Fell asleep while wort was chilling

Hey guys. I'm a newbie brewer. I brewed my first batch this past Wednesday night. It was a pale ale from a kit from the local brew store. Everything was fine until I added the wort to the primary fermenter. I added 3 gallons of the hot wort to two gallons of cold water. At this time I had no ideas to cool it down. I set it outside with the lid on to cool to 75. As I was waiting I fell asleep watching tv and didn't pitch the yeast till the next morning.

Is this an issue? It took about 24 hours to see any activity in the airlock. I was getting activity about every 45 seconds. After two days there's been no activity. I'm sure I'm just paranoid. When I pitched the yeast my wort was at 72 degrees and has been fermenting between 71 and 74 degrees.

It SHOULD be fine. I would take a hydrometer reading and see where you're at.

I bet it'll be fine man, especially being outside with lid.

Should be fine. Take a hydrometer reading to know how close you are to final gravity. Airlock activity is fun to watch, but not an accurate indicator of fermentation.

I've done that before when I was starting out. My beer came out fine!! I was also using ice up to the 3gal mark. Ice out of the freezer's ice maker.. never had problems

Is there anything around the house to use to drop the hydrometer in for a reading?

bruben said:

Is there anything around the house to use to drop the hydrometer in for a reading?

Click to expand...

If you are in a pinch you could use the tube your hydrometer came in (most I have seen have a clear plastic container tube).

ACarver said:

If you are in a pinch you could use the tube your hydrometer came in (most I have seen have a clear plastic container tube).

Click to expand...

That's not a bad idea. I ordered a thief but I won't have it for a few days. Thanks.

Just use the tube it came with, works great and takes less beer to get a reading.

If you're using a plastic bucket fermenter, you can also simply drop the hydrometer into the bucket, read it, then pull it out - less risk of contamination and no wasted beer

If it appears to be fermenting, why bother taking a hydrometer reading at this point? Its going to be different the next few hours, the next day, the next few days, etc. It's wasting beer for information that isn't very useful.

There is no problem with next day pitching, provided you were good with sanitation. No worries there.

johngaltsmotor said:

less risk of contamination

Click to expand...

Not really, you still need to get something in the fermenter to take the reading; thief, turkey baster or hydro, the risk is pretty much the same. Very minimal if you're sanitary. You're right about the wasted beer thing, though.

I just don't wanna waste good beer taking a reading. Do you tend to find that with a 5 gallon batch there's enough for 48 bottles?

bruben said:

I just don't wanna waste good beer taking a reading. Do you tend to find that with a 5 gallon batch there's enough for 48 bottles?

Click to expand...

there should be, that all depends on how close you like to rack to the the trub layer, how accurate your measurements were, loss, blowoff etc.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

Not really, you still need to get something in the fermenter to take the reading; thief, turkey baster or hydro, the risk is pretty much the same. Very minimal if you're sanitary. You're right about the wasted beer thing, though.

Click to expand...

Not only that, but in dropping the hydrometer in tends to cause the entire thing to go under including the part where your lactobacillus-laced fingers have touched it.

With a thief, you can sanitize it and use it without cross-contaminating it.

Its probably not a big deal in practice, but technically speaking using a thief is a better way to do it.

my hydrometer lives in a bucket of StarSan. You just pull it out, drop it in your fermenter (buckets for me) and read it. You don't really need to take a reading for at least 5-7 days, and between the alcohol in the fermenter and the totally clean hydrometer you have no worries. Beer is WAAAAAY more forgiving than most people think.

Your biggest thing (if I read it correctly) was adding your hot wort to unsanitized water. That water should be boiled first, then cooled to add as top up water. Even then, it's probably fine as-is.

Komodo said:

my hydrometer lives in a bucket of StarSan. You just pull it out, drop it in your fermenter (buckets for me) and read it. You don't really need to take a reading for at least 5-7 days, and between the alcohol in the fermenter and the totally clean hydrometer you have no worries. Beer is WAAAAAY more forgiving than most people think.

Your biggest thing (if I read it correctly) was adding your hot wort to unsanitized water. That water should be boiled first, then cooled to add as top up water. Even then, it's probably fine as-is.

Click to expand...

The water was ro straight out of the gallon jugs.

broadbill said:

Not only that, but in dropping the hydrometer in tends to cause the entire thing to go under including the part where your lactobacillus-laced fingers have touched it.

With a thief, you can sanitize it and use it without cross-contaminating it.

Its probably not a big deal in practice, but technically speaking using a thief is a better way to do it.

Click to expand...

Pretty much what I was thinkin'.

bruben said:

I just don't wanna waste good beer taking a reading. Do you tend to find that with a 5 gallon batch there's enough for 48 bottles?

Click to expand...

I find I get 45-55 bottles per ~5 gal batch depending on loss. Don't sweat the ~3 or 4 ozs it takes to get a reading.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

Pretty much what I was thinkin'.

I find I get 45-55 bottles per ~5 gal batch depending on loss. Don't sweat the ~3 or 4 ozs it takes to get a reading.

Click to expand...

That's good to know.

you should be fine, but to be certain you need to send everyone here a bottle to check it out.

Hydrometer samples are for early tasting not wasting!!! I believe that ro water can be lacking of some nutrients the yeast might enjoy...I use bottled spring water myself and never boil the top-off...no infections either.

wilsojos said:

Hydrometer samples are for early tasting not wasting!!! I believe that ro water can be lacking of some nutrients the yeast might enjoy...I use bottled spring water myself and never boil the top-off...no infections either.

Click to expand...

I've heard the same about ro water. Everyone seems to have their own opinion regarding water, and it was the most confusing part of my first batch. Am I right in assuming that for the initial boil tap water would be fine, since anything harmful would get boiled off?

General consensus is, if the water is good to drink its good to brew with.

So last night I made the move to the secondary. My hydrometer reading was at 1.04, just .01 short of the final gravity. I worried for nothing. The yeast did its job. 7 more days and ill be bottling. Time to get some labels made,

bruben said:

Am I right in assuming that for the initial boil tap water would be fine, since anything harmful would get boiled off?

Click to expand...

Plan a day ahead and let as much water that your going to use sit out so the chlorine can evaporate. If you have chloramine you use campden tablet to help dissipate it. Or just invest in a carbon filter

bruben said:

So last night I made the move to the secondary. My hydrometer reading was at 1.04, just .01 short of the final gravity. I worried for nothing. The yeast did its job. 7 more days and ill be bottling. Time to get some labels made,

Click to expand...

I hope you left out a digit here - if it is truly 1.04 then you've got issues. 1.014 or 1.004 I could believe, even 1.024 for a truly chewy beer, but not 1.04.

So my first brew is bottled and sitting in my closet. My final gravity was right on point. I drank a glass and holy hell, it actually tasted like beer. To say I'm hooked on brewing is an understatement. I sold the majority of my record collection and was able to pick up a double corny keg setup, mini fridge, a few other odds and ends as well as ingredients for another brew, which is already in the primary fermenter. I plan on experimenting with ingredients on this one. I've got some blood oranges to throw in the secondary.

This is definitely a lifelong hobby for both my fiancé and I.