Hefeweizen Update

So, Boyf wants to rename this beer 'Pull My Hefe'. I may have forgotten to warn him that WLP351 yeast produce a fair amount of hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg/ fart smell), but in my defense I had no idea how strong it would be at the beginning. The starter that was pitched smelled fantastic, nice and clovey with a hint of banana at the back. Fermentation got off to a great start, and the airlock was bubbling away within a few hours.

The following morning, everything was going just ducky. Then I came home that evening to a frigid apartment, stinking of sulphur. Poor Boyf thought something had gone wrong when the NStar guy checked our gas that day, so he opened all the windows, checked all the pilots and left the heat off (keep in mind this is early April in N.E.). I re-assured him that it was just the yeast farting away (I don't think he really believed me, but accepted my crazy explanation), and we forgot about it when the smell was gone by the next morning.

A week and half later, it's bottling time. We get all the bottles and caps clean and the priming sugar boiled, then I pulled the lid off the bucket. Boyf stuck his face right in to get the first whiff of delicious homebrew, the beer farted at him, and he deemed it unsatisfactory. I told him not to worry, this happens with lager yeasts a lot, and we would just have to wait it out. I took the F.G. (1.01 for anyone who is curious) and bottled the beer. Now, I just have to sit and be patient while the little beasties clean up the mess they made during early fermentation.*

*There are two camps on how hydrogen sulfide is removed from beer. Some say it's due to the H2S getting caught up in CO2 bubbles and then getting purged with the CO2. Others say it's because the yeast uptake the H2S towards the end of fermentation. I tend to believe the science-y people and am going with the yeast.

Blood Orange Hefeweizen

I finally had my first brew day of the year, and it was awesome. I recently picked up some delicious blood oranges, so I decided to try an all-grain version of the blood orange hefeweizen recipe from Sam Calagione's Extreme Brewing.
Batch Size: 5.5 gal
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70%

5.25 lbs Pale malt 2-row German
5.25 lbs Wheat malt German
0.5 oz Hallertau hops [3.0%] (60min)
1.0 oz Saaz hops [4.0%] (20min)
0.5 oz Hallertau hops [3.0%] (10min)
4 Blood oranges
1 vial Bavarian Weizen yeast (White Labs WLP351)

I started things yesterday by making a 1.5 liter yeast starter. Since this is a seasonal strain, I'm going to try to culture it (more on this another day).
I did a single infusion mash at 152F with 1.33 quarts/lb for 1hr.
For the oranges, I zested two oranges, peeled all the oranges, and then chopped up the sections. I added the zest and fruit to 0.5 gal water and heated to 160F. Then I let the fruit steep as the mixture cooled.
Once the wort and fruit cooled to 70F, I added them to the fermenter, straining the oranges through a small grain bag and added that too. Finally, I pitched the yeast, and a few hours later I'm starting to see a little action.
The original gravity ended up being 1.048, expected OG was 1.050, so a little low :-( I'm working on improving my efficiency, and I think more patience during the sparge will help with that. Ah well, just going to have to brew more I guess!