Quick n00b question

[Letsdance]

Hey everyone,

Just started my first batch a couple of days ago and I have a couple of questions. I'm following the first recipe in The Complete Joy of Home Brewing. I didn't compensate for the water that boiled off while making my wort some I don't have quit 5 gallons. just about though. I put a blow off hose on the carboy but the foam never got high enough to go out. This is probably due to not quit having 5 gallons, right? Will this effect my beer? Any help or reassurances would be great, thanks!

 

[iamopie2]

It just means that the wort is more concentrated. If it is only slightly less than 5 gallons it wont make much difference other than being slightly higher in alcohol. Did you use a hydrometer and see what your OG was compared to what it as supposed to be?

 

[Letsdance]

The OG I got was 1.021 but I think it's supposed to be at 1.031, but I could have read my hydrometer wrong...how do I know what the OG is supposed to be?

 

[Frodo]

I put a blow off hose on the carboy but the foam never got high enough to go out. This is probably due to not quit having 5 gallons, right? Will this effect my beer? Any help or reassurances would be great, thanks!

The blowoff tube is just an insurance policy so that a fermentation lock doesn't get clogged with krausen then cause pressure to build up enough to catastrophically pop the carboy plug out and cause a huge mess. Your beer will be fine.

You should however measure the OG once you have the wort in the carboy and it's mixed really well so you know whether you should add more water to match what the intent of the recipe is.

 

[Frodo]

The OG I got was 1.021 but I think it's supposed to be at 1.031, but I could have read my hydrometer wrong...how do I know what the OG is supposed to be?

The recipe will typically tell you what the expected OG should be. Or you can use brewing software to approximate it, such as Beersmith. Beersmith has a free trial version at http://beersmith.com/

 

[Frodo]

Two important things on measuring the OG: 1) that the wort is mixed really well so it has a consistent density throughout, and 2) the temperature of your sample should be taken at what the hydrometer is calibrated at, usually 60F.

You can take your sample at a higher temperature though it's best to cool the sample to the calibration temperature, but in that case you have to adjust your reading. There's a conversion chart here: http://ebrew.com/primarynews/ct_hydrometer_temp_correction.htm A warning though - I wouldn't rely of the temperature conversion charts at anything above 80 to 90F.

 

[Letsdance]

The temp when i took it was at about 70 but I used the formula in the complete joy of home brewing to adjust it for the fact that it wasn't at 60. I also mixed the wort pretty well during the boil and after pitching the yeast. I guess I have one other quick question: is one package of yeast enough? Thanks again for all of your guys help, I really appreciate it.

 

[Frodo]

For help on yeast pitching rates and a bunch of other related questions, check out: http://www.mrmalty.com/ There's a yeast pitching rate calculator on there you can use. Typically one package is enough - but you should prepare it by 1) rehydrating dry yeast, OR 2) creating a starter for liquid yeast. Read all about it at the mrmalty.com website.

 

[Letsdance]

Thanks again! Hope this turns out!