Popped my Cherry today... what went wrong

First off, welcome to the BA site, Mrjdw. Your post likely would get better reaction if you had posted it in the Homebrewing forum, but sometimes the moderators will move a post to the proper place.

Your first brewing experience is a classic case of needing to be well organized when brewing, and a number of important things went wrong for you. I'll comment on the things as I see them and try to give you options to maybe recover if possible. You didn't include exact details so I'm going to make some assumptions here.

First, you likely followed directions from a recipe that said to start the boil with a certain amount of water, and then add more water at the end to arrive at the 5-gallon mark. Either you were not careful in your measuring process, or your boil was not vigorous enough to boil away a certain amount during the hour that it was cooking. Most brewers will measure what they have at the end of the boil, and then decide how much additional water is needed to reach the 5-gallon mark. Then add it to the kettle (if your kettle will hold it) to speed up the cool-down process of the wort. So you did it a bit backward.

Or another thought -- did you pour all of the hop debris into the fermentor too? That stuff takes up some space too and should have been left in the kettle by siphoning the wort from above the level of hops in the bottom of the kettle, or you could have used a sanitized strainer when transferring your wort from the kettle to the fermentor.

Next, you risked losing your entire batch and having a messy floor when you poured your wort into your carboy. If it is a glass carboy, the stress on the glass from the heat could have cracked it and everything would have been on the floor (or down the drain if your carboy was in a sink). So you might have been saved by having that water already in the carboy to cool the wort as it was poured on top of it.

If you had too much wort and had to discard only a small amount, your beer will be just a little watered down, so that's not much of an issue. However, how full is your carboy? Some head space is needed for the fermentation process or a lot of your beer is going to try to bubble up and out of the airlock. When fermenting a 5-gallon batch you should be using a carboy that will hold at least 6.5 gallons so you'll have adequate head space for the fermentation to occur without blowing out the airlock. If you have a 6.5 gallon bucket or carboy, I'd sanitize it and use it as your fermentor for this beer (and it will be best to do it before fermentation starts). Otherwise you can discard more of your beer to get 3-4 inches of head space in your carboy, or you can attach what is called a blow-off tube to control the mess when the beer bubbles up and out of the fermentor. (Google blow-off tube to see how to install this 'device' or YouTube also has examples. There is more than one way to do it, but you may already have equipment on hand to make one type but not another so I'm not going to suggest one way or another.)

The accident with the dry yeast may not be a serious issue, but a lot of the answer to that will depend on how fresh the yeast is and how much really got into the beer. If there was not enough yeast for this batch, fermentation could start very slowly until those puppies have multiplied into a larger group to handle the task at hand. A slow start could cause some off flavors too, but you'll just have to wait and see if it affects the drinkability of your beer. You will have to be patient to see how quickly fermentation starts.

Lastly, it is important to know the temp of your wort when pitching the yeast. If your wort was 80 or below, you should be okay as long as your wort continued to cool down to a level around 65 degrees. Proper fermentation temperature is very important to create the best-tasting beer. Fermenting a beer at a temp that is too warm could produce off flavors and ruin the beer. Are you able to ferment this beer in a setting that is around 65 degrees?

But don't get discouraged over this episode. You're not the only person who has ever made these mistakes. And you could still end up with some good beer.

 

Welcome aboard, and good luck!

 

Welcome to BA!!

 

Welcome fellow home brewer...it gets easier...Cheers from St. Pete!

 

Okay, it sounds like things are moving okay. The first few days of fermentation are the critical days for proper temp. If you are unable to find a way quickly, roll with what you've got if that's the coolest place you can find. Google 'swamp cooler' to see various ways that you can use for future batches. But you are right, you can't use your fridge because that's too cold.

The blow-off tube's end should be into a container with water to act as an air lock, so keep that end of the tube immersed. Once the outflow stops you can hook up a standard airlock. The amount of your beer loss will cut short the number of bottles that you'll get, but it may be only one or two. But depending on how much beer you have at the time of bottling, you may need to cut back a little on the priming sugar.

If you don't get a larger fermenter you can scale back your recipes to make 4 gallon batches in the future. But head space is important to keep from losing beer through a blow-off tube.

 

Welcome to BA Josh.

 

In addition to MG3's sage advice I offer the following: Your headspace problem should be addressed before your next brew. You can get a 6.5 gal "ale pale" for about 15 bucks, or a larger carboy, or smaller quantities. You've already learned that advice from your retailer can be spotty . . . for some better'n average advice please review this link: http://www.howtobrew.com/

Temp control for your yeast is vital. Fairly sure you're using US-05 and 70-75 is too warm . . . remember, the act of fermenting will add 2 to 6 degrees and ideally you should be in the mid-60's. Swamp coolers don't work in Florida, only in places like Arizona and Saudi Arabia where humidity is in single digits. Until you get a dedicated ferm fridge you'll have to make do with a partial ice-water bath (rotating ice packs) which is a major pain in the ass. This will be necessary for the first 72 hours which determines the esters the yeast will produce. But, don't try and drop the temp now, it's likely to send the yeast to dormancy.

