Tale of the first time disaster.

Ten years ago my wife got me a Mr. Beer set for Christmas. I quickly brewed up the six cans of various beers that I got with it and enjoyed the experience. After the last beer was gone, that was the end. This year my neighbor wanted to get me a birthday present so my wife suggested a brewing mix since I had the Mr Beer in a box in the garage and I really had enjoyed it. My neighbor went to a local home brew store and bought me two Brewer's Best boxed sets. My birthday came, I opened my gift from my neighbor, gave the obligitory "thank you's", and had a wonderful dinner which included a few Sam Adam's Winter Lagers I had been saving. I went home with my new brew kits, got my birthday present from my wife (that's a different forum), and had a peaceful sleep.

The next day I pulled out my Mr. Beer, blew the tons of accumulated dust off the top and opened the Brewer's Best kit. I Looked at the Brewer's Best kit then looked at the Mr. Beer, looked back at the kit, looked back at the Mr. Beer. After about five minutes of this I said to my wife (in a horribly defeated tone), "This isn't going to work." Fifteen minutes later we were in the car happily riding to our local home brew store! Thirty minutes and $150.00 later we were riding home with my new home brew kit, bottles, books, newpapers, magazines, and everything else the nice home brew man suggested I buy. (My wife wanted a keg, but the nice home brew man talked her out of it.)

Now I knew from the Mr. Beer days and from reading the instructions for the Brewer's Best that sanitation was the key to a good brew. I even received several stern warnings from the nice home brew man. "DON'T let anything touch the wort after the boil that hasn't been sanitized.", he said.

"Aye Aye sir", I replied in my best pirate voice. (My wife rolled her eyes.) The nice home brew man quickly escorted us out.

When I got home it reminded me of Christmas when I was 7 years old and got a chemistry set. Tubes, pipes, brushes, buckets, a HUGE glass bottle that was real cool, scientific measuring devices, syphon starters and much, much more! Even an orange handle to connect to the really cool huge bottle to help carry it around. What glee!

I read my instructions and the books. I looked at all the neat equipment including my really cool huge bottle with orange handle to carry it around. I knew this first brew was going to be a big deal and I wasn't going to screw it up. No way - No how. So after a week of reviewing what I was going to do, and making sure I had the right sized pot (I did. Well, my wife did. It's her prized chili making pot.), I was ready for the brew. I knew I was going to do two fermentations since I had the big plastic bucket for the primary and the really cool huge bottle with the orange handle to carry it around for the second fermentation. I took the plastic bucket out to the garage with all the different parts of my new kit I knew I was going to use. I filled the bucket with two gallons of water and added two tablespoons of sanitizer. I put my floating thermometer, airlock, hydrometer and spoon into the bucket. I swirled it around a bit with my hand to make sure it got clean. Well I guess I swirled a bit too much because the bottom of the bucket now contained bits of glass and little grey pebbles. Yes, I broke my floating thermometer! I went inside and told my wife (in a horribly defeated tone) that I broke my thermometer. She asked what it was for and I explained it was for monitoring the wort during and after the boil. No worry, she has a candy thermometer that goes up to like 400 degrees! I clean all the glass and pebbles out of the plastic bucket and re-sanitize everything. Needless to say, I didn't swirl it around as hard. It's now time for the boil.

Believe it or not, the boil went perfect. No boil-overs or anything. I even got to watch part of the Red Sox / Yankees game during the event. As the time approached to finish the boil, I realized that all the sanitized equipment except my spoon had been sitting on the counter for an hour. That couldn't be good. So I dutifly took everything back out to the garage, filled the plastic bucket with water and sanitizer and (carefully) swirled the stuff around to clean it again. I brought all the stuff into the bathroom and set it on a paper towel on the counter. I filled the bathtub with water and ice to cool down the wort. It took about 15 minutes to get the wort down to about 100 degrees. But you know what? Candy thermometers don't go below 100. I started to carefully pour the wort into the primary fermenter. Nobody said in any of the books or instructions what a pain in the neck it is to do that. When you get down to the last couple of inches, all the trub (it is trub, right?) wants to go with the wort! Now what do I do.? Seeing that it is Sunday night, the nice home brew man is probably at home sipping on his own home brews watching the Sox and the Yanks so I can't call him. I know, I'll pan it out with a glass. So I quickly get a glass measuring cup and just before I dip it into the wort I remember the nice home brew man saying, "DON'T let anything touch the wort after the boil that hasn't been sanitized."

