A Bit Confused - Need Some Clarification

[mrb]

The more I read the more confused I become. Um, help me to know just what I might have done wrong, please.

I have a pot that comfortable holds 4 gallons.
AND I had a friend help me - who has been brewing for a while.
I boiled the water and set in the grain bag for a good 90 minutes.
(Didn't know any better so I used all grains. But the TRUE AG process looks so hard.)
I then added the dried malt extract.
Then the hops as indicated.
(Never really paying particular attention to temp., other than to make sure that it was always near 145/150F)
Then helped to cool it with one gallon of water and an ice bath.
Let it cool and added the yeast.

It has fermented, and been bottled.

What results might I have in not doing an AG just the way it should be done?

It looked and smelled OK. But will I have an IPA or beer flavored soda?

 

[veggiess]

The more I read the more confused I become. Um, help me to know just what I might have done wrong, please.

I have a pot that comfortable holds 4 gallons.
AND I had a friend help me - who has been brewing for a while.
I boiled the water and set in the grain bag for a good 90 minutes.
(Didn't know any better so I used all grains. But the TRUE AG process looks so hard.)
I then added the dried malt extract.
Then the hops as indicated.
(Never really paying particular attention to temp., other than to make sure that it was always near 145/150F)
Then helped to cool it with one gallon of water and an ice bath.
Let it cool and added the yeast.

It has fermented, and been bottled.

What results might I have in not doing an AG just the way it should be done?

It looked and smelled OK. But will I have an IPA or beer flavored soda?

You really should clarify more. First of all, did you actually boil the wort? As long as the grains don't boil, the temp isn't as big a deal when soaking grains, but the hops need boiling water in order to be fully utilized. However, I don't know when you would ever need to soak the grains for 90 min in an extract brew. And did you remove them before continuing?

Secondly, you can get awesome results from using extract + specialty grains. There's nothing that states, "doing an AG just the way it should be done". Obviously the AG brewers may argue that AG is best, but it is not necessary to do AG to make terrific home brew.

Last of all, we cannot tell you if you made an "IPA or beer flavored soda" without knowing what you used-what kind of grains, hops, extract, & yeast.

 

[SteveM]

Do this the easy way. Open it and drink it. See how it tastes. If it is good, then you are all set. If not, then you might try a more conventional approach. I've never used a process anything like what you describe so I can't say how it will turn out.

 

[Blender]

I too am a little confused about your process but it sounds as though you never brought the wort to a boil after steeping the grain. I'm not sure of the outcome although I would imagine that you may not have gotten good hop utilization. I would recommend that you purchase the book by John Palmer - How To Brew. It should help you understand the process much better. If you can boil 4 gallons you can make a very fine beer using extracts.
Steve mentioned trying one which is a very good idea, even if it is flat you should get an sense of how it will turn out in the end.

 

[King of the Swill]

Did you sanitize everything properly? Best advice I could offer would be to get a kit and follow the directions.

 

[Orfy]

AG is no more difficult than what you are doing.

www.howtobrew.com

There is a method that some of the Australian brewers are trying and It's a one pot boil in a bag AG method.

May suite you.

 

[Rook]

It sounds like you boiled the grains instead of steeping them, then you steeped the wort instead of boiling it. Backwards in that respect. Your grains leeched out a TON of bitterness if they were boiled for any lenght of time.

 

[david_42]

I think we are all confused by this entry. Grain has to be steeped or mashed around 150F, but hops must be boiled for any of the bittering to occur.

If you didn't boil the bittering hops, the alcohol flavor will be more pronounced and it will be a little sweet.

 

[mrb]

Let me try and get a bit more specific. I posted this late last night.

If I remember correctly - a few beers ago and many weeks - I boiled, or at least kept the grains in the pot for about 45 minutes at about 140-145ish. Kinda like makeing a big bag of tea. I then took out the grain bag, and squished what I could out of it. (I used the grains that the Racer 5 Clone recipe in the BYO 150Classic Clones called for - they were 1.66lbs wheat malt, .625lbs Crystal malt, .21lbs Carapils malt - and substituted 11.25lbs 2 row pale malt for 6lbs dried malt (it was supposed to be extract - OOPS) and .33lbs 2 row malt) Then we brought the temp to a boil again then I followed the recipe for the Racer Bear 5 clone and put the Chinook hops (.51oz) in after 90 minutes then the Cascade hops (1.74oz) at 60 minutes. Then I stupidly added ALL of the hops that were supposed to be dry hopped. A totally newbie move - my friend didn't know what it meant and I knew nothing at the time. (It included an extra ounce of hops.) I cooled it down with a gallon of water. It was then thrown into an ice bath. Once it cooled we dumped in the Wyeast 1272. It went crazy in the carbouy for several days and continued to bubble for nearly two weeks. Once it stopped bubbling I waited 2 days then bottled it. After adding 3/4 of a cup of corn sugar to the bottling bucket. Of course I kept it sterile. I washed everything then used the sterilizer and let everything air dry. It seemed to taste OK as I sampled during bottling process.

I guess my question revolves around the reality of AG. Can I do nearly just what I have done without an extract? I have a group of work buddies waiting to get started based on this brew.

HELP!!!!