Did Not Mix Top Up Water/Fermentation Issue

Brewed my first extract yesterday - a Williams Belgian Quad kit. I boiled a little over 5 1/2 gallons trying to hit the 5 gallon target after the one hour boil. After the boil, I cooled the wort with an immersion chiller to 80 degrees, took a hydrometer reading (1.122 at 77 degrees, but this is with about 4 1/2 gallons wort), then transferred to carboy. Then I created some possible problems:

1. I added about 1/2 gallon of filtered tap water to top up to five gallons. Bacteria issue since I did not boil the top up water?

2. I did not mix the top up water after adding to carboy. I simply poured it in. The top 1 inch of wort in the carboy looks lighter color than the rest of the wort lower in the carboy. Major problem?

3. I then oxygenated the wort and poured in two packets of Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abby Ale yeast. One packet was fully swelled, the other barely swollen - if at all. Put on the blow off tube and have it waiting to ferment at 68 degrees.

It's been 14 hours without a hit of krausen or bubbling. Should I worry yet? Should I somehow mix the wort?

Thanks!

I add water to the finished wort all the time,your all right on that one.

Really ambitious first brew!

Not because of difficulty, but because you really should wait six months or so before that thing will be drinkable. There is no way I would want to wait six months for a beer until I had plenty of beer already drinkable. You must have the patience of Job.

As far as your concerns, you will be fine. Could you have done a couple things differently? Yes as always. But the yeast will come alive and eat the crap out of all that delicious sugar and you will be left with a nice very strong beer when they are done.

NBibe said:

Brewed my first extract yesterday - (1.122 at 77 degrees, but this is with about 4 1/2 gallons wort)

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Jeez, that is ambitious for a first brew! If you can wait 6 months to a year, though, it'll probably be amazing.

1. I added about 1/2 gallon of filtered tap water to top up to five gallons. Bacteria issue since I did not boil the top up water?

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Not usually, though there are different theories on this. Some people swear by boiling, but lots of people (including myself, when I did partial boils) use tap water. Seems like the general theory (though debatable itself) is that if the tap water's good enough to drink, it's good enough to add.

2. I did not mix the top up water after adding to carboy. I simply poured it in. The top 1 inch of wort in the carboy looks lighter color than the rest of the wort lower in the carboy. Major problem?

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No - the fermentation process will mix everything fine. The only real problem with not mixing top-off water thoroughly is that it makes it harder to get a proper OG reading, but your OG was so high anyway a few points either way shouldn't make a difference.

3. I then oxygenated the wort and poured in two packets of Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abby Ale yeast. One packet was fully swelled, the other barely swollen - if at all. Put on the blow off tube and have it waiting to ferment at 68 degrees.

It's been 14 hours without a hit of krausen or bubbling. Should I worry yet? Should I somehow mix the wort?

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No - give it time and you'll be fine. Look for Revvy's posts on this issue - it can take days to see activity sometimes.

The one thing to be aware of, though, is that on a beer this big (or so people say - I've personally haven't gone that big yet) is that fermentation might take a long time, weeks even. There are a ton of sugars for the yeasties to eat up here, so this particular beer might take a little more care than the typical 1.055 beer would. Should be fun to watch, though!

Thanks for the replies. It makes me a bit more at ease. I guess it's just a waiting game now (for the fermentation to start). The 6 - 12 month thing is a bit discouraging though, but good excuse to get another batch going.

Ya, never believe the instructions or the LHBS guys. I bet they told you "oh ya man, a week in the fermenter and 2 weeks in the bottle and you're golden!".

NBibe said:

Thanks for the replies. It makes me a bit more at ease. I guess it's just a waiting game now (for the fermentation to start). The 6 - 12 month thing is a bit discouraging though, but good excuse to get another batch going.

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Yes, an excellent excuse to start another batch. Or 5. I highly recommend a small simple beer like a blonde ale. Flavorful and ready to serve in 5-6 weeks. Still young, but drinkable.

I think you'll find that quad tastes like liquid fire for quite a while. And drinking it young could discourage you from the hobby.

I have a Dark Strong that I bottled last November that I have only sampled one bottle from. That was in July and it was still hot and not very good.

Just to bring closure to the thread, fermentation started at about 20 hours. At 36 hours, there is a nice layer of krausen and gurgling sound. Thanks all for the guidance.

In the future keep a couple gallons of distilled water to be used as top-up - otherwise... great job!