Can I disturb?

[Conno]

I have just pitched my yeast (sounds dirty ) but I don't think my ME is completely dissolved, can I aggitate it now or should I leave well alone. It was a stupid mistake but will surely gain me entrance to the famous "I messed up my first homebrew club":rockin:

 

[david_42]

More agitation shortly after pitching can't hurt. On the other hand, if it's in the bucket, the yeast will find it.

 

[homebrewer_99]

What do you mean by your ME may not be completely dissolved?

Explain that first before we can help you...

 

[Reckoning]

I'm guessing ME = malt extract. As to why it isn't dissolved ... maybe he was using dry and it clumped up?

 

[RichBrewer]

If you are using a carboy you can remove the fermentation lock, seal it, and shake it up if you want. Aeration is actually good for the yeast at this point. If it's in a bucket I would just leave it alone. As david_42 said, the yeast will find the fermentables and make beer. You have not screwed up your beer.
If I were you, I'd relax Don't Worry Have A Home Brew (RDWHAHB) or in your case have a good commercial beer.

 

[the_bird]

I'm guessing ME = malt extract. As to why it isn't dissolved ... maybe he was using dry and it clumped up?

It should have dissolved in the boil, though, even if it was clumpy going in.

How long did you boil the extract for?

 

[Conno]

I didn't boil the malt extract, the recipe said it was already done. I mixed 4 pints(2.25 litres) of boiling water in with the malt extract and mixed it up but when I mixed in the designated amount of cold water as per the recipe I realized I was about 2 litres over and there wasn't much room in the fermenter for foaming so I tried to drain from the tap at the bottom of the fermenter bit it got blocked with undissolved malt extract. Hope this clarifies things.

 

[Bobby_M]

Uh oh, it was a pre hopped, no boil kit. You probably would have benefited from even a 15 minute boil to get all the extract dissolved and sanitized, but hope for the best now.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I didn't boil the malt extract..

That's what I thought...

 

[Engelramm]

You will probably still end up with beer. But for a better beer, next time I would boil it. As Bobby_M said, it will disolve the extract and make sure everything is sanitized.

 

[Conno]

Mmmm... I thought at the start I should have boiled it but the instructions said it wasn't neccesary so I thought I would do what I'm told. Ggrrrrr....
Ah well a lesson learned.
On a side note my beer kit gave one set of instructions, my homebrew kit gave another and my Charlie Papazian book gave another again. No wonder newbies get confused.

 

[dantodd]

The extract is actually hopped so that the flavor profile is appropriate without boiling.

I would suggest not boiling if you are using canned/hopped extract.

I think you'll find your best results with a "recipe kit" where you get plain extract and use fresh or pellet hops.

Where do you live? If you're in the states there are quite a few mail order outfits with a reputation for putting together good recipe kits.

 

[KopyKat]

The extract is actually hopped so that the flavor profile is appropriate without boiling.

Dantodd is correct. If you boil it, you will boil out some of the hop that the manufactor worked so hard to put in the brew.

More to the point would be to use a large whisk and make sure all the ME is dissolved (if you want to pamper your yeast) or just leave it alone and let the yeasties find it and work it out for themselves.

 

[Conno]

Thanks guys
I actually got a pack of hop pellets so I don't think its prehopped, but I get where you all are coming from. At this stage now I will just wait and see and not make the same mistake again.