First Brew - First Mistake

[Hopperty]

Hey guys!

So the time finally came to test out the new kit and brew my first beer. I brewed up a can of Coopers Pale Ale with the brew enhancer and am currently waiting for it to ferment.

I messed up something at the start though and I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this and how it may affect the beer.

Rather than pitch the dry yeast as per the instructions, I took Palmer's advice from the book and 'activated' it first in a pot of warm boiled water. Ie, not boiling.

I boiled the kettled and left it for ten minutes or so, measured out 250 ml as written (into a jug, thus cooling it further) and then into the pan (cooling it even more). However I absent-mindedly made the assumption that it would be 'cool enough'. I put the yeast in and realised immediately that it may have been too hot. I checked the book, which recommended between 25-30 degrees for reactivation.

I quickly grabbed (and sanitised, safety first...) the thermometer and checked the water. It came in around 42 degrees. I topped it up quickly with a drop of fresh, cold water and the temperature dropped to 29. So I left it and followed all the instructions from then on.

If I did something bad to the yeast, what will be the first signs? Slow/no fermentation?

If, worst case, I killed it, I have another packet for pale ale from another kit I could use. If the worst should happen and no fermentation is happening in three or four days or so, what would be the best advice in this situation? Activate the new yeast (properly this time) and pitch it into the fermenter? Will there be side effects to this?

Overall I had fun, might do the second kit tomorrow!

Just a thought on getting the temperature right - with a bit of planning you can get the full FV to the correct temperature straight away.

On my last brew I knew the cold tap temperature was 14.5°c and I knew I would have 4.5 litres of mix in the FV. Therefor I was able to calculate that I would have to get the mix down to 43°c before adding the cold to get the whole 23 litres at 20°c, which was bang on for the yeast.

((18.5 x 14.5)+(4.5 x 43)) / 23 = 20°c

It is quick and easy to cool a small amount down from 70+° to 40+°, (stood it in the sink and ran cold water down the side)

It took me about 15 minutes from opening the can to having the yeast in and the FV sealed.

 

[GerritT]

That's how I do it too.

 

[AntComo]

Hey guys! So I fitted the blow-off tube as it was getting a bit rowdy and now the foam is starting to calm down. We're about 60 hours in.

I was browsing through Palmer last night when I realised a second cock-up that I've made.

I have one primary 6-gallon carboy and 3 secondary 5-gallon fermentors. Because there was a mistake with my kits and I ended up doing the Coopers first instead of the Northern Brewer supplied kit (which in the end did not arrive, hence the change) I managed to get into my head that 23L was 5 gallons, not 6.

For this reason I saved the 6-gallon carboy for my next kit, as it requires a secondary fermentation and I wanted to follow the instructions I had from the start, and brewed straight in my 5-gallon.

So this batch is effectively 4 litres short. Fortunately it hasn't burst out of the rim or anything, there's plenty of headspace it was just only topped up to 5 gallons instead of 6 (I remember thinking I had a big too much water left over, oh well...)

Is this a big problem? How will it affect the beer?

I was thinking I could dilute at the bottling stage, adding those missing 4L of pre-boiled water to the bottling solution. This shouldn't affect anything should it? Is it necessary?

Thank you!

 

[Brew_DD2]

Not ruined at all. You'll just end up with s stronger beer.

 

[terrym]

Just a thought on getting the temperature right - with a bit of planning you can get the full FV to the correct temperature straight away.

On my last brew I knew the cold tap temperature was 14.5°c and I knew I would have 4.5 litres of mix in the FV. Therefor I was able to calculate that I would have to get the mix down to 43°c before adding the cold to get the whole 23 litres at 20°c, which was bang on for the yeast.

((18.5 x 14.5)+(4.5 x 43)) / 23 = 20°c

It is quick and easy to cool a small amount down from 70+° to 40+°, (stood it in the sink and ran cold water down the side)

It took me about 15 minutes from opening the can to having the yeast in and the FV sealed.

Your method is fine when mains water temperatures are below about 17/18*C and I'm sure most of us use some derivitive of that. However in summer when mains water temperatures exceed that (mine was 20.5*C last week!) it is almost impossible to get down to 19/20*C. The solutions to that include using precooled water (and use your method), don't brew in warmer months, or use a Saison yeast or similar (which is what I did last week) which are more temperature tolerant.

 

[AntComo]

Would it be stronger necessarily in a good way? It's only intended to be 4.5% so a bit stronger wouldn't be a bad thing, and I don't see it exactly being some hop monster that's thrown out of balance by being stronger.

