First batch ever just went in the fermenter, but with one oops and a question

Hey guys,

Ive always wanted to brew my own beer, and finally got set up with all the equipment last week. Ive been reading this forum and the "www.howtobrew.com" book by John Palmer as well as the book included in my start up kit since. Needless to say, my head is swimming from all this reading!

Anyway, ive found all the answers i was looking for before brewing, but have a few after boiling my first wort. I knew i would mess something up involving this many steps and i think i did. I just boiled a "brewers best" German Altbier ingerdient kit (all extract with some grains to steep) following howtobrew's instructions rather than the poor instructions included with the kit. When i poured the cooled wort into the fermenter i didnt do a good job of keeping the gunk on the bottom from going into the bucket. In fact most of it ended up in the fermenter. Will this have a huge taste impact on the finished beer?

Also, i used a gas stove for all the boiling, but it seemed like it took forever for the water/wort to boil. After steeping the grains at ~160, i turned the heat back on to get the now wort to a boil so i could add the malt extract. I killed the heat once the boiling started and added the extract. After that it seemed to take forever again to boil resulting in very little foam once the boil got going. Is this normal for all extract brewing? I pictured having a hard time keeping the pot from boiling over and a very noticable stop.(hot break is the term correct?) I do have a turkey fryer and thought about using that next time to heat eveything..

Thanks in advance for your help. I hope this batch turns out! Id like to try to do a hefe weizen next.

Transfer to a secondary fermenter ( or syphon into your pot, dump gunk, )syphon back into fermenter. You won't have to dump it, the whole point of brewing your own is to have something different....

I can't belive you didn't use the turkey fryer on the first batch- see, you did learn something on your first batch!

What "gunk"? If it were hops, then just use a bag for them next time. If it were grains you were steeping, was there not a bag for them in the kit?
Anyhow, good luck, and follow the above advice. "It's a pain to strain, but it makes a clear beer". Oh yeah, relax...it ain't rocket science.

I take it at this point that you've already pitched your yeast.

With that said, Relax, Have A Homebrew...oh, I'm sorry, this is your first batch...drink a soda.

Don't worry. many people pour the entire contents into the primary. It'll all fall out eventually.

Be sure to do a secondarry. Your beer will be clearer for it.

I have plenty of Hefe Weizen recipes if you'd like some. Almost every other batch I make is a Weizen.

Casebrew - I was thinking the same thing about the turkey fryer halfway though the whole thing.

I used pelletized hops, so the gunk was mostly the hops. Ill plan on doing a secondary as you guys suggested. Im glad to know my first beer is going to have more pulp than the orange juice i drink in the morning.

I'd love to hear some good hefe weizen recipies. I finally found a local source for my favorite: UFO.

Thanks for the help!

You're right, if you used pellets most of the sediment will be the hops.

I have a nylon net/strainer that I place over my primary bucket the helps me seperate the hops from the wort. If you get one of these be sure to use about 4 small clamps to keep it in place when pouring your wort into the primary. There's a lot of water and hop weight there. You don't want to fill your net and have it splash in to the primary. Kind of defeats the purpose for sparging (rinsing).

Here's a recipe you can try. It's open to a lot of interpretation as to your supply preferences:

ALL TOO SIMPLE WHEAT BEER

Extract German Wheat /Weizen Beer

Make a yeast starter 24 hours before brewing/pitching.

6.5 lbs Wheat DME (brand name of your choice)
1 oz. Hallertau hops - bittering - 3.5 - 4.5 % AA range works well
(If you use whole hops be sure to add 10% more)
0.5 oz Hallertauer hops - aroma/finishing (same)
Weizen / Bavarian Wheat yeast of your choice
1 tsp Irish moss (very optional as most weizens are supposed to be cloudy)

Add malt and bittering hops to the pot. Boil for 45 mins.

Add Irish Moss (if used) and aroma hops and boil for 15 min.

Remove from heat. Sparge wort from hops.

Ferment at/around 70 degrees for 1-2 weeks.
(Temp range really depends on the yeast used and the flavor you are aiming for. Read up on yeasts temps and capabilities)

Prime with 1.25 cups of DME.

I have yet to get the equipement to strain my hop debri from my wort when going into the primary. Just let is sit a couple extra days in the primary and then transfer to secondary. Most of my beers come out pretty clear. I would not worry to much at all. I will be trying some ideas in the future to strain the hops though.

As Anthrobe said, don't worry about having your hops etc. sitting on the bottom of your primary. Your beer will taste great despite and if you rack carefully you will have clear beer (no picking your teeth between pints).