About to try and brew my 1st batch, but need some help.

Hi. I went to my LHBS and the man basically picked everything out for me. I forgot to ask, however, if what he gave me would be considered Partial mash or AG. Here's what he gave me...

1/2 wheat/ 1/2 carapils (sp?) (ground up pretty good)
2.5 # wheat (powdered)
1 can malt extract
1 oz boiling hops (also morsels)
1/2 oz finishing hops (little morsels)
priming sugar
packet dry yeast.

Now you can probably tell that this is my 1st time brewing. I'm guessing this is a partial mash, but I'm not quite sure

1)so could you tell me if this is considered PM or AG?

I shouldn't have any problem following directions, I just want to make sure I use the correct directions for what I'm doing.

Now, I also need help figuring out what everything is. when the directions say add grain/extract/ etc., I'm not quite sure exactly what they are talking about. My bags aren't labeled so clearly, they are labeled just as I labeled them.

2) So could you please just help me figure out the order the ingredients get used, or just what the they would be called in a set of instructions?

3) one more thing, I wanted to add some fresh cherries to add a little flavor (cherry wheatish hopefully). How/how much/when/how long should I add it?

Thank you so much.

Hey woody,
1) You'd be considered partial mash brewing because you are using malt extracts and grains.
2) The wheat and carapils are the grain, the can of liquid extract the extract.
3) Fruit is usually added in the secondary fermenter and allowed to sit for about a month.
The only thing with adding fruit is that you have to be sure that all the bacteria is killed. I pasteurize whenever I add fruit.

Best of luck to you on your brewventure!

. . . . and on #3, please look up what "pasteurize" means. Don't do what I did and boil the fruit for a half hour! Boiling releases many, many nasties; my first batch is named "AssBock" because of all the off-flavors that resulted from boiling.

Fun like a Bun!

Without the ground up wheat, I'd say you are doing an extract beer with steeping grains. Not sure if you can get anything useful out of the wheat without mashing though, so I think you'll have to mash than in the boil kettle before adding the extracts.

I'm not up on PM brewing, but it looks like a decent recipe. Here is what I would do, and I hope someone chimes in to correct any mistakes:

heat a portion of your water on stove to mash temp.
Add wheat and Carapils to water in a bag. The warm water and grains will activate enzymes. Let sit for 1/2 to 1 hour.
remove grain bag and let drain (don't squeeze).
Add more water and stir in the extract.
Heat to boiling.
After hot break, add hops
At end of boil add finishing hops
Cool to 60 or so and siphon into fermenter
add yeast

As far as cherries, I would suggest holding off on that until you've brewed a few batches. Normally you'd want to freeze them to break up the cell walls, and then add them to a secondary fermenter after the initial fermentation has stopped. Let them sit for a few days to a week or so.

Is the wheat, Dry malt Extract with some wheat in it?

Thanks for all the help. I have 2 types of wheat, the ground up one mixed with Carapilis and the powdered one. What do I do with the powdered wheat? It's really powdery like flour, so I'm not sure what to do with it.

I read up on the pasteurization, seems simple enough.

Rcreveli, IDK about the wheat. all I know is what I said, one is ground up mixed with Caraplis, and the other is powdered.

The one mixed with the carapils is probably crushed grain. The bag that looks like flour is likely Dried Malt Extract. Not sure why they would include the wheat grain in an otherwise all extract recipe. Unless it's a type of wheat that doesn't actually need mashing to get it's benefits, like for protein or cloudiness.

The powdered one is extract and is added right before the boil. Just turn off the heat and slowly add the extracts while stirring so they don't clump up at the bottom of the kettle, then turn the heat back on to boil.

Okay, so powdered stuff is also considered extract... And if i were doing PM or AG then I wouldn't have that powder, and I would seep it in a grain bag. Do I got that right?

And when would I add the crushed grain?

You might want to look at some kit instructions online, like this one:
https://secure.midwestsupplies.com/index.php/aitdownloadablefiles/download/aitfile/aitfile_id/793/

where your "1/2 wheat/ 1/2 carapils (sp?) (ground up pretty good)" are the grains to steep, and your "2.5 # wheat (powdered)" and "1 can malt extract" would be considered DME and LME.

The "Boiling Hops" would be the same as "bittering hops" and your "Finishing Hops" as "Aroma Hops" in the instructions.

hope this helps!

www.howtobrew.com You may want to check out this website before you start.

The crushed grain can either be steeping grains, which only require you to soak in the warm water for a while, or they can be mashing grains, which require a specific temperature in order for the enzymes to convert the starches into sugars.

