Virgin brew. Made mistakes. Do I dump it and what should I have done?

[Blue-Brew]

Brewing an IPA from a starter kit. Primary fermentation seemed too strong initially, I had given it alot of mixing and it's warm.
It then seemed to be slowing to a halt and I hadn't yet added my hops. When I come to do so I took a reading which showed I'd gone from around 1052 - 1004, I believe.
I didn't know whether to transfer to my keg and add the hops then or to extend fermentation in bucket. Which I decided to do, I've added hops and priming sugar to barrel. But i made the mistake of not dissolving my sugar first.
The fermentation rate has increased again immediately, but I fear my beer will get infection in the keg and with this many mistakes will be undrinkable and the best thing to do is to throw it down the drain.
I guess I want to know am I over-reacting and so if I do ride it out is there anything I can do to correct it now.
What will I need to look out for and what would be the right course of action next time.

 

[Katman]

Hi Blue-Brew
New brewer here as well. I have brewed six batches now and have made errors along the way but so far all my beer has tasted good, even if not as expected. I would not throw it out until it is done and you try it. I don't keg and have never dry hopped so I can't help you there but from what I have learned over the last few months you should be good to go.
The reason fermentation picked back up is the yeast are fermenting the priming sugar you added. The priming sugar should be dissolved and added to your bottling bucket just before bottling. If you are putting it in a keg I don't think you need the priming sugar at all since all it does is lets the yeast work a bit more to carbonate your bottled brew. I am sure folks with a lot more experience than I have will chime in shortly.

 

[brewbama]

I agree. Wait and see. Sounds like you learned a lot.

 

[Bubbles2]

@ 1004 your yeast have done the job and you have beer. Dry hopping can be done in your keg or you could simply have tossed it into your Primary for a week. The more you move your beer the more chance for infection and off tastes from being exposed to o2. If you are kegging they make a lid top that has a tab on the inside/underneath side of the lid where you could suspend your hop bag ( I recommend a hop bag) with a string to let steep/hop into your brew.
Sugar- that is for priming. Priming is to awake the yeast a bit to have them munch a bit and create 02. So if you are kegging you have Co2 already and could do it both ways, Prime with sugar when you keg, pressurize with co2 to charge the keg and let the co2 absorb into the liquid called equilibrium.

You stated you added hops and priming sugar to your keg, you may get lucky and have a keg that will dispense, although you will have floaters or hops. It is very easy to clog a pop up with hops, hence the aforementioned hop bag.
A hop bag is NOT a muslum sack, that is too course of a net, there are very fine sacks used for loose tea you can buy, or even a fine tea ball would be better to hold the loose hop pellets that become mud like when soaked.
So your first thought is going to be to strain your beer... that will cause o2 to taint it. What kind of keg are you using?

 

[Steveruch]

Never be in a hurry to dump a batch; you can't undump it.

 

[oakbarn]

Taste it! I always taste my beer along the way. It make not taste all that great warm and without carbonation, but we have had two infected beers over the years. It is not "not so great", but terrible, terrible when bad! Spit, Spit.

If you start tasting at every step, you will know what the end product will be. I can taste my wort and see if it is "on track". I never waste the hydrometer sample.

But, be sterile and clean!

A a "not so great" beer can lose some "off tastes" and be much better carbonated and cold. You will know terrible.

 

[Beer Nuts]

What will I need to look out for and what would be the right course of action next time.

I guarantee your next batch will go more smoothly.

It's like learning to ride a bicycle.
After a crash or two you start to pay attention.

Everyone has a disaster story.

Get a cheep spring loaded countertop timer and have a list of 'what to do - when' nearby.
Cross things off the list and then set the timer for the next event.

Except for sanitation, everything else has a 10% (+/-) tolerance.

 

[One Eye Ross]

I would like to second what Beer Nuts said above: "Get a cheep spring loaded countertop timer and have a list of 'what to do - when' nearby.
Cross things off the list and then set the timer for the next event."

As a former clinical chemist type, this can not be over stressed. Following the procedure, step by step, with a good timer, will save a lot of head aches later on. (Trust me, even following the steps, you'll have plenty of head scratching "oops!" moments - at least I did/do).

And keep on keeping on. It gets easier.

 

[S-Met]

Don't dump unless it tastes terrible. Keep an open mind. May not taste as intended, but may still taste good.

When you stay you forgot to add hops... you mean to the boil? Or dry hop?

I'm not sure your final gravity is correct. 1.004 is really low and nearly impossible without special enzymes or lots of sugar.

I would suspect that you may have had your gravity samle too warm. Check the temp calibration scale on your hydrometer.

Also watch for carbonation bubbles as they can push the hydrometer up for a false reading. I usually spin my hydrometer like a top if my sample has lots of gas, helps shed some if the clinging bubbles.

 

[TGFV]

Brewing an IPA from a starter kit. Primary fermentation seemed too strong initially, I had given it alot of mixing and it's warm.
It then seemed to be slowing to a halt and I hadn't yet added my hops. When I come to do so I took a reading which showed I'd gone from around 1052 - 1004, I believe.
I didn't know whether to transfer to my keg and add the hops then or to extend fermentation in bucket. Which I decided to do, I've added hops and priming sugar to barrel. But i made the mistake of not dissolving my sugar first.
The fermentation rate has increased again immediately, but I fear my beer will get infection in the keg and with this many mistakes will be undrinkable and the best thing to do is to throw it down the drain.
I guess I want to know am I over-reacting and so if I do ride it out is there anything I can do to correct it now.
What will I need to look out for and what would be the right course of action next time.

Doesn't seem like you made too many mistakes at all. Relax and have a brew!

Beer can be 100% dry hopped and taste amazing, so don't stress on that (my Hazys are usually DH only). I would dry hop in the bucket since then you can rack and remove the hops after a period of time to reduce potential grassiness from an extended dry hop.

Sugar is for bottle or keg priming (are you using compressed CO2 for the keg or naturally priming) so it causes fermentation on purpose. All you did was dry out the beer a little and up the abv a smidgen (usually. 05% I think).

 

[El Nino]

A a "not so great" beer can lose some "off tastes" and be much better carbonated and cold. You will know terrible.

Second that. My 2nd brew ever, I pitched the yeast at too high a temp, and for the first week and a half of fermentation, the chamber smelled like someone unpeeled 200 bananas and dumped them in there. I was SURE this was going to be a dumper batch. Noob mistake, I figured if the fermentation temp was gonna be at 62 for 2 weeks, what's the harm in pitching at 80something degrees if it's only gonna be at that temp for a few hours? lol

The off-flavors must have been eaten away eventually, because after testing the gravity at 2 weeks it was delicious! No off-flavors or anything. Still to this day, that was one of my better batches. This brewing thing works weird sometimes haha.

 

[Alex4mula]

Something I learned quickly here after many readings is that it takes a lot to dump a beer. Even with infections. Thanks God I have never been close but seems you should take them all to the finish line before deciding. I bet it will be fine.