Brewed 2nd All Grain Batch.. Issues!

So yesterday I had a fairly eventful 2nd brew day trying to do a pliny pack PTE clone. Everything started off bad and yet somehow my stubbornness seemed to cause additional endless problems.

Issue #1) I use brewpal on my iphone to get all my measurements etc. for strike water, sparge water and the likes. Well with the latest update to the software you cant INPUT DECIMAL POINTS!!! I mean of all the minor problems, that one sorta hits HUGE!! So I figured I would just run it in my head knowing I had 13.25 lbs of grain and 1.2 qts per gallon..

Ended up going with 4 gallons at 160, settled at 155 (not sure how I figured that number, just sounded good at the time) and settled for 60 mins. Knew that with my last brew I had 8 gallons that ended at around 5.5 gallons or so..

Issue #2) After sparging 4.5 more gallons (for a grand total of 8.5 gallons, for those keeping tally) at 170 I ended with just over 7 gallons in the kettle. Decided to brew with that amount (stupid idea).

Issue #3) After 90 minute boil I ended with just over 5 gallons in the kettle. Not ever brewing an IPA before (but loving them so much) I didnt realize just how much I was going to lose from the hop sludge so I ended in the fermenter with 4 gallons.

..this is where stupidity takes over!

Issue #4) Its 11pm on a Sunday night and SWMBO and I both have to work at 6am Monday morning, so need to start wrapping this up. The small IC I have only seemed able to get the temp down to about 80 after an hour so we pulled inside and I put on ice (emptied ice bin) and let sit while I contemplated the amount of wort.

Issue #5) Now its coming up on midnight and the temp is at 77 and still at 4 gallons and SWMBO is none to happy this isnt done yet. I somehow let her talk me into adding a gallon of cold filtered water (not previously boiled) from our refrigerator tap to the 4 gallons. Did that and mixed vigorously.. probably still gonna end up with 4.5 gallons after re-racking for dry-hop.

Issue #6) Went to take a reading and broke the hydrometer before I got the sample.

In summation here are my concerns:

1) Are there possible off flavors from safale-05 pitched at 76-ish degrees?Seems to be bubbling away this morning though.
2) Without an initial reading is there anyway to tell just how much I dumbed down the taste of this beer and will it be noticeable in this large of a beer when I have never tasted a real PTE before?
3) Is it incredibly likely that I infected the beer by putting cold water that wasnt boiled previously?

Thanks for the help and letting me vent guys. Just hope I didnt screw up and waste such amazing smelling hops!

GoatLocker said:

In summation here are my concerns:

1) Are there possible off flavors from safale-05 pitched at 76-ish degrees?Seems to be bubbling away this morning though.
2) Without an initial reading is there anyway to tell just how much I dumbed down the taste of this beer and will it be noticeable in this large of a beer when I have never tasted a real PTE before?
3) Is it incredibly likely that I infected the beer by putting cold water that wasnt boiled previously?

Thanks for the help and letting me vent guys. Just hope I didnt screw up and waste such amazing smelling hops!

Click to expand...

1. Unlikely as long as you control ferment temps. I routinely pitch around 80 at this time of year but make sure the brew goes into the swamp cooler ASAP.
2. Well, you'll notice it just by taste. It'll be thinner. You'll be able to taste that and it won't have the bite you might expect.
3. Not incredibly likely. Probably be fine.

1) Are there possible off flavors from safale-05 pitched at 76-ish degrees?Seems to be bubbling away this morning though.
It's possible, but I really wouldn't worry about it. What is the ambient temp of where the fermenter is sitting? It likely cooled down before the yeast go going anyway.
2) Without an initial reading is there anyway to tell just how much I dumbed down the taste of this beer and will it be noticeable in this large of a beer when I have never tasted a real PTE before?
Not really. You can take your FG and guess using what the attenuation of the yeast is suppose to acheive or hang on to that sample (unless you already dumped it) until the replacement comes. Besides, you're back to your original volume, you didn't water it down, you saved it from being too strong by bring it to where it should be. Fermentation will ensure everything is completely blended.
3) Is it incredibly likely that I infected the beer by putting cold water that wasn't boiled previously?
People have been topping with tap water since homebrew started I'd imagine. I used tap water on my 3 batches before going AG as well and had no issues. if you're bubbling away already you're yeast probably took hold before any bacteria could get going. You will be fine.

I use brewpal too and you can copy and paste a decimal in from any other program on the ipod. Definitely a pain but it's only something we'll have to do until the next update.