first batch did i fail ?

[Bizzy1121]

Yesterday was my first day to home brew and i absolutely loved it. since this was my first time i decided to pick the easiest clone kit i could find so i settled on a Sol clone kit that was rated easy just to get the feel of things. im not expecting to get life changing good beer out of this but i like to start from the beginning and get a feel for things. i was really comfortable with the process and everything seemed to have gone great. when cooling my wort i still had several gallons to add so i added cold spring water to help cool it faster the wort was under 75 in about 15 min. i then auto siphoned wort to the fermenting bucket and added my last bit of spring water. when i took my og reading with the temp at about 72 or 73 degrees i read about 1.044 maybe closer to 1.043 with the corrections to the hydrometer reading according to the specs provided on instructions i added .002 which brought it to around 1.045 or 1.046. the instructions say i need a og of 1.048.so i failed somewhere but feel maybe my wort was not mixed well.

so i guess my question is if my og is too far off should i just throw out and start over or what is an acceptable range of gravity readings. i think next time i'll take gravity readings as i add my water to be sure i hit my mark.


thanks in advance for the help.

 

[SEndorf]

Two or three points isn't the end of the world. Relax... have a brew... you made beer!
I see you're using a triple scale hydrometer. I've never seen one that was not off a couple of points.
Calibrate your hydrometer with distilled water. You may find you hit your mark after all.

 

[spittybug]

People get waaaaaay too hung up on numbers. I don't know about you, but I drink VOLUME, not data

All grain brewers like to hit their numbers to ensure that they are efficiently extracting all the available sugars from their grain bill. High, low, spot on...doesn't really matter other than in the calculation of the ABV.

 

[ACbrewer]

If you had the right amount of water, you hit your mark, even if your measurements didn't show it. You probably had stratification of the wort. I once got a 60 or 70 reading off a 50 value LME. There was no way I could have gotten such a high value if my wort was fully mixed. I take mine off the bottom, and it was not well enough mixed. The other option is you have a little more water than the recipe calls for. This looks like a 5 gallon batch, which means typically a 5.5 gallon, or maybe a bit less. So if you had a bit more water to top off then they did AND your wort is perfectly mixed, you'd end up a bit lower. If it is a mixing issue, RDWHAHB the yeast will solve that for you, they will eat through the sugars where ever they are.

Your hydrometer may be off a point or so, so calibration in water is a good idea. Also calibrate your bucket or carboy to make sure it is the size you think it is/ the fill marks are correct.

You should NOT throw it out for a 2 or 3 point miss. It will make good beer. You will enjoy it.

 

[GrogNerd]

gotta agree with stratification. with extract, as long as you hit your volumes (and use as much of the extract as possible - it likes to stick to everything, so you won't always get every drop/granule), you're guaranteed what the recipe says as far as gravity

there's no way to gain or lose sugar in an extract batch

it's a good habit to check your OG, but I stopped taking one when I'm doing extract batches

 

[Bizzy1121]

you guys are awesome!! i didnt think it was a huge deal but i will for sure check the my hydrometer for future reference.

 

[Mismost]

People get waaaaaay too hung up on numbers. I don't know about you, but I drink VOLUME, not data

All grain brewers like to hit their numbers to ensure that they are efficiently extracting all the available sugars from their grain bill. High, low, spot on...doesn't really matter other than in the calculation of the ABV.

Yepper, this me! I brew to make beer, not to win a science fair contest! To me it is simply not about the math, it is about the process. Sweat sanitation, not small numbers.

Now....many others find the math and the numbers to actually be part of whole brewing appeal. I salute them! They are the ones who helped make that great simple extract beer, they built the foundation of whatever beer I am brewing...God Bless Them each and all! I am still not into math, at a certain point, it is what it is and that's what it is going to be. So far, it's all been good.

 

[GrogNerd]

there's room for both the sane and the mad scientists among us

 

[PADave]

People get waaaaaay too hung up on numbers. I don't know about you, but I drink VOLUME, not data

All grain brewers like to hit their numbers to ensure that they are efficiently extracting all the available sugars from their grain bill. High, low, spot on...doesn't really matter other than in the calculation of the ABV.

Yep, I take readings for reference only, for if I do the brew again. If the end result in the glass tastes good, that's all that matters.

 

[Jasper18]

You said you added cold spring water. You mean it was boiled and then cooled? One thing I also did for my first brew recently was add campden tablets. Cheap enough and it helps get rid of chlorine. They say it makes a difference.

 

[Bizzy1121]

You said you added cold spring water. You mean it was boiled and then cooled? One thing I also did for my first brew recently was add campden tablets. Cheap enough and it helps get rid of chlorine. They say it makes a difference.

i bought spring water from the store and put each gallon in my star san before pouring in. dipped each one in my sanitizing bucket as i took them out the freezer. i Was a bit intimidated by the sanitary aspect so i had 2 buckets for sanitizing.

 

[Bizzy1121]

thanks everone for the help i checked my hydrometer and at 68.5 degrees (60 degrees is 0 and 66.6 is +1 ) it read .098 which is 3 points off calibration and my wort was temp was 72 so plus 2. im pretty sure my 10.43 came real close to 1.048.. she is setting at 71 degrees bubbling away.


knowledge is power and beer is beer. thanks for reminding me this is a hobby and not a science fair.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

71 might be a bit warm. I'd try and get it down to mid 60's depending on your yeast preferred temp range. If 71 is the temp of the air around the fermenter you could easily be higher than that in temp in the beer itself. While some yeast strains do better Warmer, generally cooler is better as fermentation is exothermic and will generate heat while actively fermenting. You could wind up outside the desired temp range for your yeast which could cause off flavors to develop.

