So, just finished me first batch...

I just finished cooking my first batch, and I made a few mistakes. First of all, I I think I may have poured too much sediment with the wort into my carboy. How much will this affect the finished product? Secondly, I was using WLP001 yeast and when I opened it it kind of expoloded everywhere. I got what I could into the fermenter, but why would that happen and is it going to be enough? Lastly, my bung had been in the starsan too long and was slippery, so it got sucked right into the dang carboy. Luckily it is completely sanitized and I had an extra, but should this be something to worry about? I feel like an idiot right now, and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

DocSweat said:

I just finished cooking my first batch, and I made a few mistakes. First of all, I I think I may have poured too much sediment with the wort into my carboy. How much will this affect the finished product? Secondly, I was using WLP001 yeast and when I opened it it kind of expoloded everywhere. I got what I could into the fermenter, but why would that happen and is it going to be enough? Lastly, my bung had been in the starsan too long and was slippery, so it got sucked right into the dang carboy. Luckily it is completely sanitized and I had an extra, but should this be something to worry about? I feel like an idiot right now, and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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RDWHAHB.

Congrats on the first batch. Everything you listed is extremely unlikely to cause problems. A bit too much trub may lead to a less than clear beer, but shouldn't really affect the taste. Chill out and "enjoy" the wait for your first beer.

Thanks. I know I need to relax and not worry, but having any reference point or experience makes me certain that I screwed up.

Also, after checking the gravity last night it was 1.054 when the recipe called for it to be 1.064. I was pretty careful to follow the recipe, but I did use hops with a lower AA at flameout (5.0% instead of 7.2%). Is that enough to cause a difference or did I mess up?

DocSweat said:

Thanks. I know I need to relax and not worry, but having any reference point or experience makes me certain that I screwed up.

Also, after checking the gravity last night it was 1.054 when the recipe called for it to be 1.064. I was pretty careful to follow the recipe, but I did use hops with a lower AA at flameout (5.0% instead of 7.2%). Is that enough to cause a difference or did I mess up?

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I have read (admittedly, a post here that I have not tried to subsantiate) that adding that residue to the fermenter can actually lead to clearer beer. Regardless, I always pour everything in and have had no problems, so set your mind at ease there.

I think everyone has dropped a bung in their beer at one point or another. If it was sanitized, there's no cause for alarm. And even if it wasn't, there have been plenty of posts here where people have done much worse, with great results.

Was this an extract recipe? Did you add any topoff water? Topoff water is notoriously difficult to mix well enough to get an accurate gravity reading. If it was an extract batch, and you put everything in that was supposed to go in, your gravity will be fine. If it was an AG batch, and you got less-than-anticipated efficiency, you'll still have beer, it just won't be as "boozy." The AA content of flameout hops will have alomst no effect on the finished beer. Alpha Acids are the bittering component of hops, and are activated by boiling. Late addition hops are there for flavor and aroma, and will serve that purpose regardless of AA content.

Thanks for the info. It was a partial grain with extract. I did have to add 1 gallon of top off water so hopefully that is it. It is already starting to bubble a little bit out of the airlock so hopefully it will be OK with the little bit of yeast that I did get in there.

It sounds like you will be fine. Thanks for the chuckle.

If you shake up the vials they spray sometimes next time just turn it don't shake it and open it very slowly, like a warm bottle of pop. I wipe down the bung and bung hole with vodka so there not so slippery. If I don't it will just keep flipping out.

Congrats on your first brew!

I bet it'll be fine! I think I had that same thing with a rubber stopper happen to me once. I also used to pour entire contents of boil kettle into fermenter and had great tasting beer. You can siphon and leave this behind if you are careful, but at the time I was just lazy is all. I say no worries.

I'd check you gravity in about 4 days and see if it's moving down, given concerns about yeast, and if needed pitch another vial or a pack of dry yeast. I had a tube gush on me once too!

Good luck

This is the bung I use because there is no way for it to slide all the way in:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...pers-bungs/universal-carboy-bung-drilled.html

If you look on YouTube for "remove carboy stopper" you will see an easy way to get that out of there after you bottle the beer.

Congrats on your first brew!

my bung had been in the starsan too long and was slippery, so it got sucked right into the dang carboy.

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Sounds like that bung is a tad too small. It's gonna take some patience to get it out later, when cleaning the carboy.

After "topping up" to get the correct volume I always shake the carboy vigorously to mix the wort and oxygenate. Then I take a sample from about 3 inches down from the surface.

Start reading up on making yeast starters. Some time soon you'll want to pitch larger yeast volumes.

Man I really jacked this one up. In addition to all the other issues, turns out that the bag of corn sugar that came with the recipe was supposed to be used in the wort. I thought it was for priming until I read the instructions again. At least that explains why my OG was so low. I ended up boiling it and adding it to the fermentor. Hopefully that will work. I have good active fermentation right now and about three inches of krausen after 24 hours so I hope it's okay.

Sounds like you're of to a good start. You could always add the sugar to the primary if you want to boost the OG ya know.. Some advocate boiling first, but with a vigorous fermentation, you'll probably be fine.

TD

Update: I added the corn sugar and had an OG of 1.065, and after 5 days of vigorous fermentation, it stabilized for 2 days at 1.023. I racked it to the secondary today, and it seems to have resumed fermentation ( at least according to the airlock) is this normal. I'm glad that it did since it was stuck too high, but is this a normal occurrence? Did I move to secondary to early? Should I just RDWHAHB?