Okay, first all grain BIAB on the stove...

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MrEllis

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Okay, I have time and gear now. Doing a 3 gallon batch with five gallons of spring water on hand.

152-ish degrees for 60 minutes:
4 Pounds German Wheat Malt
2 Pounds German Pilsner

170-ish for 5 mins.

.75 Hallertau Mittelfruh for full 60 boil.

Sanitize gear with 1/4 oz Starsan to 2.5 gallons of water (I got spray bottles for it too).

Cool to 68ish and pitch.

About a week at 68 degrees (I don't have brew fridge yet next purchase) pray it's not a nanner bomb.

I plan to rack into a five gallon bucket with some dextrose and then immediately into 33 oz flip tops and allow it to carb for a few days at room temp.

What am I messing up?
 
What yeast? If you can’t somehow control that temp you are going to get your esters. I am sure you can come up with some method to make it cooler like a swamp cooler.

And “about a week” is not recommended. Using a hydrometer or other method of knowing when fermentation is done is the proper method.
 
About a week is when I'm going to start taking readings. The yeast I'm using is Mangrove Jack's Bavarian Wheat Yeast M20. I plan on pitching about 6 to 7 grams of the pack, which is 10 g.
 
Keep in mind that fermentation is exothermic, so it'll be generating its own heat. Even in a 68 deg room it will be quite a bit hotter than room temperature. Definitely use a swamp cooler or some other method of temp control.
 
Would a larger bucket with water in it and maybe an ice pack swap a couple times a day help? Because the wort is cooling now...

I have a 1.051 OG the recipe claims 1.057 OG. Is that going to make a big difference?
 
69220772_1460817277417864_6570225645530382336_n.jpg
 
Would a larger bucket with water in it and maybe an ice pack swap a couple times a day help? Because the wort is cooling now...

I have a 1.051 OG the recipe claims 1.057 OG. Is that going to make a big difference?

Anything that helps keep the temperature from rising too high will help. I'd suggest a big tub instead of a bucket as you will likely have more water to absorb the temperature rise and it will be easier to fit in ice packs.

Your difference in OG will not be noticeable. Relax.
 
170-ish for 5 mins.

About a week at 68 degrees (I don't have brew fridge yet next purchase) pray it's not a nanner bomb.

I plan to rack into a five gallon bucket with some dextrose and then immediately into 33 oz flip tops and allow it to carb for a few days at room temp.

What am I messing up?

How do you plan to raise the mash temperature to 170? Be careful that you don't burn you bag. I would skip this step. It is a procedure used when fly sparging in a traditional mash tun.

Make sure you use the right amount of dextrose for the volume of the beer. Use an online priming calculator.

Your carbonation is going to take more than a few days. The common timing for proper bottle conditioning is 3 weeks.

Oh and about half a pound of rice hulls.

This is BIAB. What do you need rice hulls for? Unless recirculating.
 
How do you plan to raise the mash temperature to 170? Be careful that you don't burn you bag. I would skip this step. It is a procedure used when fly sparging in a traditional mash tun.

Make sure you use the right amount of dextrose for the volume of the beer. Use an online priming calculator.

Your carbonation is going to take more than a few days. The common timing for proper bottle conditioning is 3 weeks.



This is BIAB. What do you need rice hulls for? Unless recirculating.

I put a wire steaming rack in the bottom of the pot before I started to keep the bag off the bottom.

Oh I plan on using a calc and I'm bottling in 33 oz brown flip tops with new seals.

I'll definitely look into the time. I've seen a lot of people making hef and getting it on the table in two weeks, they claim conditioning beyond burning the prime for carb doesn't make hef better. But they also admit you can condition it for a long time to no ill effect. I was talking to a brewer at Oakshire Brewery about it. A local brewpub we have here. They make a lot of wood cask stuff too that's nice.

The owner of the supply store uses electric kettles and he swears by some rice in the bag for wheat beers. I will admit I had zero clumps and I think I could have just dumped the entire bill in without issue. But I poured it slowly and stirred constantly. It was very lose and seemed to circulate well. It was like .50 cents or something and didn't seem to harm anything.
 
Wow that’s a lot of headspace, I wouldn’t open that until I saw the Kraeusen fall. And cover it from light

Yeah, the buckets went from 2 gallons to 5 (which is a 6.5 so you have headspace) so I went with this. If I keep it sealed and leave it be we figured the wheat beers can get frisky and should force the oxygen out. I've ordered a widemouth fermenter for 3 gallon batches. Until then my little 15 dollar rig will have to do. Next batch though!
 
I'll definitely look into the time. I've seen a lot of people making hef and getting it on the table in two weeks, they claim conditioning beyond burning the prime for carb doesn't make hef better. But they also admit you can condition it for a long time to no ill effect. I was talking to a brewer at Oakshire Brewery about it. A local brewpub we have here. They make a lot of wood cask stuff too that's nice.

The owner of the supply store uses electric kettles and he swears by some rice in the bag for wheat beers. I will admit I had zero clumps and I think I could have just dumped the entire bill in without issue. But I poured it slowly and stirred constantly. It was very lose and seemed to circulate well. It was like .50 cents or something and didn't seem to harm anything.