So I run out to the garage with the measuring cup, pour a little bleach in it and rinse it until it doesn't smell like bleach any more. I go back to my wort and dip it into it to get just wort. Guess what! The trub flowed right into it. Great. Think, think, think. BING! A light bulb goes off! A strainer! I never saw strainer in any instructions, but I'm sure it's okay. So I grab a strainer and run out to the garage to clean it with some bleach. I go to pour the bleach in it. Funny thing about strainers, they have all of these little holes between the wires so what ever you pour into it flows right out. It has now been about an hour since the boil ended and I'm working up a sweat! Well I cleaned the strainer the best I could with the bleach and used it to pour the rest of the wort into the bucket (excuse me, fermenter). It worked great. Until I stood up to finish the pour. You see, I had the spoon resting on the counter with the spoon part hanging off so it would stay clean. Of course I knocked it off onto the floor! I run back out and give it a quick bleach bath.

I add my water to the fermenter and take my OG reading. 1.03. Huh? That's what the FG is supposed to be. Can't worry about that now. I pitch the yeast and give it a stir. I wasn't sure about the stir because I didn't do that with the Mr. Beer, but that's what the instructions with the Brewer's Best said to do. I put on the lid and go to stick the air lock into the lid. It doesn't go in very well and POP! the rubber grommit falls into the wort. I open the top to see if it was floating on the top. Of course not. I start to fish with my spoon to see if it comes up. Of course not. So in my frustration I roll up my sleave and stick my hand and arm into the wort and grab the grommit from the bottom. I know, you heard it too. "DON'T let anything touch the wort after the boil that hasn't been sanitized."

*&!@$!@#, I said.

So I put the lid on, carefully put the airlock onto the lid and grommit and put the whole mess into the hall closet for safe keeping. That was Sunday night. This morning, Wednesday, it stopped bubbling the air lock. I'm thinking I'll open it up tomorrow night (4 days) and take a look and a reading. If it isn't a total mess, I'll move it to the really cool huge bottle with the orange handle to carry it around (sorry, the carboy) for a secondary fermenting. We'll see from there.

Well that's my newby horror story. I learned a lot. I'm sure my next brew will be much better. My wife keeps telling me it will be okay and not to worry.

Easy for her to say. She doesn't drink beer!

It really depends on how hairy your arms are and what you were doing with your hands before you stuck one down in the wort.

Relax, it will probably be fine. Just wait about 6 more weeks and find out and let us know.

You should be fine. We've all done it.

I'm assuming of course you didn't just have your arms up a female cows happy spot trying to deliver a calf.

Hint: Move the bleach inside the house...

BeerHere said:

I put on the lid and go to stick the air lock into the lid. It doesn't go in very well and POP! the rubber grommit falls into the wort.

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The same thing happend my first brew, and I've heard of it happening to others, too.
I was able to fish it out with the spoon.

Beer's pretty resilient, it'll probably be fine.

Sounds quite similar to my first brew, great story!

Give it a full week in primary before you move to secondary. Check your SG at that point and also give it a taste. You'll know immediately if something bad got in there (you'll probably be fine though).

Oh your initial gravity reading was probably low because you hadn't stirred the wort enough after adding your top-up water. It's a very common problem for beginners. You want to give it a really good stir to mix the wort AND to aerate for the yeast.

Relax though, chances are it'll be the best beer you've ever had (until your next batch)!

Sounds like all of the mistakes I made about 3 months ago when I started -- four batches later and it's almost a habit. a dozen more and I will probably laugh at myself.

