Brewed my first one gallon "experimental" batch tonight

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by BigJoeC, Jan 10, 2013.

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  1. BigJoeC

    BigJoeC Zealot (563) Jan 22, 2011 New Jersey

    Well, you all have been great help. From my 5 gal DIPA to my one gal experiments and everything in between from rehydrating dry yeast to how to make a wheat lighter. So, I did my first one gallon batch that I created on BrewSmith2.

    It's an extract wheat. The recipe is

    8oz carapils steeped 20 min
    8oz Flaked oats steeped 20 min
    1lb dry wheat extract boiled 20 min
    .1 oz Galena hops at 20 min
    .1 oz Hallertauer hops at 20 min
    1/5 packet rehydrated Yeast

    BS2 said OG should be 1.049
    MY OG was 1.046

    I don't think that's bad. I attribute it to having just a little too much water making it a little more diluted (if that's you would call -.03 diluted.

    Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks again!
     
  2. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,452) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Only a 20 minute boil?

    It will probably come out good. :sunglasses:
     
  3. Naugled

    Naugled Pooh-Bah (1,944) Sep 25, 2007 New York
    Pooh-Bah

    Congrats! You finally brewed a batch instead of just talking about brewing a batch, eh? :wink:

    Just busting your chops. You'll learn a lot from brewing small batches. The key is to keep brewing, the more batches you brew the more you learn.

    Welcome to the club.
     
  4. BigJoeC

    BigJoeC Zealot (563) Jan 22, 2011 New Jersey

    Thanks. I've brewed about 6 5gal batches now. Just wanna experiment. I love I though.
     
  5. MLucky

    MLucky Initiate (0) Jul 31, 2010 California

    One thing that should be mentioned is that you should mash flaked oats, as opposed to steeping. They contain only starches and lack the enzymes needed to convert them to fermentable sugars. Flaked oats need to be mashed with a roughly equal portion of base malt. Or you can use malted oats.
     
    jlpred55 likes this.
  6. ipas-for-life

    ipas-for-life Savant (1,041) Feb 28, 2012 Virginia

    Op was told this in another one of his threads. I guess he ignored it. I am intersted if there is anything bad that will happen by steeping these? Or is it just a waste of time?
     
  7. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Starchy beer. Reduces clarity and potentially shelf life.
     
  8. BigJoeC

    BigJoeC Zealot (563) Jan 22, 2011 New Jersey

    I realize that I should have mashed but I'm not versed in it. I tried it anyway. Experimental I guess.
     
  9. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,452) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Society Pooh-Bah

    With such a small batch, shelf life should be moot. Clarity and haze... well, yeah, certain grains should be mashed, so mash them. A partial mash isn't much different than steeping.

    When I was doing partial mashes I just added some base malt to every mash, no matter what the ingredients. This eliminated the need to worry about what grains needed to be mashed and which ones could be steeped without mashing. Worked like a champ, and added an element of all-grain to my partial mash beers. Next time add some 2-row, maris otter, 6-row, or whatever base malt to your partial mash. Your results will improve. My partial mash beers were mostly good to excellent. Some of them I've yet to improve on with all grain techniques*.

    *although admittedly, I'm only on batch 8 of all grain
     
  10. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    You've only got 9 beers to drink and wheat beers are usually good after 3 weeks. I'd keep 'er bubbling around 70F. I'm not really familiar with (Saf-? wheat yeast?) but most do well and give a nice banana flavor at a pretty warm temp.
     
  11. BigJoeC

    BigJoeC Zealot (563) Jan 22, 2011 New Jersey

    Funny you say "keep 'er bubbling". 24 hours so far no bubbling. Hopefully tomorrow.
     
  12. inchrisin

    inchrisin Pooh-Bah (2,013) Sep 25, 2008 Indiana
    Pooh-Bah

    I think it would be difficult to measure 1/5 a pack of yeast. You may have under pitched. You will probably see 1/5 the bubbles in the airlock too. Just make sure your seals are tight and ride it out for another day. You still have 4/5 of a pack of yeast right? :slight_smile:
     
  13. BigJoeC

    BigJoeC Zealot (563) Jan 22, 2011 New Jersey

    I do have the other yeast. I measured using a scale that reads to 10 thousandths. The pack had .388 ounces or something. I measured out .038 ounces so I used half what I should have. Oops! It should be fine right? I'll pitch that dry as I don't have time to rehydrate this morning before work. Thanks for the unintended reminder.
     
  14. warchez

    warchez Zealot (545) Oct 19, 2004 Massachusetts

    Just for perspective, half a pound of unmashed oats in one gallon is equal to 2.5 pounds in a 5 gallon batch.
    That's a lot of unconverted starch.
    I might have to try this out myself just to see first hand how "bad" that might be.
     
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  15. BigJoeC

    BigJoeC Zealot (563) Jan 22, 2011 New Jersey

    It looks much cloudier than a normal wheat. What grains could I steep besides the flaked oats? I'm already doing 8oz carapils. I just don't mash quite yet.
     
  16. warchez

    warchez Zealot (545) Oct 19, 2004 Massachusetts

    Mashing isn't a big mystery so have no fear. Next time just steep with 2lbs of any base malt, like 2-row, pale malt pilsner, even munich (10L). Steep all the grain (crushed) at 154F-ish for 60min or so.

    Carapils is fine in there, but it isn't a base malt and won't convert starches to sugars.

    Essentially we are describing a partial mash approach. You might want to reduce the base malt a little with a partial mash approach, but don't worry about that yet. Keep it simple and enjoy a higher gravity than expected.
     
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  17. GreenKrusty101

    GreenKrusty101 Initiate (0) Dec 4, 2008 Nevada

    Why the hell don't big-time calculator PHDs put some kind of danger pop-up or something similar to keep people from using flaked adjuncts with extract? Rant complete.
     
    warchez likes this.
  18. BigJoeC

    BigJoeC Zealot (563) Jan 22, 2011 New Jersey

    Well, I was away for the weekend and my wife called me to say the one gallon jugs airlock bubbled over. She cleaned and sanitized it for me and put it back on. Now it's doing it again. Except on too of the foam is some thick sludge that is creating up the airlock.

    How should I go about handling this? Should I grab another jug on Tuesday and use it like a secondary? Maybe I'll dump it since the color looks less than desireable. Probably because I steeped the flaked oats.
     
  19. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    That would be blow-off. Did you put one gallon of wort into a one gallon jug? Regardless of batch size, you need headspace for the krausen to be in. Batch Size x 1.3 is a good rule of thumb for fermenter size. Normally, when you get blow-off like this, you can just use a blow-off tube/receptacle to catch the excess. (Google it.) But if your fermenter is actually completely full of wort, you're going to lose some wort, even with a blow-off tube.
     
  20. Profchaos20

    Profchaos20 Initiate (0) Jan 19, 2012 Pennsylvania

    Like Vikeman said you need to have some head space for the krausen, even when you have adequate head space bubble overs are fairly common. You should be able to avoid a bit of the mess by putting on a blow-off tube. If I were you I would definitely not dump it because it should be really interesting to see how how far it will ferment and what it will actually taste like. It may not be what you wanted but each time is a learning experience and a gallon of beer is a gallon of beer.
     
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