First Attempt...not sure if right

[damianinpa]

I got a 1 Gallon small brew kit with the NB Little big mouth bubbler. My first kit is Goose island sweet porter. I followed the instructions and when it came time to adding the hop pellets I dumped them in, but, didn't stir as directions didn't say to do that. When everything was done, I did chill to 70 degrees, but, there is a ton of stuff (trub?) floating in the beer. Or is this a result of the hop pellets not dissolving? I took my gravity reading which was high (1.094 instead of 1.079). I had trouble with the siphon, so, I just poured the wort from pot to the glass bubbler. I did shake it for a few min per instructions. I dumped in the yeast and will check tomorrow for fermentation. My question is all the crap at the bottom and some floating. Is that normal? I measured the liquid of the bubbler using tape measure on the outside..it is 6 inches of liquid and I see about 1/2 of that or 3 inches is the trub or whatever is floating on the bottom. Is all this correct? Will that dissolve or some of it when fermentation starts or did I totally mess this all up? Just seems like a lot of something floating around and settling on the bottom.

 

[Wobbly Cat]

I wouldn’t be too concerned about the debris (trub). Trub is normal coagulation of proteins and other stuff that precipitate as a byproduct of good hot/cold breaks. Some people go out of their way not to put it in their fermenter, but many (including myself) don’t, with no detrimental effects to the beer. The layer you see now will eventually mostly settle and compact to the bottom of the fermenter (along with your yeast after fermentation). You’ll probably see it visibly churning while your yeast is at peak fermentation as well. As the saying goes: “Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew.”

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Think of the hops like tea leaves or coffee grounds, they add their flavor to the liquid, but don’t dissolve. I don’t stir the wort when I add hops because the boiling water mixes them around. When I transfer my wort to my fermentor I syphon it in and try to leave as much hop debris behind as I can. My trub layer on the bottom of my 1 gallon fermentor is usually about an inch deep. That makes about 8 or 9 12oz. beers when all is said and done.

 

[Pappers_]

What they said ^^^^^^^^

Trouble with a siphon is standard procedure. You might look into an autosiphon, most brewers use these and they make it so much easier. That way, you wouldn't have to pour and you could leave some of the particulates and stuff in the brew kettle rather than pouring them into your fermenter.

Congratulations on your first batch! Now you can plan your next - 1 gallon isn't going to last long!

 

[damianinpa]

Update...I checked before I went to work today which was about 8 hrs. after brewing. Alot of the stuff from the bottom has now formed a large ring at the top of the liquid. Interesting. I see fermentation hasn't started as no bubbles in the airlock. I'll check again when I get home. I'll feel better when I see the bubbling.

 

[Pappers_]

Update...I checked before I went to work today whic
as about 8 hrs. after brewing. Alot of the stuff from the bottom has now formed a large ring at the top of the liquid. Interesting. I see fermentation hasn't started as no bubbles in the airlock. I'll check again when I get home. I'll feel better when I see the bubbling.

Don't fret about it. The yeast are busy, just not visibly busy, most likely. If you don't see krausen or evidencw that krausen rose and fell in three or four days, then worry. Right now, the yeast are reproducing, preparing for the task ahead of them.

 

[damianinpa]

Fermentation has begun. Guess it is o.k. Any reason I should be worried about OG? 1.079 is what the recipe says, I read closer to 1.09 to 1.10 after pouring into fermentor (before yeast add) Is that far off or no biggie?

 

[JohnSand]

It may be a little different, or a little off. Don't let that worry you. Each batch will get easier as you learn. Estimating water volume and other efficiencies takes practice. We all had challenges and doubts in our early batches. Keep studying and practicing, you'll make great beer.

 

[yourlastchance89]

Fermentation has begun. Guess it is o.k. Any reason I should be worried about OG? 1.079 is what the recipe says, I read closer to 1.09 to 1.10 after pouring into fermentor (before yeast add) Is that far off or no biggie?

The beautiful thing about extract is if you are concerned about gravity and it is off you can always add more extract to raise og, or more water to lower og.

 

[flars]

Quote: "I measured the liquid of the bubbler using tape measure on the outside..it is 6 inches of liquid"

I am wondering about this. Do you only have 6" of beer in the fermentor? Does this equal one gallon? Your measured OG was high for the recipe. Did you top off to one gallon in the fermentor if the volume is not a full gallon or a little better? Boil off could account for the high OG if the boil was started with one gallon.

A lot of brewers will just pour everything in the boil kettle to the fermentor after it is chilled to pitching temperature. There are no negatives about doing this. Harvested yeast will have more hop debris and break material but that is not a problem either.