Did I foul up?

gsun1361 · 01-03-2006, 06:02 PM

OK folks, I'm sure you've answered a thousand newbie questions but here it goes:

New to the board and homebrewing. Bought an intermediate equipement kit through Midwest Supplies. Bought several books and read them and internet sites like a maniac for about two weeks. Bought an 8-gallon brewpot, Hurricane burner and wort chiller (all this before my first batch, nuts, huh?)

Brewed my first batch Dec 31st, a "Liberty Cream Ale" from Midwest Supply.
All went well as far as I can tell, when it came time to pour the wort into the fermenter (6.5 gal bucket) through the supplied funnel with a filter screen,
the gook from the hops immediately plugged up the screen. It was taking so long I got worried about exposure (I know, don't worry, have a homebrew), so I just poured it all in figuring the stuff would just settle to the bottom.
After pitching and securing the lid and airlock, I remembered the advice about
swirling the wort around to get a cone of sediment in the middle of the pot, then siphoning so as not to get it in the fermenter. Anyway, too late for that.

I started seeing airlock activity within a few hours and it was chugging away merrily all New Year's day, started slowing down some yesterday.

Anyway, did I mess up my first batch by not getting all the hop slime out before putting it in the fermenter? Thanks in advance for your help...

**DeRoux's Broux** · 01-03-2006, 06:22 PM

welcome aboard and glad you found us. and no, not stupid to get those goodies right away! you'll end up springing for them in the long run, so you might as well :^)

nope, it won't hurt the brew, but it doesn't help either. if you have a secondary fermenter, be sure to rack once it has fermented out, and get it of all that spent trub (sediment). those hops are spent in the brew kettle and have done there part. next time, after cooling the wort, stir the wort real good to creat a whirlpooling effect and let it sit for 10-15 minutes for all the break to settle out. then instead of pouring through a funnel, you can use your racking cane and syphon tubing to rack to your primary. may take a little longer, but it'll leave almost all the trub behind. or, you can drill a whole in the kettle, install a weldless fitting and add a spigot. then just open the valve and drain to the primary. or, get a large strainer that fits over the top of your primary and pour it in (but, if you use a 6.5 g carboy as primary, thid isn't an option). there are also bazooka screens and ketle screens you can use to keep the cold break from getting transfered to the primary. but again, you'd need a spigot installed in the kettle.

hope this helps!