Hello everyone, Last night, I tried brewing my first all-grain batch (and boy was I in for a surprise haha). My prior two batches were done throughout extracts, so I wanted to try all-grain but didn’t realize what I was in for. I use the BIAB technique and used a recipe kit for a 5 gallon Belgian Pale Ale, but had my local shop divide the recipe in half (because I have a 3 gallon fermenter). There were 2 things in the process that have me worried about the quality of this batch: 1. I used too much sparge water, and after boil, I had about 1 gallon more than I should’ve. Because it was already midnight, I ended up just chilling 2.5 gallons of the 4 gallons of wort I had. Will this cause it to be extremely watered down? 2. I did this in my kitchen & I live in an apartment, so my only hope at chilling the wort was an ice bath in the sink. This took way longer than I thought - 1 hour in and it was still about 160 degrees. I ended up falling asleep as it was 1am, and woke up at about 5am to it being the right temp. Is there the chance it got severely contaminated while I let it cool for those multiple hours with no lid? I have since pitched my liquid yeast, but haven’t seen any activity after 4 hours. I know some places say it can take 12-36 hours to show signs of activity, but should I be worried that this batch is a dud? Thanks!
The only way to know if it’s watered down prior to tasting it is to take a gravity reading. You already pitched your yeast, but since you have excess wort you can test that (if you didn’t already dump it). I wouldn’t worry about contamination unless you saw bugs (flies, etc.) in the wort. You were inside so you are probably safe. Ride it out and see what happens. Mistakes sometimes make good beer too.
If I read this right, instead of 2.5 gallons of wort, you had 3.5. The amount of sugars/dextrins in your wort will be inversely proportional to the volume. Let's say your target Original Gravity was 1.050 and you actually got your assumed mash efficiency right on the nose. In that case, the gravity of your wort would be... OGdiluted = ((OGundiluted - 1) x (VOLundiluted / VOLdiluted)) + 1 OGdiluted = (.050 x (2.5 gallons / 3.5 gallons)) + 1 OGdiluted = 1.037 So yes, it might be considered pretty "watery" depending on the style and your preferences.
5 hours uncovered introduces some addition risk of infection. A major factor would be how much wild bacteria and yeast might be floating around in your air. But there's still a very good chance your batch will be okay.
“A major factor would be how much wild bacteria and yeast might be floating around in your air.” A test conducted by Brew Your Own magazine (I think… maybe Zymurgy) a few years ago published results that the “wild” yeast found on most fruit is Brettanomyces. Given that this batch is a Belgian style… maybe your air born contaminates aren’t so bad…?
Thanks for all of your replies! As of this morning, my airlock is bubbling about every 3 seconds so at least it seems to be fermenting!
