My First: Pumpkin Spice Porter

[bigken462]

I broke ground today on my first brew. I chanced going dark on a pumpkin spiced porter extract kit from Brewers Best. It smells good, but I sure hope the stuff thins out a bunch over the next few weeks. I was not expecting it to be so syrupy looking. I fell outside the OG by just a tad. I did not know how to correct it, and rather than chance messing up worse, I just left it alone.

I chose to use a ice bath this time rather than waiting another week or so for the funds on a immersion chiller. I hope the impatience was not a bad call. It did take a long time for me to get the temp down and only then after a hour or so was I was only able to get it down to about 72-74 degrees before pitching the yeast. While doing this, I built up a few questions that I think would help me for the next batch in case I pour this one down the drain. The OG was 1.052 @ 72-74 degrees or so. Am I correct to understand that that would correlate to 1.055 given the temperature adjustment on the insert that came with the hydrometer? The low end of the target OG was 1.057

What things could I have done to get outside the target range?

What could I have done to fix it?

Here is some concerns I have.

Trying to prevent a boil over, I babysat the pot for the duration of the boil. I managed to keep a nice gentle boil going most of the time, however when I removed the lid to stir it would obviously stop boiling for just a bit. I did this for 40 minutes before adding the first bag of hops.

I begin to notice a coating on pasty stuff on the side of the pot. Assuming the was part of the malt, I kept it stirred in. Again each time I would stir, the boil would drop for a minute or so before catching up again. The second bag of hops was at the last 40 minutes into the boil which the goop on the sides would continue to form till I stirred them in again and lastly the spice when in at 50 minutes for a total of 55minute boil time.

I then submerged the pot in the kitchen sink and gave it a ice bath. All was going well, but I underestimated the amount of ice I needed. So I used a hose and created a continuous stream of cold water around the pot till the temp got down to 95-100degrees. From there I siphoned the wort into the plastic bucket. There was a bit of stuff at the bottom of the pot which ultimately ended up in the bucket before I could get it stopped. This will teach me to take my eyes off the hose, so for the most part, everything that was in the boil went into the bucket. The instruction said this would need racked into a secondary, so I hope with proper care this sediment will stay put. The temp then was about a 100 degrees where I cooled it down with cold tap water as far as it would go till I hit 5 gallons.

The temp was still about 76 degrees, so I again filled the sink up with cold running water around the bucket and continued this until the temp reduced to about 72-74 degrees or so. After looking at the back of the yeast pack, I seen it fell within the given parameters and gave the wort a good stir, then sprinkled in the yeast. Popped the lid on, filled the air lock and moved the bucket to it’s home for the next week.

In closing, I’m concerned about a few things.

1. The OG not falling within range (1.057-1.061)
2. The trub that went into the bucket.
3. The length of time it took me to get the temp reduced and pitching the yeast a cpl degrees warmer than the suggested 70 on the instructions.

Aside from those things, given this to be my first batch, I felt like it progressed ok. The kitchen was not a disaster with I got done, so I guess that itself means something. Lol

How long do you guys think I need to give it before racking it into a carboy? Would you suggest using the tap on the bucket to not disturb the trub or the racking cane?

Ingredients
Fermentables
6.6 lb. Porter LME
8 oz. Maltodextrin
SPECIALTY GRAINS
4 oz. Caramel 90L
8 oz. Carabrown®
8 oz. Dark Chocolate
SPICE PACK
hops
1 oz. Northern Brewer
1 oz. Willamette
yeast
1 Sachet
IBUs: 25 - 28
ABV: 5.0% - 6.0%
OG: 1.057 - 1.061
FG: 1.014 - 1.018

Kenny T

 

[stonecutter2]

1. Might have to do with the amount of water evaporating. You mentioned a lid; I don't use one when boiling. The only time I did caused a boil over. Of course the accuracy of your hydrometer and the reference readings matter too. You're in the ballpark

2. The trub will settle out, no biggie.

3. Taking longer to cool the wort can impact hop flavor/aroma, but I wouldn't be too concerned, all should be well. Just get more ice next time maybe. Pitching yeast warm can kick start fermentation and produce some esters/off flavors, but again I think all will be well.

Your beer should turn out great, enjoy!

 

[stonecutter2]

Oh and I let my beers stay in primary for 7-10 days after fermentation completes...usually 2 weeks total or so. You might not have to rack it into the carboy at all. I generally use a racking cane for transferring and bottling.

