lost half gallon on a gallon batch?

[littled630]

I am brewing my first batch. Doing one gal. I did have a problem with it boiling over, and i just went from my primary(2 gal bucket) to my secondary(1 gal glass carboy) fermentor. The carboy is only half full and when i opened the cover on the bucket i had an over powering liquor smell! Hoping my batch is ok, and wondering if there is anything that i can do at this point to gain back the half gal that i lost. Any tips on boiling without the boil over or excessive foaming would also be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[retief]

Ive seen people use a water bottle to mist over the top when it starts to boil over. Other than that, keep a close eye on the boil!

 

[gcdowd]

Yeah as my wort comes to a boil, I watch it like a hawk and turn the heat down as it foams up. Until about 5 minutes after my first hop addition, I gotta keep an eye on it. I had a nasty boil over a few weeks ago, not fun

 

[nasty_rabbit]

I am brewing my first batch. Doing one gal. I did have a problem with it boiling over, and i just went from my primary(2 gal bucket) to my secondary(1 gal glass carboy) fermentor. The carboy is only half full and when i opened the cover on the bucket i had an over powering liquor smell! Hoping my batch is ok, and wondering if there is anything that i can do at this point to gain back the half gal that i lost. Any tips on boiling without the boil over or excessive foaming would also be appreciated! Thanks!

A 1 gallon batch and lost half of that to a boil over? I don't know what to say about this one but before you try again a bigger pot may be in order.

 

[scoundrel]

I am brewing my first batch. Doing one gal. I did have a problem with it boiling over, and i just went from my primary(2 gal bucket) to my secondary(1 gal glass carboy) fermentor. The carboy is only half full and when i opened the cover on the bucket i had an over powering liquor smell! Hoping my batch is ok, and wondering if there is anything that i can do at this point to gain back the half gal that i lost. Any tips on boiling without the boil over or excessive foaming would also be appreciated! Thanks!

Hey buddy, don't be discouraged. The liquor smell may be fermenting at too high of a temperature. You didn't mention the ferment temp but try to keep it in the 60's. As for foam control, try this:

FermCap

It works wonders and will not hurt head retention. I've made quart batches with this stuff and no boil overs yet.

I promise you'll thank me and good luck!

 

[gcdowd]

Are you sure it was a liquor smell and not a burning smell? It could just be that you got a nose full of CO2

 

[Littlejoe]

I know when I started with the one gallon batches I had the problem of having too much for my secondary. I had to put marks on the bucket and carefully measure my starting water.

and for the boil overs I use a spray bottle with star-san in it and and spray like hell for 30 seconds

 

[littled630]

House is kept at 68° so ferm should have been about that my biggest thing is i have a lot of head space in carboy can i get the half gal back or not?

 

[scoundrel]

and for the boil overs I use a spray bottle with star-san in it and and spray like hell for 30 seconds

I heard that people do that and I can see that working too. I guess the main advantage of FermCap is that you can add a drop or 3 and walk away. You won't even have to watch it.

House is kept at 68° so ferm should have been about that my biggest thing is i have a lot of head space in carboy can i get the half gal back or not?

I've found that the ferment temp is about 5-7 above ambient room temp

 

[littled630]

I shouldnt have described the smell that way it was over powering to me but its my first batch ever and it resemble a liquoe smell maybe with something mixed into the smell. Everything looked good i had i think its called krause on surface and about quarter inch of yeast cake andcolor looks good just cloudy but thats why its in a secondary. My biggest concern was whether or not i can get back that half gal loss or not cause ill be lucky to get 5 bottles from half a gallon. Im guessing its too late to get it back and ill have to cut my primer amount in half instead of 1/4 cup of dme ill have to do 1/8cup of dme for the priming phase.

 

[Littlejoe]

How much water did you start with preboil and what size pot are you using?
Sorry I don't think you can add back after ferment but someone else with more experience might say different.

Scoundrel,
Never tried fermcap have to give it a shot.

 

[littled630]

Started with 1 gal and boiled in prolly about a 2 or 3 gal kettle

 

[littled630]

Hopefully i didnt over boil. I was told to boil for 45 minutes so i started timing once it was bubbling/boiling at the surface even the it sounded like it was boiling about 15 minutes before that but didnt look like it was boiling.

 

[Littlejoe]

did you have steeping grains?

I know you just want to know if you can save this batch. I'm just trying to save your next one

 

[littled630]

No this was an extract brew just boiled 1 1/2 lbs of dme in 1gal of water with the hops for 45 mins cooled to about 72 degrees pitched my yeast and poured into bucket. Fermed for 6 days which left airlock getting just these tiny bubbles hovering in it so i racked into 1gal carboy refilled airlock and noticed the 1 gal carboy was only half full. These were the very vague simple steps the owner of the local brew store gave me. Im starting to think he gave me crap instructions that were not specific enough!

 

[Littlejoe]

Well it sounds like you did things right I mean it's not rocket science. You must have had a hell of a boil over. Things for next time: get some FermCap or a spray bottle, put some marks on your bucket at the 1 gallon level. After cool down top up water to 1 gallon mark. Put the lid on air-lock it and watch it bubble.

 

[littled630]

Yeah i think im gonna do starter yeast too instead of pitching right in sounds like either is ok with dry yeast but pitching staight yeast sokes up some wort and the boil over (which was surprising so somewhat bad made a hell of a mess on my stove lol) and evaporation all accounted for half gal loss i think. So i take it you can top off and add water as long as its before yeast pitch? And i will also get a spray bottle and a kettle with a cover cause it sounds like just a cover can reduce the boil over. Thanks

 

[Littlejoe]

Yeah i think im gonna do starter yeast too instead of pitching right in sounds like either is ok with dry yeast but pitching staight yeast sokes up some wort and the boil over (which was surprising so somewhat bad made a hell of a mess on my stove lol) and evaporation all accounted for half gal loss i think. So i take it you can top off and add water as long as its before yeast pitch? And i will also get a spray bottle and a kettle with a cover cause it sounds like just a cover can reduce the boil over. Thanks

1)starter yeast in a one gallon batch really isn't necessary (someone with more experience can explain this)

2) Don't cover your kettle during boil (again someone with more experience can explain this)

3) Yes, you can add more water to your fermenter before you pitch your yeast (Preferably boiled and cooled or bottled) You should watch your temp and make sure you don't drop too low

 

[littled630]

Ok cool thanks for the help next batch should be a full gal lol

 

[Littlejoe]

Cheers

 

[scoundrel]

1)starter yeast in a one gallon batch really isn't necessary (someone with more experience can explain this)

A vial of yeast has between 70-140 billion yeast cells, so for 1.070 beer, you'll need 1/2 a vial. Dry yeast is about 3 times as much so you don't need a starter and are probably overpitching.

2) Don't cover your kettle during boil (again someone with more experience can explain this)

DMS (Dimethyl Sulfides) is produced in the wort during the boil. By putting the lid on, it can drip back in the beer and give a cooked corn off flavor.

3) Yes, you can add more water to your fermenter before you pitch your yeast (Preferably boiled and cooled or bottled) You should watch your temp and make sure you don't drop too low

The problem in your case is that adding water will lower the gravity since you lost wort in the boil over. What I would do is add water to the desired level, check the gravity, then if you're low, boil up some dme for a few minutes, cool it and then add it to make up for the lost sugar.

 

[littled630]

Ok thanks guys for the help!!!