Tried hard to ruin my first brew

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shildebr

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So my first home brew is 12 days from extract. (8 in primary and 4 in secondary)

It was an AHS amber ale (on special for $20). I did just about everything wrong while making this beer.

I pitched the yeast at about 95F, fermented for the first 24 hours at about 86F, and started the siphon during racking with my mouth (w/o vodka).

During racking, my fiancee came in from the other room to see "what's that banana smell?" Obviously from the high ferm temps. :ban:

So I thought I'd take a sample today to see just how bad it was, and expected a banana fusel cocktail.

I have to say though.....it was actually pretty damn good for flat, warm beer!

I tried everything I could to ruin this batch and so far its been pretty good. I can't wait until its had another couple weeks in the secondary and then some in the keg.

I especially can't wait for my second brew (Texas Blonde Ale), in which I applied my lessons learned, and hope to produce a much better beer.
 
Sometimes its amazing how they turn out when we try to ruin them! Then again, sometimes they don't turn out well even when we do everything right. My second brew was supposed to be a Mendocino "Red Tail Ale" clone but it taste like I imagine the underside of the toilet seat taste like.:mad:

My later efforts have been much better thankfully.:drunk: :ban:

Regards,
Al
 
My wife claims my first brew is my best ever. The list of things I did wrong are too numerous to mention, but they have provided fuel for RDWHAHB attitude when brewing for the rest of my batches.
 
Glad it turned out ok.

For siphoning, I have never used anything but one of these
590-0140%20Auto%20Siphon.jpg


Relatively inexpensive and so easy to use. And you don't have to worry as much about contamination.
 
Mayday99 said:
Glad it turned out ok.

For siphoning, I have never used anything but one of these
590-0140%20Auto%20Siphon.jpg


Relatively inexpensive and so easy to use. And you don't have to worry as much about contamination.

I wish they made these for the aquarium hobby! I woulda bought one of these when i first started. It sure as hell beats a mouth full of fish water!

that's all I've ever used too.
 
I just bottled my first brew last night and did siphon with my mouth. Am I screwed or what? I didnt know what else I was supposed to do.
 
Congrats on your first brew! Welcome to the addiction....

I just switched over to AG, but remember my first batch well...I too posted probably half my meager post-count I have during that time...the guys on HBT are the best...

You might get some good-natured ribbing occasionally, but no question ever goes un-answered...

cheers and good luck with future batches...:mug:
 
bluefelix said:
I just bottled my first brew last night and did siphon with my mouth. Am I screwed or what? I didnt know what else I was supposed to do.

You're not necessarily screwed, but the chances of contamination are much higher. I just recently purchased an autosiphon (see the pic above for an example) and they work magically. Otherwise using the gravity method is pretty easy. But yeah, you should never use your mouth as it introduces the bacteria you have to the beer. But RDWHAHB. You can't do anything about it now. There's a good chance you could be fine. And if not, well there's always more brewing to be done.:rockin:
 
bluefelix said:
I just bottled my first brew last night and did siphon with my mouth. Am I screwed or what? I didnt know what else I was supposed to do.
Chances are you'll be fine, don't worry. You should think about ordering an auto-syphon as has been suggested, they really are the best investment in your brewery for less than $10. I'll put the Vinator up there as #2 if you bottle.

And welcome to HBT! :mug:
 
I think I've brewed about 6 batches over 13 years (ya, I've been in and out of the hobby) with various methods of starting siphon. The two I did in college in '95 were suck started, one week in primary, one to two in bottles. The three or four I did about six winters ago were a mix of suck starts and the siphon tube filled with one-step, again with aging times that most here will scoff at . Out of all of those, I was otherwise a fanatic about sanitation, albeit with the now scorned one step sanitizer(on sat. I jumped and purchased an auto siphon and some star san). But guess what? Every batch resulted in BEER!! I've had my bad bottles with a lumpy ring around the neck, I've drank beer that was green and undercarbonated. I've probably never let anything I've made reach it's full potential, but I've never dumped one out. Now that I'm older and have gained some patience, I'm going to let stuff take it's time and keep brewing more. I'm sure that if you do the same you'll wind up with something that will put a smile on your face, or at least give you fuel on what to do better next time.
 
Right on. Thanks guys. I have a bottle filler and that worked great. Next time I will look into the autosiphon thing. I hope it turns out good. Its got to be in the bottle for 2 weeks, right?
 
bluefelix said:
Right on. Thanks guys. I have a bottle filler and that worked great. Next time I will look into the autosiphon thing. I hope it turns out good. Its got to be in the bottle for 2 weeks, right?
3 would be better, but you'll need at least 2 weeks just to carbonate the brew depending on the temperature you store the bottles at.

For most average strength beers they will usually hit their peak about 6 weeks from brew day (this is just a generalization obviously).
 
bradsul said:
3 would be better, but you'll need at least 2 weeks just to carbonate the brew depending on the temperature you store the bottles at.

