Newbie question - just need reassurance..

[CraigH78]

First all, hello all! This is my first post. Great info on this site!

Well last night I completed my first wart, a Porter, and is in the fermenting bucket going to town. I completed it about 11:30pm last night, I checked the airlock this morning (about 7:30am) and was happy to see it was beginning to bubble.. I just checked it a few minutes ago (2:00) and its is REALLY cranking now, even see some foam residue in it. :rockin:

I used a kit from my local supply store which I tweaked a little bit to increase the ABV percentage. I added some extra 1.5 lbs malt extract with an extra .5 oz of bittering hops to balance it a little bit. I asked the guys at the store what they thought and they said I would be fine, however, I didn't get the warm and fuzzies that they were really answering my question rather than just trying to sell me extra stuff.

My question is relating to its current smell. It has a very hoppy aroma coming from the airlock. My guess this is normal but I just want to be sure I didn't overly "hop" it, I wanted a lower IBU. Beersmith says I should be at about 18.7. Beersmith suggested a SG of 1.072 and I measured about 1.069 so I assume the 18.7 is pretty close. Will it smell very hoppy at this point? Here is the recipe I used..

1.5 lb. Mutons Light Dried Malt Extract 8 EBC <--- my addition
8 lb. Alexander's Pale Malt Extract
1&#8260;2 lb. Briess Crystal Malt 45° L
1&#8260;2 lb. Briess Special Roast 50° L
3&#8260;4 lb. M & F Black Patent Malt 471° L
1.5 oz Perle Hops (Bittering) <----------- .5 oz my addition
1 oz. Kent Goldings Hops (Finishing)
Wyeast #1028XL London Ale Yeast

 

[Nateo]

You won't be able to smell bittering hops. When you boil the hops to make them bitter, you destroy their flavor/aroma compounds. That's why most beers have two additions, and strongly hop-flavored beers may have 3+ hop additions.
You are smelling the finishing hops.
Finishing hops won't contribute anything to the IBUs.

 

[EonBlue66]

I really doubt the .5 oz you added will overly hop your beer Congrats on your 1st beer!

 

[Cheeto]

BeerSmith's IBU calculator is one of the better ones out there!

During active fermentation a fair bit of the hop aroma is expelled by the production of CO2

I would sit back an let the magic happen.

Congrats on using the correct method for increasing gravity and ABV of your brew.

 

[Mermaid]

How long did you boil the hops?

2.5 oz. of hops is not all that much really. Guessing your kit was one of those extract + steeped grains setups? (with the crystal, special roast, and black patent as your steeped grains).

Adding extra DME probably isn't going to hurt anything, but you might have give your beer some extra time on the yeast cake to eat up the extra sugar. Having not brewed this style I can only share with you what I've read here.

A half ounce of perle hops are not going to throw your original recipe off too much.

Just one piece of advice I've picked up on around here - 1 week isn't going to be long enough to ferment - and you don't always need to rack it to a secondary after a week.

And.. relax, don't worry, have a homebrew (or a craft brew since this is your first batch).

There's a lot of us new brewers on this forum who have had more or less the same concerns about our first batches - we stress over them like a bird watching her nest.

You can always give your beer a lot of time to bottle condition. Sometimes a beer can taste different after 12 weeks (post brew-day) than it did at 8 weeks.

 

[CraigH78]

Ok thanks everyone. That is the answer I expected but just wanted to be sure.

Yes Mermaid, this is a combo, extract and steeped grains. I do watch over it like a bird its nest haha.. I'm just really enjoying watching the process. I boiled the bittering hops for 60 min, finishing for about 2-3 min. I left the bags in the wort while it cooled over about 40 min.

This brings up another question.. The guy in the store suggested let it ferment for 3(ish) days and then transferring it to a secondary carboy for 3-4 weeks. What are your opinions? I was thinking more like a week - week and a half before racking it. He said he recommended earlier so that the yeast would purge out any oxygen quicker.

 

[Mermaid]

This brings up another question.. The guy in the store suggested let it ferment for 3(ish) days and then transferring it to a secondary carboy for 3-4 weeks. What are your opinions? I was thinking more like a week - week and a half before racking it. He said he recommended earlier so that the yeast would purge out any oxygen quicker.

There are TONS of threads on this very same question, all over the forum.

I once heard from a guy at one of my local homebrew supply stores (LHBS) that the reason why that advice is given, is to encourage the new homebrewer to buy more equipment and/or to not give up on the hobby because you have to wait so darn long before you can drink your beer.

Your yeast should tell you when it's time to move it to a secondary, then add a week.

i.e. if you've hit your desired FG after 7 days, leave it on the yeast another week - it will help the yeast finish their job and it also helps in clarifying your brew. I've read this over and over and it's now embedded in my brain

This forum is a great resource, you don't have to dig too far to find some really great advice (oh.. and once you get started homebrewing - it's a bit of an obsessive hobby, especially after you've tasted your first brew..)

 

[eibbor]

I just checked it a few minutes ago (2:00) and its is REALLY cranking now, even see some foam residue in it. :rockin:

Do you see foam residue in your airlock or just in your bucket? If you see it in your airlock, I'd be concerned about a possible blow-off happening. You might need to rig up a blow-off tube to prevent a mess from happening.

This brings up another question.. The guy in the store suggested let it ferment for 3(ish) days and then transferring it to a secondary carboy for 3-4 weeks. What are your opinions? I was thinking more like a week - week and a half before racking it. He said he recommended earlier so that the yeast would purge out any oxygen quicker.

I transferred my first 3 brews to secondary, even though I know a lot of HBT'ers don't do that. I did it mostly because I wanted to be doing something with my brewing... Right now I have all of my buckets and a better bottle full, so I have nothing to use as a secondary, so I guess I am joining the non-secondary fraternity.

 

[Nateo]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/

Revvy is one of the more vocal proponents of a long primary/no secondary. If Revvy says you should do something, you should do that.

 

[CraigH78]

Boy you called that.. I went down and it was starting to leak.. What can I do? Right now I replaced the airlock with a hose in the hole running to a large kettle of water..

 

[CraigH78]

Well it seams my desperation fix, using the racking tube in the airlock hole to a kettle of water was what needs to be done. Boy this is stressful! lol

 

[eibbor]

Good job! I just responded to your pm, but I thought I would post on here for others to learn too. I haven't had to respond to a blow-off yet, but most people I think leave the end of the hose in a container of sanitizer to make sure nothing bad can make the journey up the hose and into your beer.

 

[CraigH78]

Thank you! Can I just use some bleach & water as the sanitizer as I did to clean everything? I worry about it sucking back up the tube. Hmm I think i have some cheep vodka..

 

[eibbor]

Id definitely use the cheap vodka instead. I doubt it would suck anything back up, but just in case... id rather have vodka in mine instead of bleach water.

 

[CraigH78]

Thanks again everyone. Great link Nateo!