First Brew: Couldn't have gone more wrong. (lil long, sry)

[gdking]

So last monday I made my first batch(English Pale Ale), however it was doomed from the start. I didn't have a big enough pot so I went out and bought a 3 gallon pot to fill with 2.5 gallons of water to start. i figured that 0.5 gallons of room would be enough. Wrong. The pot almost boiled over several times and i found myself scooping out about 1/2-1 glass of the wort on two occasions (doesn't seem like too big a deal, hopefully).

Then when it was ready to put in the fermenter I couldn't get the right OG. The OG was supposed to be 1.043 and i had 1.025. I quickly read something online and added some more water to my pale not really knowing if that was the right thing to do. After adding quite a bit of water I got a reading of 1.032, even though this was closer to what my OG was supposed to be I did not want to add any more water to the batch, fearing it would be really watered down.

To make matters worse my AC broke on Thursday night/Friday morning and was not fixed until today. It was a very hot weekend and the house was prolly around 90 during the day. After rooting around here I've learned that I shouldn't dump the batch. I was wondering if this was true even though it was so hot for so long.

I took a reading this morning and the gravity was 1.006, which is about 3.4% alc. so i figure i did water it down.

I was wondering:
1) Is it still good?
2) Is it ready to bottle?
3) Will anyone give me a hug?

Thanks for any help/ consolation u can offer.

 

[weirdboy]

he OG was supposed to be 1.043 and i had 1.025. I quickly read something online and added some more water to my pale not really knowing if that was the right thing to do. After adding quite a bit of water I got a reading of 1.032,

What you did there is physically impossible. Adding water should LOWER the gravity.

The most common errors with measuring specific gravity are:

1. Not accounting for temperature. Hydrometers are calibrated to operate within a fairly narrow range of temperatures. If you take a sample of boiling wort and attempt to measure it, your reading is guaranteed to be wrong. There are tools to help you try and adjust for temperature, but really you want to be between, say, 50F - 90F even for those to be accurate.

2. Not mixing the wort & water thoroughly. Probably not the problem you had here, but another common problem is that people add extract, and then take a measurement without the extract being completely dissolved and evenly distributed throughout the wort. So, your sample can read high or low depending upon what part of the wort you take your sample from. Also a very common problem for meadmakers or if you add honey to your batch. Honey doesn't dissolve or mix very well.

3. Misreading the hydrometer.


So, first thing to keep in mind that you still made beer, so don't worry!

It's probably more than 3.4% ABV, but even if it is it'll probably taste fine. Just give it plenty of time before you bottle it (say, 3-4 weeks), and give it another 2-3 weeks to carbonate in the bottles before you crack them open.

 

[boo boo]

1... you'll never know until you taste it.

2... Check your gravity and when it shows the same reading three days in a row, you'll be good to bottle, providing your gravity is within the range you thought it would finish at. Of course a Fg of 1006 is pretty low.

3... only if you look like Pam Anderson....

 

[PartyBible]

I was wondering:
1) Is it still good?
2) Is it ready to bottle?
3) Will anyone give me a hug?

1. Nowhere in your post does it state that the beer has been taste tested after fermintation, carbonation, and refridgeeration. LMK how it turns out.

2. ...

3. How cute are you? How good is your beer?

 

[gdking]

Yeah, in my head it didnt make sense to add water but thats what i read. Im guessing i misread the hydrometer the first time.

 

[weirdboy]

Yeah, in my head it didnt make sense to add water but thats what i read. Im guessing i misread the hydrometer the first time.

Here's the thing:

If you added all the extract, and your final volume into the fermenter was the same as in the recipe, you are almost guaranteed to have hit your target gravity. Unless you forgot to add something that was in the recipe, or the company selling you the kit screwed you over and didn't give you the right amount of extract. It's just really, really hard to miss your gravity when you are using all extract.

 

[Zooom101]

The only explanation I have for adding water and the gravity reading going up is that the water you added cooled down the wort and caused you to have a higher gravity reading.

Regardless, Your beer will be weaker than you wanted. Notice that I called it beer. You did make beer. It will be drinkable. Probably by someone who doesn't care for strong flavored craft beers.

My first batch was a pre-hopped can of "Bock." Everyone knows that Bock is a lager style. This kit was designed as an ale. So I had already started off on the wrong foot. I made it according to the directions. After a huge boilover I managed to get it into the fermenter safely and pitched the yeast the next morning when it had cooled down to ~85F. To cut to the chase, it turned out pretty weak. It was beer, just not the kind of beer that I like. But my Mother in Law loves it! Every time she comes over she has a bottle.

So all is not lost. I have since named it "Crappy Bock."

Use what you learned from this batch and don't make the same mistakes on the next batch. Your 2nd or 3rd batch is going to impress the hell out of you.