So.
The brew was going quite smoothly. Sanitizing was a breeze, I had thought ahead and ran all my water through the purifier beforehand, stuck right to the hop schedule, added in all the extras at the right time, everything seemed to be going great, right up until I added in the aroma hops at the end.
Then I realized that Sunday Night Football had been distracting me all night.
Then I realized that I didn't put a single pinch of extract in during the hour of boiling.
I had six pounds of various malt extract sitting inches away from my brewpot and never even THOUGHT about putting any of it in. Not until I put those finishing hops in, anyways, and looked down in absolute horror.
So, I did what any absent-minded brewer would do. I completely flipped out and panicked. I dumped in all six pounds and started frantically stirring to break it all up before the boil was done. Boil completed, not everything had broken up. Stuck the brewpot in the customary ice-bath-in-the-sink (which I had set up perfectly, with ice bags and an immersion ice block ready to go) and kept on stirring.
After about ten or fifteen minutes, I'd like to say that everything had broken up nicely. There was still some stuff floatin' around up top, but I figure that was mostly hops and other junk that normally floats around up top after a regular ol' brew. I finished the rest of the process without a hitch.
So.
Do you really need to boil extract for the full 60 minutes? Or just make sure that it's all dissolved before it goes in the primary? Has this even happened to any of you absent-minded people before? Shall I post updates as to just what happens when you completely forget to put in all extract until the last five minutes of the boil?
Out of all the possible things that could go wrong, I didn't exactly see myself making THIS big of a mistake before.
Thanks, folks.
The brew was going quite smoothly. Sanitizing was a breeze, I had thought ahead and ran all my water through the purifier beforehand, stuck right to the hop schedule, added in all the extras at the right time, everything seemed to be going great, right up until I added in the aroma hops at the end.
Then I realized that Sunday Night Football had been distracting me all night.
Then I realized that I didn't put a single pinch of extract in during the hour of boiling.
I had six pounds of various malt extract sitting inches away from my brewpot and never even THOUGHT about putting any of it in. Not until I put those finishing hops in, anyways, and looked down in absolute horror.
So, I did what any absent-minded brewer would do. I completely flipped out and panicked. I dumped in all six pounds and started frantically stirring to break it all up before the boil was done. Boil completed, not everything had broken up. Stuck the brewpot in the customary ice-bath-in-the-sink (which I had set up perfectly, with ice bags and an immersion ice block ready to go) and kept on stirring.
After about ten or fifteen minutes, I'd like to say that everything had broken up nicely. There was still some stuff floatin' around up top, but I figure that was mostly hops and other junk that normally floats around up top after a regular ol' brew. I finished the rest of the process without a hitch.
So.
Do you really need to boil extract for the full 60 minutes? Or just make sure that it's all dissolved before it goes in the primary? Has this even happened to any of you absent-minded people before? Shall I post updates as to just what happens when you completely forget to put in all extract until the last five minutes of the boil?
Out of all the possible things that could go wrong, I didn't exactly see myself making THIS big of a mistake before.
Thanks, folks.