How will these beginner mistakes affect my first beer?

[Bamos6928]

Last week I attempted my first home brew. I used an American Pale Ale extract recipe kit that came with my starter kit from Morebeer!. I think the yeast was Safale US-05. The first thing I was unsure of was doing a full boil on my kitchen stove. I was able to get to a boil in a reasonable amount of time but it did take a while. I used a wort chiller to cool my wort after the boil, but I did not cool it enough. The instructions in the recipe kit said I did not need to check the temp with a thermometer but to just cool until the hottest part of the pot was cool to the touch. I did this and transferred my beer to my 7 gallon Fermonster fermenter. My beer was 84 degrees once in the fermenter. I knew I needed to be cooler but wasn't sure of a good way to cool the wort down more so I pitched my yeast at 84 degrees. I pitched the dry yeast directly into the wort. I was also short of my 5 gallon mark once in the fermenter. I didn't know if I should add water to get to 5 gallons or not, so I did not. There are probably 4.5 gallons or a little less in there. I also did not aerate my wort before pitching yeast. After letting my beer sit for a few days without seeing any bubbles in my airlock, I looked over everything closely and found that my rubber stopper in the top of the fermenter was not sealed off completely. I pushed it in and twisted to seal up the hole, but never did get any bubbles in the airlock. I had a good krausen after a couple days and it is now almost completely gone. The temp. has been kept at 68 degrees almost everyday except for one day it got up to 74 after I opened up a heater vent in the room when it got down to 64. Today is day 9 of fermentation. I am just wondering how these mistakes will affect my beer, what advice you guys have for next time and how soon should I bottle?

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

First, welcome to the forum.
Second, good chance you'll be fine
You could have added water to the fermenter. I would have used ice cold water to drop the temp. You don't mention that you took a gravity reading. You should take one before you pitch the yeast and after a week. Those numbers will dictate the strength of you beer and whether its finished or not. 84 is to warm but I've heard similar stories that turned out ok. 05 is a great yeast and pretty forgiving yeast so you have that going for you. Stable fermentation temps are best for a good beer. If it tastes fruity give it more time. You'd be surprised how much time will change a beer. If it taste "hot" like rubbing alcohol that's from to warm fermenting temps and wont go away. Good chance your going to have a strong beer due to low water volume and warm temps but you never know...yeast is a funny thing

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I cant even believe the directions from a kit say theres no need for a thermometer and to transfer when the pot isn't hot to the touch...that's flat out crazy. Buy a cheap $15 thermometer if you don't want to spend more, they work...also the directions most likely say to transfer to a secondary...don't..its outdated info. Leave it in the same fermenter the whole time. 2 weeks should do. If its tastes off leave it another week or 2 and it might taste better.

 

[MaxStout]

Your beer may turn out OK. There might be some fusels due to the high ferm temp. Or maybe not. In any case, NEVER dump a beer until you have determined that there is nothing else you can do to save it. You never know, it might turn out well. I assume you're bottling? Be sure to take hydrometer readings before you bottle, to ensure fermentation is done. Take 2 readings a couple days apart. If the gravity readings are the same, it's ready for packaging. Let the beer condition in bottles for about 3 weeks at around 68-72F.

As for next brew, a couple things. Measure gravity before pitching yeast. If it's way above the predicted OG, you'll know to add more water. Temp control is key. Try to get the wort chilled to near the ferm temp. If, for example, you are planning a ferm temp of 68, try to get as close to that as possible with the chiller. Once the yeast takes off it will generate heat and be more difficult to bring down the temp. Look up how to set up a swamp cooler. It's basically the fermenter in a big tub of cold water with an old towel wrapped around the fermenter. Run a small fan on it. Evaporation from the towel will provide cooling. That tub of water will act as a thermal mass to reduce the big temp swings when your house changes temps day to night.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Your beer looks done but AT LEAST get a hydrometer to test it. Amazon will have it to your door in 2 days if you don't have a local store

 

[MaxStout]

I'm with Jonnyrotten on the thermometer. Absolutely essential. Guessing by sense of touch could put you 20 degrees off. (To me, 100F feels "cool to the touch.")