 

[Jasper18]

i bought spring water from the store and put each gallon in my star san before pouring in. dipped each one in my sanitizing bucket as i took them out the freezer. i Was a bit intimidated by the sanitary aspect so i had 2 buckets for sanitizing.

So you just froze the water in bottles, sanitizes the bottles, threw them in to chill the liquid and then removed the bottles right? Because sanitizing the bottles does nothing if you actually mix the water in to your beer. If you actually mixed the water in with the beer you should have boiled it first.

 

[Bizzy1121]

my closet stays a bit warmer than the rest of the house. i moved it in the living room where it stays 67.

thanks for the tip .

 

[GrogNerd]

Unopened bottled water doesn't need to be boiled

 

[Bizzy1121]

i bought unopend bottle from the store of ozarka. them put the min the freezer for an hour and half and took them out the freezer and set them in the star san for a second to sanitize the jug and then opened the gallon and pourd in my wort.

 

[Bizzy1121]

Unopened bottled water doesn't need to be boiled

thanks i was thinking if i had to boil bought water i may was well boil tap. but our tap here in dallas is a bit hard .

 

[Jasper18]

Bottled water is filtered, not sterile. Bottled water most times is taken from local city water wherever the plant is, and then they do magic filtering to remove taste. If you want to take no risks you should boil your water, bottled or not. Plus it removes chlorine.

 

[MaryB]

You did well actually! OG is a suggested number for that kit. All the variables involved can make you a point or three off. Don't sweat it, kick back and have a beer!

 

[GrogNerd]

we don't need sterile, we can get away with sanitized

I am fully confident bottled water, including the RO water at WalMart is free of anything that will make me sick or will infect my beer

if you want to take no risks, put on a surgical mask and chase dust particles

 

[Sadu]

I started brewing recently too, it's a buzz. I think if your beer is 4.2% abv instead of 5.2% and it still tastes good then that isn't the worst thing in the world. You just call your beer a "session ale" which I believe is the correct term for nice-drinking beer that doesn't send everyone home early. Maybe your lower efficiency this time meant you spent an extra $2 or $3 on grain than you needed to, not a huge deal.

One thing I have noticed is that beer is pretty forgiving. I have been checking and tasting my brews regularly and some of the less-desireable flavours that were there initially have gone now. Likewise the APA batch that had no airlock activity all week and had me stressing out is now down to FG and seems very tasty. Even the half-carbonated kit beer tastes good. My mind is blown by all this.

It really does seem that when people say RDWHAHB what they mean is that despite whatever cockup you think you just made, you are still going to get beer out the other end and it's probably going to be at least half-decent. I remind myself that normally I'd be drinking watery cheap mass-produced lager so if my beers come out better than that then it's still a win. Everything else is fine-tuning.

 

[RM-MN]

I started brewing recently too, it's a buzz. I think if your beer is 4.2% abv instead of 5.2% and it still tastes good then that isn't the worst thing in the world. You just call your beer a "session ale" which I believe is the correct term for nice-drinking beer that doesn't send everyone home early. Maybe your lower efficiency this time meant you spent an extra $2 or $3 on grain than you needed to, not a huge deal.

One thing I have noticed is that beer is pretty forgiving. I have been checking and tasting my brews regularly and some of the less-desireable flavours that were there initially have gone now. Likewise the APA batch that had no airlock activity all week and had me stressing out is now down to FG and seems very tasty. Even the half-carbonated kit beer tastes good. My mind is blown by all this.

It really does seem that when people say RDWHAHB what they mean is that despite whatever cockup you think you just made, you are still going to get beer out the other end and it's probably going to be at least half-decent. I remind myself that normally I'd be drinking watery cheap mass-produced lager so if my beers come out better than that then it's still a win. Everything else is fine-tuning.

This is the reality of home brewing. You have to really screw it up to make beer that is worse than the mass produced stuff. The biggest mistake we as home brewers make is lack of temperature control while the beer is fermenting with the next mistake in line being drinking the beer before it has a chance to mature. Once we get past those we tend to make some pretty good beer.

 

[ACbrewer]

One thing I have noticed is that beer is pretty forgiving. I have been checking and tasting my brews regularly and some of the less-desireable flavours that were there initially have gone now. Likewise the APA batch that had no airlock activity all week and had me stressing out is now down to FG and seems very tasty. Even the half-carbonated kit beer tastes good. My mind is blown by all this.

For all you new people reading. AIRLOCK ACTIVITY IS A POSSIBLE SIGN of fermentation. But for many reason there may not be any active signs of fermentation. 1. you seals could be bad, 2. it happened when you were at work/asleep. That said, you will usually see it.

You hydrometer is the only way to know, and then only if you take a start and finish gravity. Although the odds of the OG being the same as your FG, especially if you are using a kit are just not possible.

This is a long way to say to know if your beer did anything or you have a problem, take a gravity reading as part of your trouble shooting. You may think "Hm my yeast aren't doing anything" but after you measure and find that you only have 1.011 left out of your starting 1.060, you have a good idea that they did something, even if you weren't there to see it.