Brew day from hell, what are my chances of drinkable beer?

[tjm02c]

Sorry this is really long.

I attempted my first AG brew today and just about everything went wrong bc I didn't plan very well. I was trying to brew an imperial Stout and shooting for about 4.5 gallons with an OG in the 1.1 range. The new kettle I bought was too big to fit on my stove (microwave got in the way), so I had to take the protective grill things off of my gas stove to be able to squeeze it in there. After having the fire going for an hour or so my carbon monoxide detector started going off, but I was close to my strike temp so I opened the windows and front door to try and power through it for the few mins left to hit my temp. I got to my temp and mashed, but the MT I was using sucked and the temp kept dropping (went from 156 down to about 143 over the hour mash, think the thermometer might've been broken tho). Sparged and somehow ended up with 9+ gallons (used 10 total between mash and sparge) so my plan was to just boil down for a long time, but before I could even get it up to a boil the CO detector started going off again. After trying to adjust things a couple times with no success I just turned it off and started cooling with plans to pitch. Got it down to about 130 and tested the gravity of a cooled sample and it was only at 1.055. After considering dumping it and calling it a day for about 20 mins I decided to take a few gallons and start to slowly boil it down on my smaller kettle that fits on my stove and I've been boiling for about an hour and a half now and it seems to be going well, just kinda worried about what's going to be the side effects of the wort sitting around at around 100 or less for a couple hours before getting moved to the smaller kettle to boil off. Anyone done anything like this before?

 

[Lefou]

Sounds like you're making out like a champ and fighting through the headaches. You didn't throw it out yet and still have something to work with.
Maybe you don't make an imperial stout and end up with a dry hoppy porter instead.
Would you keep it?

 

[cloudybrewer]

My first AG BIAB was Friday night. It went better than yours, but I didn't get started until 10 pm. Got everything put away after three. Had a shower, a beer and went to bed at 4am. The kids got me up at 7:30. Wanna trade?

 

[doug293cz]

How hot did you get it before switching to smaller pots. If you got to about 160°F, you should have killed off all the lactobacillus, so you shouldn't have to worry about kettle souring.

Your first mistake was trying to brew something as big as 1.100 on your first all grain. Just too much to bite off. You should get some experience with 1.050 ish AG's first, and then work your way up. You need to learn how to get the most out of your equipment set, before you try to push it to the limits.

Getting 9+ gal of wort from a RIS size grain bill with only 10 gal total strike + sparge water is a near impossibility. You probably need to look at your measurement process. Accurate measurements are critical if you want to dial in you brewing process.

You can boil down the wort according to your plan, but to get up to 1.100 OG from 1.055 pre-boil, you will need to boil off about:

9 - (55 * 9 / 100) = 4.05 gal​

Even with all your travails, you should still end up with beer in the end.

Brew on

 

[tjm02c]

I mean if I go through all this trouble and then ferment and bottle it I'm gunna drink it all no matter how sad it is lol

 

[corey1581]

I would advise not to put your pot right on the burner like that, especially if your carbon monoxide detector is going off. Can you borrow a neighbor's propane burner or something and move the whole thing outside?

If you are worried about the sanitation of your wort, I would say you are ok, as long as I'm understanding correctly that you are bringing it back to a boil for the miniature boil off. How are you boiling your hops in all that? When you reach your boil down point, will your wort fit in a pot on the stove so you can do your 60min boil with hops? How big is your fermentor? Can you just call it good with your current volume?.. boil your hops in a more concentrated 60 min boil and put the rest in the fermentor?

In the end, if you aren't poisoned by carbon monoxide, I'm sure your beer will be drinkable. I've had brews from hell, and was surprised at how good the brew actually came out in the end. There was a time I do not even remember getting the beer into the fermentor.. (I have terrible allergies so I took a couple of benedryl, and combined with homebrew, I mine-as-well have taken a roofie). That Rye Pale Ale was awesome.. too bad I can't remember how I made it!! Haha!!

 

[Gonefishing]

I'll bet you made beer that you'll like just fine. I'd suggest getting yourself a turkey fryer and moving your next brew day outdoors. This one on Amazon looks fine. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XTGCQ7P/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[tjm02c]

I've stopped putting it directly on the burner and I'm bringing it all back to a boil and boiling it off. I've got fermentation space for all of it if I want to split it up, but I'd prefer to boil down a bunch and get one high gravity carboy. The hops are something I was worried about. I threw an oz of challenger in on the original boil and then another oz while I was trying to cool it, so now they've basically been boiling for 2+ hours. I'm hoping it won't be too big of an issue since it's only 2 ounces, but I guess I'll find out. I've got another oz that I'm considering throwing in at flameout.

