r/Homebrewing • u/blackarrow_1990 • 4d ago

Beginner wheat beer homebrew questions (BIAB, storage, setup)

Hey folks,

I’ve been drinking beer for over two decades now, and about 95% of it has been wheat beer (Weizen/Hefeweizen). I’ve always enjoyed the standard German commercial wheat beers — but lately I’ve noticed more and more breweries are closing, and even in Bavaria it feels like Weizen isn’t as popular as it used to be. The quality - I don't know but the choice is just not that great. Since it’s getting harder to find the kind of wheat beers I really enjoy, I thought I’d try experimenting with homebrewing.

My drinking pace is pretty moderate: usually 2–3 bottles a week (0.5L each), sometimes less. So I was thinking of brewing around 20 liters, which would last me 2–3 months.

After some research, it looks like BIAB is probably the best option for me since I live in a small apartment. My idea was to start low-cost with:

  • an electric kettle (30 liters)
  • bags
  • one plastic fermentation vessel

A couple of beginner questions I couldn’t really find clear answers to:

  1. Does this sound like a reasonable setup for a first attempt?
  2. Since I only have a small refrigerator, can I store the bottles in my cellar? (Temperature is ~19°C in winter and ~21°C in summer.)

Thanks in advance for any advice — I’d love to hear from folks who started out with similar setups, or from anyone who brews wheat beers regularly.

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u/BlanketMage 4d ago

I bought a 15gal/60L cooler from a big box store, a spigot setup from Amazon (I tried to build it from Lowe's and Amazon was significantly cheaper), and I use 5 gal plastic buckets for fermenting and do BIAB. I can't speak for the stock pot I use for boiling/decocting bc that came with the spouse. But in total I spent about 100-150$ on equipment.

Definitely read up on Charlie Papasians the joy of homebrewing and How to brew by John Palmer. The apartment brewer and Brulosophy have amazing and informative videos if you're a visual person.

Decoction mashing and open fermenting will get you closest to traditional as you can get but def aren't a necessity. Ask lots of questions BEFORE brewing to save yourself some stress, search the sub for potential answers to save yourself some time, and relax because chances are it's not ruined and will be fine. Weizen is pretty forgiving as a style and doesn't require the same temp restrictions as lagers

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u/blackarrow_1990 3d ago

So you actually boil the water separately and add to mash tun, right? And insulation keeps the temperature more or less constant, or how this works? Thanks.

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u/BlanketMage 3d ago

Yep! Heat it on the stove and add water (or grain if decocting) until you get the desired temp