Hot wort... uhoh

Kadmium · 02-03-2007, 12:02 AM

Ok, so I decided to step up my game on this brew and go for a DME, honey wheat beer. I used an american wheat yeast, some hallertau hops @ 5 mins and some tetnanger at 15 mins, (did not want hardly any hop bite, as I wanted the honey and wheat to be the dominating flavours, with a real slight bite) anyway... heres the problem

All went fine, I boiled the water, added the DME, boiled it again, added the hops, chucked it in an ice bath etc etc... but when I added it from the ice bath into the fermenter... the wort was still DAMN hot... im talking uncomfortable to put your hand into it hot.. now I know you have to chill the wort so its nice and cold but I just overestimated how cool the wort was... when I added it to the fermenter it foamed up and got very oxygenated... I then topped up to 5 gallons of water which was by then perfect for pitching the yeast, which I did... my question is... how bad is it to aerate hot wort? is it going to ruin my beer?

Passload · 02-03-2007, 12:12 AM

Your beer should be fine. It takes a lot chruning to do a hot side.

Sir Humpsalot · 02-03-2007, 12:17 AM

You probably didn't ruin it. The reason you don't want to aerate hot wort is that, when you start shaking it up and whatnot, any nasties that sneak in your brew will have from that moment all the way up until your yeast kicks its butt. That's a long time for it to impart off flavors. Plus, most nasties thrive more in warmer environments, so aerating your hot wort is giving the nasties a prime environment for doing their thing.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that, really, I think this is a very minor point. It's something to be remembered and done because in all honesty, there's just no reasonable excuse for doing it any other way. But, really, it's no big deal.

RDWHAHB.

Kadmium · 02-03-2007, 12:25 PM

oh sweet! well, it was fermenting after about 4 hours so I am happy...

I am worried that seeing now I didnt give it sufficient time for a cold break, its going to have chill haze, but hey, who cares about chill haze, as I have learned that apearance often means nothing in homebrewing! ohwell, I just hope my first DME will not turn out skunky, but hey, what can I say, I learned a big and important lesson today

homebrewer_99 · 02-03-2007, 12:45 PM

I pour my hot wort through a nylon net on its way to the primary bucket.

I haven't had any problems in 13+ years so you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

**Bobby_M** · 02-03-2007, 01:50 PM

Do you have a thermometer? Don't ever guess at temp.

**david_42** · 02-03-2007, 02:42 PM

There's a lot of concern about hot-side aeration of wort, but the oxidation process this drives is slow. Most batches of homebrew aren't around long enough for it to be a problem.

davy · 02-03-2007, 03:02 PM

one thing you need to be careful about but only matters if you use a glass fermenter. is the temp difference when pouring in an empty glass fermenter. u could break the glass however this is not a problem if you use a plastic bucket. have you considering making or getting an immersion chiller to cool your wort faster and easier help avoid this possible problem in the future.

Kadmium · 02-04-2007, 02:49 AM

yeah, it was the first time I ever did a boil with hops and the whole shebang, last time I just steeped the hops in hot water like a tea bag (doing LME) so this was a big step up. I am concerned now, is it usual to those of you who know, for an American honey wheat beer (ingredients are 2kgs Light DME, 500g wheat DME, 1.5kg floral honey, American wheat yeast and yeast nutrient) to have an almost over powering smell of bananas? :S

However it does not TASTE like bananas, has a very sweet honey taste...