Batch Down! Help Needed! Save my wheat beer!

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MatthewTCranford

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MOD EDIT: multiple threads merged. Please do not double/triple/quadruple post.

These are the ingredients I was given at my local home brew store to make an american wheat extract brew. I have been brewing with the true brew kits and now i'm a little confused without a set of directions in front of me:

-6lbs Dry Malt Extract Bavarian Wheat
-1lb victory grain
-1lb wheat
-1oz bittering
-1oz finishing

Do i steep the grain and wheat like i would a specialty grain? then do the boil with the dry malt extract? Please Help!

Also, they said to add half the bittering hops for 60 min, then half for another 30. then for the finishing hops to do half for 15 and half for five... does this mean i will be boiling for an hour and 50 minutes?

Please help! Thanks!
 
These are the ingredients I was given at my local home brew store to make an american wheat extract brew. I have been brewing with the true brew kits and now i'm a little confused without a set of directions in front of me:

-6lbs Dry Malt Extract Bavarian Wheat
-1lb victory grain
-1lb wheat
-1oz bittering
-1oz finishing

Do i steep the grain and wheat like i would a specialty grain? then do the boil with the dry malt extract? Please Help!

Also, they said to add half the bittering hops for 60 min, then half for another 30. then for the finishing hops to do half for 15 and half for five... does this mean i will be boiling for an hour and 50 minutes?

Please help! Thanks!
 
Whatever grain you have, you'll be steeping it all together. Do the instructions say to steep or mash? What temp does it say to do it at? They are different processes and not really interchangeable. After the steeping/mashing is done you move on to the boil phase with the extract.

As for the hops, no, you aren't boiling for nearly 2 hours. The boil should be 60 minutes. You'll add half the bittering hops as soon as you get to a boil and then after 30 minutes have passed you'll add the other half. Then after 45 minutes have passed you'll add half the finishing hops, and then at the 55 minute mark you'll add the last.
 
:mug: Steep the grains at 150 degrees for 30 min. in about a gal. and a half of water. You will only need to boil 1 hour total.
 
Heat 3 quarts of water to 165 degrees. Take off the heat, and add your grains. (it's best if the grains are loosely placed in a grain bag, not too tight). Stir well, to thoroughly wet the grains and then check the temperature. If you're between 150 and 155, you're golden! Cover it, and let sit at that temperature for 45 minutes. In the meantime, heat a gallon of water up to 170 degrees in a separate pot. After the 45 minutes is up, lift up the grain bag out of the liquid, and place it over the brew pot in a colander. Pour the 170 degree water gently over the grainbag to "rinse" it well. Throw the grains away.

Bring that resulting liquid up to a boil, adding more water to get up to your boil volume (how big is your pot?). Take off the heat and add your extract. Place back on the burner and bring to a boil. When it's boiling, add the first hops and set the timer for 60 minutes. Add the rest of the hops at the appropriate time. So, if you have 15 minute hops, for example, add them when 15 minutes is left on the timer. When the timer hits 0, turn off the heat and cool the wort.
 
The hop additions, as Willy said, are for a 60 minute boil.

But just to clarify, think about starting a countdown timer from 60 minutes. Add your first hops and start the timer. After 30 minutes, when the clock reads 30, add the next addition. After 15 more minutes, when the clock has 15 minutes left, you add .5oz of finishing hops. And then 10 minutes later, with 5 to go, you add the remaining finishing hops. Boil for 5 more minutes, and cool down the wort quickly!

Also, if you have a smaller pot, that'd be best for the steeping the grains (It's actually a partial mash, as you have wheat malt and victory in there, both with diastatic power!). While you're waiting around while the grains steep, you can start heating up another 2 gallons of water in your brew pot, and start to dissolve the DME. Once your grains are done steeping, drain the bag, and add the water from the smaller pot to your brew kettle and bring it to a boil before you add your first hops.
 
Just brewed an extract wheat beer. This was not a kit. Ingredients put together by a staff member of my local home brewing store. The instructions I received from them and from this website was when adding the extracts and hops, keep the temperature at 150 def F throughout the process.

I am now brewing the last True Brew kit that I had. It's a Nut brown ale. It's directions are to keep it boiling throughout that process. Which is the correct way? and which should i use for the nut brown ale?

(with my wheat beer, i have ton of sediment in the bottom of my carboy. I plan to do a secondary frementation, but the topmost layer of sediment looks thinner and more homogeneous. Could this be sugar that did not disolve in my wort? any input would be greatly appreciated.)

Thanks! :drunk:
 
I steeped my grains at 150. However, I failed to bring to and maintain a boil during the addition of hops and malt extracts. I thought I was supposed to keep it at 150 the entire time. I cooled the wort, poured into the carboy, and added the yeast. After about 4 hours, no fermentation is taking place. There is a lot of sediment in the bottom of may carboy (4-5 inches). The top layer of sediment is very homogeneous and looks like it could be sugar that did not disolve all the way possibly? I'm thinking since I did not bring to a boil that i was unable to saturate all of the sugar? Can this happen? Is it savable? Please Please Please help! Thanks!:mad:
 
Made a mistake making my american wheat beer.

I steeped my grains at 150. However, I failed to bring to and maintain a boil during the addition of hops and malt extracts. I thought I was supposed to keep it at 150 the entire time. I cooled the wort, poured into the carboy, and added the yeast. After about 4 hours, no fermentation is taking place. There is a lot of sediment in the bottom of may carboy (4-5 inches). The top layer of sediment is very homogeneous and looks like it could be sugar that did not disolve all the way possibly? I'm thinking since I did not bring to a boil that i was unable to saturate all of the sugar? Can this happen? Is it savable? Please Please Please help! Thanks! :mad:
 
RELAX.

