Newbie with a dumb newbie problem.

[trigger_andy]

Hello all,
Ive been a bot of a lurker whilst Ive been trying to get my head around the ins and outs of Brewing and Ive just committed a cardinal sin. Well a few actually.

I made an all grain Single Hop IPA. The recipe called for a 14 day fermentation period with a dry hopping after 5 days. I did the hopping at day 5 but for one reason or another I have not bottled the IPA at the required time. So instead of 14 days its been over 31 now. . I emailed the awesome store I get my kits from and he said it might taste like plants or worse Vegetables. As I intend to bottle tomorrow I had to have a taste now to see if it was worth saving or throwing away.

This is where the second cardinal sin comes in. I serialised a small jug to dip into the FV to take a sample carried it to the FV then proceed to place the still wet/damp jug on the carpet. with out thinking I dipped the whole jug into the FV and took my sample.

1, To me the IPA tastes really good so thats great.

2, I feel sick to my stomach thinking that I have contaminated the IPA with whatever the jug may have collected off of the carpet and now is deposited in my FV.


Any advice is warmly encouraged and welcome. :rockin:

Andy

(Norway)

 

[boydster]

You are probably just fine. Relax, bottle as planned. The beer has a protective low ph and also has alcohol in it, making it an undesirable environment for most bugs. Plus, if it actually ends up infected, you already know how to prevent the problem next time.

 

[IvanTheTerribrew]

Agreed. The way to become a great brewer is to learn from your experiences whether positive or negative. For all you know, you'll love the hop flavor and aroma of this beer and consider doing a longer dry hop. You may dislike it and realize it's important to schedule your brews. It's all about what you see it as. Just RDWHAHB. Let us know how it comes out. Like the above post, I wouldn't worry about the carpet thing, it's already done. But the fact that fermentation is over is a good thing to fight off infections.

 

[flars]

It helps to have an organized space for some of the brewing stuff. A fermentor in a closet or other small space could be on top of a small shelf unit or low table. This just allows having a spot to set things on that can be sanitized.
Another option is just carrying the stuff you need at the moment in a sanitized bucket.
A turkey baster is ideal for taking samples from a bucket. A wine/beer thief for samples from a carboy.

 

[beergolf]

I would not worry to much. It is pretty hard to infect an already fermented beer. Just bottle it up and let it sit and carb up. Drink and enjoy. You made beer.

 

[ScottG58]

One of the oldest writings is a Mesopotamian beer recipe. We did not understand why things went bad till Pasteur. There have been milennia of brewing sins worse than yours. Beer forgiving. It will be fine. You can now give it a suggestive name that has "carpet" in it.

For future brews, get a wine thief.

 

[trigger_andy]

Hey guys,
many thanks for the replys, its really encouraging. Good to know that all is not lost yet.

A couple of quick questions;

1, How much sugar or DME do I add to 25ltrs of IPA to carbonate in bottles? I like my beer quite carbonated.

2, How long should I condition in the bottles?

Many thanks,

Andy

 

[brewcephus]

Trigger,

1. don't obsess too much over your "newbie" mistakes, we've all made them at one time or another.
2. Congratulations on your beer, it is probably going to be just fine.
3. Priming sugar calculator this should help with your priming sugar question
   

 

[soccerdad]

Was there dog hair on the carpet? If so I would call the beer Hair Of The Dog. And I would drink it.

 

[trigger_andy]

Ha ha, no, no Dog Hair unfortunately. We have a cat but fortunately the carpet was vacuumed earlier that day which is fortunate as HArd of the cat does not have the same ring to it

So, I bottled earlier this evening and have just finished cleaning up. Im very annoyed at myself as I cannot find the S.G I noted down for the IPA but Im quite sure it was around 1.55. I measured again today and its 1.10. From reading the instructions on the hydrometer I should be bottling at 1.06. Its been over a month in the F.V so Im not sure what happened?

Also, I added 160grams of Malt Extract which I though was slightly on the high side for 25 liters but I ended up with a lot of trub and actually had 22 liters and not 25. Will I have an issues down the road?

Cheers,

Andy

 

[trigger_andy]

TTT.



Anyone?

 

[harrke]

RDWHAHB!

You should be fine if the priming sugar was well mixed.

Congratulations on the first brew! Forget about it for a while...three weeks if you can. Start your next; you've got an empty fermenter!

 

[trigger_andy]

O I have a Norwegian Christmas Beer in the fridge just now. Another 6 weeks at 0-4 degrees C then its ready for bottling.

Anyone know roughly what the alcohol content will be when the O.G is 1.55 and the F.G is 1.10?

RDWHAHB!

You should be fine if the priming sugar was well mixed.

Congratulations on the first brew! Forget about it for a while...three weeks if you can. Start your next; you've got an empty fermenter!

 

[Schmaffy]

Anyone know roughly what the alcohol content will be when the O.G is 1.55 and the F.G is 1.10?

Wow, I can actually answer this one!

ABV = OG - FG x 131.25. Assuming that you meant your OG was 1.055 and your FG 1.010 (otherwise you'd have a 59% ABV, yikes!), 1.055 minus 1.010 equals .045; multiply .045 by 131.25 equals 5.9% ABV.

 

[trigger_andy]

Wow, that's nice! Thank you very much for the help. Will the added sugar for the bottle conditioning affect the abv? When I took a deep sniff of the brew in the FV I got a very strong alcohol fumes hit that gave me a mild buzz, lol.

Many thanks.

Andy