New brewer looking for first kit

[rodwha]

Did you only use 1.5 lbs of the grains? Curious what your OG reading will be. It would also increase the IBU's.

 

[roesn]

The recipe called for 1.5 lbs so I didn't want to use the whole bag. (2.09lbs)

 

[rodwha]

Hmm…They don't come with extra. I'm guessing the directions weren't right.

Did you take a gravity reading? If so what did it say? And what did you expect?

 

[rodwha]

Out of the grains you had what did you keep?

 

[roesn]

I have 0.59 lbs of grain left. The recipe also said to only use half of the yeast package then "either discard or make bread with it".

Another thing that threw me off were the yeast instructions. The recipe just said to add half the package, but on the yeast it said to mix it with water and leave it sit for maybe 15 minutes or so. I didn't do that part and just followed my beer recipe.

Everything seemed to go ok though. Other than the auto siphon not working.. My wort cooled down to about 55-60 degrees because the thermometer stopped working at 80. I reheated it a bit up to 65-70. I hope that was the right choice.

Now it's sitting in the carboy with a blanket around it to block the light

 

[roesn]

Unfortunately because of the problems I encountered I forgot to take a gravity reading.

 

[rodwha]

Very strange directions. I've never heard of adding additional grains that aren't used. I think they all should have been used. Were they all mixed together in one bag?

The yeast I suppose I can understand. And pouring it in warm water first is called rehydrating. It wakes it up a bit before you pitch it in your beer. It isn't necessary, but helps speed up the process.

It was good to warm it back up. Was this before you pitched the yeast? Below 60* and you'll likely put them to sleep.

I still think it's going to be a lower gravity beer with more bitterness/IBU's. Hopefully it won't be too far out of whack. Guess you'll know soon enough...

 

[roesn]

I didn't add additional grains, only what the recipe called for at the start of the boil.

 

[roesn]

Yes I heated it before I pitched the yeast. My carboy started to bubble just two hours later.

 

[rodwha]

If you wanted you could mash those grains and add it to your fermentor as fermentation begins to decline. It's what I'd probably do, but use minimal water so as not to water it down too much.

Were the grains all mixed in one bag or did they come separately? I assume it was all in one bag premixed.

 

[roesn]

All of the 2.09 lbs of grain came in one bag. I saved it along with the half packet of yeast

 

[rodwha]

It might be too delicate of an ordeal to deal with it now though, assuming you have 1 gal in your fermentor. If so I'd save it for something else, maybe even the other brew you have there.

 

[roesn]

I wouldn't want to mess up the 2nd beers recipe by adding other stuff. I don't even know what it's suppose to taste like so I wouldn't know the difference.

But I was hoping that I could make a batch of beer later on with the extra ingredients. Another small 1 gallon batch. All I need are hops

 

[roesn]

By the way, why do you think it will have more bitterness? Other than the poor execution haha.

What will cause that?

 

[rodwha]

The IBU's are determined by the amount of sugars, volume of water, the amount of hops, and when you added them.

If you didn't use all of the sugars (grains) it'll increase the IBU's as it's not there to balance them.

So if you had a 4 lb bag of extract and X number of hops, and according to the directions it would give you 45 IBU's, it would be something like 50 IBU's if you used only 3.75 lbs. If you added an additional 1/4 lb it might then be 40 IBU's. Same if you adjust the volume of water.

 

[rodwha]

You could add some more stuff and hops to utilize your leftovers.

 

[roesn]

If the ingredients don't go bad quickly, maybe I could wait until I order ingredients from morebeer. How long are they considered fresh or good enough to use for?

I might need to get another carboy. Waiting to start the next batch will kill me

 

[rodwha]

I'm willing to keep them maybe 6 weeks, but it seems a few months is OK.

 

[roesn]

Didn't know it was so easy to upload photos

 

[roesn]

Do you know what this is at the top of my carboy?

 

[snowtires]

Looks like dry yeast

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[roesn]

Heh. I over think things some times.

I also lowered my temp down from 74-72 to 66-68

 

[roesn]

Maybe it just needs more time? It has stopped bubbling though

 

[rodwha]

It appears to me that you've about bottomed out. It seems to have attenuated quite low. Kinda hard to read, but below 1.010. Right?

Take your OG and subtract your FG reading and multiply that by 131 for the alcohol content.

What was the projected FG?

 

[roesn]

I didn't take an og reading so I don't have any of that :/