Yeast can sometimes take 72 hours to show visible signs of fermentation.

There's a possibility that you will get an infection from not having boiled it, and you'll probably wind up with lackluster hop utilization, but there's no chance of sugar coming out of solution.

Odds are in your favor that you will have beer. Now do yourself a favor and find something to occupy your mind for 6 weeks while your yeast do their thing.
 
wow. if I were you, I would boil it. Dump it back in the pot and boil it for 60 mins. get more yeast and finishing hops and it should turn out ok. it might be a bit more bitter than expected if you used a lot of aroma hops.

The faster you bring it to a boil the better because yeast can mutate at higher temps-which leads to off flavours.
 
Hmmmm..... The sugars are definitely dissolved, but you are sure to grow a contaminant since none of your ingredients got boiled or even pasteurized..... or did they?!

150 for over an hour. I know I've seen a pasteurization chart somewhere.

The other thing is you will have no hop bitterness at all.

Interesting dilemma: Reboil with new hop additions and repitch yeast would be my next move.
 
The faster you bring it to a boil the better because yeast can mutate at higher temps-which leads to off flavours.

Left on their own at temps over 70, they will produce esters that may contribute to off flavors, but this is not mutation. If he boils it, they're not going to have enough time to produce the esters that contribute to off-flavors.

Seriously, heed the words of John Lennon and let it be.
 
If you don't boil it you will probably get some lactic acid bacteria in there, and you will have very little to no hop bitterness. beer with no bitterness is not as tasty as it sounds.
 
You want to mash or steep your grains at 150, but then after the grains are removed boil the wort while adding the hops at the various times. Where do you live in Georgia?
 
wow. if I were you, I would boil it. Dump it back in the pot and boil it for 60 mins. get more yeast and finishing hops and it should turn out ok. it might be a bit more bitter than expected if you used a lot of aroma hops.

The faster you bring it to a boil the better because yeast can mutate at higher temps-which leads to off flavours.

No offense, but this is the worst advice possible at this point. There will have been some hop utilisation, so reboiling would screw that up even more. Not to mention that heat killing the yeast during an extended boil, which would be very hard to remove from the wort after, would probably yield off flavour as well. If there has been any fermentation (and there likely has been) then all the alcohol created so far would be lost.

As for the second part of your post, heating up yeast will not cause mutation, just death. Mutation will also not necessarily lead to off flavours, but if a specific mutation did then you'd need a pretty significant portion of your yeast to mutate the same way (not possible as mutations are random) or reproduce from a single yeast cell many more times than is possible during a growth period prior to fermentation. What I think you mean is that a fermentation occuring at higher than recommended temps will lead to off flavours, and while this is true not enough fermentation would occur in the period leading up to a boil for it to matter.

I understand that you want to help people, but it's a good idea to have your facts straight before giving someone flawed advice.
 
so the best idea would be to just leave it and hope for no infection? How would I tell if there was any sort of infection? Is there anything at this point that I can to to help prevent an infection?
 
I think you could boil it. You don't even have to get new hops. The hops you use will act like First Wort Hops. So, I'm not exactly following Gremlyn1 that the hops would screw you up. I doubt the dead yeast will contribute any flavors. But you will need a source of new yeast. At four hours, probably the yeast pitched have only been doing aerobic respiration, so there is probably no alcohol. But if you are going to boil it, the quicker the better.
 
well the wort got up to 160 at least, and thats with only the thermometer tip in the wort. I've been seeing online that it needs to get to 165 for pasteurization to take place. I'm pretty sure it got to that point in the process...

Does anybody know of any specific temperatures it needs to get to for the pasteurization of beer?

Also, how do you know if you have an infection or not?
 
Does anybody know what specific temperature beer is supposed to get to for pasteurization to take place? I only got to 160-165. Forgot to boil after steeping of my grains in an american wheat extract brew.

Online i have found 165 is the temperature that substances need to get to for the killing of bacteria. I know I was above 160, but to 100% sure i got to 165. The thermometer did only have the very tip in, which could have lead to a lower reading.

Is my beer going to be ok? or am i subject to an infection? if so, how do i detect an infection? Thanks!
 
You can secondary if you like, but a Wheat beer is supposed to be cloudy and young. I would give it about 3 weeks in the primary, and if it is finished fermenting, keg or bottle.
 
Checked out an article on "Flash Pasteurization of Beer". Says 160F for 30 seconds is all. I find that kinda unbelievable tho.
 
You may have received the all-grain recipe, which might have you mashing at 150 degrees. Regardless, you need to boil...extract or all grain. Hops go in during the boil.
 
Perhaps boiling a concentrated solution of hops and adding it to the beer would add some bitterness? I've never heard of it being done, but it's something to think about.
 
Yeah, extract is boil only. If you're using extract and hops without steeped grains then you only have to worry about boil temperatures. If you're using steeped grain then you're entering into different territory with people who steep from cold to boiling, steep at 150º for 20 minutes... the list goes on and on.

If all you were given is extract and hops then just bring the water to a boil, remove from heat or turn off heat, add extract and stir to mix in, return to heat and bring to a boil and follow the hopping schedule.

It's pretty easy (with the right instructions) and fun to drink when you're all done!
 
Is it fermenting? I think the biggest issue will be an infection. I'm sure 150 degrees has some pasteurization power but would have to seacrch online to see how long of a contact time would be required. Does is smell funky?
 
:DWell you're going to have a hard time replicating this brew if it's a good.:D
Online you might want to take a look at John Palmer's "How to Brew".
 
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