all my mistakes ...

[justenoughforme]

Okay, so i decided i'd "save money" by getting a few recipes instead of buying kits.

made up a recipe for porter meets belgian as follows:

Steep:
3 Oz chocolate malts
3 Oz Black Patent Malt
1 Lb Crystal malt 60 DegL.
add:
6.6 lbs malts extract.
2 Lbs belgian candy sugar.
and a cascade hops addition just to get me to 50 IBU's.
using Saffbrew Abbeye yeast, made a vigorous 1 liter starter


First Mistake:
- I didn't crack the grains or anything, i put them whole in the bag and didn't even know i had to mill them. so my beer didn't get much color.

second mistake:
- I figured 5 gallons of beer in a six gallon carboy would be plenty ... Krausen eruptions ! like a full day of it absolutely pouring out of the airlock.

third mistake:
- I forgot whirfloc entirely.

fourth mistake:
- my carboy is now so covered in green scum on the inside that i can't even see the water level of the beer let alone if it looks healthy.


so, any advice on how to munch up grains for my next batch, without buying a mill. think my slap chop can do an okay job?

will whirfloc help with excessive krausen ?

 

[Snicklefritz]

I've heard of people using a rolling pin to crack the grains but I know I wouldn't do it. Just buy the grains milled next time.

 

[Vamptrump]

1) Rolling pin. Takes elbow grease, but it does the job. I know my LHBS allows me to mill there, and you can traditionally order them milled from online stores.
2) Blow-off tubes are your friend.
3) I never use the stuff.
4) Not uncommon with your situation. Not really a mistake. I did an IPA recently that had so much hop material on the top after a massive blow out.

 

[Pappers_]

so, any advice on how to munch up grains for my next batch, without buying a mill. think my slap chop can do an okay job?

Your slap chop will just chop up the grains, if I'm thinking about the right implement. What you want to do is to crush the grains. If you are ordering your grains online or buying them at a homebrew store, you can ask them to mill them for you. If you already have a bunch of unmilled grain and want to use it, you can crush the grain in a big plastic bag with a rolling pin. Or a mallet.

will whirfloc help with excessive krausen ?

The other thing you can do is use a blow-off tube instead of an airlock. I take a 1" diameter plastic tube that I got at the homebrew store, stick that in the hole of the carboy (fits perfectly) and then run it into another jar with sanitizer. Lets the CO2 escape and if there is excessive krausen, it goes into the jar, not all over the carboy.

Cheers!

 

[Gavin C]

using Saffbrew Abbeye yeast, made a vigorous 1 liter starter

Dry yeast: Starter is not indicated, not needed, possibly detrimental to the carefully crafted dry product from the Yeast lab at Saffbrew


First Mistake:
- I didn't crack the grains or anything, i put them whole in the bag and didn't even know i had to mill them. so my beer didn't get much color.

second mistake:
- I figured 5 gallons of beer in a six gallon carboy would be plenty ... Krausen eruptions ! like a full day of it absolutely pouring out of the airlock.

This could point to an overly warm fermentation

third mistake:
- I forgot whirfloc entirely. No biggie

fourth mistake:
- my carboy is now so covered in green scum on the inside that i can't even see the water level of the beer let alone if it looks healthy.

Green scum: Never encountered that. Doesn't sound good with regard to sanitation


so, any advice on how to munch up grains for my next batch, without buying a mill. think my slap chop can do an okay job? Use your blender if you have one. The grains can then be put in a paint strainer bag for the steep. Should work OK

will whirfloc help with excessive krausen ? Not to my knowledge.

Some answers in blue. Hope that helps

 

[Psylocide]

Blender.

Whirlfloc doesn't seem to affect the krausen, I've heard Fermcap S may (never used it).

 

[Vamptrump]

Some answers in blue. Hope that helps

The green could have been hop residue after the large krausen. Happened to me recently. Hard to really say what they truly have without pictures though. I wouldn't really call it scum, but I could see the confusion.

 

[Vamptrump]

With all the talk of blenders and chopping, I would be concerned about the grains actually not getting crushed. While it opens the grain up it also doesn't keep the overall husk intact. For extract I don't see that big of a problem, but the practice could lead to issues if moving to all-grain (not BIAB).

 

[Gavin C]

The green could have been hop residue after the large krausen. Happened to me recently. Hard to really say what they truly have without pictures though. I wouldn't really call it scum, but I could see the confusion.

You're probably spot on there. Hops most likely. No worries so

 

[Gavin C]

With all the talk of blenders and chopping, I would be concerned about the grains actually not getting crushed. While it opens the grain up it also doesn't keep the overall husk intact. For extract I don't see that big of a problem, but the practice could lead to issues if moving to all-grain (not BIAB).

Yea, agreed . I think the OP is talking about steeping them so should be fine.

 

[justenoughforme]

right i meant steeping, i'm just learning extract. so blender is okay ? no worries about so finely chopped that it won't get pulled out in the steeping bag ?

and the material allover the carboy is definitely hops and leftover krausen ... it just, would be nice to be able to see if the surface was molding or whatever before letting it just sit there for three long weeks.

thanks for all the replies and tips.

 

[peterj]

and the material allover the carboy is definitely hops and leftover krausen ... it just, would be nice to be able to see if the surface was molding or whatever before letting it just sit there for three long weeks.

Why don't you just clean it off?

 

[justenoughforme]

on the inside ... stuck all up allover the carboy inside now that krausen has subsided.

though i'm tempted to sanitize to sanitize a bottle brush and go at it ... i figured best to let it sit. ... maybe consider racking to a secondary in two weeks.

 

[peterj]

on the inside ... stuck all up allover the carboy inside now that krausen has subsided.

though i'm tempted to sanitize to sanitize a bottle brush and go at it ... i figured best to let it sit. ... maybe consider racking to a secondary in two weeks.

Oh right! Ok, I thought I might be missing something there. Yeah, I've had that problem before. I would just leave it. You're beer will be fine. If you sanitized well you probably won't need to worry about an infection.

 

[paperairplane]

Extract + candi sugar + belgian yeast + warm ferm temp = exp-losive fermentation

Whir floc would not help you with this issue.

Look into a swamp cooler so you can start lower temp fermentation.

 

[theseeker4]

on the inside ... stuck all up allover the carboy inside now that krausen has subsided.

though i'm tempted to sanitize to sanitize a bottle brush and go at it ... i figured best to let it sit. ... maybe consider racking to a secondary in two weeks.

I wouldn't risk it, too much risk of infection, even sanitizing the brush. I ferment in a white bucket, so I never see what is happening until opening up for gravity checks and bottling, and have no issues. Just relax and let it do it's thing.

 

[Gonefishing]

You can make a grain mill with a pasta mill... also used as a roller for clay so you can buy them at a craft store. I got mine years ago at a craft store for less than $20. There's some labor involved to modify it but it's quite easy. THere was a thread here back then about doing it, a search may still find it, or you can look on an old blog I used to do to see how I did it. https://kking.wordpress.com/

 

[bigdaddybrew]

I've used a large rolling pin. It does a nice job but takes some elbow grease. My grains come in a large thick clear plastic bag so I keep them in the bag and crush them a bit at a time. 10 pounds took me about 20 minutes. I usually buy them crushed though. Wish I had my own mill...it's on the list.