Joined the Addiction...now have questions

[Col224]

So I literally just finished brewing my first batch and it was a lot of fun. I did make some mistakes(a boilover and having my burner go out for about a half hour) but I also had a few questions.

I made a 2.5 gallon partial boil of Midwest's Plain American Ale 20 minute boil kit. It included A can of liquid malt extract and dry extract, which I added no problem. It also included cascade aroma hops, which I added at the last 5 minutes or so. Finally it had 6 oz of Dry yeast

my three questions are:

I made a rehydrater/starter? for my yeast using a cup of warm water(about 90F) and the dry yeast. And then I dissolved a little bit of sugar(I used the priming sugar from the kit) into the water and added that to the yeast. THen the boiling/cooling took longer than I expected so that was sitting there(barely bubbling) for about two hours. Is that too long?

Also, should I have used the priming sugar? and is the priming sugar ok to use now for the bottle conditioning since i opened it?

Finally, my last question is about the hops. I didn't use a hops bag because the kit didn't come with one. In my Home Beer making book by William Moore said that the pellets would go to the bottom of the pot after cooling so I wouldn't need to worry about it, but that didn't seem to happen and I'm pretty sure the dissolved(mostly) pellets are in the fermentor currently. Is that a problem? will they be in my final beer?

Ok, I realize that's more than 3 questions but thanks for any help anyone can give.

 

[BigKahuna]

You should in the future try and BOIL...HARD for 60 minutes....beginning the timer when you add the first hops.

You shouldn't use the priming sugar for anything but bottling. It's fine, but in the future, just use warm water for the yeast.

The hops will be fine...by the end of the 14 days that you've had your beer in the fermentor (there is a hint there somewhere ) the hops will have settled to the bottom with the rest of the "trub"

Welcome!

 

[Nurmey]

Welcome! First thing (minor) I think you mean 6 grams yeast.
Hydrating the yeast is good. No need to add sugar to the water as it's just to wake up the yeast in a nice warm bath, not to get it eating. No biggie, just thought I would toss that out there. Two hours is a little long. I usually go about 15 - 30 minutes. HOWEVER, your beer will be fine!

Put the remaining bag of priming sugar into a baggie and leave it until you're ready to bottle. As long as it doesn't get wet it will be fine for a couple weeks even if it's opened. When it's time to bottle, boil it up with a couple cups of water and put it in your bottling bucket. The small amount you used isn't going to matter with your carbonation.

The hop pellets tend to dissolve pretty much completely. You can siphon your wort from the kettle leaving the hops behind or you can strain as you pour or (and this is what I do) just toss the whole thing in your primary. The hops will settle to the bottom along with all the other stuff that makes up trub. They will not effect the flavor or the beer.

Now the hard part! Leave that primary alone for a couple weeks. You can sniff the airlock, pat the sides, take pictures of it but leave it alone!

 

[Nurmey]

You should in the future try and BOIL...HARD for 60 minutes....beginning the timer when you add the first hops.

You shouldn't use the priming sugar for anything but bottling. It's fine, but in the future, just use warm water for the yeast.

The hops will be fine...by the end of the 14 days that you've had your beer in the fermentor (there is a hint there somewhere ) the hops will have settled to the bottom with the rest of the "trub"

Welcome!

BK, it's a 20 minute kit!

 

[BigKahuna]

BK, it's a 20 minute kit!

DOH!

So why did we simmer for 2 hours?

 

[Col224]

would it still be better to let it boil for awhile? I had it on the burner for about an hour but I'm a big idiot and let my boilover put out my flame without even knowing it. So it only boild for probably about 20-30 minutes. my next batch is a newcastle clone which will boil a lot longer though.

I also took a OG hydrometer test. I think it read 1.072, i'll upload the pictures tomorrow to make sure. Should I have taken that from the fermentor(adding in the additional 3 gallons of water)? I took it from the Wort.

 

[Col224]

by the way, thanks for the tips everyone.

 

[Nurmey]

I made that kit and a longer boil wouldn't add anything only darken your brew.

Your hydrometer should be read after you've added the top off water and mixed like your life depended on it. It's really hard to get an accurate reading on an extract because the top off water doesn't want to mix with the heavier wort. You can be sure that your reading really is where the instruction say they should be because there is a pre-measured amount of sugars (malt) in your kit.

 

[Col224]

i was supposed to mix after blending the water and wort? oops. Should I do that now or not risk screwing with it at this point?

 

[Pelikan]

i was supposed to mix after blending the water and wort? oops. Should I do that now or not risk screwing with it at this point?

Don't screw with it now, but in the future you want to aerate the wort/water before pitching the yeast, which involves vigorous stirring and agitation.

 

[bmckee56]

I had it on the burner for about an hour but I'm a big idiot and let my boilover put out my flame without even knowing it.

Silly response here, but if the burner went out was the gas still on? If you were inside, that could have been an explosive experience No?

Hope it turns out well for you.

Salute!

 

[Col224]

yes, it was, it was bad. Luckily nothing bad happened.

On a good note...Its bubbling!