Irish Red Ale After Brew Questions

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Luzer

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My brother and I did a Irish Red Ale from MS and everything went well but I have a few questions (but not as much as our last brew)

  • We had specialty grains a few inches from the bottom of the pot. Would it matter if it touches the bottom?
  • Does _everything_ have to be sanitized? We ran the hops and the yeast bag thought he sanitizer and I was wondering if the sanitizer would kill some of the yeast before it drys off if they somehow came in contact.
  • What part of the hydrometer do I read. One side said 143 (within range) and the other said 1.055 (over by .009).
  • On the same note the reading the hydrometer we were off and I'm trying to track down why. After we poured the wort in to the bucket I took the reading and we noticed that the wort was pretty far from the 6gal mar on the inside. Would that throw off the reading? We took the reading at 73°F this time.
  • Could we add some water to bring it closer to the 6Gal mark after the pour? If we waited for the water to boil and then cool and put it in the wort would that affect the (second picture)
  • Since we noticed the volume went down before we poured the wort could we add boiled water to the pot during the 60 min boil? (first picture)
  • Would getting closer to the 6gal mark (hopefully making it 5gal) make the OG reading closer to the target?

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1) Ideally, you don't let specialty steeping grains touch the bottom of the pot. particularly if they sit there for some time, they can scorch. But a brief touching shouldn't matter much.

2) As a general rule, anything that doesn't get boiled gets sanitized. So if your hops bag goes in the boil, it's fine. But if you're dry hopping, in the fermenter, you'll want to use a clean bag. I've never heard of a yeast bag . . . generally, you would simply rehydrate the yeast in a clean (SANITIZED!!!) glass/measuring cup. Ideally, you would use boiled & cooled water for this - but I've never had an issue using just tap water. After rehydrating, simply pour the yeast into the fermenter. If you're using liquid yeast, simply pour out of the pack/vial after following instructions (if any) on warming/smacking/etc.

3) Read the side that said 1.055. Be sure to use a large enough sample to float the hydrometer. Then spin the hydrometer to knock loose any bubbles. This will give the most accurate reading. Also note, MOST hydrometers are calibrated at 60 Deg F. If you're taking a reading at a different temperature, you'll have to adjust the reading - your hydrometer should have come with a chart that tells you to add/subtract a certain ammount based on temperature of the liquid. Practically speaking, if you're at pitching temperatures, it probably doesn't matter, as the adjustment will likely be less than 0.0005.

4) The OG listed in the kit is generally based on a 5 gallon volume for fermentation - though you said you were looking at th 6 gallon mark of your bucket, so maybe you had a 6 gallon kit. You'll want to take your OG hydrometer reading after adjusting your volume with the necessary top water to get to the volume you want. Be sure to stir (gently!) after adding water to thoroughly mix the water and the wort for an accurate reading.

5) Add top water as necessary to get the volume you want. This is usually done after fully cooling your wort, though also using cold top water to help cool the wort (or even using ice) is very common. Ideally, you should reach your desired volume at pitching temperature (which varies based on the yeast you're using, but is usually between 60 and 70 Deg. F.) I add my final top water AFTER pitching my yeast into the primary, using the water to get the last of the yeast out of my rehydrating cup and off the sides of the fermenter. Again, ideally top water is sanitary (boiled and cooled in advance), but I've never had a problem using simple tap water. If you pitch healthy yeast, it should outcompete anything else in the beer. And tap water in the US is relatively clean and free of bacteria.

6) You can add water to the boil, but generally it's best to either START with a higher volume (i.e. 6-7 gallons for a 5 gallon finished volume), knowing you'll lose some to steam, or add top water at the end, after cooling and pitching (see above). Many people (myself included) do a combination of both. I boil 5.75 gallons, and generally add as much as a gallon of top water at the end (I lose nearly 2 gallons to steam in the boil).

7) See #4 above. The OG is based on the final fermentation volume. Hydrometers read specific gravity. You can think of this as Disolved Solids PER VOLUME OF WATER. So adding water to wort will lower the hydrometer reading.

I do caution you to know what the final volume of the kit was supposed to be. MOST kits are designed to make 5 gallons of beer. Don't worry about slight differences in OG - they are common. Anything less than 0.005 probably won't matter. If you're off by more than that, there may have been a slight error.

In the long run, don't worry about anything. Chances are you made beer :) Have a Homebrew and enjoy life!
 
Thanks for answers. I have a few more questions and an update.

Update:
I think we might have a hole in our airlock since it had enough pressure to lift the top part of our airlock but it wouldn’t bubble. I was trying to find a way to safely rule out an airlock and I ended up pressing down on the lid to make the air lock bubble. When the lid went back to its normal state I heard a high pitch noise, I believe, sucking the air back in through it.

When we got the lid we saw that there was a little chip in the hole which we thought the black rubber grommet would fix. It seems that it didn't so we plan on picking up a big white rubber stopper and filing out the airlock hole to make it smooth all the way around.

We planned on letting it sit for a month before bottling so I didn't really want to take a sample for a hydrometer reading and risk infecting the brew but since we weren't sure that the yeast was working but we ended up taking one anyway. We had good sign of fermentation because the bucket temp got up to 70F where my WH Honey Porter was at 64F right next to it. When I took the top off I didn't see any krausen but I did see the ring around the side right above the wort. The reading that we got was around 1.023 (forgot to take a picture or write it down). I think the good news is that the fermentation did take place and I’m going to let it sit for a month before I touch it again.

Questions:
  1. I hope my FG reading won’t be too far off but if it is does it matter when I rack it that it’s not at the target? If I'm too high should I add more water till its within range?
  2. Before we figured out that there was an air leak the bucket temp peaked at 70F the second day. On the third day the temp was at 68F and by the fourth day it was at 64F. I noticed that the ambient temperature was so low, 61F, so we moved it upstairs where it’s about 70F-73F. It seemed that the fermentation went quick (compared to the WH porter) but like I said my current gravity reading is at 1.023ish. Is that steep temperature change in the bucket normal?
  3. To make the boil quicker can I move some of the wort to a 6qt pot and when its boiling pour it back in to the big 32q pot?
  4. I would like to see if there is any difference between three and four week formation in the same bucket. If I rack half the batch in week three then in week four do the rest does the change in volume throw off my test?
  5. When I add the priming sugar to the bottling bucket what temp should I wait for the sugar-water to come down to? All I’ve been seeing is “add it to the bucket”.
Thanks again for the help.

EDIT: I found a picture that we took after we took the lid off.

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