Steeping grains can be used during the extract brewing process, the Partial Mash process, or the All Grain process.

Extract brewing uses NO mashing grains
Partial Mash brewing uses SOME mashing grains, but generally not the base grains. The base malt is extract.
All Grain brewing uses ALL mashing grains and no extract (well, sometimes it's used to bump the gravity when it doesn't come out just right, but this is rare).

Without knowing exactly what kind of wheat that was, I'd guess it's just for steeping. let it sit in the water as it's warming up, say about 30 minutes. Don't let the temp get over 170 degrees. Then remove the bag of grain, with the heat off, add the liquid and dry extracts. Then boil.

THanks guys. Space, that's exactly what I wanted. To see the names of the ingredients that they would call it in an instructional.

I'm gonna see if the bags say anything on them so we can figure out just type of wheat it is.

Since it is your first brew, I would use a cherry extract concentrate. Your LHBS has it stocked. Keep it simple.

I looked at the powdered wheat bag and it does in fact say DME.

I'll probably be back when I have another question. Thanks again for all help.

BriarwoodBrewer said:

Since it is your first brew, I would use a cherry extract concentrate. Your LHBS has it stocked. Keep it simple.

Click to expand...

Oh. It's a little late now. my LHBS isn't really so local, it's like a 45 min drive and I don't think there are any much closer.

It's all good though, I'll do my best to do it right.

I'm reading up on the yeast now. I only got one packet and i'm worried that it may not be good. I'm going to rehydrate/prime it to make sure its okay, so please lemme know if I got this right...

mix the packet in 1 cup of 95degree water. Add a teaspoon of sugar. Within 1/2 hour it should start foaming, if not, it's bad yeast. If it's foaming, I use the cup of water/yeast/sugar with my wort. Is that right?
ANd there is no way for me to test it ahead of time so I know if I have to go to the LHBS, is there? I would have to use it immediately after re hydrating/priming?


Also, I'm really confused about the whole specific gravity thing. I see a bunch of different things on calculating the numbers and stuff, but from my understanding, that's not really important. All I have to worry about is that the SG is consistent 3 days in a row before going on to the next step (I forget what it is, I think it's 2ndary fermenter, but it might be bottling).

Do i sound like i'm on the right track?

Homercidal said:

www.howtobrew.com You may want to check out this website before you start.

The crushed grain can either be steeping grains, which only require you to soak in the warm water for a while, or they can be mashing grains, which require a specific temperature in order for the enzymes to convert the starches into sugars.

Steeping grains can be used during the extract brewing process, the Partial Mash process, or the All Grain process.

Extract brewing uses NO mashing grains
Partial Mash brewing uses SOME mashing grains, but generally not the base grains. The base malt is extract.
All Grain brewing uses ALL mashing grains and no extract (well, sometimes it's used to bump the gravity when it doesn't come out just right, but this is rare).

Without knowing exactly what kind of wheat that was, I'd guess it's just for steeping. let it sit in the water as it's warming up, say about 30 minutes. Don't let the temp get over 170 degrees. Then remove the bag of grain, with the heat off, add the liquid and dry extracts. Then boil.

Click to expand...

+1. It sounds like you are just going to follow the process of extract brewing with specialty grains even though wheat grains are usually mashed.

Here's an article that my help you understand malts/grains: home brewing malts

woody189 said:

I'm reading up on the yeast now. I only got one packet and i'm worried that it may not be good. I'm going to rehydrate/prime it to make sure its okay, so please lemme know if I got this right...

mix the packet in 1 cup of 95degree water. Add a teaspoon of sugar. Within 1/2 hour it should start foaming, if not, it's bad yeast. If it's foaming, I use the cup of water/yeast/sugar with my wort. Is that right?
ANd there is no way for me to test it ahead of time so I know if I have to go to the LHBS, is there? I would have to use it immediately after re hydrating/priming?


Also, I'm really confused about the whole specific gravity thing. I see a bunch of different things on calculating the numbers and stuff, but from my understanding, that's not really important. All I have to worry about is that the SG is consistent 3 days in a row before going on to the next step (I forget what it is, I think it's 2ndary fermenter, but it might be bottling).

Do i sound like i'm on the right track?

Click to expand...

If your yeast packet has a date and it shows that it's fresh, you shouldn't worry... otherwise, you may want to pick up fresh yeast (liquid preferred)...

Your Original Gravity will help you determine whether you are pitching enough yeast and help you calculate your alcohol content later on... and yes you'll want it to be consistent before either racking to secondary or bottling... it could be either or depending on what you are brewing and your preference...

My yeast still has almost a year to go, so I guess im good there.

