Had a Problem. Advice?

Williams 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
M

MasterKBrewery

Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2013
Messages
19
Reaction score
0
Location
Muncie
Not very happy. My first Brew day went very well until....

I am making a Fat Tire Clone. The brew went perfectly. I just bought a wort chiller yesterday. I leak tested it (cold) and no leaks. I put it in the brew 20 mins left to boil. After flameout, I hooked it up and started. No problem. I went inside to write down my times. I look out the window and my wort is filling with water. It was leaking at the tubing connection. It added about 1.5 gal of unsanitized water.

I plan to go ahead and pitch the yeast and see what I get. Any advice or opinions or sympathy on this? Thanks

Kevin.
 
If its still in the kettle and your worried about infection just fire it back up. You Gravity is going to be off. Personally I would just go with it. Sorry your brew day didn't go we'll.
 
ffd520 said:
If its still in the kettle and your worried about infection just fire it back up. You Gravity is going to be off. Personally I would just go with it. Sorry your brew day didn't go we'll.
Click to expand...

Thanks, ffd. I am not as worried about the infection as the temp was still over 150 when this was discovered. I am more concerned about the beer. It will be diluted so the malt and hops will be low. I suspect it will make weak beer.
 
Followup question. On the wort chiller, does all of the rubber tubing need to be out of the boil? My brewpot is tall and thin. The end of the inlet tubing was barely under the boil. It is now discolored and mis-shaped. Should I keep it out of the heat next time? I have a false bottom I could put in the pot.
 
MasterKBrewery said:
Followup question. On the wort chiller, does all of the rubber tubing need to be out of the boil? My brewpot is tall and thin. The end of the inlet tubing was barely under the boil. It is now discolored and mis-shaped. Should I keep it out of the heat next time? I have a false bottom I could put in the pot.
Click to expand...

My 50 ft IC ends are bent over the edge of the pot to hopefully avoid such a situation
 
I have been considering building an immersion chiller. All the fittings would be outside the boil pot. The manufactured ring to fit around the copper tubing and create a seal for the lid has me stymied for a bit. I normally work in wood, but I need something that is easy to shape and easier to sanitize.
 
You could pull your IC up (accordian-style) so it's out of the wort. I push mine closed to store it, then pull it back up (so the copper is separated more) to use it. The other option is to get some high heat rated tubing (I think I got some at northernbrewer.com); some of the high heat rated is clear and some is an opaque tan color. Either works but I think the tan colored stuff will go to a higher temp.
 
Frodo said:
You could pull your IC up (accordian-style) so it's out of the wort. I push mine closed to store it, then pull it back up (so the copper is separated more) to use it. The other option is to get some high heat rated tubing (I think I got some at northernbrewer.com); some of the high heat rated is clear and some is an opaque tan color. Either works but I think the tan colored stuff will go to a higher temp.
Click to expand...

I will cut the bad piece off and make that adjustment next time. Thanks for the advice.
 
Update: My LHBS recommended adding a pound of DME. Sounds like a good idea since I diluted the batch. I did that last night. Just before adding, the air lock was rockin'. Bubble every second or 2. This morning still very active. By this afternoon, the activity has slowed a lot. I have not taken a SG as I don't want to fiddle with it too much. I did open the lid and peak in. The krausen has definitely fallen. There is still some bubbling, but, much less.

Logically , I would think the high activity would continue since I just added a pound of food. Am I wrong here? Do you think it is OK or could I have killed my yeast? I did cool the added malt to about 70.

I am practicing the RDWHAHB. Just bothering me that the activity has slowed so soon after adding more food. I will watch a few days and take a SG. Unfortunately I did not take one after adding the additional malt.
 
BrewerBear said:
It will be fine.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. Thanks. It just wasn't the outcome I expected. I thought it would prolong the Kraeusen. I just looked at it again. The bubbling has picked up again. The Temp in the closet is 66. The fermometer temp is 72. It seems to be fine.

Guess I just need to RDWAH(another)HB.
 
RDWHAHB

The airlock activity can't be relied upon to determine whether your fermentation is moving well or not; you definately did not kill your yeast by throwing a pound of DME at 5 gallons of beer that was actively fermenting.

Check it at 7 days after the addition of DME, then again at 10 days after the the addition of DME, if the gravity is where it's supposed to be and has held steady, bottle.

If the gravity has dropped from day 7 to day 10, wait three more days, check again. repeat as necessary until you get the same gravity reading across three days.

If the gravity hasn't dropped to where it is supposed to be, wait three days and check again.

If the gravity is significantly higher than it's supposed to be, then you should re-pitch - I highly doubt that will happen though, as you've already noted airlock action.

Leaving the beer on the yeast won't do anything except help the beer clear out - I've got some cider that's been in secondary (more of a brite tank than secondary though) for about two months or so and it's nice and clear and ready for the keg, but I may not get to it for another week or so, and I'm not the least bit worried.

RDWHAHB - it will be fine; if you are really worried about it, wait 4 weeks, bottle it, and mail it all to me and I'll test it for you; don't worry I won't charge you lab fees as I'm a nice guy :D
 
SPR-GRN said:
RDWHAHB

The airlock activity can't be relied upon to determine whether your fermentation is moving well or not; you definately did not kill your yeast by throwing a pound of DME at 5 gallons of beer that was actively fermenting.

