did i ruin my first brew...?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

dayton102

Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2012
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
everett
so for my first brew i got a diamond knot ipa. i followed the directions well but the one thing i dont have is a wort cooler... i tried the sink with cold water but ran out of ice after an hour! so i cooled it for another hour in the fridge and it was sitting right at 80 but it had been so long and i know your supposed to cool quickly that i just went ahead and mixed in the rest of the water into the carboy with the brew.... i pulled a sample and got 7.5% and 15 and 1.060... rocked the carboy for a couple mins then added the yeast and left a blowoff hose into a jar of water...

but my main question is if that cool of time being so long, would that ruin the brew???
 
When I did extracts I routinely cooled the wort in my sink til around 100. Poured into my fermenter and topped off with water I had stored in the fridge. Basically same thing you did. As long as you waited to pitch the yeast until the wort was around 70 ish, you did fine. No worries.
 
!!! Good!!! Thanks guys! I feel a lot better about it now! And look forward to all the great advice on here!
 
You'll be fine. Some people don't chill their wort at all - just let it sit overnight before pitching and it comes out ok. Homebrew is actually pretty hardy and not as easy to ruin as one may think. At this point, focus on keeping your fermentation temperature under control as best you can, and give it plenty of time to ferment.
 
With my first brew I ran out of time and had to go to work. I pitched yeast when I got home 10 hours later. turned out fine
 
Cooling it down in 20 minutes or less goes a long way to preventing/greatly lessening chill haze at fridge time. Just give it plenty of time to settle out clear in primary before bottling.
 
The diamond knot kit I got tells me to secondary it so I'm sure I will end up doing that, I was happy to see I landed on 7.5 apv cause the kit said between 5.5 and 7.5!
 
If you're dry hopping,you can do it in primary. Many don't use secondaries any more unless adding oak or fruit,etc. I dry hop in primary & it works just fine.
If it just says to secondary to clear the beer,leave it in primary & it'll clear up just fine. I do that.
 
Hold on, you don't have 7.5% yet. That scale on the hydrometer is "potential ABV" and I think it means more to the wine makers. What you want to pay attention to is the specific gravity scale, and remember to correct for temperature. Your hydrometer is calibrated to a particular temperature. Its written on it somewhere. Measure the specific gravity at that temperature, or use a correction calculator like this.

http://kotmf.com/tools/hydrom.php?PHPSESSID=8ba36c0c0c001b0dbff388b9fd132b38

Write down your initial reading from a sample taken after the wort has mixed thoroughly in the fermenter prior to pitching the yeast. This is your Original Gravity. After fermentation has concluded in a couple of weeks, take another sample and remember to correct for temperature. If consecutive readings over several days show no change, this is your Final Gravity. Plug both of them into a calculator like this

http://kotmf.com/tools/alcohol.php

That will give you your ABV. For instance you are starting at 1.060 and lets say you ferment out to 1.012, your ABV would be 6.3%.
 
The diamond knot kit I got tells me to secondary it so I'm sure I will end up doing that, I was happy to see I landed on 7.5 apv cause the kit said between 5.5 and 7.5!


That 7.5 abv on your hydrometer doesn't really mean much of anything. It's percent balling which is more for wine than beer.

You'll only be able to calculate what the estimated ABV is by taking your original gravity reading, 1.060, and using your finished gravity reading, whatever that might be.

Also, be aware that temperature of your wort needs to be at 60, or you will need to adjust your gravity reading for the higher or lower temp to be accurate with it.

EDIT: Use the links in the post before mine, he covered the same thing. Get a reading with the right temp.
 
Oh yah! *slaps forehead* I knew the process just never put 2 and 2 together in my head! Lol thanks for the correction! Ill have all this down to a science soon enough!
 
Hydrometer reading of water of 1.000 is at 66F,not 60.

Calibration temperature is specific to the individual hydrometer. Read what it says on the hydrometer. If it doesn't have a correction value, throw it away and get a proper one. Some are at 66F, some at 59F, Mine is at 60F (older style). Just be sure when using a correction calculator to enter the default correction temp for your individual hydrometer.
 
Hydrometer reading of water of 1.000 is at 66F,not 60.


For some, yes. Some are at 66* and others are 60*. In some cases, they are still off, and you will have to find your own happy medium.

There are two styles, the older models are 60*. I have a "new" one that is an "old style". Confusing, but worth noting to look and figure your own out. It's not set in stone.
 
Back
Top