First brew, now I wait....and worry.

[Hoffer]

I just finished my first brew this weekend. I have wanted to start for about a year but never had the time. In the meantime I've watched tons of videos, read the books and forums, and I felt like I had a good grasp on the process.

My brew day went smooth, and I made sure to over clean and sanitize everything. I made sure to use RO water to reduce any contamination. We're 24 hrs into fermentation now, and it's bubbling away but I remembered something that's bugging me.
After I transferred from pot to fermentation bucket I used up the rest of the RO water in the jug but I was still under 5gal. Without thinking I got some water out of our water cooler (same RO Water right?) and topped up the last 1/2 gal or so. Now all I can think about is I didn't sanitize the water cooler spout!! Should I be worried of infection? What should I look out for?? In all the reading I did I never looked into what to look for if it goes wrong...

 

[Cyclman]

Don't worry, if you pitched lots of yeast you're likely just fine.

My advice, brew again! Get a pipeline going. Buy some special commercial beers to enjoy.

If you get over the initial wait and get a pipeline going, soon you'll have so much beer patience is easy!

Good brewing

 

[treacheroustexan]

You should be fine. Some of the best beers I made were topped up with water right out of my bath tub (ew?) I wouldn't worry too much. Let us know how it turns out. Welcome to the forums by the way.

 

[Hoffer]

And I just saw the post above making fun of people like me lol. Sorry to bother everyone! But I've had tons of people say home brew tastes awful from their experience. I just want this to be perfect to prove that it can be great!

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

Relax. Everything will be fine.

 

[Zekk]

I've definitely used water straight from the Brita pitcher and had 0 problems.

I'm glad when I started my roommate and I hadn't read anything so we didn't know enough to even begin to worry about infections and whatnot.

 

[Sammy86]

No need to worry as the old adage goes RDWHAHB

CONGRATS on the first of many!!

Cheers!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

water or the faucets it comes out of does not have to be sanitized unless its from a hose dropped on the ground or dirty hands. your all good and probably better than most, I'm amazed sometimes when I think back how well my beers turn out when I document the steps from start to finish

 

[slym2none]

Congrats on your first brew!

 

[Hoffer]

That's all reassuring everyone, thanks! I was going to rack it, but it's only an American light (and I can't wait to drink it! ) so I'm just going to bottle it. I'll let you all know!

 

[Hoffer]

I'm glad when I started my roommate and I hadn't read anything so we didn't know enough to even begin to worry about infections and whatnot.

True! I'm figuring out too much info can be it's own problem.

 

[theseeker4]

And I just saw the post above making fun of people like me lol. Sorry to bother everyone! But I've had tons of people say home brew tastes awful from their experience. I just want this to be perfect to prove that it can be great!

Don't get your expectations too high for your first beer. It almost certainly won't be "perfect", so hoping it will be is setting yourself up for failure. It likely will be tasty with some imperfections you want to improve on, which is great, and the whole point for many home brewers. Just like you are not going to walk onto a golf course and hit a hole in one your first time golfing (unless you are really really lucky, or the ruler of an oppressive East Asian nation) you aren't going to produce perfect beer your first try. Enjoy the process, and don't worry about proving anything to anyone.

 

[m00ps]

And I just saw the post above making fun of people like me lol. Sorry to bother everyone! But I've had tons of people say home brew tastes awful from their experience. I just want this to be perfect to prove that it can be great!

Yeah my first brew turned out OK and drinkable but not anywhere near what id hoped. It was around my 3rd I think that was good enough to have friends try it. Flash forward to 100+ batches later and now Im bringing in my beer to breweries to get feedback.

Youll get there eventually, but there will be bumps in the road. Especially if you are doing a light lager (which is what I assume from "American Light" in your description. This is an extrememly hard style to brew on a homebrew scale because there is little to no hop or malt flavor to hide any flaws in your techniques. Also, youd need a lager yeast to make this beer along with sound fermentation temp control to keep it in the mid 50s the entire time. Im guessing you havent looked too far into temp control yet so I wouldnt get your expectations too high for the first batch. You may want to try an IPA or stout or something with more flavor next time.

 

[CBXBob]

My first home brew was a blonde ale kit, made with a starter home brew package (bucket, hydrometer, 5 gal kettle, etc.) It turned out great, so much so that I was instantly hooked on home brewing. My next batch however was undrinkable, it was a wheat beer that I suspect I allowed to get too hot during initial fermentation. 30 or so batches since, and all good to awesome.

 

[Hoffer]

Yeah I can't wait! If not this batch i'll get there. I'm definitely hooked on it now!

 

[Hoffer]

mOOps - I did the Brewer's Best 1018 American Light Ale. Ale yeast and I monitored the room I am fermenting in for 3 weeks before I brewed. The min it went was 62F and the max was 68F. I do have a box freezer and want to get a ferm temp control for it when I get into lagers.

 

[Homercidal]

The nice thing about beermaking is that you can sample the bottles right away, and then try them over several weeks and taste the changes that happen as it matures.

Eventually you will want to have a few batches in various states of the process so you have something to drink while you wait. That will take the edge off some of the eagerness to drink it too early.

There are styles that are best drank young, and you might choose to brew one or two of those to help get the pipeline set up.

 

[ericbw]

I top up with water from the cooler, and I haven't had a problem with it. I haven't had an infection in a while, and the best batch last year was one where I cleaned the fermenter but didn't sanitize.

 

[Hoffer]

Just a quick update. I just did a gravity check on my beer. It smelt delicious just opening the fermenter! I've hit my estimated FG. Closed it all up and will check again Sunday for consistency!