Accidentally put all hop debris in fermenter

[nickharbour]

For my first brew after a 6 year hiatus I decided to go with an easy kit for an english pale ale. I made the mistake of dumping the entire contents of the brew kettle, hop goop and all, into the fermenter. I just kegged and poured my first just a little while ago and its drinkable but I'm getting a powerful bitterness and some off flavor that I can't really describe other than I guess an acrid flavor upfront then again in the aftertaste. Is this likely the result of the hop debris or something else?

 

[Golddiggie]

How about posting the recipe and how long it was on the yeast?? What temperature did it ferment at?

Dumping everything into primary isn't that big of an issue. Just means you'll have more trub on the bottom when you rack off of it.

 

[MRbutlertron]

How long did you leave it in the fermenter for?? I've left my beer on the "hop goop" for over a month and didn't have a problem.

 

[Captain Damage]

Lots of us normally dump the entire contents of the boil kettle into the fermenter with no detriment to beer quality.

I just kegged and poured my first just a little while ago

I don't keg so my ability to advise is limited, but did you purge the first pint to make sure you're not getting any trub in the glass?

 

[Revvy]

You did what probably half the homebrewers on the planet do all the time. There's as many ways of doing thing in this hobby as their are brewers, and they are all the right way.

Some dump everything in, without straining, just pour it in the bucket or in the funnel....Some use a big strainer that fit in the funnel for a carboy, or a sanitized 5 gallon nylon paint strainer bag in the bucket...

I have done it all ways. It really doesn't matter...anything will settle.

In other words, there is no wrong way to do it, or better way, or way that will make the best beer...they all work...the choice is what will work the best for you. That's how you develop you own unique brewing process. By trying all ways and deciding what works best for you.

What I do with my IC, is chill the wort, then I lean the bottom of my autosiphon about two coils up from the bottom on the metal of the siphon. That rests it above most of the break material and trub, then I rack it to the fermenter until I'm down to that and carefully lower the siphon down into the gunk, just trying to get as much of the wort as possible without letting in the hops and break matter.

But pretty much up until I got my immersion chiller I just dumped for the majority of my batches. And I still managed to do well in contests...

 

[nickharbour]

it was a brewers best kit

3.3 light lme
2.0 gold dme
8oz. crystal 60

2oz. bittering hops (i don't remember which, i think it was fuggles)
2oz. flavoring hops
1oz. aromatic hops

yeast was a packet of nottingham i think

I did primary for one week and it has been in secondary for about 2 months (I've been away)

 

[Golddiggie]

Was the acrid flavor there before you carbonated it?? If not, then it's over carbonated and you're tasting carbonic acid in the brew... Dial back the carbonation level, let it rest a week or two, and try it again...

I wouldn't have pulled the brew off the yeast after just one week. Unless you tasted the brew before kegging it, and it was good, you could have picked up contamination when you racked.

I know Revvy has stated about having a brew on the yeast for ~6 months without any bad effects. I've done 6 weeks so far, without any issue.

I love using the ball valve in my kettle to get the wort into primary... No more holding the racking cane, and such. Makes things so much easier. I did the auto-siphon deal the few brews before the last two, where I had the valve in the kettle at last... Can't imagine not going this route ever again.

It would be helpful to know what the hops were, at what points... You could just be tasting the flavor and aroma hops... Plus, that looks more like an IPA than just a pale ale to me...

 

[nickharbour]

You did what probably half the homebrewers on the planet do all the time. There's as many ways of doing thing in this hobby as their are brewers, and they are all the right way.

Some dump everything in, without straining, just pour it in the bucket or in the funnel....Some use a big strainer that fit in the funnel for a carboy, or a sanitized 5 gallon nylon paint strainer bag in the bucket...

I have done it all ways. It really doesn't matter...anything will settle.

In other words, there is no wrong way to do it, or better way, or way that will make the best beer...they all work...the choice is what will work the best for you. That's how you develop you own unique brewing process. By trying all ways and deciding what works best for you.

What I do with my IC, is chill the wort, then I lean the bottom of my autosiphon about two coils up from the bottom on the metal of the siphon. That rests it above most of the break material and trub, then I rack it to the fermenter until I'm down to that and carefully lower the siphon down into the gunk, just trying to get as much of the wort as possible without letting in the hops and break matter.

But pretty much up until I got my immersion chiller I just dumped for the majority of my batches. And I still managed to do well in contests...

I must admit to a pure idiot moment with this batch where I had the wort transferred to the fermenter and saw the caked up hop sludge and said to myself "hey i bet this good stuff should go in the fermenter" and I manually chucked it in. A strainer wouldn't have helped my stupidity with this batch. My second batch isn't ready yet but I did manage to avoid hop particles in the fermentor (and hydrometer samples are tasting nice). I do have a strainer being shipped though.

I went with a wort chiller right away as I remember that being vital from my previous brewing experience. I think my process was pretty decent overall so thats why I'm curious as to the hop sludge yielding the off flavors. My fermentation temp was a little low perhaps (I keep my apartment at about 63 degrees).

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

The hop material would not be the cause of an off flavor.

 

[nickharbour]

Was the acrid flavor there before you carbonated it?? If not, then it's over carbonated and you're tasting carbonic acid in the brew... Dial back the carbonation level, let it rest a week or two, and try it again...

