Everything going alright? (pics)

Anxious/nervous first time brewer. I used the brewer's best ipa kit:

Malts Used:
Light Liquid Malt Extract
60ºL Crystal Malt
Victory Malt

Hops Used:
Cascade

Yeast:
Nottingham Dry Yeast


Here's what it looked like at 0 hours:


First mistake was we added too much water, it was a 5 gallon recipe but that's a 6.5 gallon carboy .

Here's what it looked like at 8 hours:


I woke up this morning and switched out to a drain tube because it was fermenting quite violently. The entire day it has been blowing bubbles and all kinds of nasty into the waste pail.

Here's what it looked like at 24 hours:


Does that look normal? There is lots of movement inside, but nothing more coming out of the top.

I've been reading through the FAQs and stickied threads, lots of great information here!

Well you are getting excess blow-off because you filled the carboy rather than just to the gallon mark. Next time, you may want to add a gallon of water at a time and mark off the gallon increments with a sharpie.

That fact that it was blowing out that much after only 8 hours is somewhat surprising, what temp were you fermenting at? Is it in the proper temp range for the yeast? I'm sure again the overfill is part of the reason What does surprise me is that it seems like it's not yeast, but all the hops that are blowing out.

Maybe someone with more experience then me can answer about the hop loss. Obviously the beer will most likely be weaker than the recipe states due to the extra 1.5 gallons of water you added. Did you take a gravity reading after adding the water? If so, how did it compare to what the recipe listed?

What I don't get is how there are no visible hops in the initial pic but the subsequent pics show tons of hops near the top of the neck. Did you dry-hop in the fermenter or something? Typically that wouldn't be done until near the end of fermentation, if you did.

Otherwise I wonder if you just poured the wort from the kettle into the carboy, gunk and all? That's fine, but it could help explain all the hop matter we're seeing.

All in all, it looks fine. Just maintain that blowoff tube for a few more days until it slows down. After a week, take a gravity reading (chilled to 60*) each day for 3 days. If it doesn't change, let it rest another few days at least, then prepare to bottle it.

Looks fine. Nottingham seems to grab everything from the bottom of the fermenter (hops and all) and give it a ride for a few days. Keep the blow off in place for a few more days then switch to an airlock.

By day 5 the krausen should start to head south.. You will see a lot of chunks floating up and down for a week or two, but the surface should remain pretty calm.

bosco

Yes lots of gunk got from the wort to the carboy. I did not dry hop anything, I hope that is just leftovers from the wort and not hops.. It's fermenting in my basement, right around 70 degrees.

We accidentally added too much water because we thought we were using a 5 gallon carboy.

No problem, you'll be fine. Those hops could have stayed in the kettle anyways, so them getting out is no big deal.

Looks like happily fermenting beer to me. Not even an ugly one.

Thanks for the re-assurance guys! I'll let you know how it turns out

Yup, completely normal. Absolutely nothing to worry about, especially the hops sticking to the top. Everything is completely standard.

I've had Nottingham do that to some of my beers also. It'll be fine.

If it's causing stress, get buckets to ferment in.... so you can't see what's going on.

IXVolt said:

I've had Nottingham do that to some of my beers also. It'll be fine.

If it's causing stress, get buckets to ferment in.... so you can't see what's going on.

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Lol, this made me laugh. Most people tell us n00bs to get a clear one so we CAN see. I'm a n00b so don't listen to me too much but that looks like a good beer.

Alright, very little bubbling (around 2 a minute) out the airlock and no yeast movement anymore. Took a reading today:





Riding around 1.06. Shouldn't be gravity be lower than that though, since I added an extra gallon of water accidentally? 1.06 is what the sheet says the OG should be like. I'll take a reading in a few days to see what's happening. I am debating whether I should rack it to a 5 gal carboy and pitch a gallon (to start a new brew in the 6.5 gal) or just ride it out. I took a little taste of the sample, definitely tastes like an IPA

brewn00b4 said:

Alright, very little bubbling (around 2 a minute) out the airlock and no yeast movement anymore. Took a reading today:

Riding around 1.06. Shouldn't be gravity be lower than that though, since I added an extra gallon of water accidentally? 1.06 is what the sheet says the OG should be like. I'll take a reading in a few days to see what's happening. I am debating whether I should rack it to a 5 gal carboy and pitch a gallon (to start a new brew in the 6.5 gal) or just ride it out. I took a little taste of the sample, definitely tastes like an IPA

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That's 1.006. Probably about finished.

Actually, if that sample is at 70 degrees you need to add .002 to that hydrometer reading.

brewn00b4 said:

Alright, very little bubbling (around 2 a minute) out the airlock and no yeast movement anymore. Took a reading today:

Riding around 1.06. Shouldn't be gravity be lower than that though, since I added an extra gallon of water accidentally? 1.06 is what the sheet says the OG should be like. I'll take a reading in a few days to see what's happening. I am debating whether I should rack it to a 5 gal carboy and pitch a gallon (to start a new brew in the 6.5 gal) or just ride it out. I took a little taste of the sample, definitely tastes like an IPA

Click to expand...

yea your FG is around 1.010, your OG should have been probably between 1.056 and 1.062

The IPA that i did back in april looked just like that, and i made the mistake of covering it with one of my wifes good blankets, did realize how much bubbling it would do, so i have my self a new fermenting blanket!!!

I racked into the secondary today!

brewn00b4 said:

I racked into the secondary today!

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That looks really clean!!!!

Good stuff! Now I'm thirsty again....

I decided to keg instead of bottle, so got the gear all set up this weekend. I had a fridge left over from college that can just barely fit two soda kegs.


I took a utility knife to the drawer holders and removed those, and also moved the freezer component to the back wall.


Still working on getting a thermostat. Just purchased http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00368D6JA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I went to my local hardware store and sourced some copper for a home made wort chiller


Hooked it straight up to my garden hose. Got my wart from boiling to 70 in ~15, and I got to water my plants at the same time!


Got my gas and regulator in yesterday. Drilled a hole in the top and the two beers are chilling and carbonating now!


I decided to also brew an american cream ale, which got bottled along with it (no time in secondary).
Will let you know in a few days how it tastes

My last brew (6 days ago) is a APA, with Nottingham yeast, it was the first time I'd seen krausen in my blow off tube. That's one busy yeast! I began to use a blow off tube for every brew to be safe a while back, then switch to the airlock when things calm down. I'm thinking the only thing the extra gallon will change is the mouth feel. But I'm betting it will still be good. Waiting for the verdict.

I need a beer STAT! Looks great bro!

Alright, I kegged both beers on monday. They've been carbonating at 45 degrees at 15 psi. I tried a glass of each last night just to see what was happening. I noticed plenty of bubbles in the beer, and it tasted fine, but there was no head at all! What could I be doing wrong here?

My only suggestion is to place your glass carboy on something soft like a folded towel when placing it on a hard floor like that. I haven't broken a carboy yet, but I am always paranoid about it.

Also, I wouldn't "loop" the drain hose so high before putting it into the waste pail. One reason for the drain tube it provide an outlet for the Kraussen and hops. Make it easy for that stuff to escape.