Here's what I did - Any advice for next time?

[Axioq]

White House Honey Porter
Ingredients
• 6.60 lbs Light Liquid Malt Extract
• 1.00 lbs Honey (Eisele’s Honey and Pollination)
• 0.75 lbs Munich Malt – Crushed
• 1.00 lbs 20L Crystal Malt – Crushed
• 0.38 lbs Black Malt – Crushed
• 0.18 lbs Chocolate Malt – Crushed
• 0.70 oz Challenger Hops (Added 45 min from the end of 60 min boil)
• 0.70 oz Challenger Hops (Added 30 min from the end of 60 min boil)
• 0.50 oz Hallertau Hops (Added at the end of boil)
• Yeast
o Wyeast #1272 American Ale II
 Note I should have woken up in the middle of the night and “slapped” the bag as I was planning making the beer in the morning. I was forced to post pone about an hour to allow the yeast to activate
• Water
o Meijer Brand Spring Water (Naturally Filtered)

Process
1. Brought 2.5 Gallons to 160-170F and took off burner
2. Placed the Crushed Malt in a Muslin Bag and added to the water at approx. the heated water
a. Note I made the mistake of not letting the water get down to 155F before adding the bag of crushed malt – possibility of off flavors
3. Removed the bag of crushed malt after 30 min
a. Note I made sure not to squeeze the bag
4. Added Light Liquid Malt Extract
a. I placed the malt extract in a pot of warm water for ease of getting out of the jar
5. Brought to a boil
a. This takes quite some time on the electric stove
b. Should have bought a water bottle to keep from boiling over – had to just use some of the spring water I had and pour it in
6. Added 0.70 oz of Challenger Hops with 45 min left
7. Added 0.70 oz of Challenger Hops with 30 min left
a. Note I turned the temp up a little after adding this and almost boiled over, have to watch the temp
8. Added 1.00 lb of Honey with 5 min left
a. Was told to stir constantly while adding this to avoid scorching the bottom
9. Turned off the stove and added 0.50 oz of Hallertau Hops
10. Placed the pot into an sink full of ice water to cool it ASAP
a. After about 10 min it had only decreased 30-40 degrees and was at approx. 120 degrees so I placed it outside as its only 20 degrees outside
b. After about 20 min outside I decided to put back in sink of cold water/salt/ice and hope it gets cool fast
c. After approx. 1 hour the wort was at about 80-85 degrees, I decided the addition of the additional water would lower the temp of the water enough to add the yeast
11. Poured the wort into the plastic fermenter and added the remaining 2.5 gallons (approx.) of Meijer Spring Water – This brought the water down to 70-75 degrees
12. Used Hydrometer to take the OG (Note was take at 70-75 degrees)
a. OG was: 1.053 and had to add .001 due to temp difference
b. OG ended up being 1.054
c. Paper that came with it said should be 1.054-1.058
13. Sanitized the yeast bag/scissors and added the yeast
14. Placed the lid one – just used body weight to ensure it locked and added the airlock
15. Placed in spare bathroom bathtub on 11/24/13

I will not be moving it to a secondary. Photos will be in next post.

 

[Axioq]

Photos as promised

 

[Axioq]

Checked it this morning and the airlock is making noise...feeling a bit accomplished today

 

[twistr25]

White House Honey Porter
Ingredients
• 6.60 lbs Light Liquid Malt Extract
• 1.00 lbs Honey (Eisele’s Honey and Pollination)
• 0.75 lbs Munich Malt – Crushed
• 1.00 lbs 20L Crystal Malt – Crushed
• 0.38 lbs Black Malt – Crushed
• 0.18 lbs Chocolate Malt – Crushed
• 0.70 oz Challenger Hops (Added 45 min from the end of 60 min boil)
• 0.70 oz Challenger Hops (Added 30 min from the end of 60 min boil)
• 0.50 oz Hallertau Hops (Added at the end of boil)
• Yeast
o Wyeast #1272 American Ale II
 Note I should have woken up in the middle of the night and “slapped” the bag as I was planning making the beer in the morning. I was forced to post pone about an hour to allow the yeast to activate
• Water
o Meijer Brand Spring Water (Naturally Filtered)

