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ian

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Jul 11, 2005
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Location
Pendleton, SC USA
Ok, I hesitated to even write about this one, but you guys are so warm and fuzzy that I figured you'd get a kick out of it.

We brewed our 3rd batch on Saturday, a Bass Clone. And up to now the brews have been pretty good (all 2 of them). Well to start off the calamities I put the bag of extract into the pot with the steeping grains to loosen it up. But, after having several homebrews I forgot to take it out when I turned the heat back on to bring up to boil. You might see where this is goin. . . I picked up the bag off the bottom of the pot to find that a hole had been melted into it! Nice! ;) I thought "I guess we'll name this one Polyethelene English Ale". So, screw up number one. Screw up number two is not that big a deal, just an inconvenience. I forgot to buy more muslin bags for the hops thinking that I had more. So, in go the hops loose. Not a big deal, just messy. Next we had 3 boil overs! it never broke! And after cooling the wort down to pitch the yeast we fished out a good bit of what I can only assume was hardened plastic pieces floating in the wort.

And to top it all off, the wort has been in the carboy for about 38 hrs now and there is no activity in the airlock. We even went with the highly recommended White Labs yeast for this one. So, I have named this one "Low Expectations English Ale".

Do you guys think I should be getting worried that there is no activity from the yeast yet?
 
Yeah, I'd be getting a little worried at this point, too. Why did you have to "loosen up" a bag of DME?

As long as you didn't scorch a bunch of stuff in it, I think you'll be OK if you get the yeast started. It might have a burnt plastic taste, too. Pitch a Belgian yeast in it and tell people that's just part of the "character". Then make a witty remark about "those crazy Belgians", and RDWHAHB. :D
 
Sam75 said:
Why did you have to "loosen up" a bag of DME?

Not DME, LME. I'd been told that it helps to get the LME warmed up to pour better, less viscous.

Don't have any other yeast around to repitch. I would have to reorder some for tomorrow delivery. Nearest HBS is 2 hrs away. Oh well, you live and learn! Maybe less homebrew in the belly before starting to brew is a better route!

Hopefully it will be going by this evening.
 
Sam75 said:
Oh, OK. I've never seen LME in a bag. Hopefully it unscrews itself for ya!

Well . . . that's kinda what happened. A hole opened itself up, but left bits of melted plastic in the wort! We can file this one under "*******" if it never begins ferment!

It was a bag of Northwestern Amber LME, 6lbs.
 
ian said:
Oh well, you live and learn! Maybe less homebrew in the belly before starting to brew is a better route!
Well that's one way to go, but loosening your LME in a sinkfull of hot water would work just as well, and save you from the hassle of having to adjust your alchohol intake. ;)
You might take an SG reading by the way...just in case things happened so fast that you missed it.
 
El Pistolero said:
Well that's one way to go, but loosening your LME in a sinkfull of hot water would work just as well
Yup. That's what a buddy of mine suggested to me. It works great.
 
Update - There is now airlock activity! Not vigorous but now I guess it'll pick up as those guys get going.

There may be hope for this batch yet! :) :D :)
 
I've had some issues with White Labs yeast here in MS. It's been very hot here and I've been getting it from Austin Home Brew sent with ice packs and all. The last 2 batches I did with WL took nearly 36-48 hours to ferment.

My dry yeast starters were only taking 6-12 hours so I was wondering what all the fuss about liquid yeast was. I decided to give it another chance and tried some Wyeast smack packs. Sure enough I got activity in 12-24 hours with the Wyeast and I think thats what I'll be sticking with.

BTW I did my 5th batch yesterday. 5 batches in 5 weeks.


1st - Light Ale
2nd - Best Bitter --- excellent btw
3rd - Sunshine Wheat clone
4th - Newcastle clone
5th - Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout clone
 
Wow! 5 batches in 5 weeks. You are an outlaw. And I thought I was possessed.

Ian, keep the faith buddy!
 
Sam75 said:
Oh, OK. I've never seen LME in a bag. Hopefully it unscrews itself for ya!
I've used the LME in a bag before. The same brand I believe. The sink full of hot water trick really works. Safer than the boiling pot.
Ian, where is the HBS you go to? I've used White Labs yeast before and it takes about 48 hrs. for my batches to start active frementation also. 2 hrs. from Pendelton is about where I go in Long Beach...
 
brewsmith said:
I've used the LME in a bag before. The same brand I believe. The sink full of hot water trick really works. Safer than the boiling pot.
Ian, where is the HBS you go to? I've used White Labs yeast before and it takes about 48 hrs. for my batches to start active frementation also. 2 hrs. from Pendelton is about where I go in Long Beach...

I get my LME in 11 gallon plastic bottles. It easily pours without warming, and the residue is also to get out - just fill the bottle nearly full with the hot water, shake it for about a minutes, then pour the contents back in the kettle. Voila, all the extract is now out of the plastic bottle and ready to be converted to beer.
 
even more reason to make a starter for your beer. it ensures you that your yeast is active and healthy prior to pitching. it's a bummer doing all that work and waiting three days for your yeast to get goin'. too much time for nasties to get a leg up........
 
brewsmith said:
I've used the LME in a bag before. The same brand I believe. The sink full of hot water trick really works. Safer than the boiling pot.
Ian, where is the HBS you go to? I've used White Labs yeast before and it takes about 48 hrs. for my batches to start active frementation also. 2 hrs. from Pendelton is about where I go in Long Beach...

The HBS that I've ordered from most recently is in Asheville, NC. I'm in Pendleton, South Carolina (the SC is not for "Southern California" if that's what you were wondering). I was told that White Labs was the best, so I figured that I pitched at too high a temp and killed some of them (around 80 degrees). But, its bubbling nicely now, pretty vigorously.
 
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