I think I ruined my beer

[dakayus]

Hi so I would like to know if I ruined my first beer ever
So the recipe that I'm using is Briess light LME 9lb with Cane Sugar 1lb and saphri 1oz @ 1 hr and additional one 40 minutes later using Safale T-58 yeast. The instructions were terrible and I added the yeast after I added 5lb of ice to the 3.5 gallon wort immediately after finishing boiling. Per what the beer store seller instruction. I did not pitch the yeast, just threw it in dry. There were no bubbles in the air lock until about 18 hours after the fermentation. After about 2.5 days I decided to shake up the fermentation which the ambient temp has been 76 degrees constant and now at a full 3 days there's no more foams in the wort. Should I add more yeast? Did I screw up too bad that I should throw away what I did? Should I just wait and see what happens? I feel like after reading in these forums AFTER I did what the sheet told me to do per the brewing store that my beer will end up horribly.

 

[Cyclman]

I would wait, you never know. But spend some time reading the forum stickies, there are some good online guides to brewing, I like the Brewing TV videos.

With those fermentation temps, you'll have some off flavors for sure, but it might be drinkable, or even good, you never know.

Buy a kit from a reputable dealer, the instrucitons will be much better. Buy "How to Brew" a fantastic book, there's an old version online for free.

 

[dakayus]

Prior to this the airlock was bubbling up a storm until around 3 days and then I shooked it up. Should I go for the rest of the 4 week interval for maximum fermentation or should I just bottle it in a week? I'm quite discouraged at this point. Reflecting back in college when I used to brew very frequently, I realize how many errors I made and I just don't know if this beer will end up drinkable or not.

 

[chickypad]

I did not pitch the yeast, just threw it in dry. There were no bubbles in the air lock until about 18 hours after the fermentation. After about 2.5 days I decided to shake up the fermentation which the ambient temp has been 76 degrees constant and now at a full 3 days there's no more foams in the wort. .

I think you meant you did not rehydrate the yeast. Pitching the yeast means adding it to the wort.

So it sounds like there were signs of fermentation? At 76 degrees ambient it may be mostly done in 3 days. If you are worried you could take a gravity. Personally if there were signs of fermentation I would leave it alone and check it after 2 wks or so. You may want to get some temp control for future batches. With a Belgian you can get away with it but as mentioned you will get off flavors with most yeasts. At 76 ambient the fermenting wort temp could very well be in the 80's.

Edit: simultaneous post, I see there were signs of fermentation. Just leave it alone. If it's fermented (and only a gravity will tell you) shaking will just oxygenate it. Bottle it only after the gravity is stable on 2 readings a few days apart.

 

[+HopSpunge+]

+1 . Read John Palmer's "How to Brew" Thats the best beginers book imho.

 

[kh54s10]

T-58 will ferment as Saison at relatively high temperatures. I did mine at room temp and the wort temp went into the high 70's and maybe even the low 80's. It turned out great - but it was supposed to be fermented that way. You may not get what was intended but I would not give up on it. It might not be as intended but might be quite good anyway.

 

[dakayus]

I took a sample at 3 days +4 hours. A little alcohol with a very very strong banana flavor and aroma along with a modest bitter flavor experience and a little piney flavor. Extremely unpalatable as you'd expect, yet I'm trying to describe whether or not the fruits of my endeavor are worthless or not. I am comparing to my la fin dumonte, which is my favorite tripel currently, that I'm consuming concurrently. I have a plastic bucket with a spigot on the bottom with decanted a honey coloured mixture that's extremely cloudy as anticipated.
I thought that as long as you could be able to consume the wort's temperature then it would be sufficient for the yeast so it was rather hot with a little steam although I could drink it easily.
During college I did brew a batch which ended up where 20 of us where sick to our stomach when we added our yeast in prematurely and presumably killed the yeast and led to the proliferation of some bacterial infection.

 

[BansheeRider]

I took a sample at 3 days +4 hours. A little alcohol with a very very strong banana flavor and aroma along with a modest bitter flavor experience and a little piney flavor. Extremely unpalatable as you'd expect, yet I'm trying to describe whether or not the fruits of my endeavor are worthless or not. I am comparing to my la fin dumonte, which is my favorite tripel currently, that I'm consuming concurrently. I have a plastic bucket with a spigot on the bottom with decanted a honey coloured mixture that's extremely cloudy as anticipated.
I thought that as long as you could be able to consume the wort's temperature then it would be sufficient for the yeast so it was rather hot with a little steam although I could drink it easily.
During college I did brew a batch which ended up where 20 of us where sick to our stomach when we added our yeast in prematurely and presumably killed the yeast and led to the proliferation of some bacterial infection.

I wouldn't throw this batch away. Just bottle it and try one at 3 months. Aging can cure off flavors. Also when you add the priming sugar you are basically starting up a mini fermentation in the bottle, which means flavors can change slightly. I fermented a honey porter @ 80 degrees with nottingham yeast by accident. The beer turned out to be one of my best after about 2 months in the bottle.

 

[unionrdr]

You should've left it in primary. Shaking up fermenting wort is never a good idea. Gently swirling to stir up some yeast & a lil warming after a stall out is ok. but in your case,all the major bubbling through the airlock slowed or stopped because primary fermentation was done. It'd then slowly,uneventfully creep down to a stable FG. Then give it another 3-7 days to clean up fermentation by products & settle out clear or slightly misty before racking. You'll get less trub in the bottles,& the beer will be conditioned a bit by bottling day. Green beer genarally has a sharp,non destinct flavor to it. not much diff in malt & hop flavors yet. The banana flavor is a yeast ester from high ferment temps that some ale yeasts produce.

 

[dakayus]

I thought I'm supposed to wait 4 weeks prior to bottling given that it's supposed to be a belgian tripel. Unfortunately I didn't get hygrometer since I didn't know I needed it at that time and the brewing store is pretty far away.

 

[BansheeRider]

I thought I'm supposed to wait 4 weeks prior to bottling given that it's supposed to be a belgian tripel. Unfortunately I didn't get hygrometer since I didn't know I needed it at that time and the brewing store is pretty far away.

Yes bottle after a few weeks of fermentation. Or you can rack to secondary and age for as long as you want. But ageing can also happen in the bottle.