First Try, may have messed up...

[pirate252]

Hi Everyone, just got into homebrewing not to long ago and just purchased my stuff today, made my first brew and I wanna know if I screwed it up.

I accidentally read the wording on the directions wrong. I am doing what I think is called a partial mash, I used a amber malt extract but I used real hops in those bag things.

Anyways I accidentally boiled the malt and water for 45 min alone, then added the first hops, then I reliazed what it meant was to boil the malt AND the boiling hops for 45 minutes, so I just boiled that mix for 45 then continued on with the recipe correctly.

My wort smells... interesting, a lot like malt and kinda stinks, dont know what it is supposed to smell like though.

Thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Orfy]

It'll me fine.

www.howtobrew.com

RDWHAHB

 

[DeadYetiBrew]

I may be new but i've heard that you can't exactly overboil the wort... however the amount of time you boil the hops dictates the flavor and smell from those hops... I personally didn't like the way mine smelled either of course its concentrated (i do like the ferment smell though)... I think you'll do ok...

 

[Orfy]

Extract can darken and caramalise if boiled to long especially if you're not doing a full 5 gallon boil. It'll also increase the gravity.

 

[DeadYetiBrew]

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind... Gives me a couple ideas for future batches...

 

[Wolf]

A partial mash is when you use actual malted grains...did you use any grains, or just extract and hops?
If you just used extract and hops you are fine. The longer boil time will give you a darker wort due to carmelization of the extract, but I wouldn't think there should be any other problems.

 

[TheJadedDog]

Sounds like you'll be fine to me, and don't worry about the smell, my house always has a sickly sweet extract smell right after I brew, but the beer always tastes good.

 

[RoaringBrewer]

As noted, you'll be fine. At least you made the correct call and boiled the hops for 45 minutes... that was the most important part. You may have darkened the extract brewing for 90 minutes, as opposed to 45, but color is one of the last things you should be worried about at this point...

 

[pirate252]

Sweet! Thanks everyone for you replies.

One of you said that it would increase the gravity, the OG stated in the recipe was supposed to be 1.059, but our measured at 1.043, so I am also kinda worried about that, anyone have thought on that as well? Also another quick question I had, the tap water here sucks, so we used distilled water, is distilled the way to go or should we use just bottled drinking water?

Once again thanks for your many, fast replies!

 

[pirate252]

And no we didnt use any grains, just two cans of extract, hops and some irish moss.

 

[Yooper]

Distilled water is not good for brewing, because all the minerals, etc are removed. Bottled drinking water is fine, and that's what people usually use if their tap water is suspect. (I have very good city water, and use my tap water).
As to why your o.g. was low, could you have added more water than expected? Did you not stir thoroughly when you mixed the water and wort? Don't worry about it, because it really doesn't matter. Most times, the heavier wort kind of goes to the bottom and the added water (which would have a lower s.g.) just mixes in at the top. The yeast will still find all the fermentable sugar and make beer out if it.

Sounds like you're doing fine so far, and are picking up a few tips for next time!

Lorena

 

[pirate252]

Yeah, I hope this turns out to be ok, next time will definatly be better with all that I am learning so fast.

Thanks for your advice.

What are the negatives about distilled water? Is my beer not gonna taste good or something because I used distilled?

Thanks

 

[rod]

Distilled water is not good for brewing, because all the minerals, etc are removed. Bottled drinking water is fine, and that's what people usually use if their tap water is suspect
Lorena

this is why distilled water is not recommended

 

[pirate252]

Hmm I thought you wanted to have as little minerals as possible, obviously thats wrong though lol. I will use some spring water that I like the taste of next time.

Thanks

 

[boo boo]

It don't matter if you use distilled water to make an extract brew. Doing a partial mash or full mash is different. What you did was an extract brew, don't worry about your water.
As to your lack of gravity. Most canned kits want you to add sugar to boost the gravity. We reccomend using malt instead. You'll need to learn how much extra to add to get your desired gravity.

Good luck and cheers