First brew errors

[takkforalt]

Hey. So I tried my first brew, IPA. I have made some errors and it's now fermenting and I just wanted to gauge how serious hear errors might be and if it's worth keeping the batch or just chucking to start again this weekend.

First the boil lost about 1/3rd of volume during the boil. I think I've targeted this as using a pot that is too wide and too high a boil.

Second I forgot to measure the gravity of the boil when poured into the fermentor :-(. It's now been in ine day and a scum appeared above the liquid line which I believe is a good thing and it smells beer/yeasty from the airlock.

Should I risk opening to check gravity , or not bother? Will my beer be far too strong having reduced so much? And is there any way to remedy any of these errors (other than the obvious, starting again)?

Thanks

 

[itchygomey]

If you lost more volume than expected but did not top off with water afterward, then yes the alcohol content will be higher than expected. The only way you could "fix" this would be to add water which I absolutely wouldn't do.

For your next brew, this calculator will get you pretty close to what the boil off rate is of your kettle:
http://sigginet.info/brewing/tools/boil-off-calculator/

The scum you see above the liquid is probably trub and remnants of krausen - don't sweat it.

It's been nine days. Just let it ride. What good would a gravity reading be at this point? I imagine you're not bottling it up for almost 2 weeks anyway. If you were planning on 3-4 weeks in the fermenter, then I would let it go that long. 3 days before you plan to bottle, start checking gravity. If you get the same reading on all 3 - bottle it up.

RDWHAHB

And welcome to the hobby!

 

[itchygomey]

If you lost more volume than expected but did not top off with water afterward, then yes the alcohol content will be higher than expected. The only way you could "fix" this would be to add water which I absolutely wouldn't do post fermentation.

For your next brew, this calculator will get you pretty close to what the boil off rate is of your kettle:
http://sigginet.info/brewing/tools/boil-off-calculator/

The scum you see above the liquid is probably trub and remnants of krausen - don't sweat it.

It's been nine days. Just let it ride. What good would a gravity reading be at this point? I imagine you're not bottling it up for almost 2 weeks anyway. If you were planning on 3-4 weeks in the fermenter, then I would let it go that long. 3 days before you plan to bottle, start checking gravity. If you get the same reading on all 3 - bottle it up.

RDWHAHB

And welcome to the hobby!

 

[takkforalt]

One day not nine. Sorry the text didn't show on my phone when writing that. Should I open and check gravity or leave it and just hope? Looking forward to the next batch now I have hopefully learnt a little from my mistakes...

 

[Britinusa]

Just let it ride, no point taking gravity reads now as the yeast are already working so your reads would have an error factor now.
Just relax it will still be beer in the end!

 

[takkforalt]

What happens when it boils off more than hoped? Stronger or more intense bitter flavour or what?

 

[takkforalt]

Thanks for all the quick responses by the way. Really appreciate it

 

[itchygomey]

With more boiled off you get:
1. Higher Original Gravity - Higher ABV
2. A different bitterness ratio (IBU/SG) which will change the beer from it's original design. How much? Well that's tough to say because we don't know what your starting gravity is. Because it's an IPA, the beer already should have a bitterness ratio leaning heavily to the IBU's, so I would expect the higher gravity shouldn't ruin the beer at all. It just may not seem as bitter as it was originally intended.
3. Less beer.

I would expect you will end up with a beer that is higher than expected ABV and because you did not increase the IBU's it may seem to be not as hop forward as the recipe intended. That said - I bet it turns out just fine.

 

[takkforalt]

Sweet. All such good advice. Looking forward to the next brew already. Day 1 into fermentation

 

[peterj]

So this was supposed to be a full boil? Or did you just forget to add top up water? What was your intended volume and what was the volume you actually got? And what was the recipe, intended gravity, etc.? Depending on these factors it might be just fine to add the top up water now (after boiling and cooling).

 

[takkforalt]

Intended volume 15l got 10.5l. Not sure of the gravity as I don't have the recipe at work. So it'll be two days after boiling that it will be added probably not worth it now correct? Given it has formed the scum 'krausen?' Etc?

