First shot by myself - ADVICE! (May have messed up BAD)

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McGreen

McGreen

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I brewed 3 beers with a friend a few years ago (Amber, Pilsner, and Stout). They all didn't turn out that great because of a few factors, mainly we were impatient, didn't sanitize well enough, and just bought straight kits and followed the instructions to the letter. Drinkable, but not what I was looking for.

I recently bought a True Brew kit (the one that looks like 2 spackle buckets) and an Irish Stout ingredient kit to try my hand at it by myself and really become good at this. I love beer and have a passion for stouts.

So I crack this baby open, clean and sanitize the HELL out of every piece of equipment, follow the instructions (making a few taste adjustments to my liking), get done boiling the wort, and get ready to transfer into the fermenting vessel.

So here is where it hits the fan. This arduous process has me a bit tired and there is no accountability since I am doing this alone. I transfer the wort, add to 5 gallons and let it cool. At about 90 degrees, I sprinkle the yeast. I wait 10 minutes and stir it twice only (like the directions say). Then I make one stupid mistake that may have ruined the beer. I don't know, you be the judge.

I place the cap on before I put the plug/diffuser on. The cap is pretty airtight, so when I try and snug the plug/diffuser through, the gasket slips through and sinks to the bottom.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

So I sanitize the HELL out of my spoon, spatula, and hands. I mean thorough cleanse. I get in there and fish the gasket out after about 10 slow dips. I secure the cap and punch myself in the face.

So here are my 2 concerns - please give me some advice to ease my broken heart.

1. My hands touched the wort. Now I know they were insanely clean, but they are still my hands. I did not have gloves, and I was not about to dump my batch. Is it going to be ruined because a few inches of my skin touched the beer?

2. I stirred the yeast up far too much. The recipe calls for 2 strokes and I must have did about 12 trying to get the damn gasket out. Did I ruin the beer?

Thanks a lot guys. I really wanna do this. This may be discouraging if I ruined it, but be honest with me. Anybody else ever have these problems first starting? Thanks!
 
RDWHAHB.

You're overthinking and over-stressing. Give it time to do it's thing, it'll be fine! If there's anything you'll learn from reading around here, it's to not worry so much!
 
Yeah, I read like 10 threads after my post, realized I didn't screw up that bad, and even if I did I would have probably got told to just relax, wait, and drink when it is time. Thanks for the RDWHAHB! Glad it isn't the huge deal I made it out to be!
 
Lots and lots of brewers have done the same thing. It should be fine. One suggestion to avoid this is to put the airlock in place before you close the lid on the bucket. You can even add you sanitizer or vodka, etc. to the airlock after you close the lid. ;)
 
The beer will most likely be fine. I know the jitters can be bad, but keep brewing, and when you have a couple dozen batches under your belt this hobby can actually be quite relaxing.
 
As long as you snaitized well I would be less concerned with the grommet than your yeast pitching temperature. I am a noob also, but it was my understanding that you should not pitch warmer than 80 degrees (70-75 is optimal) due to getting banana esthers in your brew. Some of you more experenced guys correct me if I am wrong.

Also, b/c I have had some issues getting my yeast to take off of late I would recommend prepping your yeast in warm water to pitch (15 minutes or so at about 70%, IIRC).

At the end of the day you will still get beer. So, RDWHAHB
 
It'll be bad... bottle it and send it my way, I'll save you the trouble of drinking a horrible, horrible brew... :)
 
Thought it was the first time you shot yourself and were asking for advice so I was thinking maybe webMD would be a better place to ask...

Its a difficult Friday morning apparently.
 
Jbloader said:
As long as you snaitized well I would be less concerned with the grommet than your yeast pitching temperature. I am a noob also, but it was my understanding that you should not pitch warmer than 80 degrees (70-75 is optimal) due to getting banana esthers in your brew. Some of you more experenced guys correct me if I am wrong.
Click to expand...

I only found out that the wort should be lower than 90* after my first brew. The True Brew directions say "Allow mixture to cool if necessary, until under 90 deg F". After brewing my first batch, I found this forum and read the various bits of advise to have it much lower. On my first brew, I didn't think anything of the temp being at 90* because when I bake bread, the milk temp to activate the yeast is 110*
 
I use my hand to separate crud from wort when I'm straining - I normally just wash it and dip it in the sanitizer bucket before reaching into the funnel and fiddling around. It's no big deal - haven't had an infection yet.
 
the grommet part didn't bug me. I would pitch at a lower temp though. I always get it down to around 70.
 
knotquiteawake said:
Thought it was the first time you shot yourself and were asking for advice so I was thinking maybe webMD would be a better place to ask...

Its a difficult Friday morning apparently.
Click to expand...

I am really going to love this site. It makes me feel better already!
 
The extra stirring was good - Aeration prior to fermentation is a good thing - the yeast need the oxygen. AFTER fermenting it is a bad thing.

Temps - many folks do it many ways, but I don't even pitch until my brews are 65F, then I try to hold them between 62 and 65. In my opinion, they are immensely better than when I was casual about temps.

so, maybe next batch, give that a bit more attention.
congrats and welcome~!
 
Seriously... the beer isn't going to be any good... you need to dispose of it now... should I PM you my address?
Click to expand...

That's a lot of "horrible" beer that you're going to be taking on. As a fellow forum-member, I can't just sit back and watch you take on that responsibility alone. Please send half to me and I will make absolutely sure it is disposed of properly.
 
The exact same thing happened to me on my last batch. I was putting the airlock on and that dang gasket fell in. I tried and tried to get it out with a spoon but eventually gave up and just went in elbow-deep to grab it.

And the brew turned out great! No forearm aftertaste whatsoever.
 
radicalheartbeat said:
The exact same thing happened to me on my last batch. I was putting the airlock on and that dang gasket fell in. I tried and tried to get it out with a spoon but eventually gave up and just went in elbow-deep to grab it.

And the brew turned out great! No forearm aftertaste whatsoever.
Click to expand...

I was worried about the forearm aftertaste!

You know what though, the main reason I flipped is that most other sites and the books put so much pressure on cleanliness, bacteria, and not touching the wort EVER! It's like a cardinal sin to do anything to the beer at all.

BTW, when I find an extra $25, I am so in. Thanks guys!
 
Is your forearm Irish or not? If not, it probably won't meet BJCP style guidelines. I think that they require any extra organic matter to be Irish, or at least Irish-like. Do you know many drinking songs? That may help.
 
kaiser423 said:
Is your forearm Irish or not? If not, it probably won't meet BJCP style guidelines. I think that they require any extra organic matter to be Irish, or at least Irish-like. Do you know many drinking songs? That may help.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately no. I'm all German. I could say I was adding wild yeast from my arm hair. Or maybe some skinflake special grains.
 
That sounds good to me. The Germans are probably the only people that could beat the Irish in a drinking contest.
 

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