 

[flars]

Your beer may be okay. It is time though to forget whatever else is in those poor instructions. Order a hydrometer. At about day 10 (or longer) take a specific gravity reading. Take another SG reading a few days later. Extra time in the primary is only better for your beer. The second SG numbers may be the same as the first indicating the fermentation is done. A cloudy SG sample means the beer has not cleared. More time in the fermentor will allow the beer to clear and then you will have clear beer to bottle. Plan for a three week primary.

Topping off with chilled water sanitary water that does not contain chlorine or chloramines will help cool the wort. It is also better to pitch the yeast below the desired fermentation temperature. It is much easier to let the wort rise to fermentation temperature than try to cool an active fermentation that is too warm.

Do the instructions also say to transfer the beer to a secondary vessel? Not really necessary unless you will be adding more fermentables. The beer will finish and clear in the primary without risking oxidation or infection from the transfer to a secondary. The yeast cake/trub layer will not impart off flavors unless the beer is in the primary for a couple of months or more.

I had also started out with sub par instructions. My beers were dramatically different after reading a couple of good books and the advice from knowledgeable brewers.

 

[Rhaop]

Sub par instructions in 2018 just blows my mind, s-05 is a forgiving yeast just be patient and let it sit in primary no less then 10 days, i would wait 14 personally

 

[hawkbox]

The fact the instructions always look like 25 year old photocopies is what blows my mind.

 

[Rhaop]

The instructions included with kits should just say visit homebrewtalk.com thanks

 

[stieg000]

I recommend buying a 4th edition copy of John Palmer's, How to Brew. I read the 3rd edition, the beginning chapter has a basic run down of all the steps to brew a batch without hitting any in depth details. It's well written, easy to understand but still delivers a wealth of knowledge for home brewers.

 

[ericbw]

You did all the rookie mistakes in one go. Now you have them out of the way

 

[hopdreams]

I think you’ll be fine. Did essentially the same stuff with my first batch. My instructions said nothing about fermentation temps so I let sit around low 70s ambient temps. Beer went from pale to amber and completely blew my mind. Krausen also freaked me out, totally thought beer was infected. In the end the beer was drinkable and I was happy with that. You seem to be ahead of where I was at that point so your next brew will be pretty good. Cheers!

 

[hawkbox]

Oh man I remember the first time I dry hopped and all the hops floated. I thought I completely hosed the beer.

 

[Wyphy]

Was interested in this post as I just made the same beer this past weekend, with presumably the same starter kit, and had a few of my own little issues and changes to make for next time, but nothing I really worried about.
Scorched just a touch of the LME, yeast hydration could have been slightly better, need a better aeration setup, think I ended up a bit short on add-in water, and fermentation temp could be a bit lower, but hey, it tasted like beer, and it's fermenting, so I think it'll be fine.

While I will agree that the instructions were not perfect, I really don't think they're that bad; there are a couple of typos (e.g. step 13 says go to step 13) and some forks depending on if you're doing partial/full boil and how to chill.
Instructions : https://www.morebeer.com/images/file.php?file_id=899
I did read those instructions before I got the kit, and they all made sense to me, but I tend to really analyze, and I did read Palmer's book before brewing too, so that certainly does help.
It does talk about using a chiller, and gives some temp suggestions, but it sounds like they expect you to pop in the IC and run the water for 30 minutes to cool rather than agitating to cool the wort faster.
There also should be a hydrometer included. Both kits with the Fermonster are supposed to have one.

 

[Bamos6928]

I failed to mention in my original post that I did get a OG reading prior to pitching my yeast. My OG was 1.0460. I checked it again today on day 13 and the SG was 1.012. It smells and taste like a pale ale, so I'm thinking maybe this batch will turn out good after all. I plan on bottling Monday which will be day 17 if all goes well. Thanks for all the input from everyone!!!

 

[Bamos6928]

Batch turned out great!!