 

[tjm02c]

Yep, was planning on moving it outside for next time. Probably should've checked that the kettle fit before brew day. Lesson learned.

 

[mongoose33]

It'll likely be ok.

I would like to offer something for others who may be thinking about their first time brewing all-grain.

IMO, the simpler the recipe and process the first time brewing all-grain, the better. The trick is to learn the process, not to try to produce some fabulous beer. That's not terribly likely to happen the first time, so brew a simple brew, a pale ale, amber ale, something like that.

It may be that it all works with a complicated process and recipe, but is that really the way to bet? Even if one is an experienced extract brewer, I think there is value in taking things slow the first couple times brewing an all-grain recipe.

My 2 cents.

 

[doug293cz]

It'll likely be ok.

I would like to offer something for others who may be thinking about their first time brewing all-grain.

IMO, the simpler the recipe and process the first time brewing all-grain, the better. The trick is to learn the process, not to try to produce some fabulous beer. That's not terribly likely to happen the first time, so brew a simple brew, a pale ale, amber ale, something like that.

It may be that it all works with a complicated process and recipe, but is that really the way to bet? Even if one is an experienced extract brewer, I think there is value in taking things slow the first couple times brewing an all-grain recipe.

My 2 cents.

Good advice that. And, much smoother and less blunt than my offering of similar advice.

Brew on

 

[day_trippr]

Epic.

 

[tjm02c]

It'll likely be ok.

I would like to offer something for others who may be thinking about their first time brewing all-grain.

IMO, the simpler the recipe and process the first time brewing all-grain, the better. The trick is to learn the process, not to try to produce some fabulous beer. That's not terribly likely to happen the first time, so brew a simple brew, a pale ale, amber ale, something like that.

It may be that it all works with a complicated process and recipe, but is that really the way to bet? Even if one is an experienced extract brewer, I think there is value in taking things slow the first couple times brewing an all-grain recipe.

My 2 cents.

Yep, agreed. I was telling myself this was too much too quick, but ending up taking myself into it. Live and learn. Hopefully I can at least get a salvageable beer out of it.

 

[tjm02c]

How hot did you get it before switching to smaller pots. If you got to about 160°F, you should have killed off all the lactobacillus, so you shouldn't have to worry about kettle souring.



Your first mistake was trying to brew something as big as 1.100 on your first all grain. Just too much to bite off. You should get some experience with 1.050 ish AG's first, and then work your way up. You need to learn how to get the most out of your equipment set, before you try to push it to the limits.



Getting 9+ gal of wort from a RIS size grain bill with only 10 gal total strike + sparge water is a near impossibility. You probably need to look at your measurement process. Accurate measurements are critical if you want to dial in you brewing process.



You can boil down the wort according to your plan, but to get up to 1.100 OG from 1.055 pre-boil, you will need to boil off about:

9 - (55 * 9 / 100) = 4.05 gal​

Even with all your travails, you should still end up with beer in the end.



Brew on

I got it up to about 190 on my original attempt before trying to cool it to pitching temp. Got it down to probably about 110 before splitting it up and boiling it down. I've got some strong bubbling action this morning, so at least the yeast was good!

I don't know how the wort volume was so high. I used 10 one gallon jugs, so I know the initial volume was 10 gallons. After the sparge I had my 36 qt kettle filled up pretty close to the top and then had another gallon or so left that I put in my smaller kettle. The only thing I can think of is that I accidentally used 12 jugs of water? Pretty sure I didn't though. I'll have to go to the recycling and count the bottles.

 

[doug293cz]

I got it up to about 190 on my original attempt before trying to cool it to pitching temp. Got it down to probably about 110 before splitting it up and boiling it down. I've got some strong bubbling action this morning, so at least the yeast was good!

I don't know how the wort volume was so high. I used 10 one gallon jugs, so I know the initial volume was 10 gallons. After the sparge I had my 36 qt kettle filled up pretty close to the top and then had another gallon or so left that I put in my smaller kettle. The only thing I can think of is that I accidentally used 12 jugs of water? Pretty sure I didn't though. I'll have to go to the recycling and count the bottles.

So what did you end up with for an OG?

Brew on

 

[tjm02c]

So what did you end up with for an OG?

Brew on

I ended up getting it to about 1.079. Ended up with 4 gallons at that gravity and just dumped the last gallon and half or so of the 1.055 wort because I had been boiling forever and was tired of it.

