I think I screwed up bad....first AG screw up....

Alright, well, I have been brewing for one year now, and I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, my first “massive failure”. I am not sure how my mistake will impact my brew, but here it goes.

Upon my last visit to my local brew store, I was telling the guy behind the counter about how I was wanting to get away from hop bags, but I had a pick up tube and a pump(15 gal sanke), and the guy behind the counter pointed me to this brillo pad looking thing. It was a stainless brillo pad (coarse, not like steel wool) and told me that that was the answer. I decided to employ the tactic. Maybe it was not a good idea to employ this tactic on my first ever 10 gallon batch with pellet hops, 5.25 oz, a somewhat highly hopped APA (52 IBU). I had somewhat anticipated this problem and decided that I would siphon the wort if the pickup brillo pad plugged up, and oh hell yes, did it ever plug up!!!!

There were a lot of hops left in the boil kettle, but I estimate 20 – 30% of the hops made their way into the fermenters (2-6 gallon carboys). The hops boil schedule is as follows:
1 oz of centennial for 45 minutes, 1 oz of simcoe for 30 minutes, 1.25 oz warrior for 15 minutes, and 2 oz of cascades at 5 minutes. I had planned on dry hopping each fermenter with 1 oz of cascades once they were in the secondaries, but I think this may be unnecessary at this point.

The yeast used was Safale US-05 with a 1 qt. starter, split between the two carboys. I actually considered, once the trub has settled, siphoning each one into a 5 gallon carboy, equipped with a blow off tube(because that is all I have empty right now), and splitting another packet of US-05 between the two, but as there has been too much time elapsed I fear, I am going to let it fly and see what happens. Starting gravity is 1.052.

So I ask you, did I make the right decision to let it fly, or should I have racked them off? The main reason I didn’t rack off into another carboy, I had feared that the yeast in solution was sunk to the bottom and I would lose a lot of it, but if I re-pitched….I don’t know…the stress is a plenty right now…
How bad do you think that I screwed up? Because the bulk of these hops were boiled, so you think it will be ok?

Thanks for your time, I really do appreciate it!!!!

Just oout of curiosity, why do you want to get away from hop bags?

Mostly to maximize hop utilization. I felt that I was loosing too much by using hop bags...was just looking for one more way to make my brew day as good as I could....this one backfired!

So the question is:

Am I screwed because there's a bunch of hops in the fermenters?

No. You're fine - RDWHAHB.

HokieBrewer said:

So the question is:

Am I screwed because there's a bunch of hops in the fermenters?

No. You're fine - RDWHAHB.

Click to expand...

Right, I agree! I don't strain my wort, and my beer is fine.

No worries, hops in the fermenter = no effect on final taste in my experience. I

've been in the same boat and while it's not part of my regular practice to just dump everything into the fermenter I've had exhausting brew days where it seems like everything that can go wrong does go wrong. By the time I got to siphoning I said "screw it" and dumped everything in. I think I did this twice since I've been brewing? Both beers turned out fine........

You will still want to dry hop it as the hops that are in the fermenter from the boil won't contribute any flavor or aroma at this point having already been boiled. You won't get the same flavors and aromas that you will get from dry hopping.

Just remember, great beer has been made for many, many years prior to having any straining devices.
Definitely add the dry hops and if after 3 weeks in the primary you're still not settled out, just tie your hop bag onto the end of your tubing to catch any big hop particles.
Bull

I think the biggest "worry" would be that during the first day or two when the ferment is churning. The chunky stuff can pull the yeast down to the bottom too soon and make you more prone to a stuck ferment. You made a good starter and temperatures this time of year will not change rapidly enough to stress the yeast.

every time i try using hop pellets outside of a bag they clog. Im back to using a bag with them.

As for hops making it to primary, had that happen several times. it never seemed to have any effect.

You'll be fine.

I didn't filter out the hops on a batch of Bee Cave APA and it turned out great. Might have been a little extra bite when the beer was still green, but after about 4 weeks in the bottle, it was still a great beer.

The whole hops looked nice floating in the fermenter anyway. Think of it as just dry hopping with very, very low AA hops.

Although hops in the fermenter are fine, I rarely have any in mine....and I don't use hop bags. Instead, I chill the wort, let it settle for an hour or so, and then rack into the fermentor. I get nice clear wort and leave all the trub behind.

Like others, I just dump the wort + hops in the carboy after cooling and all is good.

I always send my hops into my fermenters. as long as you rack to secondary in 7-10 days everything will be fine.