That said if adding water is a simple fix it could bode well for future similar kits where it's not worth tying up my 6 gallon fermenter for three weeks when I could just start in a 5 gallon with a blowoff and add water at the end.

My water temp shouldn't be an issue as we're in the mountains and it comes out quite fresh, but as I'll be pre-boiling it could give me an excuse to test out the wort chiller anyway and ensure it's around 17-18 degrees before adding.

On another note, seeing as I only have one 6 gallon fermentor for primaries, I would like it to be available at least every couple of weeks. For the Evil Dog Double IPA kit there's no need for a secondary fermentation - but would it be an issue if I added one if just to free up the carboy? I could leave it in the 6 gallon for a week or so (it's a stronger beer, so not worth the risk in the smaller carboy) and then transfer for a further couple of weeks secondary thus freeing up my main carboy.

 

[Llamaman]

@AntComo
23L is 5 Imperial (Proper UK) gallons but 6 US (tea-wasting heathens) gallons.

Are your fermenters marked in Imperial or US gallons? Or a mixture?

This is one of many reasons why metric units are superior!

 

[AntComo]

Wait, I obviously knew about the imperial vs metric mess but US gallons are different?? I genuinely had no idea.

My carboys are all northern brewer, so presumably all US gallons. I guess I need to go back and measure them the old fashioned way...

Metric all the way... I'm already over this gallons malarky.

Thinking about it, none of my equipment or recipes are English (Just American and Italian which are in Litres) so I shouldn't have any new issues. Still, very good to know!

 

[AntComo]

Hi guys!

So nearly two weeks have passed since I put this batch in. My (correct) hydrometer finally arrived so seeing as the batch was still bubbling every ten seconds or so I decided to give it a test.

It measured 1.014 which after reading plenty of threads 'seems about right'. If you remember, I am also 4L short on the batch spec so I expected it a little stronger. I tasted the sample and was pleasantly surprised - I have to say i've been served much worse in pubs (and gone back for more!).

So I had my first bottling day, the missus helping out as well. I got a bit overexcited and forgot to prep the primer, so had to wait while I let it settle into the already racked beer. However I'm optimistic that this one will turn out fine, and great for a first brew.

Despite a busy afternoon, I cleaned out the siphon (christ, now I know why i need to get myself a beer thief...) and racked a little bit of the Double Dog IPA that I started brewing 9 days ago that went off without a hitch.

The Double Dog measured in at 1.020 - a little higher than the desired 1.014, so I'll leave it for the recommended 2 weeks. This tasted great too - it was interesting how you could immediately notice the lack of hops (to be added 2 days before bottling) but, as with the Coopers, I've had worse. And the missus even preferred it and finished the sample. A nice, sweet, if a little flat, ale at this point.

I'll probably hop it up and bottle it next week. This cellar has been perfect for fermenting so far! Got a small batch of ginger beer on the go and starting on the mead next week. I'm hooked!

 

[dad_of_jon]

Good news, glad you're getting some activity.

I don't get much activity now me and mrs DOJ are over 50 and then some, but I'd rather prefer a few beers these days than a lot of huffing and puffing.

 

[Underhill]

 

[terrym]

@AntComo
One of the first lessons that new homebrewers have to learn is that it's the beer itself that decides when its ready to bottle not the brewer. Some beers will be ready in days, some take weeks. The variables include OG, fermenting temperature, what was in the wort, and yeast. There will be others. From what you have said your beers are still chugging along and that may continue for some days to come, or it may not. Anyway the usual suggestion for new brewers is that it is safe to bottle when the SG has remained constant (and bottomed out) over two or three consecutive days. But that's the minimum. Its sometimes better to leave it a few days longer for the yeast to clean up it's own byproducts in bulk rather than in the bottle. All this means don't rush it, it's ready when it's ready. So be patient.

 

[AntComo]

One of the first lessons that new homebrewers have to learn is that it's the beer itself that decides when its ready to bottle not the brewer. Some beers will be ready in days, some take weeks. The variables include OG, fermenting temperature, what was in the wort, and yeast. There will be others. From what you have said your beers are still chugging along and that may continue for some days to come, or it may not. Anyway the usual suggestion for new brewers is that it is safe to bottle when the SG has remained constant (and bottomed out) over two or three consecutive days. But that's the minimum. Its sometimes better to leave it a few days longer for the yeast to clean up it's own byproducts in bulk rather than in the bottle. All this means don't rush it, it's ready when it's ready. So be patient.

Thanks for the advice! I'm definitely taking it slower with the Evil Dog. Could I have bottled the Coopers too early? Now I have the hydrometer I'll trust the readings to let me know when it's ready.