How bad did i screw up?

Hi, i wanted to ask the pros around here for an opinion.

I went ahead with an amber ale for a first time malt extract brew and the boil went well. I think its important to note that i had an especially large kettle so i did a full 5 gallon boil off the bat. It did take me a few hours to chill the wort to acceptable pitching level and up until that point i was conducting things pretty well with regards to sanitation.


Then came the transfer to the primary, i tried to funnel it all through with the screen and eventually i got to the last inch or so which kept clogging the funnel and i ultimately started to panic with regards to sanitation as the funnel kept falling in (which i had to keep touching) and i was getting sloppy. I didnt realize at that point i couldve just dumped the final inch with all the trub into the primary, but again, i panicked and just got rid of the last inch altogether. The primary was up to 4 gallons and I ended up having to fill the final gallon with water to get it to 5 gallons.

In addition when i was doing the boil, after i poured in all of the LME, the bottle seemed empty but apparently after letting it sit and sap down the sides, there was probably a half of a cup left over that didnt get used. Couldve been less, it didnt seem like a ton at the time.



Ok, take all of that in combination and thats where i am right now, one day later the primary's airlock is bubbling away so I assume fermenting is proceeding at a decent clip but im wondering about the ABV and possible contamination and overall flavor. Any ideas?

Sounds like a normal brew day to me. Did you take a gravity reading? What was it?

In the future you will want to find a way to cool the wort faster. You'll probably give up on the strainer. And, you will remember to scrape out the last of the extract. No big deal.

Yeah again, i was so terrified of sanitation issues i was afraid to put anything else into the wort so i never got the pre-fermentation OG. Was kind of stupid i know...it was my first batch and i was a little stressed.

If I were you, I'd stop worrying unless things change.

I think it's proper practice to be as 'clean' as possible, but the fact is... beer has been made successfully throughout the course of human history in conditions far less sanitary than those found in today's homebrew kitchens. I only have 3 batches under my belt so far, but each time I found myself doing something I didn't count on that worried me in this regard. And each time I found out I had nothing to worry about.

I think being anal about sanitation is along the lines of an insurance policy. You don't carry insurance on your car because you expect to get in a wreck every time you hit the road. You carry it because in the off-chance you do, it's going to suck without it.

How badly did you screw up?
PRETTY BADLY!
You broke 2 cardinal rules of brewing. First, RDWHAHB.
Second, you threw out wort that could have been beer. SHAME.
Hand in your brewer's license and all ingredients!

If you couldn't tell, sarcasm implied. But seriously, RDWHAHB. This will probably be one of the most memorable beers you'll ever have!

Welcome to the addicting hobby!

I've found it helpful to boil water in a tee kettle and than dump into the emptied can of extract. stir the contents up and dump into the boil. nothing gets wasted

superjunior said:

I've found it helpful to boil water in a tee kettle and than dump into the emptied can of extract. stir the contents up and dump into the boil. nothing gets wasted

Click to expand...

+1

Genius idea.

As a side note, i smelled the top of the airlock as its bubbling (its only been fermenting for 48ish hours now) and it smells like cider. Not sure what thats all about

Before I pour the LME, I wash the outside of the container with soap and water. When it's time to pour the LME, I pour out as much as possible and just dip the container in the water before I stir. I scoop up some of the nearly boiling water and stir/swish it in the container to dissolve the remaining LME and pour back into the brew pot. Works perfectly every time. A half cup of LME shouldn't make all that much of a difference. IMHO, you might lose a half percent to one percent of alcohol.

I wouldn't worry too much about your sanitation. Sounds like you did pretty well with the steps you took and I don't see any issue with your batch coming out poorly. I would definitely look into some method of bringing your temperature below 100 more quickly. It does make a difference.

I think you'll be fine, and it does sound like a normal brew day. I usually keep a pail of StarSan around when I'm brewing and leave anything that will come in contact with the wort/beer (post boil) in it until the last minute. I've found it handy do dip my hands or whatever in there as needed.

Another tip that may help - when you start your brew session, take your liquid extract and put it in the sink with the hottest water that will come out of your tap and get that stuff good and warm. By the time you need to add it, it will pour out easily. Once most of it is in the kettle, dip the container in the wort, swirl it around and repeat until it's good and clean. If you're using a plastic milk-style container, watch out for the little ring that stays on the jug after you take the lid off. I've dropped a lot of those into the wort and they sink.

+1 for cooling that wort faster. One of the best investments I made was a chiller, but if you don't plan on getting one, throw that kettle into the sink or the tub and stir both your wort and the cold water around the kettle. The movement will help with the heat transfer.

vidarien said:

As a side note, i smelled the top of the airlock as its bubbling (its only been fermenting for 48ish hours now) and it smells like cider. Not sure what thats all about

Click to expand...

as it's fermenting, it'll smell not so good. secret? don't worry about it. it's all good. as every1 has said: relax, don't worry, have a home brew

Well, the good news is it could have been worse. As for the bad news...well that would come if you didn't happen to learn anything from this particular experience. Sounds like you'll be fine in the end. However, you won't have a original gravity to go by for alcohol% purposes.

As for superjunior's idea of the teapot, that's great! Usually I just dunk the extract bottle into the wort real quick, in order to get some hot water in there. Then just give it a little swish and dump the extract back into the kettle. It's served me well.

get rid of the funnel, its not needed just dump all of it into the primary, all the chunkies will fall out to the bottom by the time your ready to bottle and by that point it shouldn't get in your way too bad. The gases of from the airlock wont smell great but trust me the end product will!