Help, No hot break!!

[RyanJE]

Hi all,

i just made my first home brew. Everything went fairly well but i dont think i ever had a hot break. i added the hops as soon as i started the boil, it foamed a little but nothing i had to make sure didnt boil over. Any ideas???

I hope it turns out ok.

 

[Brewsmith]

If it was an extract brew, you probably didn't have any. Extract has already gone through the process.

You're fine.

 

[RyanJE]

Thanks, i also only ended up with 4 gallons is that ok.

 

[Brewsmith]

You'll have 4 gallons of stronger beer, that's all.

 

[the_bird]

You take a gravity reading?

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

If you took a gravity reading and you know what it is, and if you know what your yeast strain is, then you will want to check to make sure the yeast can handle the extra fermentables in the beer. Some yeast won't work well with high gravity brews. I ran into that problem yesterday and wound up adding a gallon of water to get the SG into the right range.

 

[RyanJE]

i didnt measure the gravity, i didnt have a test tube for the hydrometer. The airlock hasnt started bubbling yet i finished about 1 hour ago, is that bad?

Sorry for all of the questions so far, thanks for all of your help!

 

[JacktheKnife]

Evening Homebrewers out there,

I have noticed DME doesn't have nearly the boil over mess during the 'hot break; that LME does. DME just starts boiling.
Is it me or have ya'll noticed that too?


J. Knife

 

[Brewsmith]

i didnt measure the gravity, i didnt have a test tube for the hydrometer. The airlock hasnt started bubbling yet i finished about 1 hour ago, is that bad?

You're still fine!

 

[BrettMan]

I'm a newbie - what is DME and LME??

 

[BrettMan]

Ok - so I just found that DME means Dry Malt Extract - so is LME = Liquid Malt Extract?

My first brew used both and I didn't have any hot brake either, so I was interested in the thread....

 

[RyanJE]

Thanks brewsmith, i cant wait to bottle!!

 

[Brewsmith]

Ok - so I just found that DME means Dry Malt Extract - so is LME = Liquid Malt Extract?

Yes

RyanJE, you're welcome!

Just be patient, give the primary fermentation a week and you'll be fine. Too many people try to bottle it or transfer it over to a secondary too soon.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Evening Homebrewers out there,

I have noticed DME doesn't have nearly the boil over mess during the 'hot break; that LME does. DME just starts boiling.
Is it me or have ya'll noticed that too?


J. Knife

I only used LME twice, and I didn't have a boil over problem. I've since created several boil overs with DME when making yeast starters.

 

[Mike-H]

Bret:
DME is Dry Malt Extract
LME is Liquit Malt Extract

These are the sugars we use to brew. Either is fine for brewing extract.

Ryan:
If you used dry yeast and made a yeast slurry (dont worry if you didnt), you should get fermentation starting within 24 hours.

If you used liquid yeast and didnt make a starter, it could take up to 3 days for fermentation to begin.

Also, did you boil all of the water or did you do a partial boil? Most beginners will boil 2.5-3 gallons of water/extract and then top off their fermenter with the additional 2.5-3 gallons of cold water. This serves 2 purposes, 1, it lowers your wort temperature quickly by the addition of cold water. 2, it ensure's you get that magical 5 1/4 gallons of brew.

Since you ended up with 4 gallons and you're probably using a starter kit with a strain of forgiving ale yeast you will probably be fine. Take a final gravity reading when all the bubbles have stopped and the "head" (krausen) has completely settled. (1.5-2 weeks i'm guessing for your scenario). I'm guessing you'll want to be in the 1.010-1.020 range for the final gravity.

Regardless, you'll probably have some pretty good beer Next time though, try the partial boil method if you are using a stove, or read around here about using a turkey fryer to boil 5+ gallons.

 

[Hopfan]

DME will boil over because there are many more areas for air bubbles to attach to & release from. (See the Mentos threads re: nucleation sites) You're basically adding a small volume of powder that has a high potential to form & release oxygen bubbles in the boil.

 

[RyanJE]

Mike H,

Thanks, i used the partial method. I first boiled 2 gallons of water and let it cool in the fermenter. The I made the wort in 3 gallons of water. I realized i should not be using the lid a little after around 20 minutes so i boiled for about 15 extra minutes to be safe. The airlock started bubbling after about 2 hours, i used a dry yeast starter i made.

Think i can rack it to my secondary after 1 week?

 

[grnich]

i didnt measure the gravity, i didnt have a test tube for the hydrometer. The airlock hasnt started bubbling yet i finished about 1 hour ago, is that bad?

Sorry for all of the questions so far, thanks for all of your help!

You don't need a test tube for the hydrometer. Just sterilize it and put it in your primary to take a reading.

 

[Mike-H]

Mike H,

Thanks, i used the partial method. I first boiled 2 gallons of water and let it cool in the fermenter. The I made the wort in 3 gallons of water. I realized i should not be using the lid a little after around 20 minutes so i boiled for about 15 extra minutes to be safe. The airlock started bubbling after about 2 hours, i used a dry yeast starter i made.

Think i can rack it to my secondary after 1 week?

You are correct in not boiling with the lid on, and you did "most" things correctly. Since your airlock is bubbling it sounds like things are looking good. I think you meantioned that you shook the fermenter so oxygen should have been ok. The only change I would make besides putting the lid on would be in regards to temp. From your description it doesnt seem like you got the temp down enough, so you could improve here. Here are some tips:

If you really want to boil your "extra" water, put it in the freezer while you are boiling your wort, in about 3 hours it sohuld be enough to get it down to about 80-90. You will need to chill your wort to about 60 to get a pitching temp of about 70-80 here.

You might want to consider not boiling your water also (only if your water doesnt have chlorine in it), or buying 3 gallons of water that you could refridgerate. Or you could boil 3 gallons and refridgerate the night before. This would allow sufficient cooling of the wort.

Here's how I did it before I switched to full boils.

Total of 5.5 gallons, 3 gallons in wort bucket, 2.5 in another bucket. I boiled the 2.5 to remove chlorine and put it in the freezer while I brewed. After all is said and done, I ended up with slightly less than 5 gallons.

 

[Mike-H]

You don't need a test tube for the hydrometer. Just sterilize it and put it in your primary to take a reading.

This is true, you can do this if you are using buckets, if you are using carboys however, do not do this. This is not good practice however as you are submersing something in the cooled wort, but it will certainly work untill you get a test tube.

 

[RyanJE]

Mike H,

Im not sure what you mean about getting the temp down? I cooled the Wort in an ice bath then poured it through a strainer into the water that was already in the fermenter.

 

[Schlenkerla]

Mike H,

Im not sure what you mean about getting the temp down? I cooled the Wort in an ice bath then poured it through a strainer into the water that was already in the fermenter.

I think what he meant was this. If your 2.5 gal of wort was 100'F, if you added 2.5 gal of 45'F water to the wort you could lower it to 60-70'F. Instantly!