Workin on my first brew!

[SillySnake]

... And I think I've gotten stuck. I bought a kit that came with two 3.3 lbs cans of wheat extract. I used one of these cans to create my first 5 gallon brew last weekend.. The day after I'd moved everything over the the fermentation bucket I noticed it was bubbling every 7 seconds or so. Since that day I haven't seen any real signs of bubbling. :-/ Since the kit came with two 3.3 lbs cans I assumed that I it included enough hops and yeast to make two batches, so I only used half of each. Last night when I moved it from the bucket to my glass carboy I tasted a bit of what was left in the bucket. It certainly smelled like beer, and had some beer like taste to it, but it also tasted very watered down. Did my fermentation get stuck? Should I pitch more yeast? Help!

And since this is my first post, Hello to everyone

 

[cha ngo]

I'll defer to the extract wizards here, but 3.3lbs seems pretty light (if I recall my extract brewing days correctly). Also, the beer is not carbonated yet which tends to make it taste more "watery". I'd guess you have brewed a session beer. What led you to think that the kit was for 10 gallons?

 

[david_42]

3.3 pounds of LME ~ 1.021 OG. It is probably done fermenting, but this is not yet beer. Your kit was designed to make a 5 gallons batch.

You need to heat up the other can of extract in a little water & add it to your secondary.

 

[SillySnake]

3.3 pounds of LME ~ 1.021 OG. It is probably done fermenting, but this is not yet beer. Your kit was designed to make a 5 gallons batch.

You need to heat up the other can of extract in a little water & add it to your secondary.

Should I just pour out a gallon or so of what I've got in my secondary and then add in the other can with some water and the rest of the yeast? Thanks for the advice.

 

[RoaringBrewer]

Yep, sounds like you should have used both cans of extract. 6.6lb extract to a 5 gallon batch would have given you good beer. What you have now with only 3.3lb extract could probably sold as NA "beer".

I'm not sure how to go about adding the rest of the ingredients (i guess its as easy as boiling it with water and dropping it into the rest with some new yeast), but next time make sure you add a minimum 5lb. of extract if you want anything alcoholic... 6-8lb. is a good rule of thumb for a 5 gallon batch (depends on other fermentables, etc.).

 

[SillySnake]

Yep, sounds like you should have used both cans of extract. 6.6lb extract to a 5 gallon batch would have given you good beer. What you have now with only 3.3lb extract could probably sold as NA "beer".

I'm not sure how to go about adding the rest of the ingredients (i guess its as easy as boiling it with water and dropping it into the rest with some new yeast), but next time make sure you add a minimum 5lb. of extract if you want anything alcoholic... 6-8lb. is a good rule of thumb for a 5 gallon batch (depends on other fermentables, etc.).

Guess I'll give my original idea a go.. Boil the other can with some water, drop it in the bucket and siphon the rest over from the carboy until the bucket is full.. Pitch the yeast and pray for decent beer. Since I've got a couple of weeks, guess I'll have time to go buy some beer that doesn't have a twist off cap and save a few bucks when it comes time to bottle

 

[Yooper]

You shouldn't have to add yeast- you've already added it at the beginning, right? I would just boil it it a little water and add it to the carboy. No need to dump any of the other stuff out.

Lorena

 

[MattD]

Check and see if the extract is pasturized... If it is, you may be able to pour it directly in without risk of infection (although I take no responsibility if you get burned ) You may have a problem with it being underhopped, and I'm not sure of a good way to fix that without increasing your volume, maybe someone else has some ideas. If you can't fix that, no big deal, it'll just be underhopped. Drink it up and learn Pitching more yeast shouldn't be necessary as the initial yeast pitch will have multiplied in your wort to levels so high that the additional you'd pitch would be next to negligible. Of course, if you don't want to risk screwing anything up, and you're satisfied with this taste for your first batch, you could always save the extra ingredients you have and do a 2.5 gallon batch with it next, to compare how the concentration changes affect your beer. Most important thing though is have fun!

 

[SillySnake]

Boiled the other can of extract last night for an hour with the rest of the hops I had. Mixed it in with what I already had.. We'll see how it turns out Excited to try it here in a couple of weeks Thanks for the advice all, I'll be sure to post some pictures when I get everything done