For most average strength beers they will usually hit their peak about 6 weeks from brew day (this is just a generalization obviously).

3 weeks huh? Thats going to be tough!! Maybe we will try a couple after 2 and take our time at getting to the rest of them.

I am brewing a nut brown from a kit that I got from a place in Riverside CA called More Beer if anyone is familiar with the place. We boiled it, had it in the first fermenter for a week, then had it in the second for a week, now it is bottled.
 
bluefelix said:
I just bottled my first brew last night and did siphon with my mouth. Am I screwed or what? I didnt know what else I was supposed to do.

Once, I siphoned w/my mouth...and got a mouthfull...and was so suprised (must have been drunk) that I spit the whole thing into the bottling bucket...and proceeded to siphon all the beer into the bottling bucket...and bottle it, spit and all.

it was GREAT!!!

so, don't worry...

but, like me, in the future...start the siphon a different way. Now, I fill my hose as full as I can get it with water, attach it to the racking cane, and start the siphon into a pan on the side. when the beer fills the hose, I quickly transfer the hose over to the bottling bucket. you can do the same thing with a bottling wand.
 
bluefelix said:
I just bottled my first brew last night and did siphon with my mouth. Am I screwed or what? I didnt know what else I was supposed to do.

Dont worry too much. I used to do that too before I bought one of the siphons pictured on the first page. I never noticed a problem with it.

Not that it should be done but this is one very forgiving hobby. Amazing how much you can do wrong and still make a good brew!:D
 
Laurel said:
I wish they made these for the aquarium hobby! I woulda bought one of these when i first started. It sure as hell beats a mouth full of fish water!

that's all I've ever used too.

For the aquarium hobby (where I'm much more experienced) they have hand operated one way ball valves. You squeeze it quickly and it starts a siphon. What I use now is even simpler. It's just a 5 foot piece of tubing. I walk over to the sink, fill the tubing up 3/4 full or so and hold then ends closed. Insert one end into the tank, and the other to the waste bucket (lower obviously) and the siphon is ready to go. This is basically what people would do without an autosiphon when transferring beer. Just fill the tubing with sanitizer and the siphon will start as soon as you release the tubing end to the secondary/bottling bucket.

Here's a :tank: to a fellow fish keeper!
 
Glad it turned out ok.

For siphoning, I have never used anything but one of these
590-0140%20Auto%20Siphon.jpg


Relatively inexpensive and so easy to use. And you don't have to worry as much about contamination.[/QUOTE

Auto Siphon has saved my ass with the first batch, I love that thing
 
Does anyone know if these autosiphons displayed on this thread (I believe it's the Fermtech Autosiphon) will fit into a one gallon jug (a milk jug)? Thanks
 
Thanks Revvy - I saw that on a site, but I just started on the home-brewing adventure and I don't plan on using milk jugs forever - I'm planning on making bigger batches with bigger containers later on. I just wanted to know if the normal autosiphon would work for both bigger containers (such as Better Bottles) and milk jugs so that I don't have to buy two autosiphons.
 
What I've been doing is filling the tube with water to prime it. Probably not the most sanitary, but I've yet to have any problems.
 
I have a dirty confession to make, I've siphoned my last 7 or 8 batches with my mouth, and have yet to have an infection, and yes I know this is totally bad practice and prone to disaster, but hey it'll be my bad if I do get a bad batch.
 
If you put your time into sanitation, your brew day will be very forgiving. Just imagine how much better your future beers will be, if you think this one tastes all right. Its all downhill from here!!!
 
When putting my airlock onto my primary fermenter after checking gravity some water trickled into my beer from my sanitized airlock. Should I worry about this skulking my brew? This is my first batch and I don't want to mess up 5 gallons of dogfish head 60 min IPA or I'm gonna be passed. Please let me know if a few drops of water will meet up my brew. And in the future should I wait to fill airlock with water until airlock is in place? Thank you
 
During my first brew when moving to secondary fermentor my auto siphon stopped siphoning about 3/4 of the way down. I could not siphon anymore and had to pour the rest in. How much will this aeration affect the final product?


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Since it is your first brew, you will quite possibly drink it all before the oxidation damage causes too many problems. Also, if you are bottling and using priming sugar or the like to naturally carb and bottle condition, the yeast will use some of that oxygen to do its job.

RDWHAHB.


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Also I might add that unless you are dry hopping or something of that nature, skip the secondary and proceed to bottling to shorten the time that the oxidation has to take place.


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Thanks for all the input. By the way it didn't affect it at all. Turned out great.


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Wow this makes me feel retardedly better, i think i pitched to warm and had decent active (well that i could see anyway) ferm, (day 2 was about 1bubble every 5 secs) and then it kinda died down last night. i opened the lid just a lil put my ear to it and ....... oh yea they are still mowing down, i love it.
 
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