Your thoughts: My first brewing disaster?

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MrEggSandwich

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So. The lady-friend is away for the weekend and I have the house to myself. I decide to brew today (my 3rd brew)...by myself. I get a late start (3-4pm) and decide that I am going to make a Ruination clone.

Below is a list of things that went wrong today. Please assess and determine if I am screwed:

#1- I don't sanitize my glass carboy until late in the brew, so I have 1/4 head of Star San in the in the bottom on my carboy, 15 minutes before I am going to pitch. I washed it out a few times. I have seen the "don't fear the foam" talk. Will this affect the beer?

#2-I dunk the dry hop bag in the hot wort to sanitize, then realize that now I have to jam this wet bag down the neck of the carboy, the bag rips, half of the hops are on the floor, other have in the drink.

#3-After I lug this heavy, foamy, sticky carboy from the patio to the kitchen, I go to insert the bung...............The neck is wet....the bung pushes straight through..I now am talking to myself ("I just screwed this up.")

Thanks to this forum, I take the airlock, and cling wrap it, then duct tape it in. Strangely, I feel like this is going to work out. I sanitize everything.. no issues there. I will try to get a new bung tomorrow.

What you think?
 
Relax.... Let it ferment out. Nothing you can do at this point.

The foam is fine.

I throw hops in all the time without a hop bag. If you got all the hops in there you will be fine. even if you didn't, it will still be beer.

The bung in the brew is not a problem. I did it once and just continued. No problems.

Your rigging up the airlock will work.

Sit back and wait it out.

Enjoy.
 
#1 no, I've read the forums as well but I always rinse them just before I throw the wort into them. I don't want to take the risk of the sanitizer effecting my beer, even if it is unfounded.

#2 other then making a mess no problems. Next time try dipping it some vodka and I find dividing my dry hops between a couple of bags makes it easier to get them in and out of my carboy.

#3 Try getting the next size up on your bung. You want it small enough to fit in the opening but large enough it won't go all the way through. Mine are tapered so I can only fit the lower half in the carboy.
 
You dry hopped your wort the same day you brewed the batch? Am I missing something here?
 
I don't want to take the risk of the sanitizer effecting my beer, even if it is unfounded.
By rinsing you are taking the bigger risk of there being something in the water infecting your beer, defeating the purpose of the starsan...
 
Told me to dunk it and throw it in the bottom of fermenter.

I've never heard of dryhopping until after primary fermentation was over or at least very close to over.

I would think much of the hop aroma your dryhopping for will exit the primary with the co2 bubbles.
 
well did ya scoope the rest of the hops off the floor and throw them
in or what ?

I did not, lol. My recovery plan is as follows:

-Grab a new bung this evening (#7 for 6.5 carboy)

-Will dry hop about 1-1.5 ounces of hops when I go to secondary.

Also: The OG was 1.082, I did not make a starter. Will this be a significant issue?
 
dry or liquid yeast? that's a pretty high OG for no starter...
 
#1 - Really, don't fear the foam. I always have a good amount of starsan foam in my fermenter before pouring my wort in. It just breaks down into yeast food during fermentation.

#2 - I only use a hop bag when using large amounts of dry hops. As in more than 4 oz. Also, you don't dry hop the day you brew. You wait until fermentation is over before adding any dry hops.

#3 - You could cover your carboy with a piece of tinfoil and it would be just fine. It works for hundreds of people that do starters in flasks, and the principle is just the same despite a larger volume.
 
I once wrapped a too-small blowoff tube in saran wrap and sealed it with wax after my stopper fell down in carboy. You'll be fine.
 
Ha! Sounds like an adventurous brew day. I've been doing this for about 4 years and am totally shocked when everything goes exactly as planned. Fortunately, I have yet to screw up a batch. I think all those principals of cleanliness are important but the process is pretty Hardy.

I've had a couple 1.080 OG brews that have turned out great only using a Wyeast 1056 Smack-pack. Fermentation completely finished in 1 week and an FG of just under 1.020.

I'm sure you'll be fine with your yeast too. I recently stared making starters and so far the only thing I notice is faster, more vigorous (wort on my ceiling) fermentation.
 
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