List of things I did wrong on first batch.

Alright, finally got around to bottling my first batch today. I screwed up SO many things, and the beer still tasted great (pale ale) even though it was piss-warm and flat. Things that went wrong:

-Wort boiled over BADLY

-Forgot to add aroma hops when I was supposed to, threw them in the next day in the primary.

-Due to many circumstances I wasn't able to bottle untill 6 days later than I had originally planned

-Never strained the wort.

-Forgot to originally top off the secondary fermenter to the top (probably why my "pale" ale is quite tanned).

-Bottling wand did't want to fit onto the syphon, so I jammed it on and damaged the tip.

-Bottling wand seemed to be letting beer through when it shouldn't have been, and after a few bottles I thought to look at it. That was impossible for me to do however, as the tip had fallen off in one of the bottles earlier, and I had capped them. Due to the darkness of the ale, I can't see it in any of them. Hope nobody chokes!

And like I said, so far so good.

Sounds like you've got beer. Just don't forget to decant before drinking. Those tips are hard to replace.

Hell, write all this down in a notebook, it could be your best brew ever. Sometimes mistakes are the best inventions. I know my Pilsner boiled over right after I added the bittering hops....that was a GREAT brew. Never been able to exact the same recipe again.

I'm so worried about that myself, because my porter boiled over, and it's phenomenal. I'm worried that if I don't make the same "mistake" at the same time next time I brew it, it won't be as good.

Sounds like you will have great beer, nothing too bad there.

Think of your lost bottling wand tip as the "prize", like in Cracker Jack. This beer sounds like it could be a good one!

Lorena

I sometimes think that homebrewers could easily fall into the same trap that alot of pro atheletes fall into...superstition. The pro ball player who has to wear the same pair of socks all season without washing them or has to wear his underwear inside out because THAT'S the trick to winning. Well, homebrewers could do the same...I HAVE to let it boil over at 4 minutes into the boil, I have to hold the bittering hops over my head and turn in a circle 3 times before adding them. I'm trying to think of any of those that I've developed so far and can't come up with any...yet. Do any of you have any of these superstitions you wanna share with us?

It still should be good!!

As per the "mistakes":
1) Keep a spray bottle around with water to keep the boil over under control. We all have had at least one boil over.

2) So you experimented with dry hopping for the aroma. No big deal there.

3) Lets see 6 extra days in the secondary.....should have taken care of #4 with extra time to settle. Schedules are not written in stone...they are flexible.

4) See #3

5) Why would you want to water down your great brew by doing that??? So the volume is not 5 gal. Quality way over quantity is the goal of your hobby, is it not??

6) Yikes!!

7) Happy hunting LOL I like the cracker jack box quote!!!

As you see you really didn't mess up much at all. It will be a great brew in time.

Relax and.......