first batch: a tale of multiple failures

[kenn4000]

hey all,

with all these helpful words you guys expressed i decided to try my hand at my very first batch yesterday. i am sorry if i dont use the terms correctly.

i sanitized everything, which might just be the only thing that went right.

i was making hop blaster ipa, using 14 lbs of grains so i decided to start with 4.3 gallons in my mashing pot. i hung the grain bag over the handles and once the thermomter hit about 166 i poured in the grains and stirred. supposedly the temp is supposed to drop about ten or fifteen degrees after this, but i somehow stuck right there around 165. after lowering the heat a bit i let it simmer at 157 or so (even though the kit said 152 was my target) for 60 mins.

for sparge water, i used 2.5 gals and put that sucker on full blast up to about 180. pulled off the bag from the handles and drained it and put it into the sparge for a little bit. after ten or fifteen minutes there i drained the grains and put them out of sight. poured in my original mash water into the sparge water and my water level was at a whopping 6+ gals. i thought this water was supposed to disappear into the grains or something? i convinced myself it would boil off.

i put in the hops according to the recommended schedule, but my temperature would not go down to 170, instead it stayed at 180-190 and wouldnt drop. (my stove was on the lowest heat that isnt OFF)

after lights out i put it into some cold water in my sink and tried to drop it down to 70. two hours and four ice batch switches later, i am still over 100 degrees and getting pretty mad. finally much later in the night it gets down to 85 degrees, which i take as a victory.

i prepare my yeast by boiling some water and putting it into a sanitized drinking glass. once the water got to about 110 i drop in my dry yeast packet and wait for the magic to happen. 15 minutes later, no expansion or bread smell, but i say whatever (i have no idea what is supposed to happen anyway)

i pour my 6+ gallons from my pot into the ferm bucket and then toss in the yeast water. put on the airlock and some water up to the line. i go to bed and this morning when i wake up, zero bubbles.

ive heard it could take some time to start, so i am not freaking out just yet, but with so many mistakes i see a lot of room for improvement. would love to get some pointers as to how to step my game up better, as i have two more all grain kits already purchased and waiting for the next weekend.

ps: how terrible do you think this beer will be if it ever becomes beer?

 

[NewWestBrewer]

hey all,

with all these helpful words you guys expressed i decided to try my hand at my very first batch yesterday. i am sorry if i dont use the terms correctly.

i sanitized everything, which might just be the only thing that went right.

i was making hop blaster ipa, using 14 lbs of grains so i decided to start with 4.3 gallons in my mashing pot. i hung the grain bag over the handles and once the thermomter hit about 166 i poured in the grains and stirred. supposedly the temp is supposed to drop about ten or fifteen degrees after this, but i somehow stuck right there around 165. after lowering the heat a bit i let it simmer at 157 or so (even though the kit said 152 was my target) for 60 mins.

for sparge water, i used 2.5 gals and put that sucker on full blast up to about 180. pulled off the bag from the handles and drained it and put it into the sparge for a little bit. after ten or fifteen minutes there i drained the grains and put them out of sight. poured in my original mash water into the sparge water and my water level was at a whopping 6+ gals. i thought this water was supposed to disappear into the grains or something? i convinced myself it would boil off.

i put in the hops according to the recommended schedule, but my temperature would not go down to 170, instead it stayed at 180-190 and wouldnt drop. (my stove was on the lowest heat that isnt OFF)

after lights out i put it into some cold water in my sink and tried to drop it down to 70. two hours and four ice batch switches later, i am still over 100 degrees and getting pretty mad. finally much later in the night it gets down to 85 degrees, which i take as a victory.

i prepare my yeast by boiling some water and putting it into a sanitized drinking glass. once the water got to about 110 i drop in my dry yeast packet and wait for the magic to happen. 15 minutes later, no expansion or bread smell, but i say whatever (i have no idea what is supposed to happen anyway)

i pour my 6+ gallons from my pot into the ferm bucket and then toss in the yeast water. put on the airlock and some water up to the line. i go to bed and this morning when i wake up, zero bubbles.

ive heard it could take some time to start, so i am not freaking out just yet, but with so many mistakes i see a lot of room for improvement. would love to get some pointers as to how to step my game up better, as i have two more all grain kits already purchased and waiting for the next weekend.

ps: how terrible do you think this beer will be if it ever becomes beer?

First of all congrats on joining the hobby. A couple of things...I would check your thermometer for accuracy. I didn't really think it possible to add that many grains without losing a degree. Mine always drop about 10 degrees pretty much instantly. Also, depending on the size of your pot and how full it was I would just keep the heat off. I put mine into my oven, pre-heated for 10 mins to 170 and then turned off. I lose less than 0.5 degree during mash.

