First Brew ... Ruined?

If you steeped the grains (and removed them before boiling and adding the hops), then you will probably still have something drinkable at the end of it. It was less than ideal to have to "top-up" that much, and it would have been better for your yeast to start at a lower temperature, but neither of these things would prevent this from becoming beer.

My suggestion would be to read Palmer's How to Brew at http://www.howtobrew.com/ and read up generally on the process. That will help you immensely next time you try this.

 

The only thing that I see that you did wrong is "I added my grains for 15 minutes to a boiling 1-gallon pot of water."
Was this an all-grain batch or did you have a liquid or dry malt extract that you added?
You should be steeping your grains in approx. 150 deg water.
Adding your yeast to 80 degree wort is not advisable, but it wont kill the yeast. You will probably get some off flavors from adding at that high of a temp.
Don't worry about having to add water. Next time just start with more water, or add about a half gallon after steeping your grains.

 

Not sure from your post exactly what you did, but if you boiled your grains, that was not a good idea. Most of these kits use specialty grains (crystal malt mostly, but maybe some chocolate or melanoidin or whatnot) and then in place of the base malt you have extract. I'll take a guess and assume this is what you had.

Specialty need to be steeped at about 150-160F. (Can't remember how long. 20-30 minutes I think.) When you're done steeping, you want to discard the grain. Most people do this by steeping in a mesh bag, then removing the bag when you're done. If you leave the grains in during the boil it will cause some tannins to be released from the grain and give you an astringent flavor in the beer.

Evaporation is something you have to anticipate at the beginning of your boil. It will usually reduce your volume by about 15%. (Maybe more for small batches? I've always brewed 5 gallons so I don't know that.) If you boiled off 50%, you probably had too hard of a boil going. Ideally, you would like to wind up with whatever your final volume is intended to be. Adding water after the boil will dilute flavors (although these kits often tell you to do it because it's an easy way to cool the wort). So, if you're shooting for one gallon, you'd probably want to start with maybe 1.25 gals, and then boil at a rate that doesn't burn off more than about .25.

As for cooling the wort: it should be really easy when you're only dealing with one gallon. Just put some icewater in your sink and drop your brewpot in there. Stir it around once in a while and it should cool to pitching temperature within about 15 minutes. And yes, pitching temperature is very important. You usually want to start at the low end of the yeast's range (usually around 64F is best for most ales, or even 62) and let it come up as the fermentation gets going. Pitching at 80F will usually get you some off flavors.

But, what's done is done. Finish the beer, see how it tastes and move on to the next brew.

 

So did you have extract too, or just grains?

 

This sounded a little odd. 'Steeping' grains implies a steep (not a mash) and thus there should also be some malt extract included, to provide the bulk of the fermentables. So I looked up your kit, and it does include 'golden light' malt extract. Hopefully you put that in your boil too.

 

Yes, boiling the grains without using the extract and then adding hops = drainpour ale.

I gather the steeping grains were boiled tho? And assume you used the extract?

• If so, there's a good chance you may get some off flavors from tannins from the grain.

Or perhaps you simply steeped the grains too hot, but removed them before boiling?

• If so, possible tannin extraction, less likely but still possible

But with such a small batch, you've invested little, so you might as well live and learn, and see what happens.
What's the worst that could happen, you'll have made drainpour ale? Most of us have made much larger batches of drainpour ale than 1 gallon.

Read how to brew. This advice if oft repeated in noob threads for good reason.

 

So the old saying is really "Third time is a pancake?"

 

OK, so you see your issues.
WHat I did when brewing extract, I would size the boil to allow some top off water.
If you do another 1-gal batch, start with a bit over a gallon, maybe as much as a gallon and a quarter. Brew you beer (steep grains at 150 - 155, bring to boil hop, extract etc) and then get it as cool as you can.
While everything else is happening, put a bottle of water, maybe half gallon to be safe, into the freezer.
If you can then get the wort down to about 80 - 85 degrees, then top off with the cold water, you should be right in pitching range.

 

The bad news is that your beer was probably kinda ruined before you started, but it might taste somewhat like beer and give you a buzz. No big deal. Many home brewers are satisfied with those results. The problem is that there is so little information provided in those kit instructions - it is absolutely critical that you do everything correctly. I guarantee that they are not providing any extraneous details that you can follow half-heartedly. And maybe they are badly written. Did it really instruct you to boil the grains?

As others suggested, you might want to read up a little more home brewing because it is better to understand the directions that you are following. There are many things that can go wrong, but it is easy to avoid those things if you understand the process beyond following a recipe. Some people aren't that into it. So trial and error eventually will get them a decent beer.

 

troll