Brewed My First Batch Yesterday...

So I brewed my first batch yesterday, and of course, am worried. As with every new brewer, I "think" my issues have never happened to anyone else and are major. In reality, I realize they are more worry than anything, but I think I have one major legitimate worry.

Either way, here's how it went down...I brewed Big River Brown Ale from Midwest Supplies.

I did a full boil since I have the luxury of a 13g brew kettle, and started with 6g.

Everything was going along real well until I tried to take a thermometer reading in my boil because I thought I was boiling too hot. Turns out I was because the floating thermometer I used (which I now realized every site says its not for boiling temps) melted and the wax and steel balls at the bottom were exposed to my beer.

At first I thought about pitching the batch until I read a thread on here that people saved their batches and proceeded as normal and had good/great beer.

I filtered the h#ll out of my wort before transferring it to the 6.5g carboy, so I think I got most anything that would enter the fermenter.

I could not take a temp reading for the rest of the time due to fear that I would crack my other thermometer.

Another big issue I had was that after the boil and before we transferred to the carboy, I had boiled off 2g leaving only 4g of wort. I topped off with another gallon of water, so I hope that is okay.

Lastly, and I know its barely been 8 hours, but there was no fermentation starting when I checked this morning. It looked like there were a couple bubbles in the airlock, but that was a quick glance.

What do you think?! (Besides RDWHAHB?)

Q: How hot is a boil?
A: 212 degrees F. You don't need a thermometer to tell you that!

Yes, many have broken their thermometers in this exact fashion. The next time it happens and someone posts the question, you can answer it!

Straining out the balls should be sufficient. You can now stop worrying about that one.

Adding make-up water at the end of the boil is appropriate. I always keep a jug of Ice Mountain on hand for exactly that reason.

What was the temperature when you pitched the yeast? If it was within shouting distance of room temperature, you'll be fine. I predict that by tomorrow morning, you have a nice layer of foam building up on your wort.

I pitched at 74-75 degrees. I used my other thermometer while cooling so at least i knew that temperature.

I was mostly worried about pre-boil/boil temp because I was supposed to be steeping the grains at 150 degrees. Come to find out, it looked like I was steeping at 180 degrees. Apparently my burner is quite strong, since it was pumping out some heat! Can't really complain about that I guess!

I'm thinking this mishap has convinced me I should buy one of those probe cooking digital thermometers with the timer (because I know its only a matter of time til I have a worty cell phone.

Is it okay to leave those thermometers in while steeping, etc?

That's a bit high for steeping.
You need to steep around 150, then pull the grains out, let 'em drip, or rinse them with water that's about 165-170.

Reason? - tannin extraction from the husks (which will give you an astringent taste) occurs above 170F.

Also, check the temperature preferences for your particular yeast - it's often 62-70. Cool down a bit more before pitching, and keep it within the range suggested.

Congrats on the first brew!!

Get a candy thermometer that you can clip to the side of your brew pot with a nice long probe to reach well into the pot. They can be used at boiling temps, hold up better than the digital thermometers with probe, and if you get a decent quality one it will be more accurate than a digital.

Yeah, that's what I was worried about, was steeping too high. Hence me wanting to use the thermometer...which turned out to be a bad choice.

I would love to get one of those clip on prob thermometers, but with a 13g pot, I would need a stem that is at least 2' long. Most of the long-stem ones are only 1'.

Everything's going to be fine. I made 3x the amount of mistakes on my first batch, and it turned out awesome.

I should think a probe thermometer should work fine when steeping grain, just make sure you scrub it well (don't want the juices from last nights pork roast in your wort!) and make sure it's suspended in such a way that it doesn't touch the bottom or sides.

If you steeped at 180°, you'll probably have ended up with a bit more tannins in the wort then you normally would, so your end product will probably be a bit more astringent then it otherwise would be. I wouldn't worry about it too much though, it should still be drinkable.

Sounds like you pitched in a decent range, though. It's a little on the high side, I think, but not terribly so. From what I've heard, you generally want to pitch at the temperature that the wort will be at when it's fermenting. On one of my first batches, I pitched at almost 90° (!). I had cooled the wort down to around 65°, but the water I had boiled, aerated, and put in the fermentor (I was doing a partial boil) had only cooled to around 110°! Long story short, (too late) it fermented fast, ended a little sweet, and only got to around 3.7%, but it was still a tasty pale ale.

All things considered, your beer'll be fine. If it's not perfect, all the more reason to get started on batch #2.

I broke a floating thermometer on my first batch while it was cooling. I was pretty worried about the balls, but it still turned out great.

