1st beer by myself

hello all well i decided tonight to make my 1st beer by myself, me and a friend have made a few kit brews together with great success. i have also been brewing cider with alot of success aswell. so today i set out to make a beer by myself. i decided on a gallon batch. so i bought about 2.5 lbs of grain, all mixed in from the bins at whole foods. it contained: carmel breiss, red wheat, and "crystal wheat" i think the last one was called. well i milled it up and then i brought it home and boiled the grains in water for about 5 min then held it at a bare simmer for 35 min. i then separated the grain and brought the wort to a boil,a added 2 cups light dme and 2/3rd a small packet of cascade hops, then simmered for another 40 min. i then strained it and let it cool down to about 90 degrees and placed it into my 1 gallon green glass jug. i reserved a little and put us-05 in to proof for 10 min, then in it went and sealed her up with an airlock. i tasted it and it was nice sweet and malty.. so im wondering what to expect. if i did anything wrong let me know, i just kinda winged it but im thinking it will be good, it smells amazing.

You shouldn't have boiled & simmered the grains. You should have just brought the water to 160 or so and let them steep for 30 minutes. The higher temps will extract tannins from the grain giving you an astringent flavor.

And to get the full hop utilization it needs to be boiled for the full amount of time, not simmered. How were you and you're friend making your other batches? The same way?

Those are unmalted grains from the grocery? It sounds like you did a cereal boil to gelatanize the starches but without adding it to a mash with some base malt I don't think you'll get anything fermentable from that - just starch haze. I think a cup of DME is about 6 oz so you probably have about a 1.033 beer.

I missed that OP got it from Whole Foods, so now I'm really curious as to how you were brewing before with your partner... Why did you stop using kits?

Well.... it'll be.... something...

You need base grains like 2row. The ones listed are adjuncts.

They'd need to be mashed at 150-155F for an hour with some base malt to get the needed enzymes to convert starches to sugars. Boiling or mashing at too high a temp kills the enzymes.

jCOSbrew said:

You need base grains like 2row. The ones listed are adjuncts.

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Nah... He used DME. Like an extract recipe with steeping grains. +/- 6 ounces of DME in < 1 gallon will probably be in the 1.30 to 1.35 range. It'll make beer just most likely not very good beer. Then again, maybe it'll be fantastic... I guess just as long as the OP is enjoying himself.

chickypad said:

Those are unmalted grains from the grocery? It sounds like you did a cereal boil to gelatanize the starches but without adding it to a mash with some base malt I don't think you'll get anything fermentable from that - just starch haze. I think a cup of DME is about 6 oz so you probably have about a 1.033 beer.

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Good point about the grains. Didn't occur to me that they wouldn't be brewing grains.

Well, it was mentioned in another thread that some whole foods are selling grains for brewing.

It'll be interesting to see how this turns out but ... well, your method technically wrong but not earth shattering so.

2.5 lbs of grains: Well, the good news *and* the bad news is that none (edit: except the red wheat) of those grains seem to be "base" malt grains for extracting sugars. This is good news because your method of bringing to a boil and then simmering for 1/2 an hour would have killed the enzimes of the base malt grains and no sugar would have been produced. Thus these grains are primarily "specialty grains" and used for flavor and color. 2.5 lbs for 1 gallon is excessive. But, oh well. As hogwash above said, you shouldn't boil as that releases tanins but again, oh, well.
For "base" malt grains (the ones you want to get fermentable sugar from), you want to mash them. That requires setting them at a steady temperature of 154 or so far an hour. Raising the temp to 170 and letting sit for 10 minutes and then rinsing and or straining.
[added]For adjunct of "specialty grains" (the ones you don't want to get fermentable sugar from; you just want to use them to add flavor) you can either mash with the base grains or you can steep them for 20 or 30 minutes if you aren't using base grains.

DME: this is your sole source of fermentables, so what chickypad said. Going to be kind of light and low alcohol.

Hops: what twistr25 said. Should be full hour at full boil. So hops will give a slight flavor but won't do much by way of bittering. Your beer will be sweet.

So... you'll have beer; a week sweet beer with strong and possibly astrigent flavors but very low alcohol. But next time, you should follow a recipe.

hogwash said:

Good point about the grains. Didn't occur to me that they wouldn't be brewing grains.

