Help! - Cocked up first extract brew.

[matth]

After getting so excited about getting my first extract on the go i managed to make a right bum of it.

Thanks to all those who helped me here http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19757

After so much good advice i'm not sure how i made such a basic error, apart from me rushing.

I put the boil on, but for some reason i only boiled for 30 mins! I really can't explain why i did it, once finished i felt quite proud of myself - the brew looked and smelled good, but then i woke up at around 5am and realised i had only boiled for half an hour.

The recipe i followed is here http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/recipeview.php?recipe_id=1295- although the only difference is i added the 90 min hops at the start of the boil. I actually over ran so the boil was around 35 - 40 mins, then added the aroma hops for about 25 mins once i turned the element off.

I am yet to pitch the yeast as i had to go to a meeting early and i wasn't sure whether i should bin it or not.

Will it be ok - just not very bitter?

I hope it will at least be drinkable any suggestions welcome

Thanks.

 

[RobWalker]

Bin it? Are you mad?

IBU on this one is 43 which is quite high! I'd go ahead and say you're looking at something in the golden ale catagory instead without bothering to calculate. Every hop bitters, just less and less as time goes on, but what you lost in your original 90 minute bittering you gained plenty back with your 30 minute bittering.

Give it a taste when it's done fermenting (or even pre fermenting) and see how bitter it is. If you want more bitterness, you can boil up some hops in a litre of water for 60 minutes and add as necessary.

 

[matth]

Cheers Rob

Thank god for that - golden ale sounds good.

The smell of it is amazing, so i'll just go and pitch my yeast now, I have a sachet of US05, which says for 20 - 30 litres, i have about 12, should i split it or just whack the whole lot in, it was quite expensive, but would it last if i opened the sachet?

Thanks

 

[RobWalker]

It will last yeah, but are you likely to do another batch this size? If so split it.

There's another way to keep the yeast afterwards otherwise - collect the trub in something with a few litre capacity, allow it to seperate, then collect the remaining liquid and keep it. There's a guide on here somewhere, it's a very yeast-rich beer that if you keep in a sanitized and sealed environment will be good for your next batch.

Alternatively just dump your next batch onto the trub :p

 

[matth]

Yes i recall looking at guides on harvesting yeast. I think i probably will do another batch of this size as i think its quite a good batch size to play with and allow mistakes - and i'm running out of bottles!

Does it need to be air tight or just wrapped in clingfilm?

Cheers