The 1.03 reading is actually correct! but you should read it 1.030. When it's done it will read 1.010 or somewhere around in that ballpark. I found the process of reading the hydrometer confusing as well -- if you have a triple scale hydrometer you can use that to measure the ABV directly. OG, SG, and FG (Original, Specific, and Final) is used to find out how much of the sugars your yeast has eaten.

when I made my first batch, I left the lid off when I cooled the wort -- and I didn't cool it very fast. the beasties did get in there, but the beer is still drinkable. Just remember that it's impossible to get all of the bad bacteria out of any brew, you just want to do it well enough so that your yeast beats them to almost all of the sugars.

regarding trub -- there are a lot of different forum threads here devoted to reducing the amount of trub you get in your primary fermenter. In the end, you are almost always going to lose some of your wort to the trub... but that's OK because you can touch that wort to an unsanitary filter or paper towel and then boil it later for a great starter. And as long as you don't get a TON of trub in there, it's all going to settle to the bottom during primary and then secondary fermentation anyway, so I wouldn't lose any sleep to trub in your fermentation vessel.

Overall, it sounds like you did very well for your first brew.

Thanks for the encouraging words and advice. I'll let the primary sit until Sunday before I open it and transfer it to the secondary. Is there anything I should look for or do at that time? Should I worry at all about my gravity? I think Bradsul was correct about the reading without mixing. I'll keep you all informed.

BeerHere said:

Thanks for the encouraging words and advice. I'll let the primary sit until Sunday before I open it and transfer it to the secondary. Is there anything I should look for or do at that time? Should I worry at all about my gravity? I think Bradsul was correct about the reading without mixing. I'll keep you all informed.

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original message was quite a novel. Very enjoyable. reminds me of my first time.

did it bubble out the airlock for a while?

LOL. Relax (you won't), don't worry (you will), Have a homebrew (well, just have a beer, but wait til after you're done with the transfer to secondary.)

Don't worry too much about the gravity. As you are making a kit beer just make sure it's done fermenting. If you are waiting a week and putting it in the secondary for a week or two it will be done. I don't even take a OG reading anymore.
If it smells REALLY BAD like vinegar worry but don't worry.

Wow, your Sunday went a lot like mine.. It was my first brew and with a Brewers Best kit. I too broke my floating thermometer before I ever got to use it (yup, washing it) and I ALMOST push the cromet into the fermenter while pushing the air lock in.

The next one will be so much better.

LOL FSR, they must make those thermometers like that just so we break them. They should sell them 2 for 1. Sunday's the big day. I can't believe I'm so nervous about a batch of beer!

Hysterical, thanks for the story. And like everyone else says: RDWHAHB

In addition to moving your sanitizing operaiton inside, also consider investing in a no-rinse sanitizer - I buy One-Step by the 5 lb bag and usually use 3 tablespoons at a time. It's super easy: just dip, swish around, give it a shake dry, then put whatever right in your beer.

I "handle" my beer at least a little each batch, meaning I actually have to touch it with my fingers in some way or another. I just make sure I've given them a good rinse in the one-step.

Focus

Okay Focus... I'm a newby. What is RDWHAHB?

My first two sanitizings (is that a word?) were with one step, it was when I was in panic mode (the two hours following the boil) that I used bleach. I figured it was quicker. I have to admit, I am feeling better now that I hear that my story is just like everyone elses.

BeerHere said:

Okay Focus... I'm a newby. What is RDWHAHB?

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"Relax. Don't Worry. Have A Home Brew."

I broke my floating thermometer on my second batch. so I don't trust them any further than I can throw them, and I have a bad hip.

I paid $5 more for a thermometer that looks more like a turkey basting thermometer. I expect that one to be a little more forgiving to my abuse.

LOL... great story. I broke my floating thermometer in my first batch. I just poured it into another pot the glass and balls stayed at the bottom of the first pot. Beer came out great, I was rolling the dice that the balls weren't poisonous.

Great story! You will be amazed at how much smoother your next batch goes and you will learn new lessons each time you screw up. I think I enjoy tweaking my process just about as much as I enjoy drinking my results.

My latest lesson learned on my 5th batch: I'm not quite good enough to brew drunk... pure disaster

I think your beer is probably ruined......once it's done fermenting and is bottled you need to send it to me and I'll dispose of it........c'mon....someone had to say it!

Sounds pretty typical but made for a great read, thanks. A little advice:
1. The bleach debate is huge, it works, but so does iodine...
2. You don't have to sanitize things prior to the boil. The boil will kill off any mean beastie that got in there. (This doesn't mean it can be filthy but it doesn't need to be sanitized)
3. RDWHAHB....you are leaps and bounds ahead of where I was on my 1st batch!

