Some questions from a terrible brewer...

[james138]

Man, brewing can be hard!

First I sliced my wrist on a sharp metal part of the wort chiller. Then when I went to use the wort chiller for the first time and it ended up leaking and water from the garden hose got into my wort! That sucks. So I had to abandon the leaky wort chiller and try to chill my wort in the sink. The problem is that I didn't have the bags of ice I normally use because I thought the chiller would work, so it took longer than the forever it usually takes to chill my wort.

I couldn't wait any longer and I had to pitch my yeast at 80 degrees. Is this bad? The kit recommended a temp of 65-70.

So I filled the vessel with wort for the hydrometer and then I pitched the yeast and sealed up the fermenter. 10 minutes later I went to look at my reading and I ended up knocking the tube over and spilling it everywhere. Needless to say, I have no measurements.

The only thing I'm going to miss out is finding out what the ABV of the beer is going to be, right? I don't need an original reading to figure out the FG, right?

Final question, long story short I want to get multiple batches going. I've got two carboys and one brewing bucket. I'm going to use a secondary for my current batch so I can free up my bottling bucket. Anybody have any tips or tricks on the best way to transfer to a secondary? I just rack all of it except for the sludge on the bottom and then top up the carboy with some water,right?

 

[KingKlong]

not sure about your yeast.

Your OG and FG readings are done the same way, and not dependent on one another.

Don't add water when going to secondary. You should already be at your final volume. Easiest way to do it is to get a siphon, put the primary up on your counter and the secondary on the floor, pump a few times and let gravity take over. It will be done in a few minutes.

Relax, have a, um, retail beer.

 

[Pappers_]

Just wanted to reiterate KK's point about not topping off the beer in the secondary.

 

[Vagrant]

Your yeast should be fine. It's not ideal conditions and you may get some off flavors/esters, but it should ferment out fine.

The more disasters you have, the more you learn. You're on the fast track.

 

[Scuba_Stan]

Ouch! Sounds like you had a tough brewing sessions.

If it makes you feel better I think alot of people here have had the same things go wrong.

My personal favorite is my Girlfriend opening a vial of warm Whitelab yeast. Yeast exploded (sprayed) out everywhere in my car. So for the next hour (20minutes to go back to the LHBS and 40 minutes to go home) the car smelled like beer. Hmmm that would be a great car air freshener smell hahaha.

A quick tip for your wort chiller. I'm not sure if how your wort chiller is made but for mine I use these hose clamps to make sure it doesn't leak.

 

[james138]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. The things that sucks is that I thought I got all of my disasters out of the way with my first two batches.

So even if I rack into my carboy and it's not right up to the bottom of the neck of the carboy, I shouldn't add any water?

When I did it in the past there was a fair amount of sludge with some beer in the bottom of the primary, which I think led to me being a little under volume in the first place. That said, should I just rack everything into the secondary yeast, sediment and all?

 

[Jwood]

The thick layer of compacted yeast and trub at the bottom of your primary does not go to secondary.

Other than that in the future, you need to pitch at a lower temp. Low 70's / high 60's is ideal. Above this and the stressed yeast will create many more precursors for esters and fusel alcohols (this is of course for your average clean ale strain). You won't know your specific situation until you try it though, could suit your tastes, you never know! It's not the worst that could have happened, that's for sure.

 

[KingKlong]

Don't mess with the volume when you rack period IMO. No matter how much you are off the desired amount.

 

[james138]

Thanks for your input everybody.

After about four hours or being in the fermenter I've already got steady airlock activity. Hope thats not a bad sign!

 

[QsnotPs]

Steve Urkel comes to mind

Don't get down on yourself, your the person who will be better at this than anyone on the face of the planet, if you stick with it.

 

[kh54s10]

Do you have any fermentation temperature control. You can do a swamp cooler and if you have to pitch a little warm you can use the cooler to get the temperature down the rest of the way before fermentation gets started.

Four hours for fermentation is fairly quick. If the temperature of the wort is still high I would do something soon to try to lower it. I shoot for the low end of the yeasts range.

For secondary, which you don't have to do (read other threads) you do not have to fill the carboy all the way. Nearly full is better than 1/2 or 2/4 full but not critical.