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Um... then why did you say they should be seeped for 30 minutes? Shouldn't brewing grains be mashed for a full hour.

2.5 lbs is a *lot* of adjunct grains for a 1 gallon batch. It *will* have a lot of flavor, albeit rather low alcohol.

I was trying to remember if whole foods is like the whole foods market at Cedar Center up here. They have brewing supplies,beers on tap,growler fills,tasters,etc. It's up around University Circle somewhere. But they have brewing grains & all too. I looked on midwest site for the described grains. Rahr has a red wheat with diastatic power of 207,Alpha Amylase of 52.8. So it def has some conversion power. Caramel/crystal grains can be steeped,but the red wheat seems obvious to me,has to be mashed.

woozy said:

Um... then why did you say they should be seeped for 30 minutes? Shouldn't brewing grains be mashed for a full hour.

2.5 lbs is a *lot* of adjunct grains for a 1 gallon batch. It *will* have a lot of flavor, albeit rather low alcohol.

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Because I was commenting on another poster's statement that they may have been unmalted cereal grains from the grocery which did not occur to me when I read the original post. I assumed that they were grains for brewing and if you're doing specialty grains with extract, you steep the grains for a half an hour at a temp between 150F & 170F. They do not need to be mashed for a full hour*.

*Edit: Except the red wheat as unionrdr mentioned above though it would probably convert in a half hour.

hogwash said:

...I assumed that they were grains for brewing and if you're doing specialty grains with extract, ...

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My mistake. When I reading "brewing grains" I interpreted that as "mashing grains". I guess you meant the exact opposite and meant adjunct specialty grains.

My apologies.

I did the exact opposite; I assumed (because of the 2.5 lb size) they were mashing grains. It wasn't till I read your first post that I realized they might be adjunct (except the red wheat which I'm simply to new to recognize) grains.

woozy said:

My mistake. When I reading "brewing grains" I interpreted that as "mashing grains". I guess you meant the exact opposite and meant adjunct specialty grains.

My apologies.

I did the exact opposite; I assumed (because of the 2.5 lb size) they were mashing grains. It wasn't till I read your first post that I realized they might be adjunct (except the red wheat which I'm simply to new to recognize) grains.

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No worries.

FWIW, and to go totally off topic... the word "adjunct" refers to items such as oatmeal, flaked corn, rice hulls, flaked wheat, etc. and usually need to be mashed with base malts (2 row, wheat, pilsen, etc.). They typically affect body and mouthfeel. Caramel/Crystal malts and roasted malts are referred to as "specialty" grains and do not need to be mashed to contribute color and flavor to the beer.

I hope this doesn't come across as obnoxious, just trying to point out that there's a difference in adjuncts and specialty grains.

hogwash said:

No worries.

FWIW, and to go totally off topic... the word "adjunct" refers to items such as oatmeal, flaked corn, rice hulls, flaked wheat, etc. and usually need to be mashed with base malts (2 row, wheat, pilsen, etc.). They typically affect body and mouthfeel. Caramel/Crystal malts and roasted malts are referred to as "specialty" grains and do not need to be mashed to contribute color and flavor to the beer.

I hope this doesn't come across as obnoxious, just trying to point out that there's a difference in adjuncts and specialty grains.

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Thanks for the correction. 80% of definitions are learned in context so... misconceptions and ill use creep in.

So

Base malts?: Those that need to be mashed to extract the fermentable sugars.
Adjunct grains: Um... grains that aren't malts but are added to base malts mash and which supplement the fermentable sugars?
Specialty grains: malts or others whose primary purpose are not fermentable sugars (although they do have some) but rather flavor and coloring; may be mashed with base malts and adjunct grains but don't need to be and me be steeped instead?

And "brewing grains" are ... what?

Want to get my usage right.

You pretty much have it right except you usually just say "adjuncts" instead of "adjunct grains." I was just saying "brewing grains" earlier as in grains that are used for brewing as opposed to grains that are not used for brewing. Check out http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12.html for further and better discussion of grains.

