Starting my first batch soon, a couple questions.

[Juilin]

So, I'm starting my first batch of beer that I've made entirely on my own tomorrow or shortly there after and was hoping to get a few questions answered. I'm making a Belgian Wit and just made my starter earlier this evening. Should I wait longer than 24 hours for the starter to take off?

My other question is how exactly do I steep grains? I know to put them in the sanitized bag and soak them in the water for approximately 30 minutes at 150-160 degrees, but no matter where I look I can't figure out if I do this before or after adding the malt. Any help is much appreciated.

Oh, and here is the recipe that I was going to use, I got it from my LHBS:

4lbs Dry Wheat Malt Extract
1lb Extra Light Dry Malt Extract
1/2lb Flaked Oats
1lb Unmalted Wheat
1/2lb Belgian Pilsner Malt
2oz Hallertaur Hops
1oz Sweet Orange Peel
1oz Coriander
1lb Light Belgian Candy Sugar
Wyeast 3944 Belgian Wit Liquid Yeast

Thank you!

Edit: Oh, also when should I add the candy sugar? I realize I may be making something a bit more advanced than I should start with, but I'm not a huge fan of most of the beginner recipes I've found...

 

[Ziggybrew]

Steep your grains before adding any other malt. Otherwise the grains will "soak up" the good stuff.
I generally make a starter 3 days before I brew. (A mini sized beer wort with yeast) but that's me. I suppose a day would work for beers with a lower original gravity. Anything is better than no starter. I have had success with just dumping in the vial with no starter but I would never recommend doing that on purpose. Let the yeast get good and crazy before turning them loose in the buffet.

 

[Jibis]

I would add the candy sugar in the last 10 minutes of the boil, or at the end.

 

[Juilin]

Thanks a lot! Would you say I should add the coriander and the orange peel in the last 10 minutes as well?

 

[Ziggybrew]

Thanks a lot! Would you say I should add the coriander and the orange peel in the last 10 minutes as well?

yep. Avoid long boils for anything that is for flavor or aroma (rule of thumb but not ALWAYS). Sometimes adding at flameout works too.

 

[Juilin]

Ah! I just realized I made a mistake. I somehow managed to forget to add enough water after the boil. I started with 2.5 gallons in the boil and for some reason assumed adding 2.5 gallons and the starter after cooling would bring the total up to 5. I just decided to take a look at the krausen and realized that the total liquid is only about 3.5-3.75 gallons. Any idea what this is going to do to my brew?

 

[subwyking]

Good news, you still made beer. Only thing I can think of off the top of my head is you're probably going to have a higher original gravity than anticipated. In the end that translates to a higher ABV. Taste will differ as well. I bet it'll still be great though

 

[Juilin]

True! The OG was 1.074 when BeerSmith said it should have been around 1.053. Guess I'll just have to wait to see how it turns out.

 

[bschoenb]

WEll... you can always make another down the road.. nice thing about beer... it will disappear soon.. Hope your Belgian "Strong" wit works out well? Since it is so high in OG, you may want to let it ferment out completely ~ three/four weeks before bottling?

By the way.. I did that also my first time and it turned out great.. I didn't "learn" the amount of water that my system boils off... 6 gallons to start the boil and by the time I bottle; I am just shy of five gallons. I loose a little over 1.2 gallons from start to finish.

 

[Ziggybrew]

You will love your beer.