1st brew not looking good!?!?

[Berchabar]

I finished my first brew 9 days ago. It is an american light extract kit. Everything seemed to go wonderful during brewing. Poured wort into buckets and thoroughly aireated. I forgot to strain out trub and hops. Pitched yest and placed in fermentation fridge. Yeast went crazy for about 3-4 days then quit. Let sit. Try to cold crash on day 6. Beer is now very cloudy and smells terrible and is not that palatable.

Kit consisted of DME, hopps and, Nottingham ale yeast

Did i perform the rookie rush?
Do i need to dump and try again?

 

[woo_pig]

You cold crashed to soon . Try and let it warm back up .The yeast wasn't done .

 

[kh54s10]

I would also warm it back up to about 70 degrees for a few days. At 6 days it might not have hit FG. I ferment all my beers for at least 2 weeks. When in doubt use your hydrometer to determine that you have reached FG before any further procedures.

I would also look to getting a better extract kit. There should be extract, steeping grains, hops and yeast. The specialty grains add a lot of depth to the flavor that you will not get with extract alone.

 

[skraeling]

too much too soon. making beer is an exercise in waiting as long as possible usually haha.

 

[Berchabar]

I was afraid i did that. I have palced it back in the fermintation fridge to heat back up to about 70. You guys are awesome wealth of knowledge. Dont have anyone around me to learn from so i rely on this forum and youtube.

 

[skraeling]

I was afraid i did that. I have palced it back in the fermintation fridge to heat back up to about 70. You guys are awesome wealth of knowledge. Dont have anyone around me to learn from so i rely on this forum and youtube.

When I first started we gave everything about 4 weeks in the primary. Granted thats overkill for a lot of beers. Two weeks is more than enough for most normal gravity regular stuff.

The final boss is always the hydrometer reading though.

 

[Berchabar]

I just need to stock up on some store bought and wait for it to finish.

 

[skraeling]

I just need to stock up on some store bought and wait for it to finish.

tell me about it. I have 15 gallons I cant drink yet haha.

5g of a scottish ale thats slated for a party the end of this month
5g of a holiday ale thats still got two weeks of fermentation
5g of an oatmeal stout that still has another week on it

 

[PADave]

What temp did you ferment at?

 

[Berchabar]

Held at 70

 

[PADave]

Held at 70

Air temp or actual wort temp? Either way, that's pretty warm for Nottingham. I'd do low 60's. This combined with the quick time most likely is the source of the off flavors.

 

[Berchabar]

Air temp or actual wort temp? Either way, that's pretty warm for Nottingham. I'd do low 60's. This combined with the quick time most likely is the source of the off flavors.

Taped temp sensor to the side of carboy and insulated with towel. The instructions i had said between 65-75 so i picked 70 +/-2.

 

[Berchabar]

Taped temp sensor to the side of carboy and insulated with towel. The instructions i had said between 65-75 so i picked 70 +/-2.

 

[PADave]

Instructions with a brew kit? Your best bet is to throw them away, as they are only good for ingredient amounts and hop addition times. Next time do a search here and find out a good temp for the yeast you are using and what they do at the upper or lower extremes.

 

[Berchabar]

So is this beer salvageable or do i need to start over?

 

[rpolzin25]

So is this beer salvageable or do i need to start over?

I think you are fine. Just give the beer some time to ferment longer at room temp. Yeast should clean up the off flavors. I used notty recently on a nut brown and fermented like 68 ambient temp and beer turned out fine. Another week or so and should improve.

 

[RM-MN]

Nottinham yeast likes to throw off flavors when fermented warm. It ferments out really clean when kept between 55 and 62, not bad up to 65 or so but above that it goes crazy. If your kit says 65 to 75, throw the instructions away. If it got the proper fermentation temperature for Nottingham that wrong, it probably has other errors too.

Belle Saison yeast would do great at 70 to 75, not Nottiingham or most other ale yeasts.

 

[Berchabar]

*Update*

Wort color has lightened and seemed to clear some.SG looks to be at 1.006.

Should i let sit longer or go ahead and try to cold crash again?

View attachment 1480043967227.jpg

 

[RM-MN]

I'm a fan of "sit longer". Give the yeast all the time they want, let them finish up and drop out to the bottom. Beer will clear just fine without cold crashing.