BeerHere said:

Okay Focus... I'm a newby. What is RDWHAHB?

My first two sanitizings (is that a word?) were with one step, it was when I was in panic mode (the two hours following the boil) that I used bleach. I figured it was quicker. I have to admit, I am feeling better now that I hear that my story is just like everyone elses.

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LOL, the whole time i was reading your story i was thinking "Man he's more paranoid than i was my first brew"... Which i suppose it's a good thing... Just remember that sanitizers (at recommended dilution) don't have to be rinsed... I use about 1 tbsp bleach in 5 gallons water (sanitizer was getting expensive, bleach is cheap and works, haven't noticed a problem yet)... I sanitize Tubing, Hydrometer, misc equipments and left air dry.... Next time, don't bother rinsing the sanitized stuff (or if you're paranoid about bleach don't rinse till you're going to use the equipment).

Being paranoid about sanitization is a good thing, just don't give yourself a heart attack running back and forth to the garage. Don't worry about your arm, how many times was it in contact with bleach sanitizing stuff? I had to stick my arm into my keggle to try and unclog the false bottom once and that beer is fine. Add to that all the other things i've done that should have contaminated my beers and i've NEVER had an infected batch in 12 brews.

Keep the RDWHAHB in mind while you brew. I brew with my cousin, at times i'm relaxed and he's not, other times it's the opposite way...

When you rack to secondary DO NOT pour it, you want to siphon it off and avoid splashing... Also, about the trub, i pour it into the fermenter, the beer is going to get siphoned off, plus i think there's something about extra proteins that are good for yeast in it.

Also, a note about pouring it into primary, that's a great way to aerate, however you may also want to shake it a good bit, or even have your wife stir it and splash it around as you pour. Remember Under 80* F without yeast, splashing good, any other time it's a no-no.

BierMuncher said:

You should be fine. We've all done it.

I'm assuming of course you didn't just have your arms up a female cows happy spot trying to deliver a calf.

Hint: Move the bleach inside the house...

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Female cow......isn't that redundant??
Sorry, I'm from WI, I couldn't help it


Beerhere, when you transfer your beer into the really cool huge bottle with the orange handle, DON'T CARRY IT BY THE HANDLE!!! the carboy is not strong enough at the neck to support all the weight. Hold the carboy from the bottom and use the handle for balancing only. Tehn go back to see the nice man at the LHBS and have him sell you a Brew Hauler, or carboy carrier, or whatever they call it in your neck of the woods. I'd hate to see your first brew spilled all over your floor and have you get a nasty gash to boot.

BeerHere said:

LOL FSR, they must make those thermometers like that just so we break them. They should sell them 2 for 1. Sunday's the big day. I can't believe I'm so nervous about a batch of beer!

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So are you doing your next one this week? I'm game for Sunday.

Bernie Brewer said:

Female cow......isn't that redundant??
Sorry, I'm from WI, I couldn't help it

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LOL.

“Hello. You have reached the Office of the Government Office of Redundancy. Hello.
Greetings to you.
I am out of the office and unavailable at this time right now and unavailable.
I cannot take your call because right now, at this time, I am unavailable to take your call.
Please leave me a message at the beep and I will call you back because right now I am unavailable to take your call.
After the beep please leave a message once you hear the beep.
Thank you for calling and we appreciate you contacting the Office of Government Office of Redundancy.
Your call is important to me so thank you for calling, however I am unavailable right now, at this time.
Thank you.”

Bernie Brewer said:

Beerhere, when you transfer your beer into the really cool huge bottle with the orange handle, DON'T CARRY IT BY THE HANDLE!!!

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Thanks for the advice. I would have done it because it's called a carboy handle.

Transfer day to the carboy has come and gone. The beer looked smelled and tasted fine (just warm and flat). It's a German Octoberfest kit from Brewer's Best. The SG was 1.018 which I guess is okay. It has a beautiful amber color. There was nothing on the top except a few little green things. So I guess the name of this thread shouldn't be disaster but success. I'll bottle in a couple of weeks. I'm thinking I need to start drinking some commercials to get some bottles ready.