Process
1. Brought 2.5 Gallons to 160-170F and took off burner
2. Placed the Crushed Malt in a Muslin Bag and added to the water at approx. the heated water
a. Note I made the mistake of not letting the water get down to 155F before adding the bag of crushed malt – possibility of off flavors
3. Removed the bag of crushed malt after 30 min
a. Note I made sure not to squeeze the bag
4. Added Light Liquid Malt Extract
a. I placed the malt extract in a pot of warm water for ease of getting out of the jar
5. Brought to a boil
a. This takes quite some time on the electric stove
b. Should have bought a water bottle to keep from boiling over – had to just use some of the spring water I had and pour it in
6. Added 0.70 oz of Challenger Hops with 45 min left
7. Added 0.70 oz of Challenger Hops with 30 min left
a. Note I turned the temp up a little after adding this and almost boiled over, have to watch the temp
8. Added 1.00 lb of Honey with 5 min left
a. Was told to stir constantly while adding this to avoid scorching the bottom
9. Turned off the stove and added 0.50 oz of Hallertau Hops
10. Placed the pot into an sink full of ice water to cool it ASAP
a. After about 10 min it had only decreased 30-40 degrees and was at approx. 120 degrees so I placed it outside as its only 20 degrees outside
b. After about 20 min outside I decided to put back in sink of cold water/salt/ice and hope it gets cool fast
c. After approx. 1 hour the wort was at about 80-85 degrees, I decided the addition of the additional water would lower the temp of the water enough to add the yeast
11. Poured the wort into the plastic fermenter and added the remaining 2.5 gallons (approx.) of Meijer Spring Water – This brought the water down to 70-75 degrees
12. Used Hydrometer to take the OG (Note was take at 70-75 degrees)
a. OG was: 1.053 and had to add .001 due to temp difference
b. OG ended up being 1.054
c. Paper that came with it said should be 1.054-1.058
13. Sanitized the yeast bag/scissors and added the yeast
14. Placed the lid one – just used body weight to ensure it locked and added the airlock
15. Placed in spare bathroom bathtub on 11/24/13

I will not be moving it to a secondary. Photos will be in next post.

The smack pack just let's you know if the yeast is viable, it doesn't have to fully inflate for it to work. You are at a borderline gravity, but the beer will start better if you make a yeast starter with liquid yeast.

The grains being at a lower temp should have brought it down some. For the most part those are for flavor and color and as long as it didn't steep above 170 you are probably fine. Also, tannins from squeezing the bag is now considered a myth, so get all the goodness you can and squeeze away.

Brewer preference, but I have found that adding the LME at flameout/end of boil keeps the wort from getting darker and can prevent the extract "twang".

I assume the hop additions were given by the accompanying recipe?

Pasteurization happens above 160-165, so you can actually add the honey at flameout as well and avoid that issue all together.

Fill sanitized gallon containers with pre-boiled water and refrigerate or freeze them prior to brewing and that can help in bringing your temp down.

Definitely no need to move it to secondary. That yeast strain prefers wort temp of 60-72 degrees and it's best to air on the low side. Does that bathroom stay in the low to mid 60s? If not, you may want to consider a swamp cooler. Really could fill the bath tub with water and add some ice bottles to help keep the temp down.

 

[Ceetar]

I'm pretty sure nothing would happen if you squeeze the bag. You seem to have the grain wrapped real tight there..I usually loosen it up to allow as much water to pass through and get the inner grains as possible.

I don't think you'll get any off flavors from starting the grains where you did. Did you maintain temp at 155ish after you removed from burner? People knock electric brewing sometimes, but I find the burner staying hot can be helpful for maintaining temperature sometimes.