Well I guess I goofed. That's what I get for winging it. Could I add more dme? Would this make it better. Also I tasted it and it didn't taste astringent at all. I do however like astringent things like barley tea strong black tea etc. It just tasted like malty sweet with hoppy finish

By all means, it may come out just fine. But if you move to bigger batches or different recipes, you likely will not get the same result. Your initial techniques are not what most would consider here to be a sound process. But it is all about learning and that's how you get better. Let us know how this one turns out

twistr25 said:

By all means, it may come out just fine. But if you move to bigger batches or different recipes, you likely will not get the same result. Your initial techniques are not what most would consider here to be a sound process. But it is all about learning and that's how you get better. Let us know how this one turns out

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Thank you for your encouragement. I feel better about it now. After the flurry of initial comments I felt like everyone was saying my beer was ruined and I'm an idiot. It is bubbling away so something is fermenting. I really did it more for the fun of it and fermenting something new. Thx

unionrdr said:

I was trying to remember if whole foods is like the whole foods market at Cedar Center up here. They have brewing supplies,beers on tap,growler fills,tasters,etc. It's up around University Circle somewhere. But they have brewing grains & all too. I looked on midwest site for the described grains. Rahr has a red wheat with diastatic power of 207,Alpha Amylase of 52.8. So it def has some conversion power. Caramel/crystal grains can be steeped,but the red wheat seems obvious to me,has to be mashed.

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Not to beat a dead horse, but are these malted grains we are talking about? I'm also a little confused by the term brewing grains, to me pretty much anything you choose to put in your beer could be a brewing grain. I'm still not convinced this isn't unmalted wheat the OP had.

OP don't feel bad, I don't think anyone meant to call you an idiot. You still made beer, just maybe not quite what you were aiming for. I just want you to have better info for the next time.

I haven't been there yet,but they do sell brewing supplies. so Ihave to assume he got the right stuff. Just needs to understand the process better.

chickypad said:

Not to beat a dead horse, but are these malted grains we are talking about? I'm also a little confused by the term brewing grains, to me pretty much anything you choose to put in your beer could be a brewing grain. I'm still not convinced this isn't unmalted wheat the OP had.

OP don't feel bad, I don't think anyone meant to call you an idiot. You still made beer, just maybe not quite what you were aiming for. I just want you to have better info for the next time.

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Yes they are malted grains used specifically for brewing. They sell them in the home brew section with the kits dme lme etc.

That's what I thought. I have a link to the one nearest us,& was sure I read malted grains...

Ah, good. I guess our local whole foods needs to catch up!

The only thing that's really throwing me off is that you boiled the grains at all...... anything over 170 and you will extract tannins from the husk of the grains..... it sounds like you are doing a extract with specialty grain recipe. I think it's great you are doing batches on your own and despite any mistakes unintentionally made good for you !!! I'm happy to hear you did this on your own. Remember we all started at some point and it takes a bit of blind faith when you do your first batch on your own. As to your recipe the other posters are correct your grains are specialty grains and do not have the diastatic enzymes to convert any starches to sugar. easily put every grain has a diastatic power meaning " ability to convert starch to sugar" and the ones you had used have very little to no power. Coupled with the fact that you boiled the grain you in essence killed any enzymes regardless of what you may have used. That is called denaturing enzymes and that occurs over 168 degrees and in all grain brewing that is why some of us do what is called a mash out. As to the DME you added it was a very small amount which I assume you only added that little bit as you thought you were making sugars from the grain. All in All good for you !!! I hate to say it but you probably made a very very low abv beer akin to almost no alcohol but what you did do was gain a lot of posts from experienced brewers and got a bunch of tips for next time. I would encourage you to get back in the saddle and brew again as soon as possible. Cheers !!!

chickypad said:

Ah, good. I guess our local whole foods needs to catch up!

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I'd rather that Whole Foods stay out of the LHBS market, don't know what they're trying to accomplish. Any town that has a Whole Foods already has at least one LHBS with (hopefully) knowledgeable folks that can make sure you're a success. Everything that Whole Foods is selling is through Crosby and Baker, and I'm pretty sure they're not turning inventory in a timely fashion in the stores. The store near us didn't have the hops vac packed, or anyone that knows much about homebrewing. If anything, lack of fresh ingredients and knowledgeable staff may turn folks off to homebrewing when their beer turns out funky.