First time homebrewer, think I killed my yeast

[EJN]

Yesterday was my first time brewing and I think I did something really stupid. As my wort was cooling down for about 30 mins (using a wort chilling), I wanted to get my yeast ready. I had read that you needed to rehydrate dry yeast in water for ~30 mins. Since I wanted to sterilize the water beforing adding it into the wort, I put a (sanitized) cup in the microwave for a minute to boil up water. I took out the water and put my yeast in the water. After about a minute, I realized that obviously the near-boiling water would kill the yeast. (Keep in mind this is my first time brewing...)
At this point I somewhat panicked. I quickly turned the spigot on the kettle on so the wort would move into the fermenter. Then I dumped the yeast solution into the fermenter as the wort was still transferring. The wort was still ~100F (I had taken temperature a few mins earlier). I'm sure I made many mistakes here.
Now it is the next day. There are solids visible along the top and bottom of the fermenter. (Not sure what it should look like.) Also a little floating throughout the liquid. The color looks way wrong.
My question is: Is my beer still okay or is it poison? Is the yeast all dead? Can I buy and add additional yeast or is it just completely screwed up at this point?

 

[GoeHaarden]

Lol...not poison! You might have killed your yeast with near boiling water, but who knows. Its all good, you can add more yeast. The dead ones can serve as nutrients to the new ones...

The gunk at the bottom (trub as it's called) is a normal thing that happens with cold/hot break.

 

[Iseneye]

Get another packet of dry yeast and get it in there as soon as possible. I think yeast can't survive beyond 140f.

 

[EJN]

I don't think I can get yeast quickly online... How much time do I have?

 

[petemoss]

Do you have a local Homebrew shop? If so, I would go there. The problem is that with the holiday they still may not be open.

I don't know what to tell you regarding how long you safely have. It will be dependant on the level of sanitation, etc. Generally you are probably safe for a few days. Though I am baseing that on nothing but personal ignorance.

I wish you the best of luck.

 

[carluchi]

If your fermentor is sealed and you did a good job with sanitation, you should be fine.

I doubt you killed all of the yeast and more than likely most of it survived. Keep your airlock filled and order more yeast.

When it arrives, if you have no yeast activity, the pitch the new packet. If you have activity, hang onto the packet for the next brew session.

BTW, when yeast are going to town, the entire top of the fermentor (assuming ale) will look like white / brownish foam - like a lot of foam.

Good luck.

 

[seatazzz]

In my humble opinion, your pic looks like the yeast (what are left) are starting to work. What brand of yeast did you use? What was your starting gravity? Some yeast strains can survive at higher temps given enough sugars to chow down on (mostly saisons).

At that high of pitching temperature, even those yeast that survived might throw off some nasty off-flavors (I know this from experience from my noob days), mainly from having to work too hard to make up for the lack of cells. Getting some fresh, properly rehydrated yeast in there might help but may not be enough in the long run to save it.

We have all had failures in this hobby, and there's no shame in it. Let it ride, it might be okay, as yeast can be forgiving little beasties even when given not the best of circumstances. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[EJN]

Thank you everyone for your advice! Since I woke up this morning, the airlock has been bubbling constantly. There is a nice layer of foam on the top. Looks like at least some of the yeast survived. I was also super anal about sanitation, having read beforehand about the lengths you have to go to, so I have my fingers crossed it all works out.
Couple of follow questions:
1. Is it worth adding in more yeast, if I can? (Unfortunately I do not live within a homebrew store so may be infeasible, but just so I know.) If I killed off some of the yeast but some survived, how will this affect my final brew? Will it be less alcoholic? Don't the yeast reproduce anyway?
2. OG was 43. The recipe said it should be within 45 to 50. What does this mean about my brew?
3. I was trying to make an American Pale Ale. The color is clearly too dark. Is the color going to lighten up over the course of the fermentation process, or is this it? What did I mess up in the brewing that made it so dark? Could this be from steeping the grains for too long?
4. Two of my hops bags opened midbrew (did not realize until after I drained). Therefore there is a LOT of trub in the fermenter. Can I scoop this out at some point? Or will this end up in my final beer?

 

[beernutz]

Thank you everyone for your advice! Since I woke up this morning, the airlock has been bubbling constantly. There is a nice layer of foam on the top. Looks like at least some of the yeast survived. I was also super anal about sanitation, having read beforehand about the lengths you have to go to, so I have my fingers crossed it all works out.
Couple of follow questions:
1. Is it worth adding in more yeast, if I can? (Unfortunately I do not live within a homebrew store so may be infeasible, but just so I know.) If I killed off some of the yeast but some survived, how will this affect my final brew? Will it be less alcoholic? Don't the yeast reproduce anyway?
2. OG was 43. The recipe said it should be within 45 to 50. What does this mean about my brew?
3. I was trying to make an American Pale Ale. The color is clearly too dark. Is the color going to lighten up over the course of the fermentation process, or is this it? What did I mess up in the brewing that made it so dark? Could this be from steeping the grains for too long?
4. Two of my hops bags opened midbrew (did not realize until after I drained). Therefore there is a LOT of trub in the fermenter. Can I scoop this out at some point? Or will this end up in my final beer?View attachment 586488

I wouldn't add more yeast if your airlock is bubbling and because that looks like krausen on top. I would be concerned that your wort was 100 degrees at pitching. Are you fermenting at room temp? What yeast did you pitch? Some yeasts are much more tolerant of high fermentation temperatures than others. I know it is your first brew and you want it to turn out at least drinkable but if not just chalk it up as a learning experience.