Stirring will help keep it from boiling over too. Sounds like you were probably too close to the top of the pot? What size pot are you using? The more water you have the easier it is to stabilize temp too, although be careful too, because too much and you might not be able to get it to a boil on electric (I've had to half cover the pot to do so when I went to 4 gallons, and I tripped the circuit breaker once when I was doing that AND tried to boil water on a different burner for pasta..which can wreck havoc if it kills the timer you were using for hop additions)

 

[Ceetar]

Brewer preference, but I have found that adding the LME at flameout/end of boil keeps the wort from getting darker and can prevent the extract "twang".

I've noticed some of that too, though I usually use dry. I actually find I achieve lower FG if I add it later on in the boil. Might be a coincidence but I wonder if I'd been accidentally scorching some of it into unfermtables. Which just leads me to wonder if I could create any interesting caramelly flavor by intentionally doing so.

 

[twistr25]

I've noticed some of that too, though I usually use dry. I actually find I achieve lower FG if I add it later on in the boil. Might be a coincidence but I wonder if I'd been accidentally scorching some of it into unfermtables. Which just leads me to wonder if I could create any interesting caramelly flavor by intentionally doing so.

From what I've seen and done, typical way to add ME is DME at the beginning of the boil and LME at flameout.

I doubt you'd want that kind of a caramel flavor addition though.

 

[Ceetar]

From what I've seen and done, typical way to add ME is DME at the beginning of the boil and LME at flameout.

I doubt you'd want that kind of a caramel flavor addition though.

I have my doubts too, which is why I've never done it. :-D

Maybe something else early though..honey? maple syrup? Make caramel in the pot before starting?

someone stop me.

 

[Axioq]

I'm pretty sure nothing would happen if you squeeze the bag. You seem to have the grain wrapped real tight there..I usually loosen it up to allow as much water to pass through and get the inner grains as possible.

I don't think you'll get any off flavors from starting the grains where you did. Did you maintain temp at 155ish after you removed from burner? People knock electric brewing sometimes, but I find the burner staying hot can be helpful for maintaining temperature sometimes.

Stirring will help keep it from boiling over too. Sounds like you were probably too close to the top of the pot? What size pot are you using? The more water you have the easier it is to stabilize temp too, although be careful too, because too much and you might not be able to get it to a boil on electric (I've had to half cover the pot to do so when I went to 4 gallons, and I tripped the circuit breaker once when I was doing that AND tried to boil water on a different burner for pasta..which can wreck havoc if it kills the timer you were using for hop additions)

Yea i wasnt sure how tight the grains had to be in the bag, next time ill leave some extra room and squeeze that bad boy. And it did stay between about 162-153 the whole steeping time so i hope it will be fine. Im not sure the size of the pot, just a large one we bought for lobster one year. Though i think it would fit 4-5 gallons. I was doing a partial boil and brewed with 2.5 gallons in the pot

The smack pack just let's you know if the yeast is viable, it doesn't have to fully inflate for it to work. You are at a borderline gravity, but the beer will start better if you make a yeast starter with liquid yeast.

The grains being at a lower temp should have brought it down some. For the most part those are for flavor and color and as long as it didn't steep above 170 you are probably fine. Also, tannins from squeezing the bag is now considered a myth, so get all the goodness you can and squeeze away.

Brewer preference, but I have found that adding the LME at flameout/end of boil keeps the wort from getting darker and can prevent the extract "twang".

I assume the hop additions were given by the accompanying recipe?

Pasteurization happens above 160-165, so you can actually add the honey at flameout as well and avoid that issue all together.

Fill sanitized gallon containers with pre-boiled water and refrigerate or freeze them prior to brewing and that can help in bringing your temp down.

Definitely no need to move it to secondary. That yeast strain prefers wort temp of 60-72 degrees and it's best to air on the low side. Does that bathroom stay in the low to mid 60s? If not, you may want to consider a swamp cooler. Really could fill the bath tub with water and add some ice bottles to help keep the temp down.

I see so you usually boil and then add the LME once its done...Interesting i may have to try that at some point

And the bathroom stays pretty stable, we hardly go in there and house is kept between 66-70 degrees since its winter, however wife is wanting me to move it from the bathroom so may end up in a closet in a week or 2, closet is much cooler