Should I worry about SG right now w/ my first batch? I still find it really confusing.

If you have a link that will give me an easy introduction to it, that would help. Everythign I find is all confusing.

Hey woody, always glad to see more people getting into home brewing. It's fun, but there is a little bit of a learning curve, so you are doing the right thing by asking questions.

I'm gonna give you a little bit of contrarian advice, only because it's how my brain works.

For your first brew, don't sweat OG/SG/FG etc. All the 'gravity' measurements (Original Gravity, Specific Gravity, Final Gravity) won't actually make you, on your first batch of beer, do anything different. Realize they exist, and they will be important down the line, but they aren't important now.

Follow your instructions, but don't get too stressed about them. You are basically adding a specific kind of sugar, i.e. malt, to water. Then you steep grains and hops like tea. Add yeast, and it's beer.

Third, keep is simple. Fruit is hard. don't go there man, just don't go there

Lastly, when in doubt, take a picture of the thing in doubt with a camera or your phone. Pics can help diagnose things more quickly than almost anything else in my experience.

But above all, have fun! My first brew was awesome, and my second was terrible--look at all the fun stories yer gonna have from this hobby!!!

Just worry about the amount of water you add to the fermenter, if you need to do so. The instructions should say exactly how much wort is created, like say 5 gallons, or 5.5 gallons. You will have exactly the amount of fermentables going into that, so you do not need to worry about OG.

However, I recommend using a hydrometer to check when it's done fermenting. My advice, if you can handle it, is to wait 3 weeks for the fermentation to complete. This is if you have visible signs of fermentation, like Krausen. Your airlock may bubble, which is a good indication of fermention. (However, no airlock activity does not mean that it's NOT working. If you have any doubts, check with hydrometer!)

http://www.howtobrew.com has some very detailed instructions for almost ANY type of homebrewing system, especially extract and beginning brewing. Read it through. In fact, buy the book. It's totally worth it for the reference material!

There are videos online. Do a google search (except stay away from craigbrewer).

Your yeast will be fine. At your level of experience I would not even worry about rehydrating it. It will work fine if you just sprinkle it on the wort when it's cooled to around 65 degrees.

Sanitation is key. Mix the boiled wort and water very well, without aerating, before adding the yeast. (if you need to add water to get your final volume of wort.)

RDWHAHB!! It's easy, and fun.

Is fruit really that difficult? I might just use concentrate then.

Homer... I'm almost done with the 1st section online book on howtobrew.com and it is very helpful, and i'm not gonna brew till I finish sections 1 and 2.

I don't have instructions so IDK if it's 5 or 5.5. It's just random ingredients form the LHBS.

And what do you mean use a hydrometer if I'm in doubt? When and to check what? Do you mean check it 3 days in a row to see if it's at steady SG? Meaning it is done fermenting?

Three problems with fruit and also fruit concentrates:

1. they rarely taste like what you think they are gonna taste like in the final product.
2. the first few fruit beers i made ended up becoming wort fountains. if you are not careful, it can blow off your airlock and shoot fermenting beer all over the place.
3. pectin haze.

just keep it simple for this batch. figure out if you like the base beer first, then on batch #2 add fruit. not only that, but it should be cherry season in a few weeks (month or so in some areas?), so you could even use the freshest, most real fruit then.

woody189 said:

Is fruit really that difficult? I might just use concentrate then.

Homer... I'm almost done with the 1st section online book on howtobrew.com and it is very helpful, and i'm not gonna brew till I finish sections 1 and 2.

I don't have instructions so IDK if it's 5 or 5.5. It's just random ingredients form the LHBS.

And what do you mean use a hydrometer if I'm in doubt? When and to check what? Do you mean check it 3 days in a row to see if it's at steady SG? Meaning it is done fermenting?

Click to expand...

If, after you recognize that the fermentation has started, let it go for 3 weeks. Then check with hydrometer to make sure it's finished. Check day 1, wait 3 days, check again. It should not have moved. This is Final Gravity, or FG. 3 weeks should be plenty, but you should also get used to using the hydrometer. So sanitize something to draw a sample with and practice.

The other time to use a hydrometer is if you don't see any obvious signs of fermentation. Take a sample after 72 hours if it doesn't look like anything has happened. Compare that reading to the one you took right after brewing (your Original Gravity) and see if it has gone down.

You know, it's really hard to screw up a batch of extract beer. I mean relax, dont' worry. Give the yeast a little sugar to eat and they will do their thing. Be sanitary and patient.

