Need help. Outcome of mistakes.

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 8:16 pm

We brewed our first batch of wheat beer today. We used the kit's instructions, instead of How To Brew.
The combination of the kit's instructions, and my foolishness led to several mistakes.
We are curious what the outcome will be as a result of these mistakes.
1-Did not let the wort cool. Poured it directly into the cool water in the fermenter. Then added the yeast.
2-Did not aggressively pour the wort into the fermenter.
3-Did not boil our water. Used bottled water.
Also, a question.
Should a lid be on during the boil. Our's was.
Thanks for your help. Had a great time and learned a lot on Wednesday night.
Jim

Chris Norrick · Post by **Chris Norrick** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 10:51 pm

Doesn't sound too terrible.

1. As long as the cool water dropped the temp below 90*F or so before you added the yeast, the yeast should be fine. That's the danger with the high temp, you could kill the yeast.
2. The aggressive pouring introduces oxygen back to the wort. Boiling drives most of it off and the yeast need oxygen in their early development. You can also shake the fermenter to get oxygen dissolved. Don't do this after fermentation starts.
3. Bottled water should be fairly clean of bacteria and yeasts. Or at least at a low enough level that the beer yeast will dominate them. No worries.

The lid should be off during the boil. There are compounds created when the wort is hot that create DMS (a cooked corn off flavor) and you want the lid off so those can escape. This is also the reason you want to cool the wort as quickly as possible when you turn the heat off.

For extract brewing, I would do a internet search on the "Boil Late" method and the "Texas Two-Step" method. Basically, the extract has already been boiled, so you don't need to boil it again for very long, only to sterilize it for 10-15 minutes. However, you do need a little extract in the boil pot during the 60 min boil to help get the acids out of the hops during the normal hop additions. Plain water just won't do it.

Overall, I don't see anything that will kill this beer (as long as you didn't kill the yeast). If there are no signs of fermentation in a few days, add more yeast.

What yeast did you use by the way? Yeast is critical to the final beer. I still find it amazing how much good yeast improved my beer. So always buy pure yeast. SafeAle, Wyeast, and White Labs all make good yeast.

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:02 am

Thanks for the reply. I shook the bucket around this morning. It did not appear to be bubblling any, so I think it was prior to fermentation.
We used Muntons yeast. We added the yeast when the temperature was 90, so we should be close on that.
Am I able to buy the yeasts you suggested here in town?
Thanks again. Jim.

Chris Alvey · Post by **Chris Alvey** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:14 am

Sounds like you're well on your way Jim - there's only one way to learn to brew and that's by doing it.

You can buy yeast at the Co-Op on St. Joe. They had liquid yeast at one time in the cooler there, you just have to ask.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q ... iwloc=addr

I would be curious, also, what the temperature of your fermenter is now - yeast strains vary according to the optimum temperature, but a good average is 68'ish for ales. If your fermenter is in the basement or somewhere that is too cold, the yeast will go dormant on you. If you don't have one on there already, there are stick-on thermometers that you can get for your fermenters to make it simple to see the temp without disturbing the beer.

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:02 am

It was 66 or so this morning. I moved it upstairs in a closet. It should be closer to that 68 range there. If we did not kill the yeast from the initial heat, I will leave it. If the yeast did get killed, I will by the liquid from the CO-OP, and introduce that into the fermenting bucket. We appreciate all of your guy's help. I am ready to give it another go, as soon as I can use the bucket. Thanks again!

Chris Alvey · Post by **Chris Alvey** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:11 am

Is it alive yet

You did remember to sacrifice the small mammal first right? Maybe we forgot to tell you that part.

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:24 pm

Yep. I threw the squirrel right in there with it.
It was like the scene from Goodfellas, he just would not go down.
Should help with the agitation. The beer's, not mine.
We have the plastic airlock that came with the kit. It is burping every 10 to 15 seconds. That started around 10 last night. Temp is 65 or 66, which should go up a little tomorrow. I am a tight ass on the heat around here.
Chuck and I are thinking about getting a couple carboys so that we can do two batches at once. Any thoughts about that?
Thanks for the help. I'd offer you one of these beers from the 'first' batch, but that may not be a friendly thing.

