Tips for my first brew session please...

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Shaggy

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I recently ordered a kit from Austin.
Its an extract Lemongrass Wheat Ale.
Though I've read extensively and took a class...nothing beats getting tips from the pros lol.
I've also a couple questions posted below the recipe...

Heres the recipe/instructions:

2 1/2gal water to 155.
Turn off heat and steep grain bag (containing 1/2lb Cara Pils, 1/2lb Aromatic, 1/2lb 2-Row) for 15min then remove.
Return to heat to boil.
Turn off heat and stir in 8lb Wheat Extract (liquid).
Bring back to boil stirring well.
Bittering hops 1oz. Spalt @ 60min.
Flavor hops 1oz. Crystal @15min left.
Aroma 1oz. Lemongrass @ 0min.

Cool and top off with enough water to = 5 1/4 gal.

Using WL American Hefeweizen Ale 320 yeasties.

OG target is 1.058
FG target is 1.012



So, my questions...

1. Add the lemongrass at 0 min? I'm not sure I get how that works overall.

2. The bittering/flavor hops are pellets and the lemongrass is, well, lemongrass. Should these be put in individual grain sacks or the like to help with straining? I've a "filter" in my funnel but for some reason I picture it getting pretty clogged as is lol.

3. When going to cool the wort, I've read to cool it first then to pour into fermenter with water already in and then top off to desired amount. Is there a reason I couldn't put a couple gallons of cold water into a big sanitized pot and pour the hot wort into that first to help cool, then mix well and pour all into the fermenter?


Thats all off the top of my head.
TIA!!!

:mug:
 
Recpie looks good. Procedures look fine.

1. Just put it in once you turn the burner off and it will leach out into the beer while it cools. It will add a good bit of aroma to the final product and a little lemongrass flavor. Just dump it in, it will be fine.

2. You can use sacks or filter, either are fine. If some gets into primary - so be it. It won't hurt anything - some people don't strain at all.

3. You don't want to 'pour' hot wort. You want it to be cool before you dump or otherwise aerate by splashing. I would put it into your sink in an icewater bath - should cool it down most of the way, then put into bucket with cool water. You want the end result to be good pitching temp so warmer wort and cooler water or all the same temp. Just get the wort under ~100 or as close to room as possible before you go dumping.

You'll be fine. Sounds tasty.
 
Welcome. The first batch is a fun one.

1. 0 min means 0 minutes left in the boil. So wait until you have boiled for 60 minutes and are ready to start cooling. At that point, throw in the lemongrass.

2. Some kind of containment is usually useful for hops and other additions. If you have hop bags, I'd say use them. If you don't, no big deal. Just try to strain the lemongrass and hop "mush" out of the solution when you transfer. If you don't get all of it, it will just settle in your fermenter with the trub (long protein strains and yeast).

3. You could pour the hot wort into colder water, but it is a bit easier to cool 2 gallons of hot wort to your target than 5 gallons. I would fill your sink halfway up with ice and water and keep the boil pot moving around as much as possible. You want to cool the wort very fast so that the cold break forms and will fall out of solution. The other advantage here is that you will be able to accurately control the final volume by adding cool water to the wort rather than wort to the water.

3.5 When you do get everything mixed together, give the wort/water a good mixing and shaking. You want to get a lot of oxygen into the fermenter. Boiling the wort for 60 minutes has taken most of the O2 out of solution. Shaking will help the oxygen get back in there. Also, having a good mixture will give you a more accurate specific gravity reading.

Once you get a few batches under your belt and you think you want to pursue the hobby, I would pick up a chiller of one sort or another and some kind of oxygen infuser.


Cheers
 
Shaggy said:
So, my questions...

1. Add the lemongrass at 0 min? I'm not sure I get how that works overall.

It's called a "Flameout Addition." When your clock reads 60, you turn off the flame and drop the lemongrass in, they want you to do that so you don't cook away the flavor/aroma of the lemongrass.

Some recipes call for a flameout hop addition as well.

2. The bittering/flavor hops are pellets and the lemongrass is, well, lemongrass. Should these be put in individual grain sacks or the like to help with straining? I've a "filter" in my funnel but for some reason I picture it getting pretty clogged as is lol.

It's your choice to use hopsacks or not. I did for my first few batches, now I just dump everything in and then strain it into my bucket using a large sanitized kitchen strainer I got at the dollar store....

