Dumb mistake - probably screwed

[eadavis80]

So yesterday I brewed up 11 gallons of beer. Batch one - NB Oktoberfest extract kit. Batch 2 - NB 20-Minute Kolsch extract kit. Batch 3 - 1-gallon Brooklyn Brewing IPA 1-gallon kit. Here lies the problem. I do their kits using the BIAB method. The problem is that after the grains mashed for an hour at the right temp, I FORGOT to actually remove the grain bag (and obviously the grains themselves) before cranking up the heat to start the boil. Oops - it was a few too many homebrews type of brew day. Wort got to around 200. I then removed the grain bag filled with grains and continued with the hop additions as directed. I am guessing there will be loads of tannins/off flavors here. The grains were in that temp for probably about 10 minutes. I had about 2.25 gallons of water in the pot with the grains. I did take a gravity reading before pitching and we finished kind of low - about 1.052. Don't know the grain bill - there is nothing printed on those instructions, but since it was an IPA I'd expect the OG to be closer to 1.060. I don't really care if conversion is low and we end with a session beer. I'm way more concerned with flavor - do you think it will taste horrid? Guess I'll find out in a month and a half... Feel stupid right now...

 

[RM-MN]

So yesterday I brewed up 11 gallons of beer. Batch one - NB Oktoberfest extract kit. Batch 2 - NB 20-Minute Kolsch extract kit. Batch 3 - 1-gallon Brooklyn Brewing IPA 1-gallon kit. Here lies the problem. I do their kits using the BIAB method. The problem is that after the grains mashed for an hour at the right temp, I FORGOT to actually remove the grain bag (and obviously the grains themselves) before cranking up the heat to start the boil. Oops - it was a few too many homebrews type of brew day. Wort got to around 200. I then removed the grain bag filled with grains and continued with the hop additions as directed. I am guessing there will be loads of tannins/off flavors here. The grains were in that temp for probably about 10 minutes. I had about 2.25 gallons of water in the pot with the grains. I did take a gravity reading before pitching and we finished kind of low - about 1.052. Don't know the grain bill - there is nothing printed on those instructions, but since it was an IPA I'd expect the OG to be closer to 1.060. I don't really care if conversion is low and we end with a session beer. I'm way more concerned with flavor - do you think it will taste horrid? Guess I'll find out in a month and a half... Feel stupid right now...

It's probably good that you feel stupid for doing your brew when having too many brews because that leads to too many mistakes. However, you probably don't have any extra tannins in this batch from heating the grains. To extract tannins also takes a higher pH than you likely had. I've read that the pH needs to go over 6.0 and your wort was probably in the 5.2 to 5.7 range.

Many of us have learned that when the wort starts to chill is when we can open a brew so we don't make the mistakes. Some of us will wait until the yeast is pitched even.

 

[madscientist451]

Don't worry, sh*t happens sometimes, it will still be beer. Maybe it will taste better than the original, you never know 'till you try it. Cheers!

 

[mrphillips]

NEVER APOLOGIZE FOR DRINKING WHILE BREWING...as long as you were drinking your own beer, there have been no brew-laws broken.

I'd think your beer would have a noticeable taste difference, but it's not a mistake I've ever made so I'm not sure. It's probably the ONE thing I haven't managed to do wrong. Live and learn.

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

Don't people actually pull parts of a mash and boil it? Decoction? That beer isn't ruined so I'd doubt that getting yours to 200 did much...

 

[eadavis80]

I usually do wait until I pitch the yeast and on days when I'm only brewing one batch, I always do. When I'm doing a double batch, I might wait until the wort is chilling in batch no. 2. However, when doing 3 batches (even though 2 were extract and one of the two extracts was only a 20-minute kit) it still made for a long day as I had to chill wort and clean out the pot between batches. Whatever I made is fermenting - maybe due to wild yeast/bacteria... maybe due to the brewer's yeast, but stuff is happening in the carboy. Only time will tell if it yields a good result. And, yes, it was my beer we were drinking (with a couple other craft beers my buddy brought over to sample)

 

[passedpawn]

So yesterday I brewed up 11 gallons of beer. Batch one - NB Oktoberfest extract kit. Batch 2 - NB 20-Minute Kolsch extract kit. Batch 3 - 1-gallon Brooklyn Brewing IPA 1-gallon kit. Here lies the problem. I do their kits using the BIAB method. The problem is that after the grains mashed for an hour at the right temp, I FORGOT to actually remove the grain bag (and obviously the grains themselves) before cranking up the heat to start the boil. Oops - it was a few too many homebrews type of brew day. Wort got to around 200. I then removed the grain bag filled with grains and continued with the hop additions as directed. I am guessing there will be loads of tannins/off flavors here. The grains were in that temp for probably about 10 minutes. I had about 2.25 gallons of water in the pot with the grains. I did take a gravity reading before pitching and we finished kind of low - about 1.052. Don't know the grain bill - there is nothing printed on those instructions, but since it was an IPA I'd expect the OG to be closer to 1.060. I don't really care if conversion is low and we end with a session beer. I'm way more concerned with flavor - do you think it will taste horrid? Guess I'll find out in a month and a half... Feel stupid right now...

No problem. Tannin extraction is really a function of pH, not boiling grain.

I use 200F water to sparge all the time. My beer drink just fine.

 

[Zepth]

when doing 3 batches (even though 2 were extract and one of the two extracts was only a 20-minute kit) it still made for a long day as I had to chill wort and clean out the pot between batches.

Save time: don't clean it out. A quick rinse should do the trick just fine on the pre-boil side. Maybe a quick wipe down around the gunk ring at the top. I'd only worry about either if I were making two things entirely different - Double Black Midnight Stout followed by session adjunct lager. That may cross contaminate enough to notice.

No problem. Tannin extraction is really a function of pH, not boiling grain.

There seems to be a lot of confusion as to when exactly tanning extraction occurs and best practices to reduce it. Can you recommend a good article to support this statement?

 

[eadavis80]

Does the fact that I added a bit of a campden tablet have ANY impact on possible tannins? I know those tablets are used for chlorine removal, but just wondered if there was any chance it helps/hurts the chances of this beer's flavor being decent?

 

[passedpawn]

There seems to be a lot of confusion as to when exactly tanning extraction occurs and best practices to reduce it. Can you recommend a good article to support this statement?

Can I quote my own experience

When I first started with all-grain brewing, I oversparged like crazy trying to maximize efficiency. I did get that astringent mouthfeel that I compare to eating an uncoated aspirin. Oversparging was raising the pH and I assume drawing the tannins out of the grain husks.

I don't oversparge anymore and haven't had any issue with that nasty bitterness. And, like I said, I sparge with near-boiling water. Also, if you look at decoction methods, Germans have been boiling their grain forever.

If you want online references, just google and you'll find them. But, you know the thing about this hobby is there is so so much anecdote, and a lot of what we do is based on what works, not peer-reviewed white papers. I understand the desire for conclusive science to back anecdote, though, believe me I like that too.

The ever-believable Kai: http://www.braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_pH_affects_brewing#Extraction_of_Tannins

John Palmer mentions it in his How to Brew here.

Here's a BYO article on it.