 

[peterj]

Intended volume 15l got 10.5l. Not sure of the gravity as I don't have the recipe at work. So it'll be two days after boiling that it will be added probably not worth it now correct? Given it has formed the scum 'krausen?' Etc?

Yeah, you should be fine adding the water. The only problem might be if you're making a very hoppy beer, then you might not get the bitterness you intended. Just make sure you boil and cool it and try not to aerate it while you're adding.

You definitely don't have to add the water, but you will end up with a much different beer than you were shooting for.

 

[takkforalt]

Even though air will get in through opening to put the new water in? That's not an issue? Should I refill up to 15L?

 

[peterj]

Even though air will get in through opening to put the new water in? That's not an issue? Should I refill up to 15L?

As long as you still have active fermentation occurring, all of the air that gets in should be purged pretty quickly by the large amount of CO2 being produced. If you don't have a large amount of CO2 being produced any more, then you could probably just add it at bottling. And yes, just fill up to your intended volume (15L) and as long as your efficiency was fairly close to what you predicted, you should be good.

EDIT: And boiling the water first will remove any dissolved oxygen that is present.

 

[takkforalt]

Brilliant thanks

 

[takkforalt]

So two weeks have passed and I was thinking about bottling, and have a couple more questions. How do I know it's ready to bottle. I have taken a hydrometer reading, but do you only get a reasonable idea if you took an OG reading?(I didn't). Reading is 1.012. Target OG was 1.046. The better brew hydrometer has a beer finish line at 1.004, should I wait til then?

Second, I have mixed reviews from people regarding priming sugar, should I add a half teaspoon to each bottle or produce a sugar solution to add to the batch? Are there any priming calculators out there.

Finally, a few people have said that to get better carbonation they mix the sediment from the fermenter back into the wort, is this advisable?

Thanks everyone who's responded so far, have been a great help

 

[peterj]

So two weeks have passed and I was thinking about bottling, and have a couple more questions. How do I know it's ready to bottle. I have taken a hydrometer reading, but do you only get a reasonable idea if you took an OG reading?(I didn't). Reading is 1.012. Target OG was 1.046. The better brew hydrometer has a beer finish line at 1.004, should I wait til then?

It won't get down to 1.004. Not many beers can or should get down that low (saisons being an exception). There isn't a set number that a beer needs to get down to, and the FG will be different from beer to beer. The way to know when it's done is by waiting a reasonable amount of time for the fermentation to have finished and the beer to clear up (usually 2-3 weeks, which you've done) then take a gravity reading. Then wait 2-3 days and take another gravity reading. If the reading doesn't change between the two then you can be reasonably sure it's finished fermenting everything it's going to ferment. 1.012 sounds pretty good for an FG to me, so I would take another reading in a couple days and see if it stays the same. If so, go ahead and bottle.

Second, I have mixed reviews from people regarding priming sugar, should I add a half teaspoon to each bottle or produce a sugar solution to add to the batch? Are there any priming calculators out there.

I would not add dry sugar to the bottles. Boil a small amount of water (200-300 ml) and dissolve the sugar in it. This will ensure that it all goes into solution immediately as well as sanitize it. And batch priming will produce more consistency in carbonation. I also think it's much easier than adding sugar to every bottle. There are tons of priming calculators out there. Here's a few:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/
http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

Finally, a few people have said that to get better carbonation they mix the sediment from the fermenter back into the wort, is this advisable?

Thanks everyone who's responded so far, have been a great help

DO NOT DO THIS! That's terrible advice. You just waited 2 weeks for all of that sediment to settle out of your beer. It would be incredibly counterproductive to mix it all back up, and it would give you a lot more sediment in all of your bottles. There is plenty of yeast still in suspension in the beer to carbonate the bottles.

Hope this helps, and good luck bottling!

 

[takkforalt]

Peterj. This is great. Looking forward to getting another reading in a couple of days. Thanks for all your help!

 

[takkforalt]

Bottled yesterday. Looked a bit cloudy in the bottles, moreso than the sample I took. Will wait another couple of weeks before springing one open.

 

[takkforalt]

So I popped a bottle open today. Somewhat more like a Belgian Trappist than the hoppy IPA I was going for but certainly drinkable when chilled. Will see how it matures over the next few weeks