#SWMBO Wheat Brew Day

I brewed Sunday.

She Who Must Be Obeyed Wheat. ... aka SWMBO.

SWMBO came about in summer of 2013 because I needed to brew something for my wife's (aka The Beer Model ... aka SWMBO) side of the kegerator.

I felt like I wanted to brew a new recipe ... not one of the recipes I've brewed over and over and over for her. You can read more about the details on the Sheppy Brew SWMBO page, but I grabbed recipe elements from  Laser Salt, Buckwheat's BPA,  Ello Poppet. and Summer Lovin' Wheat.

As it turned out, it was a fantastic beer. It is one of those beers that both The Beer Model and I can enjoy.

So ... I brewed it Sunday. Sunday was sort of a busy day on our family calendar, and I screwed with my process just a little bit to fit things in.

I got the mash started before the sun came up. Nothing unusual about that.

The family had to get to church early. Usually what I do in this case is collect the wort and let it sit until after church to start the boil.

However, yesterday, I knew I was going to have to drop my son off for Ultimate Frisbee after church and then pick him up from that game. I didn't want to wait until almost noon to start the boil.

So, I adjusted the process to split up the boil.

Before church, I got the boil started and got through the hot break. Then, right when we left, I shut the burner off.

After I dropped off my kid at Ultimate Frisbee, I came home and started up the boil again. I made it through the hop additions. Then I turned the burner off again, relying on the fact that the heat of the liquid would remain hot enough to continue to isomerize hops even though the burner was not applying heat.

I waited until about 10 minutes after the planned end of the boil before starting the water through the chiller to help adjust for less evaporation with the lower temperature.

I collected about 5.5 gallons of wort at about 1.046, which is lower than the planned 1.049 OG, but close enough for me to feel good about playing things by the fly to adjust the time to match my schedule.

I figure this beer will match the profile I'm looking for. I'm sure the Beer Model will enjoy it too, which is really the most important thing.

She Must be Obeyed. MUST.

The beer is fermenting away. At this point, most of the fermentation is done. As is typical, I'll let it sit for another week before I keg it up just to allow plenty of opportunity for the yeast to clean up the beer.

The beer will be fantastic when I start to drink it in a couple weeks. I am confident.

As always, keep an eye on the regular SheppyBrew Channels to see what is happening with this beer (and many others): SheppyBrew's Facebook Page; Sheppy's Twitter Feed;SheppyBrew's Instagram Page; and SheppyBrew's Website. Of course, don't forget to visit this blog often as well!

Go Blackhawks.