Just brewed my first batch yesterday.

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nunnster

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Hello. I am completely bran new to home brewing. I just got my equipment yesterday and started my first batch. I have read about home brewing for years and finally got the cash to go and get all the stuff I need. So here is my question. I made a very simple pale ale. 1lbs of crystal malt that was steeped for 30 min, 6lbs of pale malt extract, 2oz of cascade hops (1.5oz start of boil, .5oz with 5 min left) and White Labs 001 yeast. It seems like its fermenting very well, kinda smells like bread rising a bit, so I am not to worried about the brew being contaminated. I was very careful to practice good sanitation with everything that touched my beer, and boiled all my water before it went into the wort. Ok now here is my question, well two questions. When I cooled my Wort, which was at about 80 degrees F. in about 45 min or so. I only had 3 gal in my fermenting bucket so I used the extra water that I boiled before hand to fill it the rest of the way. I Could tell that the boiled water was still a bit hot when I added it to the rest of the wort (about 150 I would assume, I didn't take a temp) and put the lid on my fermenter so it could cool and air wouldn't get into it. I let it cool for about two hours before I pitched the yeast. The wort was about 90 F. The directions I had said to wait till the wort was at least 80, but it was already 1 am and I was worried that if I let it sit any longer without the yeast it would somehow mess it up. So will that 10 degrees mess up my beer? I know yeast dies at 120F, but now I am kinda freaking out that I may have messed up my beer. Also with the beer that I brewed I am thinking about adding fresh cherries in the second fermentation. I have no idea how to clean them though. I read that if you boil them that it releases pectin, and makes your beer cloudy and I do not want to wash them in my Ifodor. Also I am kinda worried that Cherries will not work well with the beer. Any help or feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
For the cherries... I'd see if I could get some Star-san, or other "edible" disinfectant.

As for the yeast, pitching at 90* rather than 80* probably will not cause too much issue... As long as you got an original specific gravity, you can see if the yeast have taken hold by how much that gravity drops... but my gut instinct is that you should be okay. Any die-off from the temperature should be offset by the increased activity of the yeast due to temperature.
 
Congrats on the new hobby. It is very fun but addicting hobby but at least you get to drink right. Most people advise to pitch when the wort is at least down to 80F. Above this and the yeast can crank out some off flavors. I have no experience with this just what I've read in the past. However, a lot of people also find that with a higher pitch temp the yeast also propagate very quickly. I would not worry about it too much, I think it will be fine.

As far as the cherries for the secondary. I would suggest using Campden tablets which are sold at most all LHBS. They are commonly used for such things and most people use about 1/4 tablet for something like what you are doing. Simply soak the cherries in water with the dissolved tablet for I believe 30 minutes. The great thing about adding adjuncts to the secondary is that by then your fermentation is already relatively high in alcohol which is not a hospitable enviroment for most bacteria. However, you do have to be careful with acetobacter (bacteria) with fruit. Let me know if that helps and have fun waiting for your first batch..... the first batch takes forever.
 
You just have typical new brewers jitters.....it's common...your beer will be fine...take a hydrometer reading after 72 hours to see if you are really nervous. But it takes a lot to ruin our beer....

:D

Read these stories to see what I mean...https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

(oh and in the future, could you put some space every few sentences? It is really hard for us older people with bad eyes to make out specifics. I can't really discern too much in your big long breakless post without paragraphs...but I can tell by the tone, that you simply have "noobitus." ) :D

If you are suing canned cherries (the oregon 100% natural that you can even get at homebrew shops) or frozen then you don't need to do anything to them, just slap them into the secondary and rack on top of them.
 
Dang, Revvy... I'm going to have to take a trip to Sarnia just for the ability to see your LHBS.... they sell cherries there? :)
 
Dang, Revvy... I'm going to have to take a trip to Sarnia just for the ability to see your LHBS.... they sell cherries there? :)

Most LHBS"S I frequent carry the Oregon Puree Brand...as do most homebrew websites.

oregonpuree.jpg


Even Mr Beer sells it online and in their fruit beer kits...
 
I am planing on using fresh cherries. Would a few min bath in some boiling water taken off the stove work? I would not actually boil the cherries, just kinda steep them. I would go back to the home brew store to get the star-san, but there is only one LHBS (I live in Hawaii) and Its kinda a pain to get too. Also, my wife already thinks that I have spent to much money on home brew and my first batch isn't even done yet.
 
First off gratz on your first batch. and the wife deal I know what you mean, been brewing for a year now and shes calmed down and she will actually go pick up my kits for me while I'm at work... SWEET!
 
If you're worried about it, I'd recommend the campden tablets over the star-san. As was mentioned, dissolve a 1/4 to 1/2 tablet in about 1 gal of water, let the cherries soak for a while (!/2 hour sounds good).

Welcome to the addiction, your wife may complain about it for a while, but if she likes beer, she'll come around. Mine doesn't like beer, but she tastes each batch I make. There have been a few batches that she said were good, but she never drinks more than a couple sips. She's given up complaining about the money I spend on my hobby long ago.
 
So I transferred my beer into the second fermenter today, and I tasted it, and you know what? It tasted like an awesome, but flat, beer! hopefully all goes well within the next week, then I'll have some great beer to drink.
 
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