Batch Anxiety

Rab_Himself · Dec 25, 2011

I just brewed my first batch of beer, a honey wheat. Smelled awesome while I was brewing it, and I felt things went well. Now I have all these worries that I screwed things up.
First Question: I chilled my beer in the fridge hours before pitching the yeast. Temperature was around 50 degrees before yeast pitching. Was that a bad idea?
Second Question: I was a little off on my yeast pitch and got yeast around the inner carboy spout. It looks a little weird. Is this going to become a problem?
Third question: I used tap water for my air-lock right out of the sink and was a little shaky on my pitch. A few drops went in the carboy. Was that horrible?

-Rab_Himself

nukinfuts29 · Dec 25, 2011

1) Depends on the yeast, they may have been a bit shocked but you will be ok. Worst case is you re-pitch in a couple of days.

2) Your fine.

3) Your fine.

Welcome to the community, we have a saying here.....RDWHAHB! It means Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Home Brew! Your jitters are normal, and the best thing you can do is put it all out of mind, ignore the batch, and have some drinks!

bottlebomber · Dec 25, 2011

Actually getting you wort cold like that before pitching, then letting it climb up, is a really good idea. As far as the yeast spillage, you can just swirl your carboy to wash it back down, but it isn't important. You'll be fine

nukinfuts29 · Dec 25, 2011

bottlebomber said:
Actually getting you wort cold like that before pitching, then letting it climb up, is a really good idea. As far as the yeast spillage, you can just swirl your carboy to wash it back down, but it isn't important. You'll be fine

I thought that method was for letting the wort slowly climb in tempature prior to pitching (which I have done). I believe the OP chilled the wort and then pitched while it was still around 50F.

Rab_Himself · Dec 25, 2011

Yes, I pitched it into 50F wort. It was forming head and a quarter inch cake at 8 hours out. Air bubbles in the lock as well. Thanks for the replys. I would RDWHAHB, but I haven't any, yet!