Chris Alvey · Post by **Chris Alvey** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 9:56 am

If you have room for extra carboys, by all means get them. That way if you want to brew and the current beer is just not ready, you won't be tempted to bottle it early or any such thing. "Just let 'em finish Clark..."

They're more expesnsive, but I am a big fan of the Better-Bottle plastic carboys ... especially when the racking port/valve is used. I am a 'phobe' about breaking glass carboys due to an unfortunate incident several years ago that involved a full carboy of wine and the back seat of my car

http://www.better-bottle.com

Sounds like your fermentation is well on its way.

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:08 pm

Thanks for the advice. Those are the ones that we looked at, so we will commence to doubling the size of our production capacity.
The airlock is bubbling about every 5 seconds and stabilized after steadily increasing.
No wonder you are nervous around glass carboys!

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:55 pm

Well, we decided to do a secondary fermentation as we had so much stuff in the batch. Chuck read about doing that, so I agreed. We have it in a carboy, in a dark room, that is probably 64 degrees. We had about 50+ ounces of space left in the 5 gal carboy. Where did all of our precious beer go? Methinks the squirrel drank it before he succombed. Or did he succomb from drinking it. We thought we read that the space between the beer and the top of the carboy was bad as far as the oxygen goes, and that we should fill it up with boiled water or beer. To hell with the water. We filled it up with some of Ron's Honey Brown, and a seasonal assortment of Sam Adams. So we have a bastard now. Which may be a good name. We planned on leaving it until Sunday. At which point we plan on brewing our next 2 batches. I guess we have the bug. Any problems or suggestions with this approach?

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:43 pm

Jim, I'm sure your batch of beer will turn out fine. I wouldn't be too concerned about headspace in the secondary fermenter, just rack off what is on top of the yeast in the primary and let it settle out and clear up for a few days before you bottle it. Relax, dont worry, have a homebrew! There shouldn't be enough oxygen in the top of the fermenter to make a big difference. Just try not to splash the beer too much when racking it. Have fun!!

Chris Norrick · Post by **Chris Norrick** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:17 pm

Back when I was using secondaries (I don't anymore) I would use a CO2 bicycle tire inflator to squirt CO2 into the secondary before racking. I do the same now for my conry kegs only with a big 5# CO2 tank. Oxygen is bad, it will impart a cardboard flavor in the beer over time. Assuming the beer stays around along enough to actually develop the flaw... My advice is to not use secondaries in most cases. Just let the beer age for 1-2 weeks after fermentation has died down to let it naturally clear and bottle or keg. Less chance for infection, less chance for oxidation, less to clean.

I don't think I would have added all that beer into a wheat... but experimentation is what it's all about!

Chris Alvey · Post by **Chris Alvey** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:05 pm

To hell with the water.

Amen.

Dwayne_Delaney · Post by **Dwayne_Delaney** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 7:27 pm

Chris Norrick wrote: Oxygen is bad, it will impart a cardboard flavor in the beer over time.

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 8:37 pm

OK. Batch one is bottled. We hope no major problems there. I did learn that it is important to double check how many bottles you think you have. Had to do some quick sanitization. Due to the questionable progeny of this brew, it has been named Wheaty Bastard.
Batch two was brewed today, much closer to proper than the first one.
It is a Bock from Coopers. The only hitch was the strainere we ordered was too fine, so when the wort went into the fermenting bucket, alot of hops went in with it. What can we expect from that? We also used dry yeast again, from the Co-Op. The guy their was not sure what liquid yeast to put in a bock. So we thought that was a 'better safe than sorry thing'.
Batch one, or WB should be ready for some victims to try at the next meeting.

OVHA Chat

Need help. Outcome of mistakes.

Need help. Outcome of mistakes.

Thanks

thanks

Mammal?