If you are constantly getting less than 5 gallons (assuming the recipe is for 5) you can adjust and collect a little more wort. If you are above OG you can add a bit more water before your boil to end up with a little more. If you are doing your own recipes you can change the amount of ingredients to have a larger wort volume at the same gravity.

Before your next brew day, set up your chiller and solve the leaks.

These problems are actually small ones, albeit annoying. Learn, correct and most of all have fun!

 

[CBXBob]

Thanks for your input everybody.

After about four hours or being in the fermenter I've already got steady airlock activity. Hope thats not a bad sign!

It's a good sign. Your yeast are active.
I pitch between 70 and 80 most of the time (Ale's) I try to keep my brew room at 68 - 69. I use a blow off tube for the first 3-5 days just to be safe, then switch to an air lock till the fermentation is done, usually 5 days, but leave it for 10, If I rack to secondary (doing less of that now) I try to leave as much trub in primary as possible, If I end up with a little less beer, it will be clearer beer.
I typically forget to do the gravity reading when the wort goes into the primary, I'm not that concerned what the actual ABV is. the hydrometer readings before bottling are absolutely necessary to know the ferment is finished. I am still a noob, and expect to be one for at least the next couple years. Brewed my 12th kit last week, I am more relaxed, less worried, and make less mistakes as I brew. Not over thinking it I guess. And man, I learn so much here. And get more buckets

 

[ludomonster]

I make my recipes for 5.5 gallons and assume 1/2 gallon lost to the yeast cake.

 

[Gameface]

The thick layer of compacted yeast and trub at the bottom of your primary does not go to secondary.

Other than that in the future, you need to pitch at a lower temp. Low 70's / high 60's is ideal. Above this and the stressed yeast will create many more precursors for esters and fusel alcohols (this is of course for your average clean ale strain). You won't know your specific situation until you try it though, could suit your tastes, you never know! It's not the worst that could have happened, that's for sure.

My understanding is that yeast actually "like" temps in the 80-90 degree range. It doesn't stress them, it causes them to become too active and they throw off a bunch of esters and may produce fusel alcohol.

 

[james138]

Thanks for all the advice, I truly love this forum! The thing that sucks is that I tested the chiller out to make sure there were no leaks in the first place a day earlier. I guess the bolt must have loosened. The batch is in my basement and it's 70 don't there right now and probably 68 at night. I was sure I screwed up my first batch and that turned out ok, so I'm hoping this one will turn out fine too. I don't care about the money as much as I do the time it takes.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Everybody ****s up every once in a while. It's easier to swallow when you start brewing than when you've been doing it for a while and make some stupid mistake.

 

[Vagrant]

The last batch I brewed in Ft Collins while the sun was blocked out with smoke and ash from a forest fire 10 miles away. I literally had chunks of ash from burning forest fire falling into my fermenter as I was cooling in. If you take the extra steps to be extra careful, even if you screw up, 9 times out of 10 you'll be ok. (As long as you're not fermenting in your bath tub or "filtering" it through your pillowcase or something blatantly stupid). I've got the batch kegged and I haven't pulled any ash yet. Tastes fine. RDWHAHB

 

[james138]

I hope this isn't a bad sign, when I smell by the airlock it smells kind of funky, a little gassy I guess. Not to pleasant.

 

[KingKlong]

Normal. Lager smells worse.

 

[james138]

Normal. Lager smells worse.

Thanks!

 

[Hang Glider]

I couldn't wait any longer and I had to pitch my yeast at 80 degrees. Is this bad? The kit recommended a temp of 65-70.


The only thing I'm going to miss out is finding out what the ABV of the beer is going to be, right? I don't need an original reading to figure out the FG, right?

Anybody have any tips or tricks on the best way to transfer to a secondary? I just rack all of it except for the sludge on the bottom and then top up the carboy with some water,right?

1) 80 is not optimal, and the yeast kick up the temps a good bit when they start their activity - you might actually be fermenting at 90 if you're not doing anything about temp control. So, this may not be your best beer - (my first 4-5 were certainly not excellent) - but you're learning as you go. I ferment all my beers at 63-65F


2) you cannot determine the alcohol without both numbers. However, if this was a kit, it should give you some indications of what to expect.

3) Agree with others - when racking, leave as much trub as possible. You don't HAVE to end up with 5 gallons...