First attempt mishaps

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by trav1032, Jan 21, 2013.

?

Is this batch ruined?

  1. You're screwed

    4.8%
  2. You'll be fine

    95.2%
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  1. trav1032

    trav1032 Initiate (0) Jan 21, 2013

    So this past Friday evening/Saturday morning my wife and I brewed or first batch of home brew. We followed all of the directions in the kit to the best of our ability but must have made a couple mistakes here and there. The instructions said that you could either start with 3 or 6 gallons of water to bill, we went with the 6 which seemed to be mistake#1 because we were using a standard gas kitchen stove and it took forever! Layer on we stopped the thermometer and if course it shattered in the floor. We finally got the wort to a boil added or hops as the directions told us to then the time came to cool the wort. While we were doing this we noticed that the hops seemed to have expanded and turned to mush and had now filed the wort. So there's mushy hop particles all in the wort now. We got the wort to approximately 70 (broken thermometer) transfered it to my carboy we're using a 7 gallon bucket. Turns out we had entirely to much wort because we nearly filed the bucket. We slapped the top in that suckered then added the airlock. Shortly after I noticed that the hop pieces and foam from the quiet had been filling up the airlock and it seemed to be clogged because the worry had been bubbling and leaking out of the sides. I figured I needed to clean or the airlock so I removed it cleaned it and quickly replaced it back in its place. All things considers do you think this batch is wasted or can it still work out? Either way this has been a great time and we're not anywhere close to giving up.
    P.S. We brewed an American IPA the wort seemed a good bit darker then the usual IPA.
     
  2. sergeantstogie

    sergeantstogie Initiate (0) Nov 16, 2010 Washington

    It'll be beer.
     
  3. carteravebrew

    carteravebrew Initiate (0) Jan 21, 2010 Colorado

    There's no way my stove could get 6 gallons of liquid to a boil in a single vessel. A 35k btu turkey fryer is about $60 with the pot included and will get 6.5 gallons to boiling in about 20 minutes. Just fyi...

    The hop situation sounds pretty typical. Pellet hops will expand (as will whole leaf) and turn to a gritty green scum (whole leaf won't do that) that is pretty vile looking. I usually dump the cooled wort through a colander on the way to the primary fermenter to filter most of that shit out.

    Your beer should be fine.
     
  4. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,326) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Pooh-Bah Society

    If you over filled* the bucket or carboy, you might need a blowoff tube. However, a clogged airlock isn't the end of the world. Take it out, clean, sanitize, reinstall.

    As carteravebrew said, the pellet hops do kinda turn into gooey gunk during the boil. Filtering with a big strainer is good, but not necessary**. The gunk will settle and you'll still have beer.

    I got a turkey fryer setup and I love it.

    Your beer will likely come out fine. :grinning:

    *for a 7 gallon bucket, about 5.5 gallons of wort is close to the limit as to how much it can be filled without needing a blowoff tube. My first batch was just over 5 gallons, in a 6.5 gallon bucket, and it pushed some krausen out the airlock, forcing me to clean and reinstall. I was worried too, but was told to chillax and have a beer by my beer mentor.

    **and trying to strain when pouring cooled wort to fermenter has its own hazards
     
  5. robbrandes

    robbrandes Initiate (0) Nov 30, 2010 Oregon
    Trader

    **and trying to strain when pouring cooled wort to fermenter has its own hazards[/quote]

    i'm a big fan of the over-sized funnel in the neck of the carboy. get a strainer (the mesh style, not a full-on collander) and seat it inside the funnel. if it's a whole-leaf batch, you end up stopping to empty hops now and then. but whole leaf are a great natural filter, and in combination with a strainer = cash money.
     
  6. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,326) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Pooh-Bah Society

    i'm a big fan of the over-sized funnel in the neck of the carboy. get a strainer (the mesh style, not a full-on collander) and seat it inside the funnel. if it's a whole-leaf batch, you end up stopping to empty hops now and then. but whole leaf are a great natural filter, and in combination with a strainer = cash money.[/quote]

    Yeah I got a new double strainer setup that works great. It's BIG, won't fall into the bucket, and strains effectively.
     
  7. NiceFly

    NiceFly Initiate (0) Dec 22, 2011 Tajikistan

    You will be fine. The beer may not be the best ever.
    No big deal though, that is how you learn.

    Everything seemed pretty normal except you need to measure your volumes better.
    Wort always looks darker in the fermenter, Beer's law and all that.
     
  8. sergeantstogie

    sergeantstogie Initiate (0) Nov 16, 2010 Washington

    i'm a big fan of the over-sized funnel in the neck of the carboy. get a strainer (the mesh style, not a full-on collander) and seat it inside the funnel. if it's a whole-leaf batch, you end up stopping to empty hops now and then. but whole leaf are a great natural filter, and in combination with a strainer = cash money.[/quote]
    Just use a hop/paint strainer bag when you put your hops into the wort. If some hops get into the fermenter. It's that big a deal at this stage of the game.
     
  9. SFACRKnight

    SFACRKnight Grand Pooh-Bah (3,274) Jan 20, 2012 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    If you've ever had the chance to enjoy a heady topper, you know that beer has hop material out the wazoo floating around in it. You'll be fine, I did a yeast starter on my first batch with a dried yeast... I blew the lid off my fermenter. I put it back on after resanitizing, and blew krausen through the airlock four or five times after that. The beer still drinks ok. You'll be okay.
     
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