I also like to break hydrometers. I broke the first two I got before I ever got a reading out of them.

I wish I had signature priveleges, because "Iwas worried about the balls, but it still turned out great" is perfect. I'm gonna have to caugh up the dough just to have that as my sig

This reminds me of my first "I think my first batch is screwed" post.

From what you're saying, you're fine. Yeah, the temp was a little high. Don't sweat it.

Just wait a week or so and you look inside. You will be convinced the krausen is some crazy alien infection worse than the BP oil spill.

I'm pretty clumsy and have broken three floating thermometers in the last five batches! The beer turned out fine-I think! Two are still fermenting.

Quick update...just over 24 hrs in the fermenter and no signs of fermentation.

mikeysab said:

I wish I had signature priveleges, because "Iwas worried about the balls, but it still turned out great" is perfect. I'm gonna have to caugh up the dough just to have that as my sig

Click to expand...

I had "little balls" before I previewed it and change it.

fightingillini said:

Quick update...just over 24 hrs in the fermented and no signs of fermentation.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't get too worried just yet. And just because the airlock isn't bubbling doesn't mean it's not fermenting. As Revvy and others would tell you, it's possible it's not airtight and the CO2 is escaping elsewhere.

I'm interested to see how things turn out. My first kit should arrive from
idwest tomorrow. I ordered the same as you. the Big River Brown Ale.

I'm dying to get started!!

Update after 36 hours...

Still no signs of fermentation...airlock does have less vodka than it did on day one.

I thought it may have been fermenting too low (~66-68 degrees) so I moved it too a little higher temp. It's between 68-70 degrees.

I'm starting to worry...what do I do? I thought I aerated really well between straining it 2-3 times and shaking the carboy prior to pitching the yeast. The only thin I can think of at this point is that the smack pack didn't swell much but I thought I would be fine.

Do I pitch more yeast? Do I have to use the same exact one (Wyeast London 1028) or can I use the equivalent WL or a dry yeast. I don't have a stir plate or flask so it would be hard to do a starter.

Sorry for the long post!

Hang in there.

No foam or slime on top of the beer? Make sure you equipment is clean and check a gravity. If you have not moved, then yeah, pitch some more yeast. Just sprinkle some 05 and hope for the best.

One other thought: Lots of people have had enough gas leaks around seals to not see bubbles in the airlock. No shame if that is what has happened.

Nope, no slime or foam. It looks like it'd be quite tasty once fermented though. A nice dark color.

Stupid question though...What is 05?

Last stupid question for now...Should I refill my airlock to the "fill line" or just leave it be? There's still a good amount of vodka left in there, but not all the way to the fill line.

Yeah, get some more yeast in there.
Not a stupid question... http://www.fermentis.com/FO/pdf/HB/EN/Safale_US-05_HB.pdf that seems to be the one that I always have in the fridge. But at this point getting fermentation is your priority, so get anything in there that you have.
You can go ahead and put a bit more in the airlock -- if you overfill a bit it can get sucked back into the bucket.

I'm pretty sure the LHBS by my office has a good selection of yeasts so I'll be able to find what I need.

Would using 04 yeast be better than the 05 since I'm brewing a Northern England Brown Ale?

Ideally would I want to use the same exact yeast? or will it not make a difference?

Based on the instructions, I just sprinkle the yeast, wait 30 minutes, and re-aerate?

check your gravity first before you dump anything in. Airlock isn't a sign of fermentation

That is even better. Throw it in .

262andbrew said:

That is even better. Throw it in .

Click to expand...

You mean the 04 right?

And based on the instructions just sprinkle, wait 30 minutes, and aerate?

Sorry for all the questions!

Like Mikey said (an I said in my first post ). Check your gravity before adding oxygenating.

Air lock activity is not a sign of fermentation. My last beer had basically NO airlock activity and fermented out fine. Check your gravity. If you have any drop in gravity when you check leave it be and check again in a couple days. If no change add yeast and DO NOT aerate the wort as this will oxygenate your beer and ruin it. If there has not been ANY drop in gravity at all drop in another packet of yeast, close up your bucket or fermentation vessel and give it a good shake.

Oh, I know airlock activity is not a tell-tale sign of fermentation, so I wasn't relying on it, but rather using it as a secondary sign.

Either way, I repitched the yeast on Monday and have a nice layer of krausen forming!

Hooray Beer!

just out of curiosity, what was your primary sign? I re-read the whole thread and you only said no bubbles in the airlock.

I just used a cheap instant read meat thermometer and it seemed to work fine. I just kept a close eye on it for steeping to not let it get too high. Granted you have to dip it in there a few times, but it really is not a big deal.