I have been brewing almost 30 years and I still refer to a procedural 'cheat sheet' I wrote for my system as well as a Beersmith recipe printout to try and keep from missing a step or doing something that will have a negative affect on the wort.

That said, I goofed on my last brew by adding too much sparge water and ended up after an almost 3 hour boil with 13 gallons of 1.048 wort instead of the 10.5 gallons of 1.061 wort I was shooting for. Stuff happens. Roll with it and try not to make the same mistake twice.

 

[BitterSweetBrews]

Thank you everyone for your advice! Since I woke up this morning, the airlock has been bubbling constantly. There is a nice layer of foam on the top. Looks like at least some of the yeast survived. I was also super anal about sanitation, having read beforehand about the lengths you have to go to, so I have my fingers crossed it all works out.
Couple of follow questions:
1. Is it worth adding in more yeast, if I can? (Unfortunately I do not live within a homebrew store so may be infeasible, but just so I know.) If I killed off some of the yeast but some survived, how will this affect my final brew? Will it be less alcoholic? Don't the yeast reproduce anyway?
2. OG was 43. The recipe said it should be within 45 to 50. What does this mean about my brew?
3. I was trying to make an American Pale Ale. The color is clearly too dark. Is the color going to lighten up over the course of the fermentation process, or is this it? What did I mess up in the brewing that made it so dark? Could this be from steeping the grains for too long?
4. Two of my hops bags opened midbrew (did not realize until after I drained). Therefore there is a LOT of trub in the fermenter. Can I scoop this out at some point? Or will this end up in my final beer?View attachment 586488

Given that you have some activity and a layer of foam you are probably OK. Since you used dry yeast and possibly caught your mistake before it had a chance to fully re-hydrate you probably have enough yeast cells to do the job. If it is going to take more than a couple days to get an additional yeast pack I would probably let it ride as you probably won't be able to change anything caused by under-pitching. You could end up with off-flavors caused by the yeast having to work hard. These can include Acetaldehyde (green apple), Unwanted Esters and possibly fusel alcohol flavors.

Regarding your questions:
1. Is it worth adding in more yeast, if I can? (Unfortunately I do not live within a homebrew store so may be infeasible, but just so I know.) If I killed off some of the yeast but some survived, how will this affect my final brew?

See Above ^^^

Will it be less alcoholic? Probably not, just be patient and let it ferment out until the specific gravity reads the same for at least 3 days.

Don't the yeast reproduce anyway?

Yes yeast do re-produce, but in simple terms, if they have to split too many times to ferment out all the sugars it reduces their overall energy and they have to work too hard and start giving off flavors you don't want. That is why we try to pitch a lot of yeast, so they don't have to split too many times and can keep their energy levels up. With wet yeast we make smaller reduced gravity "starters" of 1 or 2 liters in size to build up the yeast to the quantity and levels needed for larger batches without decreasing their energy reserves. With dry yeast this is usually not necessary for 5 gallon batches as there are many more cells in the pack.

2. OG was 43. The recipe said it should be within 45 to 50. What does this mean about my brew?

Don't worry about this, it happens. Was it an extract or all grain batch? These numbers are best guess estimates. If it was all grain things like grain crush, mash temps, sparge temps and under boiling can affect this. If it was extract, nothing you did would have affected the OG other than water volumes.

3. I was trying to make an American Pale Ale. The color is clearly too dark. Is the color going to lighten up over the course of the fermentation process, or is this it? What did I mess up in the brewing that made it so dark? Could this be from steeping the grains for too long?

The color in the fermenter is for the full volume of the batch and is a foot or more thick. It will look darker. When you take out 12 ounces to put in a bottle it will be lighter. Steeping longer will not make it darker (and you answered my all grain or extract question).

4. Two of my hops bags opened mid brew (did not realize until after I drained). Therefore there is a LOT of trub in the fermenter. Can I scoop this out at some point? Or will this end up in my final beer?

By the time you bottle, after fermentation is completed, this will settle to the bottom. Don't scoop it out, it is not necessary and a fools errand. You will siphon the finished beer off from above it and leave it behind. To be assured of this, when it comes time to bottle I highly recommend transferring to a bottling bucket and bottling from there. Put your priming sugar into the bottling bucket then transfer the beer on top of it so it mixes it up. Leave the trub behind. You can buy a food safe 5 gallon bucket at Lowes for about $5. Let is sit in the bottling bucket for 30 minutes or more for the sugar to dissipate and to let anything that might have transferred settle. You can siphon from the bottom of the bottling bucket or you can pick up a spigot from an online HBS for about $4. Drill a hole for it in the bucket to bottle out of with a short length of hose.

