1st batch, 1st problems

[mrt_kxv]

Hey guise

So, after over half a year of reading H2B again and again, I decided to brew my 1st ever batch, which was partial mash robust porter

I will just add the recipe, because I'm not even sure now the recipe was allright

Batch Size: 22.5 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 17 liters

OG 1.062
FG 1.013

2 kg Belgian Pale Ale
1.5 kg Liquid Malt Extract Amber (isn't this too much?)
0.7 kg Belgian Munich
0.7 kg Liquid Malt Extract Dark
0.25 kg Belgian Special B
0.2 kg Belgian Biscuit
0.2 kg Belgian Chocolate
0.2 kg Belgian Roasted Barley

35 g Williamette Pellet Boil 60 min
35 g East Kent Goldings Pellet Boil 60 min
15 g East Kent Goldings Pellet Boil 15 min
15 g Perle Pellet Aroma 0 min

Mashed all in 10L
67 C for 1 hour
75 C for 15 min

Sparged with 8L @ 80C

Did a 2L starter with a S-04 yeast using 200g of the dark LME

And then it all went wrong in many ways, so I'll just list all my mishaps below, hopefully you guys will tell me they are not that bad:

1) forgot to take iodine test after mashing - went straight to the boil
2) I somehow managed to boil it ~30 minutes more (before the hops addition), well, my neighbours house suddenly went up in flames & I was busy helping them out
3) I chilled the wort for almost an hour - again, due to the fire, I had no electricity at home, so my pump wasn't working & the only cold water I could use was in the barrell outside, and it wasn't too cold, maybe about 20C - so I just added 5.5L of cold mineral water straight into fermenter (my boil volume was 17 L anyways)
4) after chilling, I never bothered to filter out anything in the wort - I'm pretty sure it won't be a problem
5) aeration - I didn't have any HEPA filter for my aquarium pump, so I just put some cheesecloth in vodka, the folded it in half & used this as a filter & now I think it wasn't enough - were 5 minutes of aeration enough to infect the wort?

It's been fermenting for two days now, the bubbling in the airlock is pretty awesome (a bubble every 5-10 seconds), but now I have some doubts if I did smth wrong

Please help me find my peace, friends)

 

[unionrdr]

Forgetting to do the iodine test isn't terribly serious, since you did mash for an hour @ 67C (152.6F). I take it the 75C (167F) for 15 minutes was mash-out temp?
Boiling an extra 30 minutes (before bittering?) addition is ok. A couple times, this gave me clearer beer later.
The extended chill time might not be the greatest, but it'll still work in the long run, since you got it down to 20C (68F).
And filtering through cheese cloth isn't the greatest medium, it'd still get the gunk out & aerate the wort a bit by way of pouring action. Topping off with cold , unboiled water would add more oxygen, since boiling drives out dissolved o2 & you didn't boil the top off.

 

[mrt_kxv]

yes, 75C was my mash-out temp
and yeah, I meant before the bittering hops went in

regarding the aeration - I poured the wort into fermenter from quite high, there was plenty of foam even before I started aerating with the pump

thank you very much for your reply)

 

[unionrdr]

You're welcome. Pouring from on high is always a good way to get some air back into the wort. Besides cold top-off water that wasn't boiled that still contains dissolved o2.

 

[hottpeper13]

What was your OG measured? It seems the LME amount was ok in my limited metric math,you should have around 1.065(I don't have a program just formulas), the rest sounds great and should have a tasty brew. Don't let s04 get too hot and give it ~3 weeks in primary. This one might need some conditioning before bottling,sample at 3 wks for SG and to taste. I normaly use perle hops for bittering,are they a good aroma hop?

 

[mrt_kxv]

OG was 1.062

sorry for metric measurements)

Perle smells amazingly fresh&minty, so I thought that would compliment chocolaty & coffee-y flavours of the brew

it is fermenting now with temperature balancing around 68-71 F, is it ok for S-04?
I also thought that 12-14 days in the primary would be about right, but that has to be checked with time

 

[unionrdr]

It has been for me, although I do rehydrate dry yeasts.