Thanks for all the info here. I brewed my second brew today around lunch time. A blue moon clone. Anyhow it went pretty well but here is what I screwed up. I am drinking a crappy michelob lager and sipped some of my apfelwein gravity sample (which my wife likes so far at only 3 weeks in) so I'm ok with my mistakes. But I want to see what you guys think.
Mistakes:
1. I boiled 3 gallons water, leaving about 2 inches from the top of the pot. So instead of all of the LME, I only added half at first, some during the middle and the rest towards the end. I figure no big deal reading about "late addition"
2. Adding hops: Full heat on my gas stove barely kept the 3 gallons at a rolling boil. So I would put the lid on for a minute or two here or there to get a more aggresive boil. One time I guess I left it on too long and the hops got stuck to the lid....and I didn't realize it for 2 to 3 minutes....but I scraped them off and added them back to the wort as soon as I realized this.
3. Cooling. Probable the dumbest mistake if someone could comment on this one, it would be great. I put the pot in the sink and added Ice, water, and SALT around the pot. woops, I sprinkled a little Kosher salt in the wort....dumb ass klutz. It wasn't much but it was stupid. Does salt have any effect on taste or fermentation?????? Fermentation has started so NO I am not worried, I'm just pissed at myself.
Everything else went well!!
End rant,
thanks.
Mistakes:
1. I boiled 3 gallons water, leaving about 2 inches from the top of the pot. So instead of all of the LME, I only added half at first, some during the middle and the rest towards the end. I figure no big deal reading about "late addition"
2. Adding hops: Full heat on my gas stove barely kept the 3 gallons at a rolling boil. So I would put the lid on for a minute or two here or there to get a more aggresive boil. One time I guess I left it on too long and the hops got stuck to the lid....and I didn't realize it for 2 to 3 minutes....but I scraped them off and added them back to the wort as soon as I realized this.
3. Cooling. Probable the dumbest mistake if someone could comment on this one, it would be great. I put the pot in the sink and added Ice, water, and SALT around the pot. woops, I sprinkled a little Kosher salt in the wort....dumb ass klutz. It wasn't much but it was stupid. Does salt have any effect on taste or fermentation?????? Fermentation has started so NO I am not worried, I'm just pissed at myself.
Everything else went well!!
End rant,
thanks.