I accidentally brought my temp from 150 to boiling instantly to do the boil.

[Wherebabiescomefrom]

I was a space cadet and (all grain) put my 5.5 lbs Organic Western Wheat and 5.5 lbs of 2 Row Barley tea bag at 150* correctly,,, but I brought it up to high boil instantly to do my 60 min boil. I only added 1/4 oz of hops (at minute 50), because I'm making a pistachio beer and want to make sure I taste the pistachio. Now, I just read that there's a bitterness and less efficiency. Instead of seeming like I'll get the 7.8% ABV that I was told I should get, the OG was at 1.03(looking like I'll have not even half what I want lol). How gnarly IS this bitterness supposed to be in the end? I'm going to start a new batch correctly, but should I just dump out the fermentation that's already slowed to a near halt after only three days?

 

[Psylocide]

Did you leave the bag in the boil the whole time?

How did it taste going into the fermenter? Or did you not check?

Also, this thread will probably get moved... this is like the general site feedback.

 

[Wherebabiescomefrom]

Left in the bag in the whole time. Even burnt a tiny hole in the bag that fused to the bottom of the pot. It still smelled terrific. I only tasted the grain leftovers... It's so good, it's been a side dish in my meals every other meal lol.
I just racked it in a black towel, in a dark room at 70*.
Along with my other questions, should I just save the pistachio extract I made (pistachios are expensive) for another try and just make a light beer from this first batch?

 

[masonsjax]

Add some malt extract to bring the SG up.

 

[Wherebabiescomefrom]

Can I just dump cane sugar instead? If so, how much?

 

[Psylocide]

I would say don't do cane sugar... it would dry it out quite a bit. Unless you want a super dry beer.

 

[masonsjax]

You don't want to use cane sugar, as noted it will dry it out and it will taste really thin bodied and not really do anything to balance the hops.

 

[Wherebabiescomefrom]

K. I think I'm going to save my pistachio extract for my next batch. Right now, I'm actually staring at a few California Manderins. What would this do at day 5? Fermenter blowoff is bubbling once every few minutes now.

 

[Wherebabiescomefrom]

Oh, I'll just wait til 5 days before bottling. How much juice do you guys think I should add to this mess? There are 5 gallons going on rite now.

 

[joshesmusica]

how long did you mash for? i don't think the low sg was due to bringing it up to a boil too fast.

i would seriously recommend reading How to Brew by John Palmer. you're definitely going to have beer, but it seems like from your not-so-detailed post, that you're not really understanding the process of going from grain to beer.

also ambient temp of 70F is really high for most ales. you want ambient more like 62.

i would save your pistachio extract for next time, personally. how many brews have you done? it's always recommended to start with very simple recipes/ingredients. not just because the more ingredients you add, the more you have to keep track of (if you're a detail-oriented person like me, complex additions are not difficult whatsoever), but it's mainly because of 2 other reasons:
1) it helps keep costs down in the beginning in case you do screw up a batch.
2) it helps you get your processes and techniques down, and helps you to be able to spot exactly where any off-flavors may have come from.

here's a free version of how to brew, but if you can pick up the actual book it's gone through some editions that are better updated with better information, though this version is still great for a new(er) brewer:
http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

 

[Wherebabiescomefrom]

I have How to Brew and Extreme Brewing. It's my first batch, obviously. All I did was forget the first hour was supposed to be held at 149-150 for the grains I had, because I decided to join my drinking friends that came over that day lol. I mashed during the whole boil.
I just want higher ABV, and to potentially fix any "bitterness" that came from boiling WAY too soon. Everyone's opinion on ambient temps are different. When I toured Stone, they said their ales are at 72* - 80*. I've read that cold is good too. I just aimed for 70*, like most suggestions I've read on, and it's been fluctuating slightly from 68-70* (over whole days, not every 5 mins, incase I'm being "too vague"). I have everything that I even did wrong written down for this batch.
Blue Moon types are some of my favorite beers, so I'm very tempted to use these lil manderins. For this circumstance, it's just gotten to a point where I can't google search anymore about this specific situation that this batch is already in.

 

[Wherebabiescomefrom]

I have How to Brew and Extreme Brewing. It's my first batch, obviously. All I did was forget the first hour was supposed to be held at 149-150 for the grains I had, because I decided to join my drinking friends that came over that day lol. I mashed during the whole boil.
I just want higher ABV, and to potentially fix any "bitterness" that came from boiling WAY too soon. Everyone's opinion on ambient temps are different. When I toured Stone, they said their ales are at 72* - 80*. I've read that cold is good too. I just aimed for 70*, like most suggestions I've read on, and it's been fluctuating slightly from 68-70* (over whole days, not every 5 mins, incase I'm being "too vague"). I have everything that I even did wrong written down for this batch.
Blue Moon types are some of my favorite beers, so I'm very tempted to use these lil manderins. For this circumstance, it's just gotten to a point where I can't google search anymore about this specific situation that this batch is already in.