Look up whirlpooling in the wiki, it shows you what to do to compact the gunk in the bottom of the pot before you pour off the wort, leaving MOST of the gunk behind.

If you're going into a carboy no matter what, your funnel will clog at somepoint. I've seen pics of some brewers using a big collander set inside a funnel, to strain most of it before it gets into the funnel. Don't forget to sanitize.

3. When going to cool the wort, I've read to cool it first then to pour into fermenter with water already in and then top off to desired amount. Is there a reason I couldn't put a couple gallons of cold water into a big sanitized pot and pour the hot wort into that first to help cool, then mix well and pour all into the fermenter?

Most people don't because they don't have pots large enough, or don't want to have to dump 4+ Gallons of liquid into their fermentor...It's easier to control a couple gallons rather than that...I've done a couple batches, one mead, and one PM Beer where I ended up with nearly 4.5 gallons in my 5 gallon pot....Once I got the pot cooled down enough, I used my autosiphon, and racked the liquid into my fermentor...but you have to get the temp down below the temp where you'll melt your autosiphon though. (I think there's a pic on here of someone's melted and still working autosiphon.)

Welcome to your new obsession!!!

Biggest advice I can give is to read the sticky threads in the beginners forum...Including the Stone Cold Locked one...

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY- Relax, Don't Worry!!!!:mug:
 
This may sound like a bad think to do but I used to slowly pour the hot wert over ice in my fermentor. I can say that I never had a batch go bad doing this and my local brewery said that it was fine to do this. It also served to aereate the wert at the same time.
 
beerfan said:
This may sound like a bad think to do but I used to slowly pour the hot wert over ice in my fermentor. I can say that I never had a batch go bad doing this and my local brewery said that it was fine to do this. It also served to aereate the wert at the same time.

Aren't you afraid of the boogeyman? Boogyman in this case is hot side areation. I don't think it is as big a deal as some companies/magazines/books/people make it out to be. I'm guessing it could be a problem maybe 1 time in 20 and the wort would probably have to be pretty hot when you are splashing it around. Personally, I had a good time making my immersion chiller and I am excited by how fast it cools the wort down.
 
After brewing my first beer (I'm just about ready to go to secondary) here are my newbie words of wisdom.

1. Relax, its fun

2. You will screw something up, could be minor or major, but it's gonna happen, and probably more than once. It probably won't affect the beer at all.

3. See number 1 when number 2 happens

4. If you are using a pot only slightly larger than the boil volume buy a new larger pot (preferably) or be prepared to watch it like a hawk.

5. Before sterilizing your fermenter use a gallon jug and mark gallons and 1/2 gallons starting around 4 up to around 6. I didn't and now I won't know how under volume I am until I switch to secondary.

6. Sterilize an extra glass and spoon. You will forget you need it again and throw it in the sink/etc.

7. In a separate pot boil a gallon or so of water and then take it off the stove (with a top) and let it cool. This will be used for random things such as top off after adding wort, rinsing items, etc. Better to have it ready and cool than rush boil something or use tap water risking possible (unlikely) infection.

8. If you want to use ice to cool (and put it IN the wort) make your own from sterilized water in sterile containers. I plan to do this with my next batch to help quickly chill the wort better than just sticking it in the sink. A medium-sized tupperware container holding 1/4 gallon of ice will really speed up the cooling since its in direct contact with the wort and not transferring heat through the pot.

9. If using glass, the carboys are no joke. These boys are HEAVY and slippery when wet.

10. If possible put the fermenter above ground level (on a desk/crates/etc). When you rack to secondary or bottling bucket its nice to be able to not move the primary fermenter. This keeps sediment at the bottom and dried krausen at the top, and all but eliminates a dropping hazard.

Goodluck, its addictive!
 
Thanks for your time everyone! I really appreciate the info and advice.
I need to pick up a few odds/ends at my LHBS before I get to this...but hopefully Friday night I can start this up!

:mug:

Ohhhh...just had a thought...should this beer go to secondary?
Directions state to go to secondary 5-7 days to clear.
 
Shaggy said:
Thanks for your time everyone! I really appreciate the info and advice.
I need to pick up a few odds/ends at my LHBS before I get to this...but hopefully Friday night I can start this up!

:mug:

Ohhhh...just had a thought...should this beer go to secondary?
Directions state to go to secondary 5-7 days to clear.

