Huge first time mistake (added hops to the grain when steeping)

I searched the FAQ, but I couldn't find anyone who made such a basic mistake. My kit called to steep the grains in water before pouring that water into the boil, while straining the grains out. The problem is I accidentally put my hops in there too. So now that I'm boiling, I don't have hops to add.

I know some folks say to never dump a batch, but this seems like a huge deal. If my beer is going to be ruined, I would rather start over than wait a month to find out that it tastes like King Cobra.

So, should I dump and start over?

Was it all your hops or just the bittering hops?

If it was just the bittering hops, what was your hop schedule? What do you have left?

How long was the steep and boil? What AA% were the hops? I'm trying to figure out what kind of utilization you got out of the hops. It might be ok with some dry hopping, or it may come out very sweet.

I have no hops left at all.

The steep was 30 minutes. I'm too new to know what AA% is, but if you're talking about bittering units, they are 13.

I wouldn't dump it. Keep going. If all else fails, pick up some hops tomorrow and boil them with a touch of DME and add that to the fermenter. Then dry hop with something. If you post the recipe, maybe someone can suggest some amounts.

Also, are your grains in the trash now? If not, and you use leaf hops, you might be able to pick through and save SOME of them and toss them in the boil.

I tried separating the hops from the grains, but they are too mixed in. They're not leaves. They are pellets. I'll post the recipe shortly. For now, I'll proceed with the instructions. Thanks for your help!

I'm sure you can imagine how horrified I was/am that I may have ruined what is supposed to by 5 gallons of joy.

Pale Ale

Brew Stats:
Beg Grav: 1.043 - 1.045
Final Grav: 1.010 - 1.012
Hop Bittering Units: 13

Ingredients
3.3 lb Malt Extract
Dry Malt Extract
Crushed Grain
1oz Hop Pellets
Ale Yeast
5oz priming sugar

Everything is used except for the priming sugar. I don't have exact amounts on the grains or dry malt.

The DME was actually 2 lbs of 'Golden Light'

Whats wrong with King Cobra?!?

I wouldn't dump the brew. Sounds like you may have stumbled across an extract version of FWH ([ame="http://www.google.com/search?q=First+Wort+Hopping&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a"]First Wort Hopping[/ame]). Who knows, maybe it will taste so good that you'll do this from now on.

barthautala said:

Whats wrong with King Cobra?!?

Click to expand...

I guess nothing, unless, like me, you buy a kit hoping for delicious pale ale. My last Cobra is about 15 years in the past, and that's OK with me.

Thanks for all the help folks. I feel a lot better about the potential of my beer. The other good news is, it's one mistake I'll never make again. Hopefully my next batch will go a little smoother.

JLem said:

I wouldn't dump the brew. Sounds like you may have stumbled across an extract version of FWH (First Wort Hopping). Who knows, maybe it will taste so good that you'll do this from now on.

Click to expand...

It's like that, except I think he dumped the hops with the grains before the boil instead of keeping them in the pot. I suspect a very sweet pale ale.

Thanks for all of the advice. In case anyone is curious, the beer turned out well. I ended up dry hopping during secondary fermentation. I didn't get the pale ale I was looking for, but it is still good. It tastes a little more like a brown ale, I think.

Anyway, I'm glad that I stuck with it and didn't dump it. Thanks for the help and advice.