I have a problem

[Camride]

I keep wanting to mess with my brews before they're done. I've got a double IPA in the fermenter right now and I was thinking about adding a little honey (boiled with water to sterilize obviously) to up the ABV a little and add some sweetness to it (thinking of HopSlam). I've already devised several changes I'm going to make to my Belgian Trippel before I've even started. I'm doing extract kits still for now and I haven't been able to brew a bunch and I feel impatient. I just want to keep trying new things, but I can't even finish what I've started the way I had originally intended.

Someone help me, I need some patience (or more time for brewing)!

Alternatively, does anyone want to tell me if adding the honey to a DIPA after it's been fermenting for 2 weeks is a good/bad idea? I know it'd dry the beer up a little, but I'm thinking if I'm still above 1.018 it might not be a bad idea. Right now it should be coming in about 7.6%ABV, I wouldn't mind if it was above 8%.

 

[unionrdr]

One of the things a noob brewer needs to understand is that the fermenting wort needs absolutely no attention from you at all. Barring keeping brew temps in range,& keeping it covered or in a dark place to keep the light from skunking it. No need to play mad scientist,thinking you need to be doing something to help it along. It just doesn't need you right now! So step away from the fermenter,the yeast know what to do.
The more you mess with it,the more likely you'll mess it up.

 

[Grinder12000]

This is why you need 3 carboys going at once. I understand exactly what you are going though. Common. Make more beer and keep your hands off the ones you have going.

 

[jaytizzle]

This is why you need 3 carboys going at once. I understand exactly what you are going though. Common. Make more beer and keep your hands off the ones you have going.

Ugh... tell me about it! I'm going to buy another carboy this weekend so I can brew up a third batch. The waiting is killing me! Saturday marks two weeks for my first brew and I'm trying to give it 3 or 4 before I keg.

 

[Camride]

I did buy a second fermenter, but I haven't had time to brew my Trippel yet. I've been working 60+ hours a week plus getting ready for my first kid coming in July. In the meantime I just keep buying craft brews and thinking of new stuff I want to do. It's killing me!

 

[Yooper]

I keep wanting to mess with my brews before they're done. I've got a double IPA in the fermenter right now and I was thinking about adding a little honey (boiled with water to sterilize obviously) to up the ABV a little and add some sweetness to it (thinking of HopSlam). I've already devised several changes I'm going to make to my Belgian Trippel before I've even started. I'm doing extract kits still for now and I haven't been able to brew a bunch and I feel impatient. I just want to keep trying new things, but I can't even finish what I've started the way I had originally intended.

Someone help me, I need some patience (or more time for brewing)!

Alternatively, does anyone want to tell me if adding the honey to a DIPA after it's been fermenting for 2 weeks is a good/bad idea? I know it'd dry the beer up a little, but I'm thinking if I'm still above 1.018 it might not be a bad idea. Right now it should be coming in about 7.6%ABV, I wouldn't mind if it was above 8%.

It sounds counterintuitive, but adding honey will NOT sweeten a beer. On the contrary, it may make it thinner and drier. That's because honey is nearly 100% fermentable, and so the sugars (unlike those in malt extract) will ferment out completely and leave behind only alcohol. You can add honey if you want, to boost up the ABV, but it may also screw up the balance of the beer. A good beer is balanced well, with the correct amount of bittering for the OG of the beer. Boosting it up .4% probably won't affect that much, but I'd be inclined to leave it alone and experiment next time.

If you were making spaghetti sauce for the first time, you wouldn't just keep tossing things in. You'd wait and taste it before deciding to add cinnamon (or whatever). With beer, it's not that quick so taking careful notes and then using what you learned for the next batch is usually a good way to go. It takes some time to learn about what each ingredient brings to a beer, and while experimenting can be good, it's important to have a working knowledge of the interplay of ingredients so you can either replicate a great beer, or avoid disasters. Usually the best brewers around are the ones who know all of the basics about balance, ingredients, and a working knowledge of how the interplay of these ingredients will come together.

It's fine to experiment, but it's also important to know what the base beer would have been without adding XXXX or YYYY. That's the way people can improve as brewers. Making a regular "plain" beer takes skill and talent. I have a friend who has always made weird beers- because she can. Most of her creations are drinkable, but it's really odd drinking a wee heavy with coffee and honey. Not bad, but not something I want more than one of, either!

 

[Camride]

It sounds counterintuitive, but adding honey will NOT sweeten a beer. On the contrary, it may make it thinner and drier. That's because honey is nearly 100% fermentable, and so the sugars (unlike those in malt extract) will ferment out completely and leave behind only alcohol. You can add honey if you want, to boost up the ABV, but it may also screw up the balance of the beer. A good beer is balanced well, with the correct amount of bittering for the OG of the beer. Boosting it up .4% probably won't affect that much, but I'd be inclined to leave it alone and experiment next time.

If you were making spaghetti sauce for the first time, you wouldn't just keep tossing things in. You'd wait and taste it before deciding to add cinnamon (or whatever). With beer, it's not that quick so taking careful notes and then using what you learned for the next batch is usually a good way to go. It takes some time to learn about what each ingredient brings to a beer, and while experimenting can be good, it's important to have a working knowledge of the interplay of ingredients so you can either replicate a great beer, or avoid disasters. Usually the best brewers around are the ones who know all of the basics about balance, ingredients, and a working knowledge of how the interplay of these ingredients will come together.

It's fine to experiment, but it's also important to know what the base beer would have been without adding XXXX or YYYY. That's the way people can improve as brewers. Making a regular "plain" beer takes skill and talent. I have a friend who has always made weird beers- because she can. Most of her creations are drinkable, but it's really odd drinking a wee heavy with coffee and honey. Not bad, but not something I want more than one of, either!

Thanks, good post! Pretty much what I figured, I need to leave it alone. It's just so hard! I'll just have to make some time this weekend to brew the Belgian so I'm not tempted to screw with the IPA.

And I'm definitely still learning a lot. When I brewed the IPA I took detailed notes on what I did so I can refer back to them once I finally taste it. I don't have the greatest memory so keeping notes is going to be really important until this stuff really sinks in.

 

[Camride]

Well I'm glad I didn't mess with it, it attenuated well, from 1.076 down to 1.013 in 13 days. It also tastes great! I've got 4oz of dry hops (2oz Cascade, 2oz Amarillo) in there now, so it should have a nice aroma after 8 days of dry hopping (bottling next Sunday for 3 weeks total in primary).

One question I do have, are the whole hops going to get as much flavor in the beer if they're floating on the top? I've got them in a muslin bag, but I didn't read about people putting marbles in the bag to weight them down until after I had already put them in there. I was thinking about opening it and pushing them back down into the wort every 2 days or so to help the flavor/aroma. Is that a good idea, or should I leave it alone?