Batch Number 3, goes down hill quickly...

[flyfishnc]

So, I brewed my third batch yesterday and it was supposed to be a wheat, Wounded Trout Wheat. Murphy's Law was present during this boil. I should have seen the signs and stopped . Heh, who am I kidding... I had to have one of my previous homebrews and enjoy the day!

You can read the entire blog entry and see all of the pics on my site BrewingExperiment.com

Recipe
5 lbs Wheat Dry Extract
8 oz Cara-Pils
.5 oz Amarillo Gold Hops
.75 oz Orange Peel
1 lb Orange Blossom Honey
Belgian Wit Ale Yeast (WLP400)
Est. Gravity: 1.051
Measured Gravity: 1.056

Slight issues started while washing the equipment.

Let me back track just a sec... I had noticed in previous batches that my spigot leaked just a tiny amount. Not enough to do anything other than put a little sticky wort on the bottom side of the bucket.​

So, back to the day... I had washed the bucket and left some water in there to see if it still leaked and I would address it if needed. Well, it did leak. So, I tightened the nut on the inside and thought... "Done". Wrong; drip, drip, drip, drip.... After taking the spigot off, I noticed the thing was cracked almost in half (where the threads met the part of the spigot that goes outside the bucket). What to do now... Off to Lowes to buy a pvc plug, cause the homebrew shop isn't open on Sunday's. What a way to start off... This was the first sign for me to maybe do this another day.

After fixing the fermenter, it was time to brew. As a newbie, I expect certain things to get mucked up. I pushed the limit with my boil (and paid for it) this time. I have a 6 gallon pot and tried to boil five. Now, I know brewing extract I don't 'Need' to boil that much water, but you guys can give me a hard time about it; it's ok. My reasoning was to see what boiling five gallons would be like, achieve better hop utilization, and to see if the burner could actually handle that much. I guess I figured out the answer to one of those

Well, I steeped the grains and all was fine. Added the DME, all was fine. I made sure to keep a very close eye on the wort when it was coming up to boil temp.

So far, so good. The hot break had occurred and no boilover. Added the hops and...BAM!!!

It get's better, check out this sad sight.

It was like an explosion and happened in about 3 seconds. I took my eye off of it to start the timer for the hops and it was on!

Like I said earlier, you guys can read up on all of this on my blog so I won't go into all of the details, just a few of the good ones. Well, here's how it all ended... After the batch was finished, I siphoned the wort through the counterflow chiller and into the fermenter. Last time, this went pretty quick and I had amazing results. This time, it started off really well. Then the flow had slowed. What could be wrong now, a few of those damn orange peel pieces were stuck inside the chiller, rendering it impossible to use. I mean nothing was coming out of it. I tried to get it cleared and failed miserably. After messing with it a few minutes, I had to take the batch inside for an ice bath and to finish up...

What did I learn:
First and foremost, keep a CONSTANT eye on the kettle until the nice rolling boil has started. Yes, even during the first hop addition. Also, plan for plan B. Wait, there’s more… I need a filter on the siphon (in the kettle). Still going… I may want to have an extra bag of ice on hand if i have to use an ice bath again. What’s the worst that can happen, bad beer that I make? It will still be better than the American Lite Pilsners!

Through all of this, while irked, I was relaxed and enjoyed my homebrew... Just goes to show (to me at least) enjoying the fruits of your labor does make a bad situation easier to laugh at! Heh, what a day!


Eric

 

[android]

things could have been worse! at least you got the entire batch made...

we all go through frustrating brew days, it's all part of the process.

are you using a bottling bucket for fermenting? i'd definitely recommend getting a bucket without a spigot on it so you won't have to worry about that in the future.

watch out for those hop additions!

 

[BKmyWAY]

At least it will still be beer in the end, so it's not the worst thing in the world.

It's one of those live and learn kinda situations.

GO HOKIES!

 

[cvstrat]

WHen you add the hops you're going to notice a significant amount of foaming. Your liquid level is SO close to the top of your kettle I'd be really careful. Boilovers do happen, even with a pretty large pot so don't worry too much.

Just from now on watch it for a few mins after the boil starts and don't leave it after you add hops until all of the foamy stuff dissolves back into the boil and you should be good.

Sounds like you have some good beer coming your way!

 

[benl560]

hay, at least you were not boiling it on swmbo's stove. things would really be catastrophic then.

 

[Pharmguy]

Oh yeah, I had one of those last week. Went wrong from start to finish and it did boil over on the stove. It took my mother in law to get it clean. Feel good about the fact that you will be drinking a great witbier in about a month.

 

[flyfishnc]

hay, at least you were not boiling it on swmbo's stove. things would really be catastrophic then.

haha, that's what i was thinking. I told her, "well this could have been inside and all over the floor, under the stove, etc..."

I've got to do a sympathy brew session in a few weeks... you know, to make up for a boil over.

One question though, what can I expect from this mishap? I'm guessing a batch that isn't quite hoppy enough? What are the results of a boil over at the hop addition stage?


Eric

 

[malkore]

even in my big brew kettle, that first hop addition wants to cause an instant boil over. its just something you learn to cope with as you brew more.

 

[EvilGnome6]

even in my big brew kettle, that first hop addition wants to cause an instant boil over. its just something you learn to cope with as you brew more.

I've found that if I dial down the boil right before I add hops it reduces the risk of a boil over. Once the hops blend into the wort, I can turn up the heat again and all is well.

 

[ifishsum]

I've found that if I dial down the boil right before I add hops it reduces the risk of a boil over. Once the hops blend into the wort, I can turn up the heat again and all is well.

+1 to this, works for me too.

 

[Makeyermark]

I found out that my homemade wort chiller has some issues, while trying to chill my wort. I had tested it for leaks prior to use and it was perfect. However, I had not tested it for leaks after sanitizing it in 200 degree wort for 15 mins. Apparently the heat changed things a bit and when I went to turn on the hose.....Ole Faithful sprung up right next to my wort. I was able to manage through the leaks while chilling the wort, but I watched quite a bit of water drip into the chilling wort. Hopefully all will be fine.

 

[flyfishnc]

I've found that if I dial down the boil right before I add hops it reduces the risk of a boil over. Once the hops blend into the wort, I can turn up the heat again and all is well.

that's a great idea. i think i'll do that next time. thanks for the tip!!!


eric