Here is a great video series to get you started.. I found this to be very helpful and put my mind at ease worrying about the whole process.

http://www.homebrewers.com/category/aatdvarks.videos/

thanks everyone. I'll let you know how it goes and if I have any questions

I need some help.

I brewed everything and my 1st problem was that the hops I had practically dissolved in the wort. I had the pellets and I didn't use a muslin bag because I didn't have an extra one. I just threw them in and when I poured the wort from the pot to the fermenter, I could see all the hops. The wort wasn't clear like I see in some videos. Is that a problem? I tried to strain out (using a sanitized strainer) as much as I could, but most of it just seeped through the holes.

The next problem was the OG. I forgot to take the OG before adding the yeast. When I took the SG from the fermenter with the yeast already in it, it was beyond my scale (1.070).
I then tried to get the SG from the leftover wort (mixed with water to make 5 gallons) in the pot that I didn't put in the fermenter (because there were too many hops). That didn't give me any reading whatsover which I found very weird. Even water will give me a reading.

Please note that this I used a refractometer, not a hydrometer. And this refractometer was for my saltwater fish tank. But the scale goes from 1.000 to 1.070.

Can you give me an idea of what I should do? Or should I just sit back and hope for the best?

woody189 said:

I need some help.

I brewed everything and my 1st problem was that the hops I had practically dissolved in the wort. I had the pellets and I didn't use a muslin bag because I didn't have an extra one. I just threw them in and when I poured the wort from the pot to the fermenter, I could see all the hops. The wort wasn't clear like I see in some videos. Is that a problem? I tried to strain out (using a sanitized strainer) as much as I could, but most of it just seeped through the holes.

The next problem was the OG. I forgot to take the OG before adding the yeast. When I took the SG from the fermenter with the yeast already in it, it was beyond my scale (1.070).
I then tried to get the SG from the leftover wort (mixed with water to make 5 gallons) in the pot that I didn't put in the fermenter (because there were too many hops). That didn't give me any reading whatsover which I found very weird. Even water will give me a reading.

Please note that this I used a refractometer, not a hydrometer. And this refractometer was for my saltwater fish tank. But the scale goes from 1.000 to 1.070.

Can you give me an idea of what I should do? Or should I just sit back and hope for the best?

Click to expand...

That is what pellet hops do, don't worry bout it.

Don't use your fishtank refractometer, there is no way for us to know that it is actually measuring sugar content correctly. In fact I highly doubt a fishtank refractometer would measure sugar content at all (am I wrong about that?).

Did you taste the wort? Did it taste sweet? If so, yer golden.

Sit back, relax, and don't worry

Wait a second, did you boil any hops, or just add them to the fermenter?

--edit--
do you have any pics of these hops? pellet hops are really quite small and should make a negligible difference in your wort. Do they look like pellets, or loose leaves?

Okay.. I feel better now. I didn't know there were different types of refractometers. I thought they just sort of measure the bouyancy of water. I guess not though.

Japhroaig... I boiled the hops for a total of 1 hour, the finishing hops and irish moss for about 7-10 mins.

The pellets weren't that small. But i have nothing to compare it to. I don't have any pics though.

Anyway, thanks for easing my mind

I think yer okay then.

Hop pellets are about the size of compressed pellet kitty litter (maybe a bit smaller), but they are far from granules. As for measuring the wort, you do want either a brewing hydrometer or a wine refractometer. They measure specifically sugar, while other hydrometers/refractometers may be measuring salt or other materials. There are lots of things to measure, but what we want to measure is sugar

The hops and detritus will eventually settle to the bottom of your fermenter. This is what we call trub. The other thing that will eventually start precipitating is yeast, which will make a tan layer at the bottom.

Most of the time you will get a foamy head on top of your beer after 72 hours. If this doesn't happen don't worry, just pull off the airlock and give it a sniff. If it smells harsh/acrid/alcoholic/slightly painful, then your fermentation is fine--even if you don't see visible signs at the time.

japhroaig said:

I think yer okay then.

Hop pellets are about the size of compressed pellet kitty litter (maybe a bit smaller), but they are far from granules. As for measuring the wort, you do want either a brewing hydrometer or a wine refractometer. They measure specifically sugar, while other hydrometers/refractometers may be measuring salt or other materials. There are lots of things to measure, but what we want to measure is sugar

The hops and detritus will eventually settle to the bottom of your fermenter. This is what we call trub. The other thing that will eventually start precipitating is yeast, which will make a tan layer at the bottom.

Most of the time you will get a foamy head on top of your beer after 72 hours. If this doesn't happen don't worry, just pull off the airlock and give it a sniff. If it smells harsh/acrid/alcoholic/slightly painful, then your fermentation is fine--even if you don't see visible signs at the time.