You might or might not get good carbonation in a week, doubtful. I have never tried one in less than 3 weeks. Some were fully carbonated and some were not. ALL of my beers have tasted better at three weeks bottle conditioning. 2 weeks grain to glass usually involves kegging.

Yeah, the buckets went from 2 gallons to 5 (which is a 6.5 so you have headspace) so I went with this. If I keep it sealed and leave it be we figured the wheat beers can get frisky and should force the oxygen out. I've ordered a widemouth fermenter for 3 gallon batches. Until then my little 15 dollar rig will have to do. Next batch though!

The extra headspace should not be of much concern as long as you stick to your quick schedule. In other words, don't leave it in there too long after reaching FG.
 
Star San mix is 1oz to 5 gallons. So 2.5 gallons should have used 1/2oz. Prob still fine though I would think as long as you cleaned thoroughly beforehand.
 
Star San mix is 1oz to 5 gallons. So 2.5 gallons should have used 1/2oz. Prob still fine though I would think as long as you cleaned thoroughly beforehand.

You are correct, I caught it before I started just didn't change it. I used 1/2 and bottled some in spray bottles!
 
I have a dunkelweizen fermenting in a downstairs closet. This time of year the closet averages 67-68 degrees. I have my bmb fermenter sitting in a small basin of water and switch out ice packs. Keeps it just under 68. Without the packs it will rise to 70-71
 
I have it covered with a box to block light. I checked on it today and it already is starting to smell like beer. It has a nice layer of foam on top and so far seems happy. Thanks for all the tips and advice. I'll be back when it comes time to rack it. I'll give it a week and check for activity then measure gravity and see if it's ready for racking. I plan to carb in bottles.
 
So. When I hopped my beer, I did it for the full boil. Less than an ounce in a small mesh bag for hopping. I noticed as soon as I did it the batch foamed up and turned green. My wort had a green tinge to it. Now it's cleared up some I noticed this dark green ring around the fermenter. I cracked it open (after sanitizing my hands and the lid with spray StarSan) and it looked like this. It's beginning to smell like beer with a slight sour/hop smell. Not very yeasty. Did something go wrong? The chunks of green floating in it where from when i moved the fermenter into a box a couple days ago...

69078371_2482671645302614_7213638358088548352_n.jpg
 
Hops added in the boil break up and give the kettle and foam the green tinge. Most of the hops, yeast and other matter will precipitate out and form the trub on the bottom. My beer does not have a strong yeast smell after the krausen has fallen either.
 
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Yup. The ring is made of unwanted bitter stuff (hops residue, bitter proteins, yeast and such) so it's a good thing. Any bits that might fall in when you move the fermenter will settle to the bottom in time.
 
That ring is the remains of the krausen. During fermentation the yeast produce a floating foam of yeast. That foam carried with it some of the loose hop matter. As fermentation slowed the krausen falls and leaves a ring if where it has been. Sort of a high water mark of you will.

Perfectly normal. Leave it alone.
 
Awesome. Thanks for helping me, all. Just a nervous rookie.
 
It was at 1.019 three days ago, about the same today. I racked it in 33oz flip-tops. Came out to be about 8 of them. A lot of firsts, we'll see how it goes. I racked it into a plastic bucket with a spigot and attached a bottling wand to the spigot. Before I siphoned the beer into the bucket I boiled 3.1 oz of corn sugar for ten minutes then put it in the empty bucket. Supposedly that gives me about 3.5 carb. Bottles are back in the box, going to let them sit a week then fridge one and try it.

So my next batch...
 
It was at 1.019 three days ago, about the same today. I racked it in 33oz flip-tops. Came out to be about 8 of them. A lot of firsts, we'll see how it goes. I racked it into a plastic bucket with a spigot and attached a bottling wand to the spigot. Before I siphoned the beer into the bucket I boiled 3.1 oz of corn sugar for ten minutes then put it in the empty bucket. Supposedly that gives me about 3.5 carb. Bottles are back in the box, going to let them sit a week then fridge one and try it.

So my next batch...

You should use a priming calculator and use the proper amount of priming sugar to get the carbonation you desire. 3.5 is very high for most styles. It is on the edge of being too much pressure for standard 12 ounce beer bottles. Not sure about the flip tops, I guess that too much pressure would leak from the tops.

You need to condition the bottles at ROOM TEMPERATURE, then cool for drinking. If you put them in the fridge before they are carbonated it will take a very long time if they carbonate at all. Even then you MIGHT get some carbonation at one week. Standard is to expect it to take 3 weeks. I try a bottle at 2 weeks. Some are carbonated - others not so much. ALL have tasted better at 3 weeks or longer.
 
I did use a calculator and it suggested going as high as 4.5 for hef. I settled on 3.5 in addition to wherever natural carbonation occurred during brewing.

I'm using 33oz flip tops that are new. The lady who runs the store said she tests all the bottles with kombucha before she puts beer in them. She says they do fine.

I put them back in the box after I closed them up and they are hiding in the dark as we speak! Thanks for info.
 

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