 

[BigCrazyAl]

Chances are, the beer will be pretty good. Solely for the fact that if you ever wanted to reproduce it, you literally couldn't.

My first all grain day (I've only done 1 so far) felt equally hectic. I was not getting the strike water right and having to sparge for what felt like hours. The boil went past dark and a TON of bugs came out and likely made it into the wort. Then I realized my ice bath for cooling wasn't going to get the wort lower than 100. All in all, it took 8+ hours from start to cleaned up. Most of that was learning what I need to not do next time.

I say all this to let you know that my brew is delicious even after 1 week in the bottle and I'm sure yours will be too. Keep your head up and make a mental schedule for the next attempt. You'll get into a groove in no time.

 

[tjm02c]

Chances are, the beer will be pretty good. Solely for the fact that if you ever wanted to reproduce it, you literally couldn't.

Lol that's that's probably true. It was definitely a learning experience. Gunna dial it back and make sure to plan a little better next time around

 

[ChelisHubby]

Mongoose speaks straight your first beer. with a new system needs to be something simple 10.60or less. You need to learn what to expect from your system to learn how to make a killer beer. Simple is better. you dont want to make a imperial maple IPA with 100 ibus. keep it simple and cheap so if it truly sucks you are not out 45 dlls in hops and grains .

 

[devils4ever]

I tried to do one of my first AG brews on my kitchen electric stove. It wasn't successful either. I could barely fit the pot on my stove bridging across two elements. It kind of worked since I just had enough heat to keep it going, but it scorched my cooktop. SWMBO wasn't happy.

I went to HD and got a Bayou Classic Cooker for around $30. Definitely worth it. Go outside! You won't regret it.

 

[tjm02c]

I'm looking into a cooker for outside now. Gonefishing gave a link to one that has 200k BTUs, is that more than I need for boiling 10 gallons at most?

 

[mongoose33]

I'm looking into a cooker for outside now. Gonefishing gave a link to one that has 200k BTUs, is that more than I need for boiling 10 gallons at most?

I'd personally look for something else. One reason is I doubt the 200,000 BTU claim. The hellfire is rated at 140,000 btu, and that was measured. Similar type of burner.

Another reason is...the legs look a little flimsy to me. Putting 100 pounds of wort and kettle on them....well, I would not.

The third reason is more personal. I've used burners that are close to the ground like that, don't care for them. Too much bending, and you will have to lift the kettle to rack to a fermenter, unless you're using pumps. You could get around that by building a stand, but then it's added fooling around and expense. Could be done with a few 2x4s and some long drywall screws and something nonflammable (like bathroom tile or bricks or something) to sit the burner on.

That IS the right type of burner to get, a banjo-style burner.

This is my 2 cents, YMMV, offer void where prohibited.

 

[tjm02c]

Yeah I'm gunna need something taller or make something to raise it for sure. I'm looking at something on Craigslist that's 55k BTUs, will that be enough heat or should I look for something 100k+?

 

[dyqik]

This Camp Chef burner (60k BTU) did me well for 5 gallon batches. Given how far I had to turn it down to avoid boil overs, I'm sure it's fine for 10 gal batches as well.

It has the legs that put the kettle outlet high enough to directly transfer to the fermentor or e.g. to mash tun/HLT if you are doing a 5 or 10g cooler style set up.

 

[mongoose33]

Yeah I'm gunna need something taller or make something to raise it for sure. I'm looking at something on Craigslist that's 55k BTUs, will that be enough heat or should I look for something 100k+?

For 10 gallons you'll want/need more than 55k BTU. I had a King Kooker with 54k BTU and it was ok for doing 5-gallon batches, not overly fast, but not terrible either. Sold it to a friend who started brewing and put the proceeds toward the Hellfire.

If you're ok with making something to raise it up (a simple 2x4 table about 18-24" high with bricks or tile on top would suffice, make it wide enough not to readily tip, and something to keep the legs of the burner in place), then if I were you I'd look for something with that banjo burner but the short version.

If I were you, I'd either be looking at the Bayou Classic KAB4 burner (you'd have to build something to raise it up) or this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LTBH2UO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It has adjustable legs, and in the Q&A section someone there says they're using it for something that's 200# in weight, so a 10-gallon batch (100#) should be childs-play for it.

The ratings are excellent. More pricey than maybe you were looking for, but you don't have to build anything and it's ready to go.

I look at that one and scratch my head wondering if at about half the price of the Hellfire if it's not 90 percent as good.

 

[tjm02c]

Thanks for all the tips! I'm gunna go ahead and get something with more power so I've got some room to grow if I want