Tripod
Well-Known Member
Hello HBT,
It's been a while but I wanted to share a crazy brew day experience in hopes that a new brewer may be able to get something out of it and learn from my mistake. Basically I am turning a total f**kup into a learning opportunity. I really have no idea how this will turn out but I'm planning to post results of a salvage attempt here as I track what will either be epic success or epic failure. Wish me luck!
OK, first I want to state that I have learned a very important truth about brewing that all new brewers will soon realize:
water + malt + hops + excellent sanatation + technique + time + patience = homebrew
That is why my title says "I did not ruin my beer" because no matter how you slice it, I am making beer. The recipe, on the other hand, was totally botched and there is no amount of salvaging that is going to magically fix it or bring it back to the intended original style...but I still made beer and there is no way I am dumping it. Period. Now for the details.
I have been teaching a buddy to brew and he naturally has a ton of questions. I do the best I can to answer what I can and refer him to some of my books for answers I don't have. We were planning an extract with steeping grains IPA - something really simple but great for explaing how adding the exact same type of hops at different times in the boil (along with dry-hopping) has a profound impact on the final product. This particular brew day, I let myself get really distracted by the questions and forgot to add the second half of the DME at the end of the boil! Boys and girls, I left out over 3 lbs of DME when the recipe calls for a total of 6.25 lbs!!!
*reapeatedly bangs forhead with stapler*
Now obviously I noticed a lower OG reading when everything was cooled and transferred (1.030 when shooting for around 1.056), but since I can't yet do a full boil I chalked up the low reading to poor mixture of wort and water to make the full 5 gallons even though I shook the carboy like a madman to aerate. I just didn't put it together until I had moved everything to my swamp cooler and pitched the yeast. I was at the end of clean up nearly 30 minutes after pitching when my buddy said "why do we have all this DME left over?"
*reapeatedly bangs forhead with stapler*
Once I regained composure, I decided to RDWHAHB - Best advice EVER, by the way - and came up with a plan. Like I mentioned before, I know I made beer but the recipe was totally botched. There was plenty of action and the yeasts (US-05) were doing their thing just not as rigorous as expected. I guess I made the world's first Light IPA, maybe? Either way I wanted to experiment rather than call it a loss.
The following morning, I boiled up about 3 qts. of water and added the 3 lbs. of DME I forgot the previous day. I let it boil a good 5 or 6 minutes to ensure sanitation, allowed it to quickly chill in an ice bath, sanatized the buh-gee-zus out of a funnel, and filled a spray bottle with the remaining iodophor solution. I sprayed the outside of the airlock and cork and opening to the carboy and placed the sanatized funnel inside. Then I carefully added the remaining DME mixture to the original wort which was alread fermenting. Yes, yes, I am a gambling man. Holy Moly did that take off like a rocket! The yeasts were already awake and feeding and when I introduced a second batch of food they went balistic! Naturally, the carboy is filled way to high so I knew a blow-off was inevitable if it worked. But I never thought it would work that well!
Bottom Line: I realize that adding the forgotten DME this way was not going to magically correct my mistake or automatically guarantee that I would hit my target OG. But I figured as long as my sanatation was superb, it couldn't hurt to experiment and it HAS to be a lot closer than if I just let it go. Still, i have no earthly idea what this will do to the final product but my plan is to post here every few days to let everyone know how it goes. As I said, this is either going to be an epic success or an epic failure but it should be enlightening no matter how it turns out. In about six weeks I'll be drinking it either way. I just won't be entering any competitions!
Wish me luck!
-Tripod
It's been a while but I wanted to share a crazy brew day experience in hopes that a new brewer may be able to get something out of it and learn from my mistake. Basically I am turning a total f**kup into a learning opportunity. I really have no idea how this will turn out but I'm planning to post results of a salvage attempt here as I track what will either be epic success or epic failure. Wish me luck!
OK, first I want to state that I have learned a very important truth about brewing that all new brewers will soon realize:
water + malt + hops + excellent sanatation + technique + time + patience = homebrew
That is why my title says "I did not ruin my beer" because no matter how you slice it, I am making beer. The recipe, on the other hand, was totally botched and there is no amount of salvaging that is going to magically fix it or bring it back to the intended original style...but I still made beer and there is no way I am dumping it. Period. Now for the details.
I have been teaching a buddy to brew and he naturally has a ton of questions. I do the best I can to answer what I can and refer him to some of my books for answers I don't have. We were planning an extract with steeping grains IPA - something really simple but great for explaing how adding the exact same type of hops at different times in the boil (along with dry-hopping) has a profound impact on the final product. This particular brew day, I let myself get really distracted by the questions and forgot to add the second half of the DME at the end of the boil! Boys and girls, I left out over 3 lbs of DME when the recipe calls for a total of 6.25 lbs!!!
*reapeatedly bangs forhead with stapler*
Now obviously I noticed a lower OG reading when everything was cooled and transferred (1.030 when shooting for around 1.056), but since I can't yet do a full boil I chalked up the low reading to poor mixture of wort and water to make the full 5 gallons even though I shook the carboy like a madman to aerate. I just didn't put it together until I had moved everything to my swamp cooler and pitched the yeast. I was at the end of clean up nearly 30 minutes after pitching when my buddy said "why do we have all this DME left over?"
*reapeatedly bangs forhead with stapler*
Once I regained composure, I decided to RDWHAHB - Best advice EVER, by the way - and came up with a plan. Like I mentioned before, I know I made beer but the recipe was totally botched. There was plenty of action and the yeasts (US-05) were doing their thing just not as rigorous as expected. I guess I made the world's first Light IPA, maybe? Either way I wanted to experiment rather than call it a loss.
The following morning, I boiled up about 3 qts. of water and added the 3 lbs. of DME I forgot the previous day. I let it boil a good 5 or 6 minutes to ensure sanitation, allowed it to quickly chill in an ice bath, sanatized the buh-gee-zus out of a funnel, and filled a spray bottle with the remaining iodophor solution. I sprayed the outside of the airlock and cork and opening to the carboy and placed the sanatized funnel inside. Then I carefully added the remaining DME mixture to the original wort which was alread fermenting. Yes, yes, I am a gambling man. Holy Moly did that take off like a rocket! The yeasts were already awake and feeding and when I introduced a second batch of food they went balistic! Naturally, the carboy is filled way to high so I knew a blow-off was inevitable if it worked. But I never thought it would work that well!
Bottom Line: I realize that adding the forgotten DME this way was not going to magically correct my mistake or automatically guarantee that I would hit my target OG. But I figured as long as my sanatation was superb, it couldn't hurt to experiment and it HAS to be a lot closer than if I just let it go. Still, i have no earthly idea what this will do to the final product but my plan is to post here every few days to let everyone know how it goes. As I said, this is either going to be an epic success or an epic failure but it should be enlightening no matter how it turns out. In about six weeks I'll be drinking it either way. I just won't be entering any competitions!
Wish me luck!
-Tripod