My girlfriend bought me a brew kit from AHS for the holidays in december. I didn't brew my first beer till almost a full month later. Not that i didn't have the ingredients, i was like super anal-retentive about researching how to do it and getting it right. The following is a list of all the mistakes i made my first time (after research)

I literally messed up the first step. It was supposed to be a 2.5 gallon partial boil, yet i had 3 gallons in the brew pot before i read the instructions! I didn't know about hop utilization then so went with the 3 gallons.

I didn't remove the brew pot from the heat when i started putting in the extract. Wow does that become a pain in the ass to stir! Also, you get that nice charred extract taste in the beer.

I didn't aerate the wort at all. Not even the least bit, and the fermentation ended at 1.024 (should've been 1.012). That was a crappy beer.

I used bleach to sanitize everything, although the ratio was about 10 times the recommended amount for homebrewing. Washing everything took forever to get rid of the bleach smell. The first time i bottled, i don't think i washed the bleach well enough out of every bottle so some are downright nasty!

I probably put my stuff at risk of infection by overdoing it with the bleach and then using 10 gallons of unsanitized tap water to wash off the bleach.

The way i look at it, this is all just a learning experience. I'm brewing my 6th batch tomorrow along with the 7th on sunday. When it comes to homebrewing, better is really the only way it can go.

BeerHere said:

Transfer day to the carboy has come and gone. The beer looked smelled and tasted fine (just warm and flat). It's a German Octoberfest kit from Brewer's Best. The SG was 1.018 which I guess is okay. It has a beautiful amber color. There was nothing on the top except a few little green things. So I guess the name of this thread shouldn't be disaster but success. I'll bottle in a couple of weeks. I'm thinking I need to start drinking some commercials to get some bottles ready.

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Oh, and the few green things are most likely just pelleted hops. Don't worry, they'll fall out of your beer eventually. In the brilliant words of someone else on this board (i can't remember... sorry..) 500 years ago, people used to brew beer with water from the stream that they pissed in. It always seems to turn out ok in the end.

efreem01 said:

Not that i didn't have the ingredients, i was like super anal-retentive about researching how to do it and getting it right. The following is a list of all the mistakes i made my first time (after research)

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Really? Seems you made several mistakes that could have been avoided with some research. Not to be a dick, well okay, I'm being a dick, but it seems that over-bleaching everything seems so.... unprepared. Where did you read about sanitization?

I overthunk my first brew, too.

I decided my first 5-gallon batch was going to be a recipe, not a kit. So I gathered all the ingredients for the Grand Cru Ale in Papazian's Joy of Homebrewing. I read that recipe probably 20 times before I decided to brew it. Super-smart me with my golden memory had the whole thing completely committed to memory.

Except that you don't add the orange peel and coriander until 15 minutes left in the boil... except that you add 1/2 ounce more of the Hallertauer hops at 5 minutes. Except that you add the honey to the boil at the start.

Instead, I added the peel and coriander at the start of the boil and the honey in the last 15 minutes. I put in all but 1/2 ounce of the hops in at the beginning of the boil.

It still turned out great. )

Tony

from what i've read around here, you get more taste out of the honey if you add at the end of the boil...i'm adding mine at flame-out.

Fingers said:

Really? Seems you made several mistakes that could have been avoided with some research. Not to be a dick, well okay, I'm being a dick, but it seems that over-bleaching everything seems so.... unprepared. Where did you read about sanitization?

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The best answer i can think of is that there simply is too much information to get everything right the first time. Also probably a good deal of impatience. I read about the potential horrors of using bleach but didn't know a good LHBS (at the time) for no-rinse. On my first bottling day, cleaning 55 beer bottles was a pain in the ass (at the time) doing it by hand w/bleach. Now i just take the labels off with oxy-clean, wash out the oxyclean solution from each bottle and throw them in the oven for 20 minutes to sanitize! With all the prep work included, It makes bottling a 2 1/2 hour project vs. what was about 4-5 hours for me.

Now i'm going on my 6th batch today and thankfully don't make stupid beginner mistakes anymore. Now i make stupid intermediate ones! My favorite was a couple of batches ago. I got a 6-pack of Spaten Marzen for brew day. I guess i drink the beer too liberally and at 10 minutes left on the timer, i realized that i missed the yeast nutrient and Irish Moss. Luckily the ingredients weren't time sensitive.