Total newb screw-up on my very first brew ever. Added the flavor hops for the full hour boil. For the obvious question with no fuss, jump to the end. Experienced folks in need of a good chuckle, please sit back, open up your perfectly brewed bottle, and enjoy one at my expense:
I read Palmer's opening chapter on malt extract brewing, went on line for more instruction, and must have watched at least 5 different videos from accomplished home brewers on the process. I was so painstakingly prepared - you would have sobbed sweet angel tears of joy, I was so prepared. Steeping, sparging, extract, boil, all good. I had learned of this thing called a boil-over, but I was ready, MORE than ready to pounce. So ready that it didn't matter that, using only a three-gallon kettle, the liquid level was relatively close to the top. Not at all.
I already had my two envelopes of pellets neatly lined up on the counter, ready to rock. A nice, rolling boil with a sweet froth on top: achieved. Sensing victory, indeed, the greatest first batch of IPA ever brewed by a rookie an inevitable certainty, I confidently dropped in the nugget pellets, and....INSTANT BOIL-OVER! Not even a second of think-time passed, it was everywhere. Expletives shouted, hands flapping in the air, I moved quickly to shuffle the kettle off to the clean side of the stove top. Kettle wiped down, cautiously reheated, and me groaning at the clean-up ahead, I had only begun to calm my frayed nerves when I glanced over to the counter top and noticed, that...oh my! There are still so many lovely green pellets in that envelope. Odd, thought I'd tossed them in, but the sudden and traumatizing calamity had clearly short-circuited my memory. Oh well, I thought, throwing my hands in the air, gotta finish popping those pellets in there. Soooo....in they went.
Yeah, you guessed it, it was the flavoring hops for the 15-minute boil that essentially went in at minute 60. It was so utterly depressing going through the remainder of the process knowing I had probably screwed my first brew, but I pushed through to the end. So, what should I expect? Will it be a bitter-palooza? Probably fine? Something in between? Someday I'll look back and laugh, right? Please advise, dear friend!
-EC
I read Palmer's opening chapter on malt extract brewing, went on line for more instruction, and must have watched at least 5 different videos from accomplished home brewers on the process. I was so painstakingly prepared - you would have sobbed sweet angel tears of joy, I was so prepared. Steeping, sparging, extract, boil, all good. I had learned of this thing called a boil-over, but I was ready, MORE than ready to pounce. So ready that it didn't matter that, using only a three-gallon kettle, the liquid level was relatively close to the top. Not at all.
I already had my two envelopes of pellets neatly lined up on the counter, ready to rock. A nice, rolling boil with a sweet froth on top: achieved. Sensing victory, indeed, the greatest first batch of IPA ever brewed by a rookie an inevitable certainty, I confidently dropped in the nugget pellets, and....INSTANT BOIL-OVER! Not even a second of think-time passed, it was everywhere. Expletives shouted, hands flapping in the air, I moved quickly to shuffle the kettle off to the clean side of the stove top. Kettle wiped down, cautiously reheated, and me groaning at the clean-up ahead, I had only begun to calm my frayed nerves when I glanced over to the counter top and noticed, that...oh my! There are still so many lovely green pellets in that envelope. Odd, thought I'd tossed them in, but the sudden and traumatizing calamity had clearly short-circuited my memory. Oh well, I thought, throwing my hands in the air, gotta finish popping those pellets in there. Soooo....in they went.
Yeah, you guessed it, it was the flavoring hops for the 15-minute boil that essentially went in at minute 60. It was so utterly depressing going through the remainder of the process knowing I had probably screwed my first brew, but I pushed through to the end. So, what should I expect? Will it be a bitter-palooza? Probably fine? Something in between? Someday I'll look back and laugh, right? Please advise, dear friend!
-EC
