Stupid Mistake - Help!

[deharris]

After taking a long time off from homebrewing, my wife and I made a porter yesterday. However, we made a (few) stupid mistakes and I'm wondering if this batch can be saved.

The biggest was that I forgot that tapwater is chlorinated (we live in Boston for what it's worth). We boiled all our water, but probably not long enough for the chlorine to come out.

I also pitched the yeast at a relatively warmish temp, but not hot enough to kill it (I don't have the precise temp). Now, 10 hours later, there are no signs of fermentation though there was a bubble or two in the airlock a few hours after pitching the yeast.

I take full responsibility for my sloppiness, but I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to save this beer. Is it hopelessly full of chlorine and no amount of yeast will resuscitate it? Should I just wait longer? Any help is appreciated.

 

[philrose]

chlorine usually effects taste moreso than yeast health.

Do you know the gravity of the wort? maybe wait two or three days, take another reading. If the gravity is dropping or you see krausen I'd do nothing. even if its only a little bit. if not, repitch yeast and you'll probably be ok.

 

[deharris]

Thanks Philrose. I've been looking around on the site - it's been awhile - and am feeling a bit better. It's a high gravity beer and I didn't aerate. Plus I used liquid yeast. So I guess I'm not surprised that it hasn't taken off quickly. I'll wait and repitch in a day or too if necessary.

 

[Zen_Brew]

Did you make a starter? If it is a high gravity beer,with no aeration and no starter than you may experience a longer lag time while the yeast build up their numbers for a high gravity fermentation. So the bad news is you may have a 48-72 hour lag time.

The good news is unless you have an ultra sensitive pallet, you are very unlikely to taste chlorine in a beer with as much flavor and dark adjuncts as a porter. Unless you are heavily chlorinated and can taste it in your tap water, you are not likely to taste it in any but the lightest flavored beers.

Lastly even if under pitching the yeast or chlorine throws off flavors, porter is a beer best drank with some age under it anyway, and any off flavors should dissipate over a couple months of proper aging. It's definitely not ruined from anything you have said. Even if you don't care for the flavor initially, let her sit for a bit. Dark beers just seem to naturally cure themselves of off flavors after a few months.

Cheers

 

[deharris]

Thanks, Zen Brew. We tend to like dark beers best (and tend to make them most frequently) so it's great to know that they also typically cure themselves of off-flavors. Bonus! And, as you predicted, the airlock is now bubbling away every 3 seconds or so. It looks like everything is going to be fine. Incidentally, we moved to Boston not long ago. Is the water here especially good or bad for brewing, or maybe just mediocre?

 

[Zen_Brew]

deharris:

Glad your fermentation has started up. It really is a worthwhile time investment to make a starter with liquid yeast, particularly for a high gravity batch. Even if you don't have a stir plate, just a basic intermittently shaken sample in a sanitized half gallon or gallon jug is much better than no starter. It gets the colony size up, gets the yeast up and ready to ferment, and validates the viability of your yeast. The Mr Malty pitching calculator will give you an idea of how big a starter is appropriate. Aeration can be as simple as shaking or swirling the carboy for a minute or two after you put the wort in.

I really can't speak to the content of water in the Boston area. I'm sure you could do some searching and get a basic idea. Many metros also post the results of their water analysis on the local water authority web site. This is a rough estimate as water can vary with the time of year and rainfall amounts and such. Also if you contact the authority you can request a copy of the report that they have on file. They are required to test their water usually annually.

You can also contact Ward Labs which is a testing facility. For a reasonable fee which I believe is around $20 they will send you a sample container which you fill and send back to them, and they provide a full analysis back to you. Bear in mind again that many water sources fluctuate a bit seasonally, but still you will have a working base to start from.

 

[rmolledo]

if you use liquid yeast, make a 1/2 gallon starter with it 3 days before hand. It will start your fermentation super fast that way.