Unfortunate Omission

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debo

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For the sake of not bumping an older thread, I'll post my experience with my first brew so far here:

In my eagerness to get started, I steeped my grain pretty much immediately after sanitizing everything that arrived with my brew kit. As I started to steep, a creeping feeling that something was wrong washed over me, so I decided to double check my kit...

...my yeast was omitted by the supplier. So, I unfortunately am going to have a less-than-stellar first brew as I resorted to using a bread yeast for this batch. I'm well aware of the differences in yeasts, and I'm so incredibly disappointed that not only did I fail to double check my shipped contents but that my first brew is not going to be that good and will probably taste a lot like stale bread.

At any rate, I'll probably post some progress as things move along. I just needed a bit of a place to vent my frustrations with my supplier/myself.
 
if you didnt pitch yet i would recommend waiting (just put bucket/carboy in cold place) till tomorrow and getting proper yeast from LHBS if you have one available, if not then sol and pitch bread yeast
 
If you have access to a LHBS that will be open tomorrow, you could put off pitching until tomorrow, get some proper yeast. Still not ideal unless you go the proper "no chill" method (and even then, while some folks swear by it I'm not in a hurry to try it myself) and your sanitation will have to be flawless, but it might be a better option than bread yeast. Even if you do have to use bread yeast, hold off judgement until you taste it.
 
+1 to the previous posts. Let it sit and get some beer yeast if you're able. That aside, don't be so hard on yourself! Beer is resilient stuff. As much as I've (accidentally) tried to screw it up, it always surprises me. Don't worry, just learn ;)
 
if you didnt pitch yet i would recommend waiting (just put bucket/carboy in cold place) till tomorrow and getting proper yeast from LHBS if you have one available, if not then sol and pitch bread yeast

Unfortunately, I'm about 150 miles from a brew supply/location to obtain yeast, so that's out of the question.

I've also pitched already, so I'm stuck. Over the past hour or two, I've come to grips with my likely disappointing brew...lol

It'll still be drinkable, but it won't be quite right. I'm brewing a brown ale, so I'm hoping that the bready flavor might not be terribly offputting. If nothing else, it'll make some tasty beer bread hopefully :cross:
 
If you have access to a LHBS that will be open tomorrow, you could put off pitching until tomorrow, get some proper yeast. Still not ideal unless you go the proper "no chill" method (and even then, while some folks swear by it I'm not in a hurry to try it myself) and your sanitation will have to be flawless, but it might be a better option than bread yeast. Even if you do have to use bread yeast, hold off judgement until you taste it.

Oh, by no means am I going to toss the brew (if that's what you implied). Even if it's not particularly pleasing, there's always something I can learn from the process - namely, I need a slightly larger brew kettle. I'm mostly mad at myself for not slowing down to start and double checking my prep to ensure everything was laid out properly.

Lesson learned, and at this point, I'll just have to hope for the best!
 
+1 to the previous posts. Let it sit and get some beer yeast if you're able. That aside, don't be so hard on yourself! Beer is resilient stuff. As much as I've (accidentally) tried to screw it up, it always surprises me. Don't worry, just learn ;)

Thanks for the support. My ego took a bit of a hit tonight...haha.

I'm not one to listen to intuition/"gut feelings", but I'm kicking myself a bit for not picking up some supplies while at the liquor store/brew supply near my university before heading home for break.

Oh well. I'll live to brew another day :mug:
 
Unless there was a ton of steeped grain, I'd have been inclined to dump the steeped wort and ask for replacement grain along with the yeast. The seller would be within his/her rights not to replace it since you did have the opportunity to notice the omission earlier, but there'd be some chance they'd do it for goodwill. If they wouldn't, for most beers it'd just be a couple bucks to replace it. IMO that might be preferable to fermenting $20-$30 worth of extract with bread yeast.

But that's moot now. You'll learn something from this experiment, I'm sure.
 
Don't beat yourself up, brewing is a journey with many twists and turns. We all live and learn!

You could have tried harvesting some yeast from some bottle conditioned commercial beers (sierra nevada pale ale etc) made a small starter tonight an pitched tomorrow afternoon. The yeast strain may not have be suited to your brown ale but it would have been better than bread yeast.
 
Unless there was a ton of steeped grain, I'd have been inclined to dump the steeped wort and ask for replacement grain along with the yeast. The seller would be within his/her rights not to replace it since you did have the opportunity to notice the omission earlier, but there'd be some chance they'd do it for goodwill. If they wouldn't, for most beers it'd just be a couple bucks to replace it. IMO that might be preferable to fermenting $20-$30 worth of extract with bread yeast.

But that's moot now. You'll learn something from this experiment, I'm sure.

Had I noticed before I added the malt extract, that's definitely the route I would have gone.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. I did contact the supplier just to levy options (truthfully, just a promise of "we won't do this again" would be ok with me - I'm not seeking a replacement, but it is incredibly disappointing to be a first-time customer and have such a crucial component missing). I can definitely chalk this up as a learning experience; it's just disappointing that I'm sure my brew will be odd tasting.
 
