Awful Brew Day

[Phormula]

Anyone have a brew day so bad that even the thought of beer makes you want to smash something?

Well, today yielded just that. I was making a simple extract batch of NB Patersbier. After a smooth boil, I got the wort cooled down to pitching temps in under an hour, then I started to auto-siphon. Somehow, it turns out the siphon had a nice crack in it and started dripping beer all over the place. Great, right? Luckily I had a strainer that I hadn't thought to use yet. Picked up the beer, started straining it, and there goes the damn strainer falling into my bucket along with a ton of trub. Which is probably my fault for rushing it.

Anyway, does anything think this could clear up even with a secondary? I'm pretty worried that I ruined the potential of this beer entirely. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[beninan]

I always dump everything in from the boil (after cooled) straight into the fermenter, no secondary needed. The trub will settle out in primary and you won't have any issues.

 

[BendBrewer]

Time cures all. Of course it will settle out. Leave it for 3 weeks, rack to secondary for another week and watch it clear right up.

 

[bgruis]

Honestly I don't think Id be to worried about it. Your on to something with a secondary. Normally I'm not a fan but if your worried about all that trub I'd primary (1 to 3 weeks depending on Ale or Lager obviously) then rack to secondary if you still feel it's necessary.

If kegging I would just cold crash the primary a couple days before kegging.

 

[Phormula]

I've read that a lot of people do that, but there is so much of a debate between doing that and straining. Luckily, I used moss which hopefully will help.

I think it's my beginners nerves getting to me a little bit. I'm sure over time the beer will clear up.

 

[BendBrewer]

I always filter out the crap but others don't.

We all have those days by the way. Goes with the territory. The worst mistake you can make is to think you have it down and not pay attention to the details. That gets me every time. That and 'friends'.

 

[jwic]

Speaking of which, I'm unhappy with how much stuff is on the bottom of my bottles. How do people not siphon up the particulates? Do you simply keep the auto siphon well above the trub? How can you tell where it's at?

I feel I did indeed keep it well above the trub for my IPA but there's still a good deal of stuff at the bottom of the bottles....

 

[Phormula]

Yeah, I definitely started losing my composure a bit once the straining issue happened. I was a little less strict about the sanitation of my wyeast packet, and in between it being slippery and me being frazzled, some of the yeast went all over my hand and into the beer.

Praying it's a very forgiving screw up. If not, it gives me an excuse to try again I suppose.

 

[jfrank85]

pff thats nothing, me and a buddy had a perfect brew day going at my house, after a few we were going to give the wort an ice bath in the tub and thats when the fun started. My friend went to put his hand on the wall and slipped, causing his hand to go slamming through the tile in the shower. I said f*ck it lets get this guy chilling and run and grab some caulk to at least get these tiles fixed for the time being. After a half an hr there and back the wort was cooled and it ended up 10 points low because of a low efficiency mash (too thick). We got the wall fixed up and everything was good. After the first day of fermentation i added 12oz of honey to fix the bad mash. Turned out to be the best beer ive made to date! Point of the story, dont worry!

 

[BendBrewer]

Speaking of which, I'm unhappy with how much stuff is on the bottom of my bottles. How do people not siphon up the particulates? Do you simply keep the auto siphon well above the trub? How can you tell where it's at?

I feel I did indeed keep it well above the trub for my IPA but there's still a good deal of stuff at the bottom of the bottles....

How long are you fermenting? If you don't let stuff fall out of solution during fermentation that stuff is eventually going to fall out in the bottle along with the yeast after carbonation is done.

 

[dantheman13]

Speaking of which, I'm unhappy with how much stuff is on the bottom of my bottles. How do people not siphon up the particulates? Do you simply keep the auto siphon well above the trub? How can you tell where it's at?

I feel I did indeed keep it well above the trub for my IPA but there's still a good deal of stuff at the bottom of the bottles....

You can get clamps from your LHBS that clamp onto your siphon, allowing you to adjust how far above the trub you want the siphon's end to be. I've also heard of people tying on a muslin bag over the end of the siphon to act as a filter for at least the larger particles.

 

[jwic]

My first batch was a lager; that sat for a long while (and it doesn't have too much stuff on the bottom).

My second batch was an IPA and isn't too bad; it was in primary for 4 weeks (27 days, I think).

My wheat beer seems to have the most and, now that I look at the calendar, it was only in primary for a little over a week. Woops!! I didn't realize it had only been a week because the gravity was right where it should have been...


I saw 3-4 weeks is the norm but one of my brewing friends said "Wheat beer? That'll be done in no time!" Maybe that's why I jumped the gun on that one once I saw the gravity...

What do you recommend?

 

[BendBrewer]

I don't brew wheat beers so am not the best person to ask. I ferment my ales for a month and am carefully to not get any or very little of the trub into my keg when I rack. Bottle conditioning you'll always end up with some stuff on the bottom due to the mini fermentation that takes place with the addition of the priming sugar.