You said you added hops but couldn't get water below 170? You are supposed to boil your wort so you want your water to get to 212. You want to get a rolling boil.

With dry yeast it sounds like you did it correctly. Dry yeast normally just makes a cream, it is different than a liquid starter. It can also take up to 72 hours to get going. Bubbles are also not a great way to determine if fermentation has begun as you might have a loose lid, letting the pressure escape. Look for a Krausen ring at top of container. However you pitched your yeast way to hot so that might cause some issues.

Did you take a hydrometer reading?

You will have beer and you should be proud of that but make sure you learn from your mistakes before moving onto your next batches.

 

[kenn4000]

thank you for the oven idea! it never crossed my mind. and yes my thermometer is pretty cheap, so it may have some issues. what issues could this hot pitch cause?

 

[NewWestBrewer]

thank you for the oven idea! it never crossed my mind. and yes my thermometer is pretty cheap, so it may have some issues. what issues could this hot pitch cause?

Pitching that hot could kill off some of the yeast. IT more important though to get it below 70 while fermenting or you could get severe off flavours and fusel alcohols which can cause bad headaches.

By 70 I mean the actual beer temp and not the ambient air temp. The fermenting vessel can be 5-8 degrees hotter than the air temp. Look up Swamp Cooler - a great way to keep temps low.

 

[jrgtr42]

I'm thinking that rehydrating the yeast at 110 may have killed the yeast off more than pitching at 85 did.
From what I understand anything over about 100 degrees F is lethal to the little buggers.

Also, I'm not understanding the procedures you used. You were looking for the wort to get under 170? Why? You need to boil it, and use the time (approximate) that the wort comes to a full boil to start that timer. 60 minutes being the usual boil time, when it comes to full boil, toss in the first hop addition and start the timer.

 

[kenn4000]

i was using some info from a bunch of different sources, and i had written down to "boil wort at 170" but i guess boil means boil and 170 was pulled out of the sky. good to know for next time!

 

[fartinmartin]

You need a brew buddy, the personal touch , just to get you going !
Hang in there it's a fantastic hobby.

I,m near London UK

 

[nhindian]

A few notes...

- Aim to rehydrate your yeast at around 90 deg F instead of 110.
- For your next batch, definitely find a way to cool more quickly. 2 hours is a very long time. Potentially invest in an immersion chiller; they are easy to make and do wonders.
- Do you have a method to monitor and control your fermentation temperature?

I wouldn't worry about no visual signs of fermentation yet. It can take some time to get going

 

[troy2000]

Instead of trying to blend advice from multiple sources, pick one start-to-finish narrative and stick with it for a batch or two. There's a homebrewing for dummies book, that's available at Amazon or at your local homebrew store. Or you can go to this link, and bookmark it: http://www.howtobrew.com/

It's a free online book by John Palmer that you can read online instead of having to download, and it's pretty well laid out. He walks you through your first extract brew, your first partial grain, and/or your first all-grain batch.

Congrats for getting started, and look at it this way when you make mistakes: you're storing up memories, and a stock of stories to bore your grandchildren with.

 

[fartinmartin]

Hughhh only the grandchildren, ALL my family really suffer!

 

[bajaedition]

Are you taking notes

that way you do not make the same mistakes again

we all made mistakes, you just did them all at once

it may have been cheaper botching one batch so bad

imagine if it was 5 batches?

 

[kenn4000]

Are you taking notes

that way you do not make the same mistakes again

we all made mistakes, you just did them all at once

it may have been cheaper botching one batch so bad

imagine if it was 5 batches?

exactly. i like to get all my failing done up front so the good stuff can happen sooner.

 

[CaptainArgo]

To chill your wort after the boil, use a sanitized spoon to stir the wort, and also stir the water around in the ice bath.

If you just drop your pot in the bath and wait, what happens is that a "boundary layer" of cooled wort / warmed water forms right next to the metal pot and stays there like an insulating layer. You have to swirl the liquids around to continually expose hot wort / cool water to the metal between them.

Be careful about splashing water into the pot, of course, but just stirring by itself should cut your cooling time down significantly.

 

[helibrewer]

Your yeast will do fine, I rehydrate at 104 by starting at 110, adding nutrient, then add the yeast, by then the water is around 104F

Did you kill the heat when you added the grain at dough in? Sounds like you kept the flame on which would keep the water temp from dropping.

Keep it up, everything gets smoother with practice, you'll want to get a couple more batches going soon so that you have a pipeline going.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[kenn4000]

update:
bottled this batch today. ended up with 36 12 oz bottles and a 22oz bottle that i threw into my closet (3 weeks at 70 right?)

had about a gallon left over after that and decided to drink it without carbonating. turns out its super delicious. i guess what they say is true RDWHAHB
cheers all!