My brew supply store gave me the necessary ingridients to make my first
batch. I told him I wanted to make a wheat beer, and he threw everything on
the counter and rang it up. I watched him crack the grain, and I believe he
used two different grains. A wheat and I'm guessing a barley. He's a cherry
fella but dont say much, so I dont exactly know what he sold me ;)

The first trip to the store, he handed me the stuff to make a lager beer,
and I had just told him that my wife bought me a beer making kit for my
birthday. When I got home and started reading up on Lagers, the book said it
was the most difficult to brew at home. It was on my second trip to the
store, that he told me I needed a refrigerator with a special 70$ thermostat
installed to brew my own lager. (unless I do a steam beer). I was a little
upset he didn't pass this info on during my first trip, but neededless to
say, I'm now looking for a used freezer, refrigerator for my garage :)

Thanks
Nick

"Denny Conn" <denny.g.conn@ci.eugene.or.us> wrote in message
news:45969E7B.8484CA05@ci.eugene.or.us...[color=blue]
> Nick wrote:[color=green]
>>
>> Hi All,
>> I am new to brewing and made my first batch yesterday. It has been
>> somewhat
>> confusing trying to follow my local suppliers directions, while trying to
>> follow the beginners book to brewing, while getting everything right, and
>> I
>> made a few mistakes in the process. So, here is my question.
>>
>> I decided to make for my first batch a bavarian wheat beer. I used
>> cracked
>> wheat, malt, hops, and a half-teaspoon of irish moss for the last 30 mins
>> of
>> the brew. My mistakes, when I strained the wheat after steeping it for 45
>> minutes, I only used a colander, I didn't use a filter for either the
>> initial strain or sparge step. I then used this wort with my malt, hops
>> for
>> the 55 min brew. When it was done I cooled it in the sink until it was
>> room
>> temp (about 75 degrees) and mixed it with 2.5 gallons of 60 degree water.
>> My
>> second mistake was when I again used the collander without a filter to
>> separate the hops from the wort. I poured the contents out of the 2.5 gal
>> stainless steel pot through the colander into the fermentation pail which
>> held the other 2.5 gallons of cold water.[/color]
>
> Keep in mind that unless you use wheat *malt*, you can't use wheat
> without another "diastatic" grain, which has enzymes to convert the
> starch in the wheat into sugar that the yeast can ferment. If you don't
> do that, you end up with a starch laden beer that provides food for
> bacterial infections.
>
> ------------>Denny
> --
> Life begins at 60...1.060, that is.[/color]