I would suggest to follow the directions given. I know that some members here secondary some of their wheat beers to clear it some. I personally don't.

You might also want to consider doing a late-extract addition, inwhich you put about half of the malt extract at the beginning of the boil and the rest at the 15 minute mark. By doing this you will minimize the extract "twang" and lighten the color of your brew. It will increase the overall utilization and bitterness imparted by the hops, but it isnt noticeable in my AHS Bavarian Hefeweizen.
 
I would skip secondary and just leave it in your primary fermenter for 3 - 4 weeks or so before bottling. Wheats aren't supposed to be crystal clear anyway. Keep your first bach simple as you can so that you get used to everything. You'll get to the point where things start becoming second nature, but those first batches start getting hectic sometimes!

After topping off don't forget to shake it like crazy. This will aerate the wort and mix together your wort and topoff water to create a homogenous solution. Take a hydrometer reading if possible. I suggest picking up a wine thief for hydrometer samples.

Hot side aeration will lead to a cardboard taste in your beer, but it takes a little bit of time to develop by my understanding. You will finish this beer before it develops, but better to get started using sound techniques. Cool your wort in an ice water bath in your sink before racking/dumping into your primary.
 
Cool...I was thinking about trying the late-extract addition but wasn't quite sure if I should stray from the directions.
Though, all I've read here have had positive comments about it.

Same with the secondary....directions said to let it clear in one...but I was under the impression that I would not need to. I'm a fan of commercial yeasty beers so I'd imagine this should not be hugely different in theory. Maybe I'll rack to the secondary for just a couple days for the practice anyway.

Thanks again everyone!
:)
 
Welcome to HBT

You might as well just keep it in the primary - want to keep this simple, and the clearing tank isn't such a big deal for the wheat.

I have had good success sticking with just the primary, then bottling after 3-4 weeks. Enjoy in another 2-3.
 
Eh, the only practice it will give you is cleaning, sanitizing, and starting your autosiphon. You can practice with your auto-siphon using water, and practice cleaning on your dishes :D Keep it simple and eliminate a step that isn't necessary for your desired product. I'm sure you'll catch the bug and have many secondaries to rack to in your brewing career.
 
Yeah, I wouldn't go to secondary. You can practice racking to your bottling bucket. Exactly the same procedure, but now you have 1 less thing to clean and you're ready to bottle.

The only reason to rack would be to have the primary to start another batch! But if the size of your secondary is the same as your primary (or you don't own a secondary yet) you could just use that for another batch.
 
lol....what an experience this was!
Most went smooth...and of course we learned a lot.
Now for the obligatory commentary....


I think the boil pot I used is just way too big ($19 for 32qt aluminum tamale steamer was used)....too much surface area (its wide, not tall). This is besides my stove, while natural gas and less than a year old, isn't top of the line hardcore lol.
Recipe called for a 2 1/2 gal boil....so I did 2 1/2 with an extra 2 cups figuring some evaporation.
Took about 30min to get the boil going which I don't think is too bad.
However, after adding 1/4+ of the LME after steeping the grains off flame for 15min and stirring on a cool burner...it took almost 45 odd minutes to get a reasonable boil going again.
Started the 60min timer...followed the hop schedule and dumped in the balance of the LME at 15min. You could hear the mixture under flame sound "different" even after all dissolved if you let it sit without stirring. Must be the sugars? We kept stirring when need be though all seemed dissolved.
Added the lemongrass at flame out.

Now...the wort cooling was where I had some concern from the get go.
The boil pot was too big to fit in my kitchen sink, but my basement slop sinks would work well I found.
I put two bricks in figuring it would be good to have water underneath the pot and then filled up the sink with water and added 2 bags of small ice. It worked fairly well and we got under 100f in decent time (I'd guess 20 odd min). I added 1 gal of water to the carboy figuring I would need to top off to just over 5 1/4 gal per instruction anyway and thought it would help cool the wort for sure.

