American Wheat Ale (For Intermediate Homebrewers) Recipe

Line the 7.5 gallon kettle with the mesh bag, fill with 2.5 gallons of tap water and bring to 165°F. Remove from heat. Mash-in by slowly adding all 7.6 pounds of grain into the water and inside the bag. Stir for 2 minutes to prevent balls of grain from clumping together, creating a consistent mash. The temperature should equalize to about 154°F. Cover the mash, only uncovering to briefly stir every 20 minutes. Heat 3 more gallons of water to 185°F. After 60 minutes, mash-out by carefully pouring the 185°F water into the mash, stirring to equalize temperature to about 170°F. Slowly raise the grain bag out of the liquid, allowing the wort to drain from the grain. Hold the grain bag above the kettle for 5 to 10 minutes as the wort drains. Top the wort off with water to 6 gallons. Bring wort to a vigorous boil. When the boil begins, add 1 ounce Magnum hops in a mesh bag. After boiling for 45 minutes, add 1/2 ounces Sorachi Ace hops in a mesh bag. After boiling a for a total of 55 minutes, add 1/2 ounce Sorachi Ace hops in a mesh bag. After total of 60 minutes of boil, remove from heat. Warning: After wort cools below 180°F everything that touches it should be sanitary, and exposure to open air should be limited as much as possible. Cool wort by placing pot in ice bath or by using a wort chiller until it is below 70°F. Transfer to sanitized fermentor (either a carboy or a fermentation bucket). Use a sanitized auto-siphon racking cane to remove enough wort to take a gravity reading with your hydrometer. Make a note of this number, since you will be using it to calculate the actual alcohol content when it's done fermenting. The reading should be around 1.043. Carefully pour yeast into cooled wort (it should be below 70°F), and agitate vigorously. Cover fermentor with a sanitized stopper and airlock. Ferment in dark place, keeping ambient temperature consistent, preferably between 65 and 68°F. Bottle after 1 to 2 weeks when fermentation is complete, using enough priming sugar for a medium level of carbonation.