First batch, realized I forgot to oxidize my aluminum kettle

Hey all, first time brewer here and I think I did most things right (although I am constantly concerned about contamination though I have no reason to think it is) but I realized I forgot to build up a passive oxidation layer in my aluminum kettle before I used it. What impact could this have on the beer?

Also, I forgot to take a hydrometer reading prior to pitching the yeast. Can I ever have an accurate reading of alcohol content?

I brewed two batches in an unoxidized aluminium boil kettle, and didn't think they were undrinkable.

If you are using an extract kit, you may be able to ballpark your ABV with only a final gravity and by using the suggested OG ranges in the directions, but I wouldn't count on anything too accurate.

I just started drinking from my first batch a couple of days ago. It too was boiled in an "unoxidized" aluminum kettle. It was in the primary for 2 weeks and then bottled and conditioned for 2 weeks after. I can taste nothing metal like in it, as a matter of fact, I find it to be a good tasting beer. It is my first batch so i have nothing to compare it with, but if I were you, I wouldn't worry, Its gonna be great!

dont worry about the kettle.

find an online brewing calculator and enter your ingredients into it, see what your OG should be, then take your FG, and whatever ABV you get out of that equation is going to end up being +/-1% of that

Is there such a thing as unoxidized aluminium?
ok maybe an hour after sanding but unless ts ben covered or treated in a spesial way its already oxydized

janivar123 said:

Is there such a thing as unoxidized aluminium?
ok maybe an hour after sanding but unless ts ben covered or treated in a spesial way its already oxydized

Click to expand...

Pretty much. You can watch fresh-cut aluminum oxidize in the air.

I also didn't take an OG reading on my first beer (didn't have a hydrometer yet!) and I couldn't even really estimate it from the recipe because I was doing a ~5-gal batch in a 6.5-gal carboy and I have no idea how much top off water I actually used. RDWHAHB -- if the recipe was for 5%, it will be between 4 and 6% for sure.

Turns out measuring ABV from the OG/FG difference can be off by that much anyway, if Southern Tier's recent revising of all of their ABV measurements is any indicator. (It's possible they changed all their recipes at once, I suppose, but word on the street is they got audited and/or voluntarily decided to do lab testing, and many of their big beers changed by as much as a full % ABV or even a little more)