Pessimistic about my brewday...

Yesterday, I finally brewed that big Irish red ale (partial mash) that I've been planning for a solid six months. I've obviously been looking forward to this for some time.

Today, I'm pretty pessimistic about how this batch will go. I'll do a full blog entry on this one, but here are the high(low?)lights:

Cleaned, but forgot to sanitize the starter container first. How the heck do you forget to sanitize? Aaargh! On the bright side it *was* extremely active yeast, and I did thoroughly clean the container... hopefully, the yeast will choke out any potential nasties.

Ran into mash issues. I don't have a proper mashtun yet; I do what amounts to a BIAB for the mash, by wrapping my brewpot in towels and blankets.

Last time, I only lost four degrees over the entire hour. Yesterday, my three year old apparently took exception to me using his blanket, and he removed it from the pot - along with most of my other wrappings. I didn't realize this for close to fifteen minutes, at which point my mash was down to 140 degrees (target was 152) at only a half hour in.

In desperation, I added three quarts of 170 degree water, but the water temp was still a poor 144 at the end of the mash. I know that the extract will help, but I'm figuring that this beer is going to seriously lack body.

Temperature control. I already had a krausen and bubbling last night after three hours, so yay for that. I checked it this morning on my way out the door, and yes, it was throwing gunk out via blowoff tube... but my sticky thermometer reported almost 77 degrees temp, even with the carboy sitting in my cool basement directly on the concrete floor. This sucker is a beast!

Sadly, this is WLP004 - recommended upper temp range is no more than 68-70 degrees. Extra esters, I can live with; I don't mind if this beer isn't perfectly to style, and I really enjoy fruity esters in my beers. Fusels, on the other hand, I will not be happy with.

I'll try giving it a bath tonight, but that will have it running nearly a full day at too hot of a temp. Bleh.

Bottom line... sure, I will have made beer. Will it be any good? That is looking more doubtful than I would have thought.


Edit: here's that blog post, if you care to read it.

Well hang in there. You're just a bit rusty after that time off! Cross your fingers and let's hope it turns out.

I think it'll be good. Just gotta hope for the best and correct on the next batch!

I

The item that concerns me the most is the temperture.

I have done some reading, and I see some mention of strong fruity esters (that mellow over time). I have also seen at least one report of serious fusels.

I guess I'll just have to see what develops.

Yeah, you need to invest in a swamp cooler at least. Ever since I dedicated my basement fridge and a temperature controller to our fermentation, we've been getting some pretty exceptional beers.

The goal is definitely a (mini?) fridge and temperature controller, but that's on down the road a bit.

uniondr, i wouldn't worry about the crud ring falling back in. I swirrel mine often and haven't had a problem with off flavors when that goes back into the brew. Seems to me like it probably just sinks to the bottom.

I agree that the crud ring is a nonfactor.

I don't filter out hot break material, I don't filter out hop junk, and I've never had astringincy issues. All that settles down with the rest of the trub, and I leave it behind when I siphon.

However, dad, yeah the temp thing might be an issue... you never really know until you taste it but I had an ipa go that high because I forgot to swamp it and it had a hot alcohol taste. One night I had quite a few of em because I was trying to get rid of the beer and had a wicked headache the next day... you might be fine though, not much you can do now. A simple swamp cooler is a great investment though.

Hopper5000 said:

However, dad, yeah the temp thing might be an issue... you never really know until you taste it but I had an ipa go that high because I forgot to swamp it and it had a hot alcohol taste. One night I had quite a few of em because I was trying to get rid of the beer and had a wicked headache the next day... you might be fine though, not much you can do now. A simple swamp cooler is a great investment though.

Click to expand...

I know, I know. I read one testimonial of undrinkably hot alcohol taste from WLP004, but that it had mellowed to a great beer two months down the line. If it's bad, I'll stick it in the basement and leave it alone for a while.

Not really much else to do at this point, right? I will stick it in a rubbermaid tub with water + ice bottle tonight, but that will again be 24 hours in at presumably too high of a temp.

Sigh.

There really isn't much more to do. Mine wasn't undrinkable but it did have a hot taste. When I did a blend with a pale ale I had in the keg next to it, the taste went away though...

You might consider brewing it again and blending the two.

homebrewdad said:

Yesterday, my three year old apparently took exception to me using his blanket, and he removed it from the pot - along with most of my other wrappings.

Click to expand...

That's the last time you take his stuff for your brewing needs.

Guess he showed me.

On the other hand, he really enjoyed helping me - doing hop additions, putting in some of the DME, etc. It's all good.

neko said:

That's the last time you take his stuff for your brewing needs.

Click to expand...

Just as an update, fermentation was already slower and cooler last night; I guess the initial rush (and lion's share of the byproduct production) was done.

It's still bubbling reglarly, but an airlock will do just fine, now. Temp was still 74 degrees. I couldn't manage to lay my hands on anything to make a swamp cooler with, so I grabbed some blue ice packs from the freezer and placed them in contact with the carboy.

This morning, it appeared to be doing the same steady bubbling, but temp was at 67-68 degrees. I swapped out the blue ice with a couple of ice bottles I made the night before (refill 20 oz bottles with water, freeze).

Sigh, should have done at least this to start with!

Finally got around to posting that blog entry, if you care to read it.