First brew with many mishaps.

Greetings and salutations. First time poster, long time lurker.

Finally made the jump and made my first batch last night. I went with a Brewers Best English P.A. kit as my first. And after all my reading, watching the DVD my LHBS included in my kit, and reading some more I still managed to have my head inserted where it shouldn't have been. First off I didn't think to predetermine my gallon markers on my BB carboy. Second it seems I can't count when I was adding damn water, I'm now only at what would seem to be a 3-3.5gal mark (going off BB website general markings). And lastly I didn't check my damn OG. But I did survive the other steps And for as much as I hovered over my damn pot while it was going, you would think that I would have been paying closer attention.

So I guess I'll see what happens and try figure what to do about my priming sugar amounts.

Other than being frustrated with myself I had fun doing it last night and can't wait to do the next one. Trial by fire!

Giz

Each and every time you brew you will learn something new and refine your technique ... keep a positive attitude ( which you seem to have ) and brewing will always get better!

Pete

Did you top up your wort in the fermenter? I'm assuming you did an Extract kit, doing a partial boil. What you can do is top up your fermenter with either boiled (and cooled) water, bottled water, or just straight tap water (providing that you would drink your tap water...) to bring your total volume up to your desired amount (5 gallons).

I don't think this is something that you want to do if you've already pitched your yeast though. Let it ferment. You'll likely still get beer!!

Thanks for the positive feedback. Yes I did an extract kit with a partial boil. I had thought I had my measurements correctly, but apparently not =) I don't doubt that I will get beer, just gonna have figure a few things out. And if it sucks oh well, its mine!

Thanks again and looking forward to more learning and more beer.

Cheers,
Giz

If you brewed a five gallon kit to only 3.5 gallons I bet your original gravity was pretty high and you will either have a fermentation that stalls out or a very strong brew. After fermentation has slowed in a week be sure to check your gravity. If the yeast haven't finished the job and you bottle a high gravity you risk making bottle bombs because the yeast will still have a lot of sugar to eat and poop out too much CO2.

The fermentation has been very slow since it started and upon waking up this morning it seems to have completely stopped, approx 36hrs. Any suggestions on what to do at this point?

Take a gravity reading. If it is high give it a few days and take another to see if it is dropping. If it is the same you can pitch more yeast. If you are fermenting in a bucket it may look like its not doing anything because the seal is leaking. Check out a wine/beer thief online for easy hydrometer readings.

So, this thing that's sitting in the carboy has stopped all visible activity (6 days since my brew). It's so damn low in the carboy that I was never able to get a reading after my screw up, with my current equipment. There is a ring around the top that looks like a green hoppy ring. It stayed there after the initial fermentation foam. Is that normal? Or do I have something weird going on in my beer?

The guy down at my LHBS said to let it sit another week and bottle it up. Any thoughts? It was originally supposed to be an EPA as stated in my original post, no clue what it is going to be now.

Still stoked about being a brewing newb, got another ready to start tomorrow.

Thanks again.

That ring is normal. Try not to open the container too much. the more you open it, the more you invite infection that'll ruin you beer. Keep in mind that since you used a recipe designed for five gallons but ended up with 3.5 gallons in the carboy, it'll be quite strong and sweet compared to what it should be. The guys at the shop were on the right track telling you to leave it in the carboy for two weeks but three is better. It'll reduce the diacetyl in the beer and give you a better product.

I'm curious, if the ferementation should stall and he had to repitch the yeast, could he go ahead and top off to 5 gallons before repitching?

It depends on the amount of alcohol and the temperature as well as the strain of yeast present weather it would be worth it to repitch.

You really need to take a sample of this and check the gravity.

I greatly appreciate the all the positive feedback. The help is so very appreciated. The wife came home with long turkey baster and we tried to use that. The damn liquid keeps falling right out of the baster. So next I tried my siphoning hose. No luck there either. And yes, I sanitized the baster and the hose. Actually wasted the baster then sanitized it.

So dunno how to get it out other than wait til bottling day. I guess I could get a beer/wine thief? Dunno if it would be long enough though. One things for sure, it smells like beer.

Eh, either way I'm starting an Oatmeal Stout tomorrow and have read the directions 4 times so far and made two stickies. 1st stickie is "Don't forget to top off the carboy" 2nd is "Don't forget OG!!!