First Brew with a few mistakes

[neon0107]

Hello Fellow Home Brewers,

So first time poster and beginner to this new hobby!! Wife got me a Mr Beer for fathers day and since then I have caught the bug and am so excited to start the learning process. i started with the book “The complete joy of home brewing”. Also signed up for the beginner brew class at my local home brew store, for next Sunday. Until then, I wanted to do an extract kit so I had a little info under belt.

So, I know of one mistake I made and wondering if that is whats causing what I am seeing.

I did the Brewers Best - Imperial Blonde Ale extract kit

During the steeping process of the grains for total of 20 mins. The temperature got out of control and up to 180 - 185. What are some problems this would cause? Whats the best process you follow for steeping the grains? Do you bring the water to the proper temp and let it continue for a bit to make sure the temp is steady before adding the grains?

Outside of that, The only other issue I had was one boil over at the begging after adding the first bag of hops.

When it came to adding the LME I took the pot off the heat and continually stirred until both cans were added, then added the sugar and stirred and put back on heat and back up to boil.

Once I got the wort down to 70° I pitched the yeast and stirred it in. Is stirring the yeast common? I thought you would just add it and leave it. It was a dry yeast.

With this being a Blonde, I was expecting a much lighter looking wort but it is very dark. It is just about 24 hours and not seeing much activity. Looks the same as yesterday but with a lot of sediment in the bottom. Is that normal this early on? I am wondering if maybe I had the siphon wrong and sucked up to much junk from the pot into the carboy which is where all that sediment is coming from.

Thanks in advance for your time

 

[65C]

I'll let the specialists comment on the 180F for 20 mins - but that sounds a bit high for a bit too long at the start

Sometimes the yeast can take a couple of days to get going - I give the carboy a bit of shake in the morning if it's not started - to get a bit more oxygen in (not sure if that's appropriate but it's worked every time)

So far for me in brewing - I've found 2 rules that matter:

1. keep the mash at 63-69C (some recipes need lower or higher in that range)

2. keep the first few days of ferment around 17C

Outside of that the accidents don't seem to matter so much

I really hope you got some good wort out of that mash

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Since this was an extract batch with steeping grains I wouldn't be too concerned with the 180° water as steeping grains you are just trying to rinse the sugars and color from them. If you were mashing unconverted grains I would be more concerned as you would denature the enzymes that turn the starch to sugar and wind up with unfermentable proteins in your beer. Steeping grains already have had their starches converted your essentially just rinsing the good stuff from them so I wouldn't be too concerned with the higher temp.

I usually hear my water 5-10°F hotter than desired temp that way when I toss my grains in and stir it usually is pretty close to target temps I am shooting for.

As for the color don't sweat it. Lots of yeast and other proteins floating around in there that will settle out post fermentation and the color will be lighter. Sucking up stuff with the siphon would have little effect on your color. Many ,myself included, dump everything post boil into the fermenter and have no issues with clarity. It will clear when it is done fermenting. You also have to keep in mind you are looking through a larger mass of beer than a pint glass worth so it will naturally seem darker just due to that.

 

[ncbrewer]

Congrats on your first brew.

According to "How to Brew", you could get astringency if the steeping water is over 170F. I haven't tried steeping that hot, so I can't really say. But don't be discouraged if it is a little astringent - just control temp better next time.

As far as dry pitching, Fermentis recommends (assuming you're not rehydrating) sprinkling it on the surface and then stirring after 30 minutes. If using liquid, or rehydrated dry yeast, stirring is optional.

 

[flars]

Adding all the extract at the beginning of the boil will result in a darker appearing wort. This won't result in a bad beer, just a darker beer. This is the Maillard Reaction. Late extract addition technique is to add enough extract to bring the boil volume to an SG of 1.040. Supposed to be the ideal SG for optimum hop oil isomerization. Add DME first then LME to achieve the optimum SG.

What water did you use for the steeping. Don't worry about tannin extraction from the steeping grains over 170°F unless the pH of the water was over 6.0. You can start the grain steeping process with cold water. Bring the temp up to 155°F to 165°F and remove the boil kettle from the heat for the duration of the time.

Your beer won't be bad. You will have more confidence with the next one though.

Won't answer all your questions but enough to initiate more questions.

 

[Lefou]

Welcome to the obsession ... er, I mean, the hobby.

When adding hops to the boil it's normal to expect some foaming as oils react and mix with the wort. As far as the yeast goes, there's a quick and easy way to get your dry yeast active, and that easy way is to make a yeast starter.

How do you do that? Simple. Re-hydrate your yeast.
Take a portion of your wort, dilute it with some water in a sanitized measuring cup, and add the contents of the yeast packet. A half liter is generally suitable for a good 3-5 gallon batch of lower gravity wort. Mix when the yeast is saturated, cover with Saran wrap, and forget about it for about an hour or so. If the yeast is good and not out of date, you should notice slight foaming on the surface of the liquid yeast starter.. It's a good indicator your yeast is ready to pitch.

 

[neon0107]

Thanks Flars, I used bottled water from the store so not sure what the PH level may have been. I will try bringing the water to 170 and putting in the grains, then cut the heat and let steep for the allotted time and see how that works.

 

[neon0107]

Thanks for all the feedback and ideas. I have made some notes to try for my next batch that I will be starting in a few weeks.

Good note is I am now starting to see some activity so looks like fermentation is well under way!!

 

[woo_pig]

I have noticed to keep a truer color with extract. Add half of the extract at the end of boil.

 

[flars]

Thanks Flars, I used bottled water from the store so not sure what the PH level may have been. I will try bringing the water to 170 and putting in the grains, then cut the heat and let steep for the allotted time and see how that works.

Bottled water is most likely just a little higher than a pH of 7. There is no magic happening at 170°F when you steep grains. Cooler temperatures work just as well in the same amount of time. You can also rinse the steeped grains with a quart of water to extract more color and sugars which may have been leached from the grains.