First batch brewed - quick questions

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riored4v

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Thanks again for everyone's help and answers this far.

On Saturday morning I brewed my first batch. I had the yeast starter going and it was basically at high krausen. The mixture of LME and water ended up being a tad high at 1.080 instead of the recommended 1.040.. is this bad?

So i got the wort boiling and it was sitting at around 215* for the 60 minutes. One thing I noticed though, was no "hot break". I had read that it was going to get real foamy and to be careful of a boil-over, but there never seemed to get any real amount of foam, even after adding both additions of hops. I did notice a SLIGHT amount of foam, but nothing to crazy and no chunks floating around like i thought might happen with the hot break. Did something go wrong here? Is this common with using LME?

Anyways, so I boiled for 60 and then took the pot for an ice bath in the tub and got it cooled to 70* w/in 30 minutes, which was the same temp as my yeast starter. I took an OG reading before adding yeast and I was at 1.043 which was right in the middle of the recommended OG for my recipe. woot! Tasted pretty good as well.. like a sweet tea with some hops..lol

Gave it a nice aeration and pitched the yeast and took it to the closet to let er start fermenting. Noticed some nice activity in the airlock the next morning.
:mug:
 
The general opinion here is that with malt extract (both LME and DME), the "hot break" actually happens when the extract is actually created, so there is nothing to worry about. (This is the basis behind the "Late Extract" method listed elsewhere).

That said, you still need to watch for those boil-overs! As a rule, they will happen whenever you look away.
 
HP_Lovecraft said:
The general opinion here is that with malt extract (both LME and DME), the "hot break" actually happens when the extract is actually created, so there is nothing to worry about. (This is the basis behind the "Late Extract" method listed elsewhere).

That said, you still need to watch for those boil-overs! As a rule, they will happen whenever you look away.

so would the hot break be more noticeable with AG brewing? just curious.

and yea, i made sure to pay close attention to the pot since i was real nervous about this. i guess i was disappointed by the activity..lol
 
riored4v said:
so would the hot break be more noticeable with AG brewing? just curious.

Generally yes. Plus there tends to be a difference between LME and DME. But in general, the amount of "hot break" all depends on the extract manafacturer (they have already boiled it once, but no way of knowing for how long)

My recent DME-based OLD ALE was foaming out of control, while my recent LME-based MAIBOCK had hardly any foam at all.
 
right on, thank you! i didn't think anything was wrong as it all tasted fine and checked out fine, but wanted to double check.

there shouldnt be any issues with the OG being high in the starter should there? i know you're supposed to get it close to 1.040, but i hadn't read anything about this being critical.
 
People here will tell you that it is hard to miss the OG with an extract brew. Most likely you didn't mix the top off water in completely (no big deal), and the sample you took was not an accurate measure.
 
9/9 said:
People here will tell you that it is hard to miss the OG with an extract brew. Most likely you didn't mix the top off water in completely (no big deal), and the sample you took was not an accurate measure.


the sample i took from the primary came in fine (1.043, might actually be 1.044 since i forgot to add 1*. recommended range is 1.042-1.046). i took the sample after throughly mixing.

i was referring to the sample i took from the yeast starter. it was recommended to hit 1.040 in the starter but mine was a bit higher than that (1.080) and i wasnt sure if that was going to have a severe effect in the long run.
 
BierMuncher said:
Congratulations. You did everything just fine.

1.080 just means your yeasties were a bit happier going in to the wort.

ah ok. thanks:mug:


now i just wish my primary was clear. not seeing the action due to the white bucket is kind of annoying:mad:
 
So I've noticed no airlock activity for the last 2 days, so last night I pulled the bucket out to take a hydrometer reading.

I think I made Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Lite

After temp correction, my reading 1.009. (actually might be 1.008 now that i think about it) The kit states FG should be around 1.010-1.012.

I'm thinking the 2/3cup i used to make the starter might have affected the FG, even though I pitched most of the starter into the fermenter.

Not really sure, but is there anyway to fix this?

I'm going to take another reading tonight and saturday and if stays the same i'll be moving it into a secondary to clear.

Regardless of the current gravity reading, it tastes really good.:drunk:
 
Sounds like maybe your yeast was more efficient than the kit thought it would be. You'll just have a drier beer with slightly more alcohol. I doubt for the style that it would be bad. I don't know of any way to "fix" an FG at this point but it'll probably be fine.
 
That's kinda what I was thinking as well, reagarding the yeast being a bit to effecient.

If it does end up drier i think that might end up being kinda nice.
 
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