Mike_S
New Member
Okay, I made my first batch of wort ever today. I think I made some mistakes... Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I used the following pale ale recipie:
steep 3/4 lb. 40L, 3/4 lb. 60L, 1/4 lb. carapils at 155F for 30 min. in 1 gal. of water
sparge grains w/ 1/2 gal. of water at 150F [at this point, not knowing any better, I squeezed the nylon bag to get more of the water out! And it broke!!]
add to brewpot and add
8 lbs. pale malt extract
1/2 lb. light dry malt
1.8 oz. Perle pellets (6.6aa)
add 1 gal water to brewpot (total 2.5 gal), boil for 45 min.
add 1 oz. Cascade, 1 tsp Irish moss
boil 14 min., add 1 oz. Cascade
I then moved the pot to the laundry basin for chilling, but when filling the tub with ice, some cubes got into the wort (next time, I'll fill the tub first!).
I used a floating dairy thermometer (0-220F), when the wort reached 70F, I strained it into the primary fermenter, and added another 2.5 gal cool water.
I took a hydrometer reading and this is what I got (I don't think this is what it's supposed to read): 1.030 OG! The temp was 70F, so adjust it up 2 thousandths to 1.032. Isn't this too low? What happened?
Then I pitched the liquid yeast (White Labs American Pale Ale) and closed it up.
Later, when cleaning the equipment, I realized that the bottom of the dairy thermometer was broken which means that small pieces of glass went somewhere! Most likely in the strainer used between the brew pot and the primary fermenter - I hope!
Okay, what did I do wrong (besides the obvious)? Any suggestions? Thanks.
I used the following pale ale recipie:
steep 3/4 lb. 40L, 3/4 lb. 60L, 1/4 lb. carapils at 155F for 30 min. in 1 gal. of water
sparge grains w/ 1/2 gal. of water at 150F [at this point, not knowing any better, I squeezed the nylon bag to get more of the water out! And it broke!!]
add to brewpot and add
8 lbs. pale malt extract
1/2 lb. light dry malt
1.8 oz. Perle pellets (6.6aa)
add 1 gal water to brewpot (total 2.5 gal), boil for 45 min.
add 1 oz. Cascade, 1 tsp Irish moss
boil 14 min., add 1 oz. Cascade
I then moved the pot to the laundry basin for chilling, but when filling the tub with ice, some cubes got into the wort (next time, I'll fill the tub first!).
I used a floating dairy thermometer (0-220F), when the wort reached 70F, I strained it into the primary fermenter, and added another 2.5 gal cool water.
I took a hydrometer reading and this is what I got (I don't think this is what it's supposed to read): 1.030 OG! The temp was 70F, so adjust it up 2 thousandths to 1.032. Isn't this too low? What happened?
Then I pitched the liquid yeast (White Labs American Pale Ale) and closed it up.
Later, when cleaning the equipment, I realized that the bottom of the dairy thermometer was broken which means that small pieces of glass went somewhere! Most likely in the strainer used between the brew pot and the primary fermenter - I hope!
Okay, what did I do wrong (besides the obvious)? Any suggestions? Thanks.