Hoegarrden Clone Problems?

[Helmut]

Put down a Hoegarrden style brew on sunday but not sure if things are going quite to plan.
Brew took about 48 hours to start bubbling out of the airlock, not much (if any) Krauzen has formed on top of the brew and now after about 3 days of rather sedate brewing it appears to have slowed again to a crawl. Do I have problems?
This is my 2nd attempt at this style. Although a bit more elaborate this time around.
First time I used:
1 x Black Rock Whispering Wheat
1kg x Light Dried Malt
15g x Coriander Seeds
Zest of about 6-8 oranges
Yeast from the Whispering Wheat can

Turned out pretty tasty, although head retention left a lot to be desired.

This time:

1 x Block Rock Whispering Wheat
500g x Brewcraft Cracked Wheat Grain
500g x Dextrose
4 x Wheatbix
~100g Rolled Oats
10g x Saaz Hops Pellets
15g x Coriander seeds (toasted)
5g x Cumin Seeds (toasted)
Zest of 4 Oranges
1 x K97 Safale Yeast

I wanted 1 kg of Dried wheat malt but the 2 home brew shops I visited didn't stock, so was given the grain and told to boil 2-3 litres of water and then steep the grain for aboout 20 minutes. I put the grain in a cut off leg of panty hose and steeped it in the hot water, then in another pot I boiled the hops, crushed coriander and cumin, and the orange zest in another piece of panty hose and the wheatbix and rolled oats in yet another piece for about 20minutes. I added the liqour from both pots into the fermenter, added 500g dextrose and the whispering wheat can, then I repeatedly added water into the pots and then into the fermenter to extract as much "goodness" out of the boiled ingredients.
At 23L I threw the yeast in and sealed the fermenter. Put the fermenter into a makeshift styrofoam housing and wrapped in 2 beach towels to keep temperature at a seemingly constant 20-22 degrees (although I don't really trust the stick on thermometer).
Then as I said earlier, brew took about 2 days to start and now after 3 days brewing has dropped off.
Is it just a bit too cold and the yeast if going dormant or is there another problem?

Any help would be great. First time trying something this complex.

Leon

 

[Pennywise]

Hi Helmut, have you taken an SG reading to confirm if it's stopped or not?

 

[AndrewQLD]

Wheat should be mashed for a start, did they give you wheat malt or unmalted wheat?
All you have done is washed the starch out of the wheat and into your wort, you will get no benefit from that at all.

Andrew

 

[Fourstar]

All you have done is washed the starch out of the wheat and into your wort, you will get no benefit from that at all.
Andrew

Besides strach haze!

 

[AndrewQLD]

Oh and welcome to the forum Helmut.

 

[Fourstar]

Oh and welcome to the forum Helmut.

you might need one of these

 

[cubbie]

Hi Helmut,

Use your hydrometer and your mouth as a guide (ie check the gravity and check the taste).

If you really like that style i think you need to ditch the packet yeast. The yeast adds so much flavour to this style. http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_styledetails.cfm?ID=174

wyeast 3944 is a good fit.

Oh yeah and you need to mash wheat. http://howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-1.html


Good luck!

 

[Steve]

K97 is known to take a couple of days to take off (if you are lucky to get it going at all). Most people usually end up chucking something else in like WB06 to finish it off and actually give it some wheat flavour as K97 isnt a wheat yeast, its a german ale yeast whereas WB06 is.

 

[Helmut]

http://shop.brewcraft.net/BrewcraftNZ40/P-40531/Wheat+Malt+Grain%2c+Cracked%2c+500g

This is the grain I was given, I assume it needed to be malted first.
Initial SG was 1.04
Current SG is 1.02
I'll take another reading tomorrow to see if it changes.
Brew has a sweetish taste, is very, very hazy and can really taste the wheat and oats. A bit of hop taste is there.
Am I right in assuming if the Wheat has only contributed starches, that the alcohol overall sugar contact would be roughly just the 500g of dextrose added. Would this mean a shorter ferment?
Is it too late to pitch another yeast?

Cheers