First solo batch - had to mess up somewhere

Had my first solo brew day today - a partial mash Altbier. Things went pretty smoothly, except I had a brain fart and ended up with ~4 gallons in the fermenter, so my OG was around 1.067 in lieu of my target of 1.052. I'm not really sweating that. What I'm kicking myself over is not paying attention and realizing just how slippery Star San can be, the result of which was my carboy stopper floating in the fermenter. I made an emergency trip to Lowes to grab some 1 inch vinyl tubing, gave it a thorough soak in sanitizer, and popped it in place (all the while cussing myself under my breath).

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the beer will not be contaminated. I did attempt to snag it while it was still at the opening, but obviously was unable to. Hopefully no bad bugs were transferred during that effort.

From what I've read on here you don't have much to worry about. Sounds like you had the stopper sanitized.....

you could have just thrown some aluminum foil over it

I'm glad you made a mistake. That makes it a learning experience, and your future beers will be better -- trust me, I make mistakes every batch I do, and I learn lots from them.

No worries about the bung. Lots of us have fermented with a bung floating in the carboy.

When it come time to get the bung out, watch this. It takes about 20 seconds to get it out with a grocery bag.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL1ovAYtKuQ]YouTube - Removing a cork from the bottle trick[/ame]

Welcome to HBT!

As of this morning, the blow-off bucket is bubbling at roughly 5 second intervals and there was about a 3/8" layer of foam on the surface. Looks like the little yeasties are settling in and making themselves at home.

Here's one question for the group that I'm curious about: since I didn't top off with any water to bring up my volume and pitched with an OG of 1.067, will that likely result in a heavier body and higher alcohol content? I'm still trying to learn the science behind this most addicting hobby.

Nurmey, that is too cool! I'm excited to try that.

Ridebreck said:

As of this morning, the blow-off bucket is bubbling at roughly 5 second intervals and there was about a 3/8" layer of foam on the surface. Looks like the little yeasties are settling in and making themselves at home.

Here's one question for the group that I'm curious about: since I didn't top off with any water to bring up my volume and pitched with an OG of 1.067, will that likely result in a heavier body and higher alcohol content? I'm still trying to learn the science behind this most addicting hobby.

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Yup.you nailed it.

Ridebreck said:

Here's one question for the group that I'm curious about: since I didn't top off with any water to bring up my volume and pitched with an OG of 1.067, will that likely result in a heavier body and higher alcohol content?

Click to expand...

Just to add to what Joos said, you may also have to ferment it longer, as you effectively have a bigger beer.

You should top it up with clean water. The recipe was designed for 5 gallons. The og is higher because of less water so why not. It is the same exact water that you would have added before.

dontman said:

You should top it up with clean water. The recipe was designed for 5 gallons. The og is higher because of less water so why not. It is the same exact water that you would have added before.

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I wondered about this, but in my newbiness, I didn't want to tempt fate. At what point would you advise that I add the water, and should I boil the water (and cool it, of course) prior to adding it? Fermentation is quite active right now, so I would hate to do anything to spoil the yeast party.

It is best to top up before fermentation begins but you can boil, cool and very gently pour in some top up water now. The boiling should remove most of the oxygen and the remaining co2 offgassing will scrub the remainder.

Figured I would put a final note on this batch. I ended up simply leaving this bad boy alone to do it's thing (no top-off water). Total time in primary was 5 weeks - 3 weeks in the basement closet at 68 deg and 2 weeks of cold conditioning at 35 deg. There was zero infection from the stopper.

I just cracked open the first bottle after 1.5 weeks of bottle conditioning and I'm very pleased with the results. Even with all of my beginner screwups with this batch, I still ended up with a very drinkable and enjoyable beer. The flavor is malty with a slightly sweet finish, but with enough hops to keep it from being cloying. The color is dead-on Beersmith's predicted color.

I just wanted to give an update to hopefully help put other beginners at ease. You CAN make mistakes and still end up with very enjoyable beer.

Sounds like everything turned out well in the end afterall!

Did you by chance take a FG reading?

Yep. OG = 1.067, FG - 1.018.