Oh no...What do I do?

[EddieTheBrewerLADET]

Hey everyone,

Just got my second brew into the primary fermenter. It's Northern Brewers Dead Ringer IPA which is a clone of Bell's Two Hearted Ale.

I made some mistakes and want to know if Im still going to be okay...

1. I accidentally scorched a very small amount of the LME when pouring into the kettle. Very small amount but I dd however see some black flakes in the kettle.

2. I noticed a very high amount of Hot Break material in the kettle immediately after pouring in the LME. Is this normal?

3. I wasn't able to get the sludge to settle enough so I dumped everything from the kettle into the fermenter, will this be ok? Will my beer still be clear?

4. This beer looks darker than what Im used to for an IPA, both in the kettle and the fermenter. Keep in mind, it could simply be the vast volume or I did something wrong...

5. Can I drop hop in my primary if I use a cotton bag inside the fermenter?

6. Lastly, I pitched the yeast a bit too cool and it took a night to get it even started. Is this ok?


Thanks so much in advance.

 

[1977Brewer]

It's ruined. Package it and send to me for testing.

 

[corycorycory09]

Hey everyone,

Just got my second brew into the primary fermenter. It's Northern Brewers Dead Ringer IPA which is a clone of Bell's Two Hearted Ale.

I made some mistakes and want to know if Im still going to be okay...

1. I accidentally scorched a very small amount of the LME when pouring into the kettle. Very small amount but I dd however see some black flakes in the kettle.

2. I noticed a very high amount of Hot Break material in the kettle immediately after pouring in the LME. Is this normal?

3. I wasn't able to get the sludge to settle enough so I dumped everything from the kettle into the fermenter, will this be ok? Will my beer still be clear?

4. This beer looks darker than what Im used to for an IPA, both in the kettle and the fermenter. Keep in mind, it could simply be the vast volume or I did something wrong...

5. Can I drop hop in my primary if I use a cotton bag inside the fermenter?

6. Lastly, I pitched the yeast a bit too cool and it took a night to get it even started. Is this ok?


Thanks so much in advance.

1) Not much you can do about that. Might affect the taste a little bit, but you should be okay

2) Seems normal to me, although I don't extract brew so I can't say for sure

3) Typically you will want to strain the beer going into your fermentor to create a more clear beer.

4) It will definitely look darker in the fermentor than in a drinking glass. In a glass, light only has to pass through a smaller volume of beer, but in the carboy it has to pass through much more.

5) You can dry hop with or without a hop bag, especially if you are using pellet hops.

6) Better too cool than too hot. Heat can kill the yeast or make it attenuate too quickly. Cold really just slows the yeast down, but it should pretty quickly get up to your target fermenting temp if it has been added to wort that is at that temp. I usually don't notice any fermentation for the first 24 hours so that sounds normal.

 

[kombat]

1. I accidentally scorched a very small amount of the LME when pouring into the kettle. Very small amount but I dd however see some black flakes in the kettle.

I don't use extract, so I can't say for sure on this one. It's likely OK, but how much LME did you add, and when? Did you add it all at the beginning of the boil? Most extract brewers recommend only adding at most half of the LME at the beginning of the boil, and adding the remainder at the very end, to minimize caramelization.

2. I noticed a very high amount of Hot Break material in the kettle immediately after pouring in the LME. Is this normal?

I don't see how the two could be related, but it's normal to have hot break material, yes. Not so much from extract, but is it possible what you were seeing was in fact clumps of undissolved LME rather than hot break material?

3. I wasn't able to get the sludge to settle enough so I dumped everything from the kettle into the fermenter, will this be ok? Will my beer still be clear?

Yup, it will still be fine.

4. This beer looks darker than what Im used to for an IPA, both in the kettle and the fermenter. Keep in mind, it could simply be the vast volume or I did something wrong...

The darkness is a result of boiling the LME and caramelizing it. As I said, next time, only add 1/3 to 1/2 the LME at the beginning of the boil (just enough to achieve decent hop utilization). Add the rest at flameout.

5. Can I drop hop in my primary if I use a cotton bag inside the fermenter?

Sure, but if you're using carboys, note that it'll be a pain to get the bag out once the hops it contains soak up beer and swell. If you're fermenting in a bucket, then it won't be a problem. Personally, I just dump the dry hop pellets in directly, then rack the beer off of them a week later into the keg/bottling bucket.

6. Lastly, I pitched the yeast a bit too cool and it took a night to get it even started. Is this ok?

No problem at all - in fact, it's recommended. I often chill my beer 5° low, then pitch the yeast and let it warm up to the desired fermentation chamber. If you're seeing activity within a day, that's a great sign.

 

[scottballz]

It's ruined. Package it and send to me for testing.

HAHA well played^^^

As for you beer you are good to go man. If your beer doesnt come out perfect, take detailed notes on what you did wrong so you don't do them again. I'm sure it will still be drinkable. As for the Dry Hopping, Yes you can dry hop in the primary just wait until the gravity has stopped dropping. If you don't plan on washing and re using your yeast don't worry about using a hop bag, just dump the hops right in there.

 

[frazier]

As for you beer you are good to go man. If your beer doesnt come out perfect, take detailed notes on what you did wrong so you don't do them again. I'm sure it will still be drinkable.

^^^ Excellent advice - RDWHAHB. The only thing I'd like to add is - Take the long view. A year from now, you will have 10 or 12 brews under your belt. The difficulties you faced with this particular brew will seem pretty insignificant, except that every succeeding beer will seem easier.

Cheers!

 

[Sailingeric]

We all have made mistakes and almost always it still turns out to be a good beer. I cracked opened a beer I brewed a month ago that I thought I screwed. I got talking and ended up putting the wrong grains in the beer. I think the beer turned out a lot better than what I was going to brew. Relax and have a beer!

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

You've got good answers to all your questions. I will only add, in reference to #3, that a lot of very experienced brewers on this site routinely dump everything onto the fermenter and have no issues with clarity. Someone even did an experiment (maybe Brulosopher?) and found no discernable difference. So go ahead and let it rip.

 

[JLeuck64]

Hey triple Cory 9!
I have quite a few extract batches under my belt and I must say that we ALL learn from our mistakes ( ;

You can reduce the chance for burning if ya just turn off the heat while adding in the extract. Also consider using just the amount of heat necessary to keep the boil going. Spend some time reading thru the extract forum... Those guys have it dialed in and know their stuff. I never could figure it out and switched to all grain but i wish you the best of luck! Practice makes perfect and eventually... If you stick with it ya'll make some great beers!

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

Plus 1 for dumping every thing into the fermenter.