messed up a boil... Help

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gt_andy

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I have done about 8 or 9 brews with good success. I had a buddy that was interested in brewing. I invited him over for the boil process. As i was getting everything cleaned and ready to go i had him read over the instructions.

Anyways, when it came to the boil part. He grabed the aroma hops and put them in at the begining of the boil. I noticed this after it was too late.

In the heat of the moment i decided to put the bittering hops in at the same time. we let it boil for 40 minutes and added the DME and sugar and boild the remaining 10 or 15 minutes.

Is this going to make a nasty batch? or make it skunky? Or will it not affect it at all?

Its a America Cream ale by brewers best!.
http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/New BB Recipes/1011 American Cream Ale Recipe.pdf
 
It will double your IBU's. Basically you threw in twice as much hops at the beginning of the boil which means you'll get two times the IBU's and now you have no aroma hops to balance it and high IBUs for the style. I would let it ferment through for 5-7 days (primary fermentation phase) and take a hydro sample. If it's super bitter then you can throw an ounce of willamettes on as a dry hop and try to get some of the aroma. Another option would be brew again with no bittering addition (extract and water) and dilute it down to the IBU's desired.
 
Odin has the sense of it. I might look to dry hop either way to get some aroma into it.

The truth is the nasty part will be how bitter it is. If you like bitter, then you are in luck! OTOH, maybe it will be to bitter. It won't be skunky or nasty nescesarily.
 
So basicly. I can do another Kit.. without adding the hops. Mix it all together.. and make 2 5 gal batches. it will even it out?

Or should i just pour it out and start over? Im not a fan of extra bitterness.
 
Don't pour it out!! that woudl be the waste of a good beer. Go with the other option, make another beer with no hops. No real need to boil more than I think 10 minutes to help really disolve the malt. You could add aroma hops if you want, but as long as you are sanitary (the other point of a boil), a 60 minute boil is longer than you need.

Here is what I would do. Boil probalby 10 mins a 2nd kit. If I coudl get it quick, I'd split the 5 gallons I have into about 2.5 and 2.5 and pour the fresh wort on top and let it go and bottle 10 gallons in about 2 to 4 weeks (depending on schedules). If it took longer than say the next day or 2 to get more product - which realy is just going to the lhbs and getting some replacement malts - I probably would let the one sit and then ferment the 2nd hopless batch independantly. At bottling day I'd mix 50/50. I've not looked at your kit instructions, so I'm not totally sure what exactly went into it besides malt and hops. Being a non bitter guy myself, I have to agree with your assement of bitter brews.

Others will probably have differing ideas on the exact mechanism for how and when to mix (before the bottle obviously, but how much before I don't know).

One other peice of advice before you do anything (other than buy malt) woudl be to sanatize a dipping device (turkey baster) or take from the spicket if it has one a drink/tasting sample and see if it is too bitter a 20 IBU bear is not necessarily 2x bitter as a 10 IBU beer.
 
you could boil for 10 minutes, add all hops as your aroma with 5 left and basically end up with a double batch. Just split the new one with a split of the old one and you've got the original recipe more or less. Might want to compensate boil volumes for the shorter boil time. I reckon you make a second batch ASAP with the short boil time, pitch yeast and let the primary fermentation go, then rack to secondary by mixing the two. Maybe that's the wrong thing to do, Im really not sure. But in my mind it would work itself out to the original.

In the interest of science you could always split it off to a dry hop and a mixed batch and compare the two
 
Some of all of this info is overwhelming. To novice to understand what dry hopping is.. At this point im confused. :(
 
dry hoping is the placing of your hops in the fermentor without boiling them. You put in 'dry hops'.

Hops have several flavor components, only one is bittering. The bittering agent is called Alpha Acid or AA. Alpha acids are very pourly disovled in water, so to get them to disolve better, we boil them and they are isomerized which is a word in chemistry for 'they change shape.' Since dry hoping involves no heating of the hops, they don't add much bittering, but do add some arroma. The low temperature aroma of hops is most similar to cut grass, or a 'green smell.'

Thus brewing another batch and dry hoping it - adding hops after you've cooled it - will add some hop arroma and very little bitterness. I still say taste what you have and see if it is to bitter for you.
 
So there is no need to boil another batch. Just add some aroma hops then stir when i rack it into the secondary?
 
It will be a little hoppy but not a big deal, it was only a 16-18 IBU recipe to begin with. Just call it an Imperial Cream Ale. I don't think it's worth messing with.
 
So you haven't doubled your IBU. With Willamette, it's only around 5% and thus the impact is smaller than it could have been.