So...all was well until we tried to pour the wort through the funnel with the included screen. Oh my that wasn't working too well with all the lemongrass about as well as the mushed up hop pellets etc lol!
For one...the funnel neck is too big and if stuck hard in the carboy, it blocks air from coming out therefore not letting wort in. Also, the screen worked too well lol.
So, we had to improvise. I rinsed then sanitized a plastic beer pitcher (the kind you see at carnival beer tents etc.) so we could do better controlled pours into the carboy by dipping into the pot and pouring from there.
I would hold the funnel at an angle, pour the wort and my SO would scrape the goodies out of the screen.
This process from cooling to all in, took almost a hour!!!
So, with the 1gal fresh already in and now all the available wort...we came to just over 3gal. I assume between the evap on the boil and the liquid that the grains and lemongrass etc. absorbed we lost about 2qts.
Anyway...we went back upstairs and added up to 4 1/2 gallons of water and shook the carboy for a bit...then topped off to 5 1/4.
Now paranoia set in as with the time passed as is and topping off with my house cold tap...the therm strip on the carboy read 63!!!! <grrrrrrrr>

Took a grav reading and hit 1.054 which was close to the instructions estimate of 1.058. I'd guess were doing ok then...I"m a n00b reading these but think I did ok.

Well, we were running late as is (heading into the city to see Zakir Hussein and the Masters of Percussion at Symphony Center) so the room temp liquid yeast was pitched straight from the bottle. Ambient temp in the room its kept was about 67 at the time. I kicked up my thermostat to 70 on the next day (Sunday) early afternoon and gave a swirl with my auto siphon after seeing no real activity. By about 9pm there was small bubbles starting and then this morning (Monday) you could see it working much harder with kreusen forming and some churning. Nothing up to the blow off though then.
So, I turned my thermostat from 70 to 68 thinking today will be warm and heat up that room plus the yeasties munching should hold the temp steady if not bring it up.
I'm looking forward to getting home and checking where its at lol.
If its getting too warm I'll make more changes or bring to the basement.


All around it was a pretty fun process.
I learned that I can't wait for my immersion chiller to arrive so as to avoid the mess of the sink bath as well as save time.
I learned I need to buy a hand veggie collander or such to get the big crap out the way before I go through that funnel.

Well...any thoughts/comments/tips etc. from you pros if you suffered through this long post lol?
I'd appreciate any input.
I did take some pix but left the camera at home so I can't post them from the office...if need be I will later.

:mug:
 
I do 1.5 gal boils and late additions.

I try to keep my boiling OG near 1.040 so I only boil about 1 lb of malt in the 1.5 gals.

I use 1 gal jugs of PUR filtered tap water placed in the freezer for 4-5 hours prior to brewing and use it as top off water. Most of the times I can get the temp down into the 60s just by topping off.

You may want to look into a bucket strainer. It is made of nylon and looks like a shower cap. I hold it in place on my bucket with 6 clothes pins because the weight of the hops and water will make it fall into the primary.

I also use it when I use grain. Same process.

MOst people do not secondary a German-style Hefe Weizen, but I do. A secondary is basically used for clearing, allowing the yeast to fall out to make a clear brew. HWs are usually cloudy with yeast in suspension.

I've learned that by doing a secondary that I can control how much yeast to put back into the brew prior to bottling. I suck it up from the yeast in the secondary, but as I said...I control how much yeast goes back into suspension...without a secondary you can't know how much you'll get. OK, actually, you'll get all that's present. Some people complain that it's up to 1/4". With that said, yeast is not a bad thing. It contains Vitamin B which is good for you.

Just a few things to think about. ;)
 
Thanks for your thoughts!!!
I appreciate that....

One thing I just thought of....using the late LME addition...
Reading on boils etc. I seem to pick up that there should be tons of foam or such when you add all the LME and bring back to a boil.
When I added the 1/4 of 8# wheat LME...I never saw that occur when the bubbles came back. Should I have waited for it to boil harder? Not sure it could boil harder though with how big the damn pot is lol.
I never saw any "boil over" potential...then again with how big the pot was I'm not sure if one was possible lol. It was bubbling though and way too hot to touch....
The balance of the LME added at 15min left I understand is enough time just to sanitize and thats what you're after.
 
The ton of foam you were expecting seems to occur with DME much more often than with LME, not to say that it won't happen with LME.

Your overall first brew day didn't go that bad at all (definately better than lots), but I'm sure you realize a little bit better when most advice to first timers is keep it simple! No matter how much you go over your process in your head something always seems to happen.

Regarding your brew pot, I probably have the same/really similar one. Mine just fits over two burners on my gas stove though, so you might want to investigate that.