 

[BansheeRider]

Looks good. But what exactly is in "Porter LME"?

 

[bigken462]

Lol, wait a minute........I'm the one who should be asking that. lol

 

[BrewCanuck]

Welcome to the Board and congrats on your first brew!

Just to address your questions:

1) Your OG was probably a Little low because you boiled with the lid on meaning you were trapping the steam. Basically by doing that you are reducing the amount of water lost to Evaporation and keeping the wort diluted, producing a lower OG. You mentioned that the boil would fall when you took the lid off and stirred, would it go completely still or still have a bit of a surge like this:

If it was a soft boil I would try putting the lid on for the first 10 minutes to get a hard boil so you get a good hot break then take the lid off or even crack it to maintain a soft boil.

2) The trub is fine, it'll settle out and you'll be able to rack off of it. In fact I have read that the hot break & cold break actually provide some nutrients to the yeast, improving yeast health for a better Fermentation

3) Don't worry too much about chilling quickly. There are some People on the board that do No Chill beers and I've left my pot outside in January (covered) overnight to get it to chill. The main Focus of chilling quickly is to force certain protiens out of Suspension that are translucent at room temp but become opaque when chilled creating chill haze. It does not affect flavour or Aroma, just the clarity of the final beer.

All in all sounds like your first brew day went better than mine. Good luck!

BC

 

[tgeary76]

I brewed the exact same kit last week and ended up with an OG of 1.050 but I chalk the low OG up to the fact that I had a boilover after adding the first hops (approx 2-3 cups of wort). I also only added 3/4 of the spice pack due to reading some reviews of this kit saying there was too much spice flavor in the beer at the end. I plan on leaving in the primary for at least two weeks then bottle condition for two more to check the carbonation/flavor. Hoping to have it ready for Xmas. Cheers!!

 

[bigken462]

Thanks guys,

I put the airlock on last night around 8 and woke up this morning to bubbles. The temp is now also resting at 70 degrees.

Is there a particular process to determine when it's the best time to rack into a secondary? or just give it 7 days and rack?

I understand the opinions vary on racking to a secondary, but I would like to free up my bucket to make a Amber Ale lite beer in case I don't like this dark stuff.

Would also like to thank each person who has contributed to helping me get started. Lol, just a cpl weeks ago I posted to the equipment forum asking about a propane burner question with absolutely no interest in making beer. It was indeed fun making it, we'll see how the drinking it goes. Lol

Kenny T

 

[tgeary76]

The pumpkin spiced porter was my 2nd batch so I'm a newb as well but judging from all of the threads I've read here it's not extremely important to rack to secondary and if you do, don't do it until you get a consistent FG over 2-3day period. Then you can do secondary or bottle/keg. I kept my first batch (BB English brown Ale kit) in primary 17days and then bottled. Hope that helped.

 

[bigken462]

Didn't really want to start a new thread for this, but while I ponder over what to brew next, I'm looking back and thinking about some of the things I might could do to make the next batch better.

If you guys were going to strain your wort to remove the sediment in the brew kettle, which would you prefer buying a metal strainer/colander big enough to fit over a fermenting bucket, purchase some straining cloth (Cheese cloth?) or use the paint strainers? Does it really make a difference at all?

I'm kind annoyed at myself, cause looking back I can't begin to tell you how many threads I've read about straining. But I always chalked them up to people doing this with AG and not extract.

I was kinda caught unprepared for this batch and didn't know whether to leave the sediment in the kettle, strain it or toss it into the fermentation bucket to settle out later. How does leaving it in versus straining affect the flavor of the beer down the road?

In closing, here is one quick observation which I don't know if it matters or not but here goes.

As I mentioned before, I pitched the yeast on the upper side of the scale on the pack of 74 degrees. By the next morning it was burping happily at about every 4-5 seconds. Gradually the temps came down and now is resting at about 68 degrees, but the one thing I noticed last night before coming to work was that it's only burping about once every 20 seconds. I'm assuming this is because of the lower temp.

After reading countless threads about the bubbles per minute not meaning anything, I'm not really concerned about it. But I'm curious if this is normal behavior for yeast to become less active as the temperature drops a few degrees.

Just some rambling thoughts as I wait for my shift to end. I'm hoping I might can move this to a glass carboy maybe Sunday (7 days) or Monday so I can free up the bucket to do another batch of something.

