First brew...help!

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Nummey

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Just brewed my first batch tonight...Northern Brewers American Wheat ale. Everything went as planned until just prior to fermentation. Wort was added to cold water in the fermenter and to top off the fermenter I grabbed 2 16 oz bottles of Poland springs water out of my fridge. Halfway thru pouring the second bottle I realized it was lemon flavored water!! Am I screwed? Basically ended up pouring 8 oz o lemon flavored water into the fermenter...doh!!
 
Im sure you won't even taste it. Even if you did...lemon wheat doesn't sound terrible does it?
 
I dunno, it's a wheat. The lemon might not be bad if it doesn't come through very strong. I would definitely wait it out and see. 8 oz isn't that much into 5 gallons. Chances are you won't even notice it.
 
menerdari said:
Sounds like you accidentally made a shandy :)

Thanks for all the reassurance! It was pretty funny actually, I poured half the bottle in and got to 5 gallons and stopped. I took a sip from the water bottle to finish the rest and got a mouth full of lemon....no!!! Rookie mistake. Time will tell....
 
Not to poke fun, but this made me lol...hard. I'm sure the beer will still taste great, lemon is not a bad flavor to add to a wheat beer anyways:D
 
Not to poke fun, but this made me lol...hard. I'm sure the beer will still taste great, lemon is not a bad flavor to add to a wheat beer anyways:D

No worries man, it was actually pretty funny...what wasnt funny though was I shorted out the microwave keypad with all the steam from the boiling wart. BUT I was fortunate enough to be able to fix it myself! Lesson to the beginners out there (myself included, be careful when boling the wart with a microwave range above the stove top!

I pitched the yeast on Wed before Thanksgiving and fermentation began on Thanksgiving afternoon (11/22). Since then it's been the "big bucket" bubbling away in my basement room. Ferm term has been 64-66 range all along I didnt take any gravity readings at all and am planning on keeping this in primary for 3 weeks without taking a reading. It's a northern brewer american wheat ale. Im wondering if I should bottle prior to 3 weeks (maybe this weekend) or just keep it in for 3 weeks and then bottle next week? With it being an extract kit with syrup, does the extended ferm time have any adverse effects on the flavor? I realize I need to take gravity readings next time.
 
No worries man, it was actually pretty funny...what wasnt funny though was I shorted out the microwave keypad with all the steam from the boiling wart. BUT I was fortunate enough to be able to fix it myself! Lesson to the beginners out there (myself included, be careful when boling the wart with a microwave range above the stove top!

I pitched the yeast on Wed before Thanksgiving and fermentation began on Thanksgiving afternoon (11/22). Since then it's been the "big bucket" bubbling away in my basement room. Ferm term has been 64-66 range all along I didnt take any gravity readings at all and am planning on keeping this in primary for 3 weeks without taking a reading. It's a northern brewer american wheat ale. Im wondering if I should bottle prior to 3 weeks (maybe this weekend) or just keep it in for 3 weeks and then bottle next week? With it being an extract kit with syrup, does the extended ferm time have any adverse effects on the flavor? I realize I need to take gravity readings next time.

There was another thread talking about fried microwaves the other day. I guess the trick is not to use them until they dry out.
 
Im wondering if I should bottle prior to 3 weeks (maybe this weekend) or just keep it in for 3 weeks and then bottle next week? With it being an extract kit with syrup, does the extended ferm time have any adverse effects on the flavor? I realize I need to take gravity readings next time.

Just let it be, about the only time you can run into flavor issues with LME is during the boil if you scorch it. Since it is an extract kit, the OG given with it should be about right, you will want to take a couple gravity readings over a few days to make sure it is done though, but I would give it at least two full weeks before checking.
 
Update...

Ok, so after 3 full weeks of fermentation I bottled this beer on 12/12 and let them sit in a closet at 70 degrees for 2 weeks and then put a few in the fridge a few days ago. As this is my first ever brew I wasn't sure what to expect. I decided to crack one open tonight and holy smokes this a a dam good beer. I'm completely blown away at how good it tastes! It's a bit more hoppy than I expected but definitely not overly. I can't detect the lemon flavored water that I accidentally added into the fermenter..lol! I also added some coriander and orange peel but probably not enough as they're barely detectable.

Here's a couple of pics...

image-2644357953.jpg


image-3679316572.jpg
 
twalte said:
Congrats on your first brew!!! Feels good, huh??

Welcome to the obsession.

Sure does...I only wish I put more than 4 in the fridge a couple days ago!
Thanks
 
Nothing like your first brew! Congrats on how it turned out. I bet if you asked a lot of the long time home brewers ( myself included) about their first try's you would hear some pretty funny stories! I busted a glass carboy with two gallons of water in it on my kitchen floor! Always fun to look back and laugh at. As someone said before me. Welcome to the obsession!
Ryan Davis.
 
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