You had an expected IBU of about 27. Your approximate IBU is 40. (This is assuming 5% AA, 6 gallon boil, BG of 1.040, full hop efficiency, and using BeerSmith)

It looks like you did a smaller boil, so your utilization will be lower. So my guess is you're in the neighborhood of 30, which will put you on the upper end of the Blonde Ale category.

As others have said, use dry hopping to get aroma in there, but I think you'll have a very nice brew.
 
So, add aroma hopps when i transfer to secondary? Then let it continue to ferment in the secondaryfor another 5-7 days. Any special type of aroma hopps? the same that came with the kit?
 
So, add aroma hopps when i transfer to secondary? Then let it continue to ferment in the secondaryfor another 5-7 days. Any special type of aroma hopps? the same that came with the kit?

Yep. Or skip the secondary and add during the last week of primary, your choice. You can drop them in as is or use a sanitized muslin bag.

Any hop can be used, but go ahead and use Willamette.
 
Thanks guys! Im sorry i have been hard to work with. Im just trying to save this thing the best i can.
 
I am surprised no one mentioned this yet!

Relax Don't Worry, Have a Home Brew

If you even generally followed the instructions and were fairly sanitary, then you have nothing to worry about. You probably wont notice that much of a difference. I would let it ferment completely, bottle condition for a while and drink it. It might not be what the recipe intended, but it will be beer, and will probably surprise you.

If you screw with it too much, you'll end up worse off than being light on the aroma hops... If you want to throw a few hops in the fermentor when it is almost ready, fine, but not needed. Good Luck! :tank:
 
Ok, i dont know how to say this. But i still have this in my primary. The same batch. It appears it was brewed on 10-10-12. I have not opened it to check on it.
Anyways, its still sitting there. Now because this was brewed on 10-10 it was still rather warm out and the room it was fermenting in had AC running to it. Untill it got cold out. Now it has been having heat running to it. So im sure its bee sitting in High temps or fluctation temps since 10-10.

I had alot of stuff going on from then to now and i kinda forgot about it :(

Here are my questions.
-is it still good?
-how can i tell if it is infected?
-would it be worth it to just bottle it and see what happens?

Any help will be great. Thanks.
 
Here are my questions.
-is it still good?
-how can i tell if it is infected?
-would it be worth it to just bottle it and see what happens?

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't still be good. Cream Ales have a bit more delicate flavors than, say, an IIPA, but a 10 week primary isn't going to ruin your beer. As for the temperature fluctuations, while that is not the best thing for your beer, locking in your temps is the most important during the first 3-5 days, when the fermentation is going.

One way you can tell if it is infected is if it has a pellicle on the surface (basically, a think white layer with bubbles). The best way, however, is simply to pull a sample, see what the FG is, and taste it. If you haven't opened it, and your sanitation practices are up to snuff, you shouldn't have an infection.

If you haven't done so already, add the dry hops. Wait one week, then bottle it. Wait three weeks (or so) and then enjoy your beer!

Lastly, it is always worth it to bottle it and see what happens. This whole hobby is one big learning experience.

Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew.
 
One way to lessen the bitterness of an over-hopped beer is to simply wait it out. As the beer ages the hop profile will wane and balance. Leaving it sit for two months was probably the best thing you could have done to overcome the boil error.

Infection: does it look like old fridge food? If not, it's not infected. Do as kmos says for the dry hopping.

Don't be worried about the temp changes. After fermentation is complete be beer becomes much less sensitive to temperature and will use the time to clear any temperature-induced fermentation byproducts. Kyle
 
IMAG0004.jpg


Here's a quick pick. Whatcha think?
 
Cool cool. Now dry hopping...few questions??????
Should I transfer it to a secondary then drop the hops in?
Drop the hops in primary and then bottle in a week?

If thats the case ill dry hop it tonight. ready to bottle by next weekend.
 
Not to throw too many varying opinions at you, but it's been in primary long enough and doesn't need to go to secondary. Secondary now will do nothing for you. I'd forget about the dry-hopping and bottle this guy and get to drinking it in 21 days. Will it be exactly what the kit intended? No. But it's like spaghetti sauce, one person adds 1 clove of garlic another guy adds two, yet another guy adds a whole head of garlic because he really really likes garlic. All you've done is add two cloves instead of one. The aroma thing, well, taste the beer and judge for yourself. Again, this is a minor thing, not a beer destroying thing. You're gonna have been and I bet it'll be pretty damn good.
 
You all are great. I was so ready to dump this batch and start over.

Now i can have something bottled well i got another batch brewing.. Cause im out of brew. Store bought stuff is getting old. lol
 
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