Suggest you go to Fermentis' web site and read the tech data on your yeast strain to include how to re-hydrate. Nothing tricky here, but why not apply the recommended steps? If you don't have an accurate thermometer maybe you could ask Santa Claus. Also, sounds like you could use an auto-siphon. After a few brew sessions you'll start to develop a good feel for your equipment.

Don't worry about hitting all your marks as a beginner . . . no one does. Address your problem areas, take detailed notes, and keep brewing.

 

Definatly all the above advice. +1 to reading palmers how to brew. Have fun, learn and enjoy. Soon you won't want to buy your next. Brew, you'll just get one of yer own

 

I don’t see any major issues. I’ll just echo a few observations: No hot water into glass carboys, wort needs to cool before pitching yeast (which you did by feeling it...I do it the same way), and next time leave some head space.

Take notes, tweak it next time, and enjoy!

 

Just a couple of tips. When I first started, I used this method for top off water:
Buy two 1 gallon ‘drinking water’ jugs and a 10 or so water bottles and throw them all in the freezer the night before. When it’s time to chill/dilute, sanitize the outside of the bottles and a knife, slice open and add the two gallon jugs and keep adding water bottles until you get the volume you want. The water is sterile and this will help your dilute and chill at the same time!

Also, with the carboy. It is possible to ferment a 5 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carboy. Most carboys are actually a little bigger than they advertise. By about 16-20oz. Get an accurate liquid measuring bowl and see what your true 5 gallons is and mark it. Then buy sometime called Fermcap S and follow the instructions on it. It’ll decrease your foam and allow you to ferment in that carboy.

 

I see that you could use advice that I needed once as well, get out of your own head. I recommend reviewing and reading as much as you can to know possible variables, and as you are brewing take a lot of notes. It is likely that as you continue the hobby you will fine tune certain parts of your process.

A lot of resources make it look like any misstep and your beer is ruined, it serves well to know that this is simply not the case, move on, and do it better next time. Don't dwell, then you will make a few more mistakes before the batch is completed because you are not focused on the task ahead. Missteps will lead to some inconsistencies between batches, sometimes this is bad but often times you learn something, and most likely either way you will have a good beer to drink.

I'm not saying some mistakes aren't really bad, because that wouldn't be true. But remember that beer brewing existed long before our current knowledge, if everything was as bad as it sometimes seems we likely wouldn't be enjoying beer brewing today.

Welcome to the hobby!

 

Permit me to recommend a 7.9 gallon bucket. There is plenty of 'extra' headroom in that bucket.

Cheers!

https://www.northernbrewer.com/master-vintner-7-9-gallon-fermenting-bucket

 

Resist that voyeuristic urge ...especially if you like to add hops to your fermenter...buckets make adding hops sooooo much easier without extra equipment.

 

Not for me. I have been homebrewing in buckets for over 20 years.

Well, that is entirely your personal choice. If this is critical to you I would strongly recommend that you use something like a Better Bottle since it is plastic and won't break like a glass carboy.

Cheers!

 

Seeing what's going on might have some entertainment value the first few batches, but it doesn't provide much information for making better beer. Lots of homebrewers use opaque plastic or stainless steel.

 

What bags/jackets are you referring to? It sounds like you are asking about something that would keep the heat in the fermentor and that is not what you want to do.

If you don't have a steady cool spot around 65 where you live then you likely will have to use the ice water bath or get an old fridge/freezer along with an external temp controller to limit the fridge/freezer to 65 degrees. There are yeast types that are okay with a fermentation temp in the low to mid seventies, but you'll likely have to brew the beer style for which they are best suited. I think the yeast types that typically brew a hefeweizen or a saison are two examples if you want to brew those styles.

The ice bath method requires a big tub of some sort and some plastic water or soft drink bottles and room in your freezer to keep a rotation of them in and out to the water bath, but mostly for the first 3 days, so that method is not expensive. But it's tricky to regulate the temp of your fermentor. And, depending on the humidity in your place, be sure to allow for some condensation on the outside of the tub dripping on the floor.

If you ever want to brew a lager, then you'll have to get an old fridge or freezer with an external temp control device, so that's a good reason to look into using that method. You can get inexpensive fridges/freezers on Craig's List for less than $100 and the external temp control devices range from around $20 up to around $60-$70, and these are very reliable in holding a temp where you want it. Either of these two methods will take up some space where you live, but you can put away the water bath tub, jugs, etc. when not in use; the fridge/freezer is permanent.