Click to expand...

Yea, I'm gonna get a hydrometer. I didn't know that there were different types of hydrometers though, mine is definitely one meant to measure salt. I knew about the trub and everything, but the main thing that got me paranoid was that most of the videos I saw had ppl that had very clean wort with no hops mixed in.

Thanks for all the help.

Good job Woody.. you sound like you are on the right track.

You are correct that a hydrometer measures the boyancy of water.. that is how it works. Salt and sugar will definitely contribute buoyancy differently. I use two different hydrometers. they have different scales. One reads .998 to 1.110 with a very tight scale (each line is like .002, and they are close). I use this to measure OG just before pitching yeast. My other is a beefy one with a scale of 1.000 to 1.020, with each line being .0005). I use this for highly accurate readings of FG.

One thing I learned about this hobby. If you get deeeeeep into it, spend a small fortune, and obsess over every little detail - you'll make the best beer you and your friends ever had. If you are sloppy and only half interested - you will make pretty good beer that is certainly better than the convenience store bought piss.

That in mind... get into it as much as you like... it's just fun.

So my beers been fermenting for 3-4 days now. I'm gonna pick up a hydrometer on Wed. Once the SG has leveled out for 3 days straight, I'm gonna rack to a 2ndary fermenter. I'm going to be using a 5 gallon bucket, I can't afford a carboy right now.

I plan on adding some fruit to the 2ndary, probably cherries. So now I need help with that. does this sound right?

take 5 lbs fresh cherries
freeze them
cook to 165 degrees F.
throw in 2ndary,
rack the beer.
let sit for 1 week
then transfer to another bucket

am I missing something?

I went to check on it today, and it appears as though it's not fermenting like it should be. There is over a minute in between bubbles in the airlock. I did remove the airlock from the grommet yesterday, IDK if that had anything to do with it.

woody189 said:

So my beers been fermenting for 3-4 days now. I'm gonna pick up a hydrometer on Wed. Once the SG has leveled out for 3 days straight, I'm gonna rack to a 2ndary fermenter. I'm going to be using a 5 gallon bucket, I can't afford a carboy right now.

I plan on adding some fruit to the 2ndary, probably cherries. So now I need help with that. does this sound right?

take 5 lbs fresh cherries
freeze them
cook to 165 degrees F.
throw in 2ndary,
rack the beer.
let sit for 1 week
then transfer to another bucket

am I missing something?

Click to expand...

Don't do that. Cooking fruit denatures pectin and adds an unpleasant bitterness. Either buy (inexpensive @ $5 for an unlimited supply) cherry extract, or buy Oregon Fruit Puree (expensive @ about $18 a can - one use)

The only reason one would want to apply heat to fruit is to sanitize it (pasteurization)... Companies like Oregon Fruit use expensive techniques to flash pasteurize using steam so the flavor is not ruined.

woody189 said:

I went to check on it today, and it appears as though it's not fermenting like it should be. There is over a minute in between bubbles in the airlock. I did remove the airlock from the grommet yesterday, IDK if that had anything to do with it.

Click to expand...

Primary fermentation is done or nearly done. The reason you are getting any bubbles at all is because the beer has absorbed some CO2 and is very slowly releasing it. You didn't break it It is REALLY hard to break beer.

Go ahead and taste it! Use a sanitized wine thief to pluck enough out to measure with a hydrometer and then drink it... it will be warm, it will be flat.. it will be GOOD though. Do that again the next day and then the next. If it reads the same, it's ready to bottle. If the SG keeps falling... leave it be till it is done.

Keep in mind that the more you open the container, the more CO2 you are releasing from within... the CO2 is your oxygen barrier that is protecting your beer from the air... and the positive pressure of the beer releasing CO2 is your protection from bacteria and such from the environment.

Gotcha. Thanks for the help. I'll post my hydrometer readings. And I'm gonna look up what the heck a wine thief is.

Okay, so my reading today was 1.012ish (8 days later)

Bad news is that this is my 1st reading ever (i just bought a hydrometer)

Good news is that the airlock isn't bubbling

IDK if it's good/bad news is that it stopped bubbling a few days after i brewed it, and it never really bubbled all that much

Am i ready for 2dary fermenter? or should I play it safe, wait 2 more days, and make sure the SG has stabilized?

oh, and it tasted like nasty beer. 1 because it was warm, 2 IDK why. It did taste somewhat like beer though

Did it taste kinda cloying and flat? If so, carbonation and temperature will take care of that. Or did it taste hot/cardboardy/cooked-vegetable/winey/butterscotchy/sour?