Beginner mistake. Did I ruin my brew?

[CanAusBrewer]

Hi guys,

I was brewing an american amber last night and drinking probably a bit too much homebrew simultaneously and decided it would be a good idea to cool my kettle in my swamp chiller bucket which was halfway full of cooling water. To my horror, as I had my back turned the entire kettle containing 10 l of boiled wort tipped over into the cooling water. I freaked out a bit and decided to re-boil my wort or at least bring it up to 70-80 deg C before adding it to the sterilised fermentor and cooling the entire volume in a bath of fresh water and ice. In the end I lost about 5 l of wort to dilution and added in a further 20% of the required extract in the original recipe to get it up to 1.040 (Beersmith was calling for 1.045 OG). I pitched what by that point was a very healthy looking yeast stater and crossed my fingers. I am pretty sure that it is a lost cause at this point but how long will it take to know if I totally ruined my batch of beer?

In the future I will not chill with a floating kettle!!! haha

 

[CanAusBrewer]

I should mention the swamp chiller bucket is brand new and never been used for anything before.

 

[wilserbrewer]

If you reboiled, or at least got up to pasteurization temps, above 160-170 your wort should be fine, just perhaps diluted from the accident...I think you will get decent brew.

Not a medal winner, but session beer all the same...

 

[CanAusBrewer]

Here is hoping anyway. I think I might do a dry hop of 1/2 oz each of my flavouring hops (cascade and willamette) to counteract the dilution effect.

 

[sbhank]

Dry hopping won't really counteract the dilution. Dry hopping adds more of an aroma than bitterness. You'll need to boil the hops in wart to extract the bitters. But hey, smell and taste are so connected that it might work out just fine. Either way your brew will survive


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[CanAusBrewer]

Dry hopping won't really counteract the dilution. Dry hopping adds more of an aroma than bitterness. You'll need to boil the hops in wart to extract the bitters. But hey, smell and taste are so connected that it might work out just fine. Either way your brew will survive


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That is definitely a good point. I think I will give it a taste after a week and from there decide if I would like to add some dry hops and perhaps a hop tea. It is aready up to 26 litres in the 30 l fermentor though haha. It is happily bubbling away and has developed a thick krausen as well so it looks like it will be alright .

 

[DeBAD]

Never even considered doing this before until just now but what if he replicates his hop schedule on a reduced scale in say half gal of boiling water? Then cools it to 65 F, then pitches it into the wort while it's in early fermentation? Wouldn't get the same mixing but if he disbursed it carefully when pouring it and swirl it a little occasionally it would mix enough and then replace the hop effect he lost?

Just throwing it out there for discussion if nothing else.



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[CanAusBrewer]

Never even considered doing this before until just now but what if he replicates his hop schedule on a reduced scale in say half gal of boiling water? Then cools it to 65 F, then pitches it into the wort while it's in early fermentation? Wouldn't get the same mixing but if he disbursed it carefully when pouring it and swirl it a little occasionally it would mix enough and then replace the hop effect he lost?

Just throwing it out there for discussion if nothing else.



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I was considering this as well, but will I then need to add more extract to get enough out of the hops? I worked out using a dilution calculator in Brewmate that I would be losing about 6 IBU total out of a 30 IBU beer. Apparently if I do a 60 minute boil with 4.5 grams of Magnum, this should add 6 IBU back to the beer. Is this correct?

My question then would be what would be the minimum volume of water required to extract that bitterness, and how much extract should I then use?

 

[DeBAD]

Good question. Until you told your story I never thought about this before. At this point if probably just ride it out. But an interesting thought nonetheless.


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[CanAusBrewer]

Good question. Until you told your story I never thought about this before. At this point if probably just ride it out. But an interesting thought nonetheless.


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I actually did go ahead and try this mini boil on the 2nd day of the primary fermentation because I was curious about trying out this idea. Since I lost approx. 20% of my wort to dilution, I did a full 60 min boil with 1.5 l of water, a couple tablespoons of LME and 20% of my hops, cooled and poured through muslin into the fermentor. After 7 days the beer is tasting pretty nice, although perhaps a little low on the ABV. I have just thrown in 0.75 oz each of cascade and willamette to dry hop. Looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.

 

[DeBAD]

Keep us posted on how it turns out. To truly test the adjustments you made, when this one is done you will have to brew another batch of the same beer. Maybe even keep a bottle around of the first batch so you can compare it later. Good luck.


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[CanAusBrewer]

Keep us posted on how it turns out. To truly test the adjustments you made, when this one is done you will have to brew another batch of the same beer. Maybe even keep a bottle around of the first batch so you can compare it later. Good luck.


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One of the things I have found to be a bit annoying about brewing forums is when someone describes a situation they had or a recipe they have proposed, goes off and makes it and then never mentions again in that thread, so others have no idea what happened with the resulting beer.

I will say that this beer turned out to be delicious. I took a few bottles to a bring a brew night at the LHBS and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all. I suppose it just goes to show how hard it is to actually ruin a batch! I can't say that the 2.5 oz dry hop of cascade and willamette has hurt it one bit!