I wouldn't have pulled the brew off the yeast after just one week. Unless you tasted the brew before kegging it, and it was good, you could have picked up contamination when you racked.

I know Revvy has stated about having a brew on the yeast for ~6 months without any bad effects. I've done 6 weeks so far, without any issue.

I love using the ball valve in my kettle to get the wort into primary... No more holding the racking cane, and such. Makes things so much easier. I did the auto-siphon deal the few brews before the last two, where I had the valve in the kettle at last... Can't imagine not going this route ever again.

It would be helpful to know what the hops were, at what points... You could just be tasting the flavor and aroma hops... Plus, that looks more like an IPA than just a pale ale to me...

ah, co2 bite would make sense, I quick carb'ed it with agitation at 30psi for a few minutes and its only been in the kegerator for about 3 hours. I'll see if it gets better but its not bad enough to not drink now at least, and I'm thirsty.
I had to get it off the primary because I had another batch to brew before I went on a long vacation so I had to move it down the pipeline. plus the gravity reached an acceptable level and bubbling had stopped for a few days.

I just bought a nice blichmann kettle with a ball valve spigot so I'll get to try that out this week. That plus my conical fermenter and I really don't have to do much siphoning I don't think.

sorry i don't remember the hops vareties specifically (the brew sheet doesn't list it either) but the schedule was pretty normal (60, 15, 5). It definitely tastes a little out of style for an english pale ale with the strong hop aroma and taste but I'm not sure if thats my fault or the recipe.

 

[Golddiggie]

That's why many of us have more than one primary... I'm not going with a conical since I'd rather let the brew work on it's own schedule than rush it along because I want to brew another batch...

Since I've adopted the long primary method, I've been getting great brews. It just means that I now have four primaries to use for beer (not counting the ones I use for mead and such)... I can usually have one free at any given time... Or one will be becoming free in time for the next brew day.

 

[nickharbour]

That's why many of us have more than one primary... I'm not going with a conical since I'd rather let the brew work on it's own schedule than rush it along because I want to brew another batch...

Since I've adopted the long primary method, I've been getting great brews. It just means that I now have four primaries to use for beer (not counting the ones I use for mead and such)... I can usually have one free at any given time... Or one will be becoming free in time for the next brew day.

yeah I can appreciate multiple primaries, but I also love the convenience of the conicals. so I just ordered my second. it gets pricey but its still peanuts compared to what I've spent on other hobbies. I should mention that I don't have a spouse.

 

[drkaeppel]

I had a bunch of hop debris in primary on my last brew. When I racked to my bottling bucket, I rubber banded some sanitized cheesecloth to the end of my auto-siphon so it filtered as I was siphoning. Worked like a charm!

 

[nickharbour]

Just to finish this thread off, I let it sit in the keg now for 24 hours and the off flavors have subsided. I guess that undesolved co2 was the culprit. funny thing is that I can still taste the flavors that made it acrid but they just aren't over-accentuated now and the beer comes together nice and smoothly.

So yay, I can finally after all these years relax, not worry and have a homebrew.

 

[Golddiggie]

Good to hear that it's getting better... I would recommend using the 2 week carbonation method for kegging moving forward...

I would also make note of what hops are used in the brew, for bittering, flavor and aroma... Takes less guess work out of the mix. Personally, I put it all into Beer Smith, plus my brew log book... I include the AA% too, so that I can repeat a recipe better next time around. Especially since you're not sure what the AA% will be from harvest to harvest.

 

[mfaulconumw]

Just put my first batch ever in Primary last night and my beginner self forgot to leave all the goop at the bottom of the kettle and poured it all into primary - question is would you guys recommend cold crashing (I made the Caribou Slobber Brown from Northern Brewer) to limit all the trub that'll be at the bottom?

 

[Golddiggie]

Just put my first batch ever in Primary last night and my beginner self forgot to leave all the goop at the bottom of the kettle and poured it all into primary - question is would you guys recommend cold crashing (I made the Caribou Slobber Brown from Northern Brewer) to limit all the trub that'll be at the bottom?

[facepalm]
Just give it a bit more time to settle in primary. Longer in primary means zero secondary needed. Putting the stuff from the bottom of the kettle has been proven to do no harm. In fact, it's been shown to be of actual benefit.

Read more threads on this stuff. It's been posted about a bazillion times already.

 

[mfaulconumw]

[facepalm]
Just give it a bit more time to settle in primary. Longer in primary means zero secondary needed. Putting the stuff from the bottom of the kettle has been proven to do no harm. In fact, it's been shown to be of actual benefit.

Read more threads on this stuff. It's been posted about a bazillion times already.

Thanks, appreciate it. I'm new here so still feeling my way around the site. I was planning on doing a 3 week primary so should be good to go then.

 

[Golddiggie]

Thanks, appreciate it. I'm new here so still feeling my way around the site. I was planning on doing a 3 week primary so should be good to go then.

Good fermenting temperature control is one of the best things you can do for your brew. Keep it in the right range for the yeast and you'll get better results more often.

 

[mfaulconumw]

Good fermenting temperature control is one of the best things you can do for your brew. Keep it in the right range for the yeast and you'll get better results more often.

Currently have it sitting in a dark room in my basement at 66 degrees - excited to see how it comes out. Really looking forward to learning more and more with and in between each batch.