A Comedy of Errors

[Mouse]

I've been sitting on my brew kit for a few months because the weather doesn't seem to want to cooperate and sadly there is no central air here. Weather would get cold but not cold enough... I thought.

Superbowl Sunday with the weather turning snowy I decided to take a change that it wouldn't' warm up like it had been doing after brief cold snaps and stay relatively cold.

First error.. going to the little brewers room while waiting for the wort to boil again after adding the malt. Even though it was only a few quick minutes it was enough for a minor boil over to start.

Get that under control and start sanitizing the fermenter and everything, added the star sans first then water instead of adding it to the water and it was very frothy, put everything in, got the lid in and coated it all around froth wasn't dissipating so rinsed everything to be sure and now debating if I wasn't patient enough and if I left everything in it for 2 minutes or not.

Wort to fermenter was good, little bit of the sludge from the bottom of the pot made it in but not much. Did leave a apparently permanent outline of burner on the bottom of the pot as I had it on high to boil it since it was so large a pot.

Put Fermenter in back of the walk in closet and closed the door. looked a the thermostat on my clock.. 61 degrees. Checked on it this morning and watched it for about 5 minutes.. nothing.

I admit I am bi-polar and have a hard time not worrying about things so I start looking up temps as I was obsessed with not having too high a temp to screw up the beer but it never occurred to me until this morning about too cold.

I look up temps and find these two pages:

http://howtobrew.com/book/section-4/is-my-beer-ruined/common-problems

http://www.thekitchn.com/where-to-store-your-homebrew-while-its-fermenting-the-kitchns-beer-school-2015-217259

And realized I screwed up yet again. So I pulled the fermenter out of the closet and into the main room where it it is between 65 and 70 depending on where you are in the room. I pried the lid off and saw a layer of foam, which is good I think, put the lid back on and then placed the fermenter in a cardboard box by my desk and covered it in a blanket.

Since it has been sitting here it has bubbled slightly every few minutes (can hear it) but with the way these floors are I will shake the fermenter every time I walk to my desk and not sure if that is bad or not.

So that is the saga of my comedy of errors so far. There will probably be more sadly when I reach bottling time in 3 to 4 weeks.

 

[PADave]

What kind of yeast are you using? 61 should be fine. Fermentation is an exothermic reaction, produces heat. Once it gets going, your wort temps can be up to 10 deg F higher. I ferment in my basement which is 58-60 this time of year, and the first few days with active fermentation the wort reads around 66. Once things slow down, I bring it upstairs to finish.

 

[Mouse]

Was using the dry yeast from the Irish Ale kit I got. I know about how it produces it's own heat which is why I was waiting for sustained cold weather. I can hear a reaction now so with what you said I may leave it here for a day then once it really gets going move it back into the colder area?

still looking for where I placed the damn thermometer I got to put on the fermenter. Not sure where I stuck it.

 

[RM-MN]

Put the beer back where it is cool for another 3 or 4 days, then bring it back to where it is warm for the yeast to finish up. Yeast throw off flavors when it is too warm during the first part of the ferment but once the ferment settles down it helps with cleanup to be warmer. Dumping it all the sludge won't hurt the beer either. It settles out when the ferment slows and the settling yeast cover it.

I start my beers where it is about 62 degrees and it may take 24 to 36 hours to see any action. I've learned to just ignore it for that long as my ferment has always started and with that cool temp the beers come out clean, no off flavors.

 

[kombat]

Get that under control and start sanitizing the fermenter and everything, added the star sans first then water instead of adding it to the water and it was very frothy, put everything in, got the lid in and coated it all around froth wasn't dissipating so rinsed everything

Star San is a "no-rinse" sanitizer. There's supposed to be a layer of foam on the surfaces being sanitized. It actually degrades into nutrients the yeast can use. Rinsing it off defeats the entire purpose of sanitizing in the first place. Next time, "don't fear the foam."

Did leave a apparently permanent outline of burner on the bottom of the pot as I had it on high to boil it since it was so large a pot.

A little BarKeeper's Friend will take those scorch marks right off.

Put Fermenter in back of the walk in closet and closed the door. looked a the thermostat on my clock.. 61 degrees. Checked on it this morning and watched it for about 5 minutes.. nothing.

Be patient. A single pack of dry yeast, unrehydrated, will take some time to get rolling. As you gain more and more experience brewing, you should eventually look into rehydrating your dry yeast according to the manufacturer's instructions, but for now, it'll just take a little extra time to start.

Since it has been sitting here it has bubbled slightly every few minutes (can hear it) but with the way these floors are I will shake the fermenter every time I walk to my desk and not sure if that is bad or not.

No problem at all.

Be patient, keep its temperature between 62 - 68° F (the beer, not the room), and give it a full 2-3 weeks to ferment out before you even open the lid again.

 

[dwhite60]

We all go through this. First batch is always the toughest.

Years ago brewing was a six hour event with all kinds of issues. Many years of experience now and it's amazing how a brew day just flows. Efficiency is always good. I know my equipment and it's issues well enough to negate the issues.

Big part was after making some BIG mistakes but still turning out acceptable beer the stress level went down.

All the Best,
Happy Brewing,
D. White

 

[charliehorse]

Other than rinsing the Star San, I'm trying figure out how this isn't a normal brew day.

 

[Mouse]

Was bubbling good when I came out into the main room, took the advice and put it back in the closet (which is currently at 56 degrees). I won't rinse the star sans anymore, when i had watched a video it wasn't foaming so I though I had messed it up.. oh well.

I agree it is a learning experience.

And thank you for all the comments, lessons learned fo rnext batch whenever I make it ^,^.

 

[Mouse]

Will have been three weeks come Sunday and now debating leaving it for a full month or Bottling it now and having it ready by St. Paddy's Day.

 

[Yooper]

Will have been three weeks come Sunday and now debating leaving it for a full month or Bottling it now and having it ready by St. Paddy's Day.

Bottle it! If it's done, it's done. It's not a high alcohol beer or a beer with a ton of complex flavors- so if it's finished, it's ready to bottle.

 

[Mouse]

Cracked the top on the first one. Not much of a head, but that may be because of how I poured it. Color is deep red and I like the scent it gives off. It is a little stronger in flavor and alcohol content than I am used to but I definitely like it. So stress and success the first brew is done.

Have a Happy St. Paddy's Day all, and be safe if you have to be out on the roads at all.

 

[charliehorse]

The general rule of thumb in homebrewing is to relax. At worst, provided you sanitized everything, you'll end up with beer... beer that is better than most commercial stuff.

 

[Mouse]

The general rule of thumb in homebrewing is to relax. At worst, provided you sanitized everything, you'll end up with beer... beer that is better than most commercial stuff.

Still working on that part

 

[charliehorse]

Still working on that part

Once you have your pipeline filled, relaxing becomes the easy part.

 

[andy6026]

People say "don't fear the foam"... and I don't, but I sure find it a pain in the ass. I like to be able to see what I'm doing and that foam blocks any chance of that. Iodine for the win!