If you are going to continue using liquid yeast, which you should if looking for special yeast characteristics, I suggest your next brew step to be making starters. You'll get a fermentation that starts a heck of a lot faster. Plus it doesn't take much time and you get to do something brewing related between batches.
 
That long time to get back to boil can be shortened tremendously if you cover the pot while building heat. All of that evaporation takes a LOT of heat away from the wort. Once you get back to a boil, remove the top and continue as normal. Should cut that 45min down to under 20 if the lid fits well.

And I almost did the same thing with that little strainer in the funnel (I assume you're using a glass carboy), I just looked at it for a minute and said, "Yeah, that ain't going to work". :) For my future brews I'll be doing the whirlpool trick and siphoning into the primary instead of trying to filter out the break with a strainer. To be honest though during my first brew I completely forgot to strain anything (just dumped it all into the primary), and on racking to secondary it tasted mighty fine, so it may not matter much! There was definitely a lot more trub than normal, but that's the beauty of a 6.5gallon primary, no worry about overflowing during fermentation (at least with this particular brew).

HTH
 
Thanks again everyone for the comments, tips, and reassurance!!
Yeah....it was quite a learning experience but we both felt like we did OK all considered. Next batch we should do even better thanks to stumbling a bit on this one.
Yes, I'm using a glass carboy...only a 6gal though.
This morning it was about 70/71F and bubbling/churning nicely with no blow off.
 
You already brewed - but I figure I'll just throw my tip in anyway:

1 tsp of Irish moss at 15 minutes. Put it in a zip lock bag and tape it in front of your face while you brew so you don't forget it. : )
 
Thanks...I did buy some but didn't think on using it for this wheat.
: )

Its still churning away well....nice kreusen on top but hasn't went crazy and made use of the blow off. I'm wondering if thats because of the temp I pitched at etc....
 
Heres a pic of my temp brew resting area.
Apfelwein on the left and the Lemongrass wheat on the right.
I'll prob start more Apfelwein in one or two of my extra 5gal carboys soon....


2008-04-25AHSLemongrassWheatBrewSes.jpg
 
Shaggy said:
Thanks...I did buy some but didn't think on using it for this wheat.
: )

Its still churning away well....nice kreusen on top but hasn't went crazy and made use of the blow off. I'm wondering if thats because of the temp I pitched at etc....

everything looks good. Once the yeast gets going your good. If you pitch too hot you will know because it will either take forever to get going or it wont go at all.

The only thing i can tell you is make sure to leave it be. I had a tendency to always keep checking my brew when i started which is risky because everytime you open it you risk infection by foreign yeast or bacteria. I always wet down around the airlock with starsan or some other food grade sanatiser to avoid that problem. Looks great though. Welcome to the homebrewing world
 
That is a fantastic setup you have (drooling). I want your chiller! Anyways, everything looks good. The only thing I might recommend (if your room gets a lot of light) is to wrap the carboys in some black plastic or other light-preventing fabric. Oh and your hardwood floor looks great....I'd hate for you to come home to a puddle on it....
 
Thanks scinerd3000!
I pitched this one a bit too cold @ 63 I believe but all seems to be going well this past week+.
I'm good with patience, so I'll probably take a grav reading in between the wheats second and third week to see where its at (2wks would be this coming Sat.)
I'll starsan the bung etc., take the reading, and then take off the blow off tube and replace with reg 3pc airlock.
If grav looks good, I'll be bottling the week after methinks.

:mug:


7Enigma...that chiller was made by a fellow HBTer! I've yet to use it but I like the quality for sure.
The room its in gets very little light through those vertical blinds...nothing direct for sure and only lamp light when I'm in there fussing for a few on any given day. Thats not too much is it? I did have the beer wrapped at first but then the temps got hot at about 72 so I took it off and ran the ceiling fan.
I'm starting to work on finishing my basement and will have a more perm spot for brew stuff down there when complete.
I can't wait!

:mug:
 
Shaggy said:
Thanks scinerd3000!
I did have the beer wrapped at first but then the temps got hot at about 72 so I took it off and ran the ceiling fan.
:mug:

my house is hot as hell...was like 78 the other day. Not great for the beer but as you will see it still turns out. The warmer temps tend to bring out certain flavors in the yeast like fruity ones (Phenols) and the cooler temps bring out Clove type flavors in wheat beers. Depends what you want. If they end up overpowering thats why you can age them. When they sit in the bottles for an extended period the flavors mellow out alot and you may end up with a better beer than you started with.
 
