First Batch ....yeah problems, is it a fail?

[firedutyonly]

Followed recipe to the letter. Everything sanitized prior to beginning. Read the "book". Watched a ton of videos. About five visits to 3 different Homebrew stores. making Dunkelwizen. Controlled the heat perfectly, no boilovers. So.........all done boil. already had my stainless steel wort chiller in dyring last 10 mins of boil. I get the cold water flowing. Watching the temp gauge drop nicely....sounds good right? It hovered around 100...I'm tapping the thermometer, no change. I'm feeling the wastewater, still warm...wtf....found the issue(after about 15-20mins.)...I was using my outside stall shower as water source and had hot and cold turned on accidentally. quickly turned off the hot and temp dropped. I'm not sure how long it was before I moved it to Glass Carboy. But I kinda defeated the whole purpose of the wort chiller. On top of everything, when
I placed the stopper and airlock, I pushed it in too far...Lil bit more and it will fall in. This morning,(brewed last night around7 PM) I went into basement and check , it is beginning to bubble a bit, and it looks like some Krausen on top starting. Is there any way I can get that stopper out when I move to secondary? If it falls in it will contaminate the batch, correct?. What about the extended cool down period? Help and Thanks

 

[flars]

It will be easy to remove the stopper. Remove the air lock and then insert a hooked type tool to pull it out. Sanitize everything before pulling.

No worry about the extended chilling time. In some of the warmer parts of the world the wort is sealed and left until it gets down to pitching temperature. No chill brewing.

 

[Dcpcooks]

Extended cooling time won't hurt you much if any. It may impact your bitterness a touch but I doubt you'll notice it.

I'd leave the stopper alone if you can. If you need to adjust it wash your hands and then dip them in star San before you adjust the stopper. I have a small spray bottle of star San that I use to spray sanitizer on anything I need to mess with. So spray some on the lid and around the stopper before you open the lid.

You may want to reconsider moving the beer to secondary. Unless you have a specific need for secondary it's more risk than you need for most beers. It will just expose your beer to oxygen which you really want to avoid at all costs.

 

[kh54s10]

The warm water period in the cool down process will not have any effect at all on your beer.

For the stopper, carefully pull out the airlock, then get something with a hook on the end to put through the hole to pull it out.

Spray some sanitizer on the stopper first just in case it falls in. If you do and it does fall in this will minimize the chance of infection.

After fermentation the alcohol level will also protect the beer from infection somewhat.

It sounds like you really had a pretty good brew day!

 

[kh54s10]

I missed the part about secondary. I too would skip that step. It is unnecessary and the risk of oxidation or infection, IMO, outweigh the small clearing benefit of doing one.

 

[firedutyonly]

Wow, thanks alot. REALLY. so I have one MOOORE issue. I was worried about that cooling process so much that I moved it to the carboy a bit early at 80 degrees. I did take a reading with wine thief and hydrometer..I thought I read 1.07. The recipe calls for the OG to fall btwn 1.049- 1.053. Will that higher temperature affect the accuracy of that reading? I really should have looked at that hydrometer better. i was rushing it and flustered, thinkin that I wrecked the batch.

 

[Dcpcooks]

Yes temp will effect the reading. Unfortunately it's going to be a bit higher. See here.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/

I'd be more worried about pitching at 80 degrees. The only time I ferment that hot is with a Belgian yeast strain. If you haven't pitched the yeast yet I'd hold off till the temp drops. If not you'll just have to ride it out.

Something else was off if your gravity was that far off. So I'd recheck your notes and see what you can piece together while it still fresh in your mind.

Regardless you made beer. It may not be your best beer but it will be beer! Cheers

 

[jrgtr42]

FROM what you've said, the only major issue I see is possibly pitching too warm - and that sort of depends on what yeast you're using. As others said, the extended cooling time = no problem.
the stopper almost falling in = no problem for now. Don't mess with it and it should be fine.
Change in OG = minor issue - there is a change as temp gets higher - I know there is an online calculator, but I don't have it offhand. You may want to look at why - did you have less wort post-boil than you expected? Maybe even higher efficiency. Anyways, that's why we check gravity, so we can correctly calculate the alcohol.

 

[firedutyonly]

Hope this thing is sealed...looks like its workin...I guess putting in a new stopper and adjusting the SG is NOT a good idea? I think I attached a pic,,,its bubblin like crazy

 

[Dcpcooks]

Stopper looks fine, you can see the bubbles in the airlock. Temp looks much better and you have a nice krausen going.

Not sure I'd mess with the addition. How far off were you on gravities?
what was your
estimated OG?
and actual OG?

 

[Brownalemikie]

That happened to me too. I used my wife's button hook to pull the stopper out, but I waited until I was ready to bottle the beer.

 

[firedutyonly]

So against everybody's advice(so if its crap its on me folks!), I tried to adjust it a bit, good thing I did..it was barely in there..I sanitized beforehand...took it out, took a sample with thief and sanitized again...placed it correctly...OG is reading 1.05 exactly where it supposed to be. Kit recommends 1.049-1.053. Hopefully didn't mess it up. I cleaned everything(kettle, cooler etc) up well with PBW...Do i need to take apart the ball valve, spigot, thermowell etc...I just cleaned everything in place.

 

[firedutyonly]

OG right now is 1.05

 

[firedutyonly]

Krausen at least 3" high now since i fixed stopper...hope this is a win........THANKS a million folks

 

[kh54s10]

So against everybody's advice(so if its crap its on me folks!), I tried to adjust it a bit, good thing I did..it was barely in there..I sanitized beforehand...took it out, took a sample with thief and sanitized again...placed it correctly...OG is reading 1.05 exactly where it supposed to be. Kit recommends 1.049-1.053. Hopefully didn't mess it up. I cleaned everything(kettle, cooler etc) up well with PBW...Do i need to take apart the ball valve, spigot, thermowell etc...I just cleaned everything in place.

I don't take the valve apart, anything on the inside of the kettle should be free of debris. A totally thorough cleaning is not necessary every time. When you boil in it the next time it will be sanitized. Use some Starsan in the cold end of the ball valve. I spray it in.

 

[owmatooth]

looks like it'll be good and strong beer to me!

how long from your first og to your second? looks like you've already started fermenting, and that's likely the reason for the drop in og. If that's a 6 gallon carboy (i hope) it looks like you've only got it filled to about 4 gallons. If the recipe was made assuming a 5 gallon batch, you're a little more concentrated than it expected, which would explain your higher original gravity. It will finish out at the same FG, but your alcohol might be a tad higher than you thought.

All good. let it ride and it'll be one tasty beerverage.

 

[firedutyonly]

looks like it'll be good and strong beer to me!

how long from your first og to your second? looks like you've already started fermenting, and that's likely the reason for the drop in og. If that's a 6 gallon carboy (i hope) it looks like you've only got it filled to about 4 gallons. If the recipe was made assuming a 5 gallon batch, you're a little more concentrated than it expected, which would explain your higher original gravity. It will finish out at the same FG, but your alcohol might be a tad higher than you thought.

All good. let it ride and it'll be one tasty beerverage.

Its a 6 1/2 gal carboy. My guy from supply store told me to use 6 1/2 gal water at the start as I would boil off alot of it...He was right on the money...almost exactly 5 gallons. She bubbled like crazy and huge head/krausen for three days now very rare bubbles and the krausen shrinking. He said to wait until Krausen is flat on top then move to secondary..and take a reading of course

 

[Brownalemikie]

Why are you using a secondary? Are you adding more hops or maybe fruit?

 

[MaryB]

No need to secondary for most recipes.