The bottom line is that it will be fine and your beer should end up good.

As a beginner one of the hardest things to get past is that you are going to make mistakes, we all have. Don't get discouraged. Usually everything works itself out and you end up with good beer.

RelaxDon'tWorrryHaveAHomeBrew

Cheers,
Tim Trabold

Subscribe to my YouTube brewing channel.
www.youtube.com/c/timtrabold

 

[mongoose33]

RelaxDon'tWorrryHaveAHomeBrew

I was going to suggest this but...it's his first time. He doesn't HAVE any homebrew yet.

 

[BitterSweetBrews]

I was going to suggest this but...it's his first time. He doesn't HAVE any homebrew yet.

Maybe he has a friend with some.

 

[anotherbeerplease]

1) Don't add more yeast.
2) If you want to "fix" your OG, add 0.5lbs sugar. You can add straight to the fermenter. Otherwise just enjoy your lower sessionable beer. You likely will not be able to even taste the slight difference in ABV anyways.
3) Color is really hard to discern when fermentation is taking place. Often times dark looking beers turn out quite light colored in the glass. So don't worry about that.
4) Don't try to clean up your fermenter right now. Nothing bad is going to happen leaving all that stuff in there. When you bottle just try to leave the sediment at the bottom of the fermenter alone, and you'll end up with clean, clear, delicious beer in your glass!

 

[EJN]

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. Btw the yeast is Safale US-05. I'm fermenting in my bedroom which is around ~70F.
Unfortunately I don't have a homebrew yet.. I guess I can relax in a month!

 

[mongoose33]

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement. Btw the yeast is Safale US-05. I'm fermenting in my bedroom which is around ~70F.
Unfortunately I don't have a homebrew yet.. I guess I can relax in a month!

One thing about fermentation temp: yeast is exothermic, meaning it'll raise the temperature of the fermenting beer by perhaps 5-10 degrees. If there's a cooler place you could put the fermenter, it might be worth doing. Once this is done and you're enjoying your homebrew, we can address fermentation temp control. There are cheap ways to do it.

 

[EJN]

One thing about fermentation temp: yeast is exothermic, meaning it'll raise the temperature of the fermenting beer by perhaps 5-10 degrees. If there's a cooler place you could put the fermenter, it might be worth doing. Once this is done and you're enjoying your homebrew, we can address fermentation temp control. There are cheap ways to do it.

Unfortunately I live in a small Manhattan apartment and I don't really have many options in terms of cooler places within the apt. What are cheap temp control options? Also, I imagine I have to leave my A/C on throughout the day?

 

[mongoose33]

Unfortunately I live in a small Manhattan apartment and I don't really have many options in terms of cooler places within the apt. What are cheap temp control options? Also, I imagine I have to leave my A/C on throughout the day?

Probably the easiest/cheapest way is a swamp cooler. Get a turkey pan from the dollar store (well, maybe they don't have dollar stores in Manhattan), but a cheap aluminum throwaway turkey pan. Or a big regular pan if it'll fit.

Put the fermenter in it. Add water up to about 1/2" from the top. Drape an old t-shirt over the fermenter and allow it to drape into the water. The water will wick up into the shirt and evaporate, cooling the fermenter. I had about 5 degrees of cooling from mine (see pic below).

A more controllable system is to use a small dorm-style refrigerator to cool the fermenter. Sounds like it would take a lot more room, but store the fermenter in there all the time and it's little different than the space to store the fermenter. An Inkbird controller will kick the refrigerator on when the fermenting wort gets too warm. Put a fermwrap heat wrap or a cheap reptile mat around the fermenter and you can also bump the heat up at the end of fermentation to allow the yeast to finish up after themselves.

Or you can go bigger yet, but that small refrig is the nuts. Pic of mine below as well.

 

[beernutz]

Unfortunately I live in a small Manhattan apartment and I don't really have many options in terms of cooler places within the apt. What are cheap temp control options? Also, I imagine I have to leave my A/C on throughout the day?

Mongoose33 as usual has provided sound advice. I used the swamp cooler method for 5 years or so when I first started and it allowed me to get the temperature of fermenting wort into the high 60s in 75 degree room temperature.

Another option for those with space or cash constraints is an insulated fermentation bag like the one linked below which uses frozen 2 liter soda bottles. I believe it has competitors but this is the one a brewing friend uses.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/c...MIor661Puo3QIVF1YNCh2e-AhxEAQYBCABEgJzz_D_BwE

 

[Ronald C Gregory]

I was going to suggest this but...it's his first time. He doesn't HAVE any homebrew yet.

this has currently been my problem as i weight for my first batch to condition in the bottle. 1 more week... i can make it...