Hope you guys have a good weekend,

Kenny T

 

[The10mmKid]

BigKen, can you ferment your next batch in the carboy?
It doesn't hurt to leave the bigger beers over the yeast/trub. Actually lets them clean up after themselves.

Transferring the crude from the boil (or not) seems to be a personal preference.
Take a poll . . . . . it's all over the place.

'da Kid

 

[RM-MN]

For about $15 you can get another fermenter bucket. That would mean you could ferment another beer without transferring to secondary. Without the transfer you avoid the chance of oxidation and the chance of infection. There isn't any reason that the beer needs a secondary.

Strain wort? I just dump it all into the fermenter and let the yeast sort out what they want and let the rest settle to the bottom.

As your beer cools, the yeast will work slower. That is a good thing. I like to start my beers at about 62 and keep them there for a week, then let them warm up to room temperature until the yeast get done.

 

[bigken462]

I guess patience is key here. lol. As thick as the stuff was when I poured it in, I hope it settles out, or i'll be using it as syrup. lol.

I released some from the spigot to get a SG reading. If I'm reading the glass correctly, it was 1.022. The OG was 1.055. Temperature was at 62* which is a lil low according to the instructions. However its between the ideal (59-68) degree range on the yeast packet - which is Safale s-04

I turned some house heat on today. Yesterday it was in the mid 70's, today it's 30 degree's with frost on the ground. Ya gotta love Alabama weather. Maybe the lil fellas will perk up. Hardly any bubbles this morning.

The consistency of the beer seemed thinner, can definitely smell the alcohol. Was still a ton of yeast floating about and despite my better judgement I decided to take a chance at a small sip. I damn near spit it out across the sink. Lol, It's got a long ways to go before being anything drinkable.

I think the consensus is to leave it alone for a few more weeks. After my small sip this morning, I feel the same.

All the best,

Kenny T

 

[bigken462]

I tasted my first brew today from 11-5-13 which was a pumpkin spice porter. My gravity is still shy of the target FG of 1.014-1.018. This morning it read 1.021. The OG was 1.055 From day one I feel like I botched it, and given the taste today, I can’t say it will be too much of a loss. It only has a few micro-like bubbles seen rolling up the shoulder of the carboy so I’m going to leave it alone for another week. I’m out of off days and don’t really have the time until next week to fool with it anyway. I’ll bottle it regardless and stick it in the closet. Maybe with time and a miracle it will come to life. Perhaps my first beer should not have been such a dark one. Lol

I found myself having to leave the house for a few days and was torn on to transfer or not. For whatever reason, I was thinking I had brewed it the previous Saturday which would have been a week. It actually had only been about 4 ½ days. This is what happens when you have 100 stokes in the fire. Lol The bubbles at the time were only coming out of the lock about once every 1-2 minutes so I took a gravity and decided to transfer. As you will see below, the foam had already fallen so I cleaned my stuff and put it in the carboy.

Today there is a even layer of white cake on the bottom of the carboy that looks to be about ½” thick. I guess when I transferred it over, I must have robbed it of some of the sugars maybe? Would that account for the low SG reading today? According to the instructions, I should be about ready to bottle.

Anyway, since there is still somewhat a small level of fermentation going on, I’ll leave it as is till next week sometime unless you guys think I should leave it in even longer.

All in all, I don’t consider the process to be a loss, I brewed another one today and it went by so much smoother. I’ll post another thread on it.
Once more, thanks to each of you who have helped me along the way. Tons of valuable resources here and advice. Some of which I wish I would have adhered to better. Experience is the only thing you get shortly after you needed it. lol

 

[Aerobrew]

I made this beer awhile ago. I kept it in the primary for 2 weeks then aged it for 1 month in the secondary. It turned out great. The extra time mellowed out the spice kit and made everything taste great. I did use the entire spice pack also. It has been a big hit with everyone. I would consider letting it sit for a little while, truely brings out a lot in the beer.

 

[RM-MN]

I agree with leaving the beer for in the secondary for a while. If you bottle sooner the spices will still be in suspension and with it in bottles the temptation to sample will be strong. With spices still suspended, when you open the bottle it likely will gush out all over and make you think you have an infection when in reality it will just be from the spices creating nucleation sites for the CO2. Dark beers take some time to mature too so longer in secondary and a bit longer in bottles will get you better flavors in your beer.