Check it at 7 days after the addition of DME, then again at 10 days after the the addition of DME, if the gravity is where it's supposed to be and has held steady, bottle.

If the gravity has dropped from day 7 to day 10, wait three more days, check again. repeat as necessary until you get the same gravity reading across three days.

If the gravity hasn't dropped to where it is supposed to be, wait three days and check again.

If the gravity is significantly higher than it's supposed to be, then you should re-pitch - I highly doubt that will happen though, as you've already noted airlock action.

Leaving the beer on the yeast won't do anything except help the beer clear out - I've got some cider that's been in secondary (more of a brite tank than secondary though) for about two months or so and it's nice and clear and ready for the keg, but I may not get to it for another week or so, and I'm not the least bit worried.

RDWHAHB - it will be fine; if you are really worried about it, wait 4 weeks, bottle it, and mail it all to me and I'll test it for you; don't worry I won't charge you lab fees as I'm a nice guy :D
Click to expand...

Thanks SPR-GRN (what does that mean, anyway?)

It helps to have veterans on here to re-assure me. I don't know anybody that homebrews. I am getting into this completely blind aside from the readings of "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing", the internet and my passion for knowledge. Unless you count the 3 batches of Mr. Beer I have made.

Hopefully someday I will be posting advice to the newbies. :mug:
 
MasterKBrewery said:
Thanks SPR-GRN (what does that mean, anyway?)

It helps to have veterans on here to re-assure me. I don't know anybody that homebrews. I am getting into this completely blind aside from the readings of "The Complete Joy of Home Brewing", the internet and my passion for knowledge. Unless you count the 3 batches of Mr. Beer I have made.

Hopefully someday I will be posting advice to the newbies. :mug:
Click to expand...

It will come rather quickly. All you need to do is keep brewing and reading. You will find a lot on this site, read threads that seem interesting. Experience is the best confidence builder.
 
I'd fire it back up. Boiling it again can sanitize your water, boil down to the correct gravity, and insure against DMS in one fell swoop.
 
MasterKBrewery said:
Thanks SPR-GRN (what does that mean, anyway?)
Click to expand...

SPR-GRN is a nickname my car got back in high school; 1966 mustang, aqua-green with aqua-green interior, it was green and survived the daily thrashings of a high school aged me, which was tough, friends started calling it the super-green machine, wound up shortening it and turning into my handle.

ahhh memories..
 
DrunkleJon said:
It will come rather quickly. All you need to do is keep brewing and reading. You will find a lot on this site, read threads that seem interesting. Experience is the best confidence builder.
Click to expand...

Knowing me I wll dive into it full speed and keep learning. I bought another carboy this week and caribou slobber kit. Now I can ferment 2 at a time. Got it today. Will probably brew it Sunday while I am tending the smoker.
 
SPR-GRN said:
SPR-GRN is a nickname my car got back in high school; 1966 mustang, aqua-green with aqua-green interior, it was green and survived the daily thrashings of a high school aged me, which was tough, friends started calling it the super-green machine, wound up shortening it and turning into my handle.

ahhh memories..
Click to expand...

A lot of memories are created in Mustangs. I have owned 4 of them. I have 2 currently.
 
I had the same thing happen about a month ago with my first all grain batch. Not sure how much hose water I ended up with in my beautiful Pale Ale wort. I decided to just go with the flow and pitched the yeast. When it was all said and done, it didn't have as much hop flavor as I was hoping. I probably could have dry hopped after primary to get some of that back. It's now bottled and kegged and still a very satifsying beer despite. It's really like good ole Charlie says, "Relax, have a homebrew".
 
MasterKBrewery said:
Please forgive my newness. I'm sure it is one I should know, but, what is DMS?
Click to expand...

As the HBT wiki says..

Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is an organic sulfur compound present above its flavor threshold in most beers. Because of its low flavor threshold, 10 - 150 ppb, it is a primary flavor and aroma compound that makes a significant contribution to beer character, especially in lager beers. It has a characteristic taste and aroma of cooked corn or creamed corn.
The level of S-Methyl methionine (SMM) in malt is responsible for the DMS level in wort. During mashing the SMM, DMS and very soluble dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) are brought into solution. SMM can be hydrolyzed to DMS during mashing however much of the DMS is driven off since it is very volatile. Wort will always have some concentration of SMM, DMS, and DMSO - different grains and mashing techniques can effect these concentrations. During fermentation little to no SMM is converted to DMS, however DMSO can be reduced to DMS by yeast during fermentation.
Click to expand...
 

Similar threads

YaleH
Accidentally watered down my wort!!!
Replies
4
Views
287
YaleH
YaleH
C
(UPDATE) Murphy came to visit today
Replies
7
Views
898
RM-MN
R
N
Wort chilling and brew pot water volume
Replies
7
Views
531
Bobby_M
Bobby_M
Bilbo24
Tap water got in the wort!!!! Oh the humanity!!!
Replies
16
Views
2K
Bilbo24
Bilbo24
Collin Evans
Fermentation Lag
Replies
5
Views
240
sibelman
sibelman
SSBrew 300

Latest posts

Back
Top