If you did brew it with bread yeast I would be interested in how it comes out keep us posted on that. Who did you buy your kit from?
 
Don't beat yourself up, brewing is a journey with many twists and turns. We all live and learn!

You could have tried harvesting some yeast from some bottle conditioned commercial beers (sierra nevada pale ale etc) made a small starter tonight an pitched tomorrow afternoon. The yeast strain may not have be suited to your brown ale but it would have been better than bread yeast.

Had I not been in a bit of a panic as I was about midway through the process, that advice would definitely have been heeded! First brew, rookie/overzealous mistake noted on my end.

I do appreciate everyone's input, though! I have much to study up on over my spring break, and all of these tips/bits of insight are helpful.
 
If you did brew it with bread yeast I would be interested in how it comes out keep us posted on that. Who did you buy your kit from?

Yeah, I'll definitely update this process. From what I read in my scramble to find a solution tonight, it appears as though I shouldn't have undesirable values for gravity, ABV, etc., but the taste will almost assuredly carry some kind of stale bread notes. I don't think it'll clash too poorly with the style of ale - and from an earlier thread, I am planning to substitute honey for the supplied priming sugar, so perhaps by some miracle that combination will be flavorful.

But, I'm not getting my hopes up...ha. I'm not certain what the rules are for mentioning supplier, but considering their scope/prevalence, it's surprising that they erred in that regard.
 
Substituting something like honey in place of sugar or DME for priming may sound good, but it won't help your flavor profile. It's also much harder to accurately measure for the right carb level and may not fully ferment.

Look at priming agents as simply more food for the yeast to produce CO2 for carbonation, not a flavor addition. Use the sugar.
 
Try to keep your fermentation temp low, which will help reduce esters. From what I've read, bread yeast attenuates at up to 85%, so you're likely to get a bit higher octane than the original recipe.
 
Given your situation, I don't think going with bread yeast was a terrible idea. There were other things you could have done, but unless buying a pack of brewer's yeast within about a day wasn't among them, none would be far better than the other. At least with a prompt pitch of bread yeast you know what you've got.

+1 on the stick with sugar instead of honey for priming. Honey is fine as an adjunct, and you could safely add it within the first couple days of fermentation. Just sanitize the top of the jar or your measuring cup, the honey itself should be sanitary enough. That way you could add enough to affect the flavor. Using it to prime will just make your priming inaccurate.
 
I might suggest a nice healthy sized dry hop to provide wonderful aroma and shine over any potential bread off flavors. I dry hopped a brown ale with centennial recently, not a bad choice at all
 
A bit of an update:

The company I ordered from has shipped me a replacement kit (which was really generous and not expected). Aside from getting an opportunity to run the same kit properly, they definitely restored my faith in them - that's pretty solid customer service/response if you ask me.

At any rate, after reading up a bit on things, I think I'm going to abandon my honey intents as it seems the honey flavor I'm hoping to impart comes more from a malt as opposed honey itself.

I'm going to see if a wine making friend will lend me a carboy for a month or two so I can make the kit that's on it's way this upcoming weekend and have two brews with just yeast being different to compare/contrast its effects on the brew.
 
A bit of an update:

The company I ordered from has shipped me a replacement kit (which was really generous and not expected). Aside from getting an opportunity to run the same kit properly, they definitely restored my faith in them - that's pretty solid customer service/response if you ask me.

At any rate, after reading up a bit on things, I think I'm going to abandon my honey intents as it seems the honey flavor I'm hoping to impart comes more from a malt as opposed honey itself.

I'm going to see if a wine making friend will lend me a carboy for a month or two so I can make the kit that's on it's way this upcoming weekend and have two brews with just yeast being different to compare/contrast its effects on the brew.
Also just a good tip i had to learn also cause this same thing happened to me when my wort was in the ice bath. I was lucky though and have a Home brew shop 30min from me. But i still like to order online alot and next time you make a order. Buy 2 packs of Safale US-05 (Dry Yeast) And 2 packs of Safale US-04 (Dry) and throw them in the fridge. Either yeast can help you out with most beer types in a pinch.
 
Also just a good tip i had to learn also cause this same thing happened to me when my wort was in the ice bath. I was lucky though and have a Home brew shop 30min from me. But i still like to order online alot and next time you make a order. Buy 2 packs of Safale US-05 (Dry Yeast) And 2 packs of Safale US-04 (Dry) and throw them in the fridge. Either yeast can help you out with most beer types in a pinch.

Yeah, I'm definitely planning to do that.
 
Update time - my classes this spring didn't allow me to come home until now, so my brew sat in the secondary a week/2 weeks longer than I had planned.

Anyway, I bottled today, and it appears as though this brew should be just fine. The O.G. was right on the money for this kit, and I measured the gravity at 1.014 today. The ABV should come to 4.98% if my calculation is correct. The beer appears clear, and (while there's still time to change in the bottle) it tastes as though the bread yeast didn't have any brew-destroying qualities to it.

I have my other batch with the proper yeast that I'm going to let sit until my classes end (next Wednesday), so soon I'll be able to compare the brews and see not only if they turned out good but also how different they may taste with different yeasts.
 

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