1st allgrain brew

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Gus58

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I bought around 10# of seed wheat grain, the only thing I could find in my area, malted the grain and roasted it at 375F for 50 minutes, hopeing for an amber malt product. I still dont have a hydrometer, so cant test spec. gravity. I used some washed yeast from a previous batch of an american amber kit. Started the yeast about a day before pitching, it was bubbling my airlock once about every 30 seconds, kinda slow, maybe should have waited longer before pitching. I made some mistakes along the way. When sparging I heated water to 170F, and let it steep for about 10 to 15 minutes, then found out later, I should have waited about an hour. I added the three ounces of corn sugar from a previoud kit that I did'nt use, because I keg instead of bottle. The only hopsit got was mabe a littke from the washed yeast. I then boiled for 1 hr. Then cooled as quickly as possible, all the time keeping the lid on the kettle. After pitching my yeast, it took about 2 days for it to start bubbling up through my airlock. I noticed a thin layer of foam at first, but there isnt any foam now, but is bubbling vigerously. In the past when i've seen this, it turned out that it was contaminated with some kind of bacteria. I was as careful as possible with sterilazation. I learn as I go, so next time I'll do better. Expect the worst and hope for the best.
 
Come on guys, any input would be great. My brew is not doing much of anything now. Should I just wait a little longer and see if it starts up again, or consider it a lost cause?
 
Your post is kind of all over the place. It is also very difficult to help you if you don't have a hydrometer.

I do think it's really cool that you malted and toasted your own grains. At some point in time I want to try that myself.

Did you mash the grain and if so at what temperature and for how long? For an amber ale you could mash between 150 and 155 for about an hour would be sufficient. Then you would drain your mashtun and add the sparge water at 170 degrees, vorlauf and drain. This process can vary but if you did something similar to this then you might be ok.

You talked about priming sugar but you would not add that until your beer is fermented and ready to bottle. Then you would boil your priming sugar in about 1 cup of water, add it to the bottling bucket and then bottle.

I really cant tell you what is going on with your fermentation withour hydrometer readings. Usually you will get a good head of foam or krausen and it will last until the fermentation is done and then sink back into the beer. If it has been a couple of weeks you could try tasting a sample. If it is real sweet then it probably didnt ferment. If you can taste alcohol then you might be ok. Sorry I cant be more help.
 
Basicly,all I did was grind my toasted malt using a food processor, preheat my mashtun with 5 gallons of boiling water,empty it, then add 10# of malted grain,heat 7 gallons of water to 170 degrees,stir it with a wooden spoon,let it set for about 15 minutes,drain off into kettle,add 3 ounces of corn sugar,and boil for 1 hour. I dont bottle my beer, I keg it.So the sugar was more for raising the alcohol level, and giving the yeast more to eat.

Thank you for your response.Live and learn,I guess.
 
When you toasted your malted wheat you most likely deactivated the enzymes you worked so hard to prepare when you malted the wheat. The bubbling was probably from the yeast eating the corn sugar. You may have to go back and start over. You also should read www.howtobrew.com to learn what needs to be done for a mash.
 
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