CinciBearFan
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- Mar 1, 2006
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Made my first batch...a Belgian White. Had a "minor" error in that when adding the malt, I forgot to add the additional Corn Sugar. (not the priming sugar) and didn't realize it till the wert was cool.
So I took 2 quarts of the cooled wert, re-boiled it, added the corn sugar...boiled and stirred for about five minutes, then added back to the cooled wert. The wert was at 65 degrees prior to re-adding the boiled sugar.
I hadn't yet added the yeast...However, I don't remember if I stirred vigoursly until AFTER adding the yeast, and I'm wondering if I may have had some local "hot spots" that killed off a good bit of the yeast if I failed to do that.
So...about 30 hours later, and barely any pressure showing in the twin-bubble airlock (just 1/4") I panicked big time...
I started to think I actually had killed off some of the yeast when I added the warm water back to the cool wort.
Did some reviewing on the web...and I just added some yeast through the grommet the airlock was in...that should have been good enough for me, because I think my only concern was lack of yeast...And then I panicked more...thinking that yeast needed to be aerated (Looking back, my best bet would have been a yeast starter, dropped in via funnel through the grommet, and a little shake to the bucket)
But I didn't think it through enough...and I opened the lid briefly, re-aerated the wort (with sterlized spoon), then recapped. I know ran the risk of contamination...(everything that touched the wort was sterile, but I know letting air in was a risk)...and I realized I would have reset the fermentation clock...but what I forgot about was that the CO2 built up in the lid already may have been important to give me air bubbles in the future...because some amount of sugars were already consumed...now I may never get good "bubbling" to tell when fermentation was done...so I'll have to guess based on time, and err on the side of waiting longer.
So much for hoping this batch would be done in two weeks. On the plus side though, the wort smelled awesome. Can't wait to try this brew (and hope I didn't ruin it.
Thoughts? Anything else I should have done? Or can do as I head towards bottling. Tell-tale signs that my ale is worthless before bottling so I don't waste the time?
D
So I took 2 quarts of the cooled wert, re-boiled it, added the corn sugar...boiled and stirred for about five minutes, then added back to the cooled wert. The wert was at 65 degrees prior to re-adding the boiled sugar.
I hadn't yet added the yeast...However, I don't remember if I stirred vigoursly until AFTER adding the yeast, and I'm wondering if I may have had some local "hot spots" that killed off a good bit of the yeast if I failed to do that.
So...about 30 hours later, and barely any pressure showing in the twin-bubble airlock (just 1/4") I panicked big time...
I started to think I actually had killed off some of the yeast when I added the warm water back to the cool wort.
Did some reviewing on the web...and I just added some yeast through the grommet the airlock was in...that should have been good enough for me, because I think my only concern was lack of yeast...And then I panicked more...thinking that yeast needed to be aerated (Looking back, my best bet would have been a yeast starter, dropped in via funnel through the grommet, and a little shake to the bucket)
But I didn't think it through enough...and I opened the lid briefly, re-aerated the wort (with sterlized spoon), then recapped. I know ran the risk of contamination...(everything that touched the wort was sterile, but I know letting air in was a risk)...and I realized I would have reset the fermentation clock...but what I forgot about was that the CO2 built up in the lid already may have been important to give me air bubbles in the future...because some amount of sugars were already consumed...now I may never get good "bubbling" to tell when fermentation was done...so I'll have to guess based on time, and err on the side of waiting longer.
So much for hoping this batch would be done in two weeks. On the plus side though, the wort smelled awesome. Can't wait to try this brew (and hope I didn't ruin it.
Thoughts? Anything else I should have done? Or can do as I head towards bottling. Tell-tale signs that my ale is worthless before bottling so I don't waste the time?
D