Right on.
I guess I may get a bit of banana since it ran "hot" for a couple days at 70/72 and the yeast apparently want 65-69. I don't mind that at all as long as its not overpowering. Its been in the target temp range after that though so maybe it will balance some and with time as you mentioned, it will.
I had to move the setup a bit last night and the carboy received some gentle rocking (no splashing) and I noticed a bunch of what looks like yeast clumps etc. drop out the kreusen. There has been some settling I can see on the bottom over the past say 5 days, but overall there still seems to be plenty of action going on in there lol.
 
Quick question regarding gravity readings....

Is it worth it to take a gravity reading when you can see your brew is still "alive"?
When looking in the carboy, I can still see action in there. There is still regular burping out the blow off etc. This brew was started 2 weeks ago tomorrow and first signs of fermentation came late the the following day.
Thoughts?
TIA!!

:mug:
 
You can always check the gravity readings any time you want. The downside is that every time you do, you risk contamination. I checked a lot for my first few batches because I was interested in attenuation rate, but I wait a few days after it looks finished to check now (and then I wait 2 days and check again to make sure).
 
As someone who doesn't currently have a hygrometer I can safely say NO there is no reason to check now. While lack of airlock activity is not a perfect measure for when to rack/bottle, churning of the yeast in the fermenter and airlock burping is a very good indication that you are not ready to transfer/bottle.

You can take a sample if you wish, but its just one more chance for contamination and cleaning. Wait for the activity to tail off/stop, then check.

EDIT: Beat me to it! :)
 
Thanks!
:mug:
I've been thinking along those lines myself, but looking for reassurance lol!
I'll let it do its thing until it looks still, then take a reading to see where everything is at.
 
So...this was started on 4/19.
Its coming up on 3 weeks now tomorrow and its still "alive". While theres some sedimentation you can surely see...there is also some churning going on, there is still kreusen foam/bubbles with yeast clumps, and the airlock bubbles.

I guess from reading on here so many people that have fast and furious fermentations has me second guessing my first brews health and I want my newborn to be ok lol....
Any reassurances?

:)

:mug:
 
As someone who doesn't currently have a hygrometer I can safely say NO there is no reason to check now. While lack of airlock activity is not a perfect measure for when to rack/bottle, churning of the yeast in the fermenter and airlock burping is a very good indication that you are not ready to transfer/bottle.

I don't have a hygrometer either. But I do have (and use) a hydrometer :D

Jokes aside, 7Enigma's right. You use a hydrometer to determine if it's done. If you KNOW it isn't done, there's no point having a hydrometer tell you that... When its' almost done, the yeasties will gather up and prepare for a long winters nap. Then, you should can start checking it...
 
If you KNOW it isn't done, there's no point having a hydrometer tell you that... When its' almost done, the yeasties will gather up and prepare for a long winters nap. Then, you should can start checking it...


Agreed. I mean, it still looks alive so it can't be done.
I'm more looking for reassurance (I'm not impatient) that 3 weeks bubbling is "normal" as I've read a lot of "Wow my wheat violently fermented" in much less time than mine.
Since this is my first, I guess I may be paranoid.

:mug:
 
Agreed. I mean, it still looks alive so it can't be done.
I'm more looking for reassurance (I'm not impatient) that 3 weeks bubbling is "normal" as I've read a lot of "Wow my wheat violently fermented" in much less time than mine.
Since this is my first, I guess I may be paranoid.

:mug:


All depends on how many viable yeast cells you had when you pitched. Things like chlorine in the water (if you topped off with tap), inproper hydrating or not hydrating at all, old yeast, temperature shock, oxygenation of the wort, etc. can all greatly decrease the numbers. Once they deplete the oxygen the numbers don't increase much from my understanding and so if you only have a million yeast vs. 10 million it can greatly slow the fermentation down (making up numbers here). I think you should just ignore it for a couple days and come back later. It's only going to get better....

And I'd love to blame the g/d error on mistyping but I thought it was hygro....:eek:
 
Thanks! Makes clearer sense to me now...
I did make some "mistakes"...

Topped off with tap.
Did not use starter on liquid yeast.
Temp was too low at pitch...63f.

Did oxygenate well though lol!!!
I'll just keep letting it roll and of course will update comments/questions as I go.
This has been a great learning experience so far....

Thanks again.
:mug:
 
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