My first brew.. Should have read up

[bearohs]

So I got a beer kit a year ago.. New job and new baby didnt give me much time to use it.

SO I decided WTH, lets roll...

BUT I did not sanitize anything, but cleaned everything well.. I thought the germs were more a health issue rather than taste issue. SOOOO..

Also I did get impatient and pitched the yeast in around 80 degrees..

Obviously I was not prepared.

I am in week 2 of this Irish Stout kit, that is in the primary.. Since it was my first go round, I didn't mess with gravity readings..

So, should I go ahead and bottle.. Or should I just toss this?

Im leaning on bottling.. And how much longer. Its fermenting at around 73 degrees in a closet. I see it still producing gas so..

Dang I am so much better at BBQ.

 

[Sailingeric]

Learn from your mistakes. Get some Star Sans to kill the germs. You might be ok with just cleaning or it might not. Higher fermenting temps can make some off flavors. I would sample it, bottle it, age it some, see what happens. Worse is it is piss and you pour it out, most likely it will be still be fairly tasty.

 

[d3track]

Let it go for a while longer, then bottle. Call it a learning experience, and in all likelihood you still have a very drinkable beer.

 

[Gavin C]

Don't toss it out

My first brew was littered with mistakes and I really enjoyed the beer. If it tastes terrible give it longer to mature. If it still tastes terrible chuck it then.

Get some star-san prior to the next brew and do some reading. This hobby is fun once you get stuck in.

 

[TheCADJockey]

I thought the cleaner the homebrew store gave me was the sanitizer for my first few batches and they turned out fine. It wasn't until I got to around my 4th or 5th batch that the cleaner must not have done the job and I got infected batches. Give it more time and bottle it. At least that will give you the experience of going through the priming and bottling process to work out any more unforeseen issues you may have. Good luck buddy.

 

[kev211]

Id give it another week. 80 degrees is way too warm to pitch, but it sounds like you already know that . Live and learn, but at the end of the day you still get beer. Correct your mistakes, and brew another!

Edit: But know that you know your mistakes... Clean/sanitize your bottles before you bottle this batch!

 

[flars]

Take your first hydrometer sample, for specific gravity, around 10 to 12 days after the fermentation began. Taste it. It will be green beer, but will give you an idea of how it is progressing.
Always have stable hydrometer readings before you bottle to prevent the bottles from exploding.

 

[mrgrimm101]

Don't toss it out. I'd let it sit for another week. You should take a gravity reading and see if it's near where the kit says the FG should be. I don't know what kind of yeast you used, but pitching at 80F is a bit high, and letting it ferment out at 73F is also a bit high (IMO) so you might end up with some off flavors..no way to know without bottling and conditioning. It might condition out with enough time in bottles to be good still.

 

[QuercusMax]

Definitely don't toss it. It may be perfectly fine. At the very least you'll be able to use this to work out the kinks in your process, as far as bottling, etc. goes.

 

[mcbar]

I'm gonna dissent and say you should toss it... into your mouth... after letting it condition in the bottle for at least 3 weeks.

Seriously though, unless its way waaaaay off never toss your beer. I'm a newb myself, but I'm quickly learning that a little care plus a lot of patience equals good beer 99% of the time. Time heals all brews.

 

[Psylocide]

I pitched my Irish Stout a little warm, but it fermented out @ 66°.

There was an off-flavor around week 2, at week 4 in primary it was completely gone. Bottled Sunday and am quickly finding out that beer is pretty resilient. I'd let it go 3-4 weeks before you bottle.

 

[histo320]

Like most are saying don't toss it. Let it sit and bottle it 4 weeks after the day you brewed it. I have pitched yeast before at 80F due to impatience and not being informed and those beers all turned our fine.

Try one a week after bottling then another one. You will be surprised how hard it is to screw up a beer.

About the cleaning, I brewed for 2 years without using StarSan. I thought that using OneStep was enough but I never had an infection.

 

[bearohs]

Just an update.
The beer came out fine. Nothing over the top great considering I have been drinking CCB's cubano expresso for a few weeks now.

So I think this will result in some fun. Gotta find a good recipe for batch 2.

How do you all keep it cold while fermenting? I live in FL and the house isnt exactly an igloo.

 

[kev211]

Just an update.
The beer came out fine. Nothing over the top great considering I have been drinking CCB's cubano expresso for a few weeks now.

So I think this will result in some fun. Gotta find a good recipe for batch 2.

How do you all keep it cold while fermenting? I live in FL and the house isnt exactly an igloo.

Congrats! Theres a few methods of cooling the fermentation process

Method one (more costly): Purchase a chest freezer (my preference) or refrigerator (new or used) and a temperature controller to set constant temp.

Method two (more cost effective): Swamp cooler... Put the fermenter in a tub filled with a few inches of water and that will cool your beer, you can also drape a towel or t-shirt over the carboy into the water which will wick moisture up and cool the whole thing. Obviously the cheaper route, but not quite as accurate. But its still used a lot within the brewing community

 

[mrgrimm101]

Congrats! Theres a few methods of cooling the fermentation process

Method one (more costly): Purchase a chest freezer (my preference) or refrigerator (new or used) and a temperature controller to set constant temp.

Method two (more cost effective): Swamp cooler... Put the fermenter in a tub filled with a few inches of water and that will cool your beer, you can also drape a towel or t-shirt over the carboy into the water which will wick moisture up and cool the whole thing. Obviously the cheaper route, but not quite as accurate. But its still used a lot within the brewing community

Along with the swamp cooler, you can fill some empty plastic bottles with water (2 liter or whatever) and let them freeze, then add these to the water in your swamp cooler. This should bring the temps down a decent amount. Just keep swapping out frozen bottles when they thaw out.

Depending on how much you can find a fridge or chest freezer for, and how handy you are, you can probably build a slightly more cost effective fermentation chamber by google searching "Son of Fermentation Chiller". Supposedly, it works quite well.

 

[Staestc]

I discovered the dreaded fermentation temperature control issue last summer brewing in Texas where it stays really hot. I built a fermentation chiller and controlled it with an STC-1000. I use gallon jugs of water to keep it cool and a heating pad to keep it warm. Working well so far, but will only hold one fermenting bucket or carboy. If you want to look into that google Son of Fermentation Chiller here or on the net. There's a lot of information and variations available.

 

[ericbw]

One thing I don't understand... You thought sanitizing was a health concern, and that's why you skipped it? What does that mean?

Knowing what I know now, this would have been a dumper. Hot fermentation that was still bubbling at 2 weeks usually doesn't turn out well.

But sanitizer and temp control, like everyone says.