the boil contribute flavor and hopsadded later add aroma.

Boil for 15 minutes and add the other ½ ounce of hops. Thenboil for 15 more minutes.

Now that we’re done boiling, turn the burner off and movethe brewpot to another burner that was not turned on. (Flameout is the wordhomebrewers use to describe turning the heat off/ the end of the boil) You cannow add your cocoa powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg into your brewpot.

At some point during the boil, you will want to get rid ofthe sanitizer solution in the fermenter. Usually, I just take the items insideand place them on a paper towel, then dump the save some of the sanitizer in abowl and dump the rest down the drain.

Here is where your process may differ from mine:

You cannot put the yeast into the wort before the wort coolsdown below 80F. There is a piece of equipment called a wort chiller that youcan use. I do not own one, but wish I did. It cools down the wort MUCH quickerthat what I do without one. If you happen to get one (and I recommend it),there are instructions available on how to properly use it.

Here is what I do without one:

Pour about 1.5 gallons of COLD COLD water into yourfermenting bucket. Don’t add ice, it can cause sanitation problems. Now, addyour hot wort. Next, pour all your honey in. There should be marks on the sideof your bucket showing how much liquid is inside. Add enough COLD water tobring it up to about 5.5 gallons.

Now, that finished wort in there will still be pretty hot,so I insert the airlock into the lid and attach the lid. You will need to addsome water into the airlock for it to keep air out. We do this so that the wortdoesn’t get contaminated while we cool it. Carry that bad boy into thebathroom, set it down in the tub and turn on the coldest water you can. Plugthat tub up and let it fill. Sit back and chill out for a while, it will take abit to cool. Grab a beer and wait. You may have to change the water out a few times.It will help cool the wort more quickly. Check on it every so often and whenthe temperature is below 80F, take the fermenter back into the kitchen.

Before you “pitch” the yeast, take a hydrometer reading andrecord the specific gravity/density as an initial reading.

Use the sanitizer you set aside earlier to sanitize a pairof scissors and cut the top of the yeast package open. Simply dump the yeastinto the wort and drop in a few drops of fermcap. Next, seal the lid with theairlock back onto the fermenter. If you want, add a drop of food coloring intothe airlock so you can see the bubbles more easily later.

Now we play the waiting game. Stick it in a darkish place thatstays at a temperature of about 70F. It will remain in the fermenter for about9 days. Most beers are done with their “primary ferment” after about a week,but this beer is a little stronger and will come out to about 8.5-9%ABV, so itneeds a little extra time.