Welcome Beginning Brewers!

[justin.osburn.clarendon]

Okay so I've got some pineapple beer on the go and some cider. How long does it take before you. Can start seeing signs of fermentation?

 

[justin.osburn.clarendon]

Agreed. Why not just use the apple juice and make a cider?

Cool I have a batch of cider on the go. How long does it take before I know if it's fermenting properly? Thanks for the support!

 

[JohnSand]

Hi Justin, welcome aboard!
I'm sure you can find plenty of good procedures throughout this forum, or read John Palmer's book How to Brew online for free. I did both when I started.

 

[JohnSand]

Hi y’all! I’m going to brew my first batch soon and would love to hear if this sounds reasonable or has some errors. I had to be creative with recipe ’cause I am starting small with 10L kettle.

Malts:
2kg pale ale
0,2kg caramel 50 ebc
0,1kg light munich

Single hop Challenger:

60min 5g
45min 10g
10min 10g
5min 10g
0min 10g

+ 1,4G irish moss 15min
+ dry hop, 15g??

This should result in approx. 57 ibu with 0,83 bu:ratio assuming I calculated correctly.

I didn't run it through a recipe calculator, but it looks alright to me. I brewed BIAB partial boils for a while, making five gallon batches in a five gallon pot by carefully topping off as the wort boiled down, and topping off again in the fermenter. I think your method will work fine.

Going to start with mash water 5L and sparge (though doing biab) with 5,5L. Mash water 77 celcius, 80 degree oven for an hour to keep the heat up, then sparge, boil an hour, cool off with ice cubes.

End result approx. 7L to be fermented(?).

Does this look like an OK way to start ?

I didn't run it through a recipe calculator, but it looks okay to me. Be careful of boilovers. I used to brew 5gal BIAB in a 5gal pot by topping off with the sparge as the wort boiled down, and topping off with water in the fermenter.

 

[Aki]

I didn't run it through a recipe calculator, but it looks okay to me. Be careful of boilovers. I used to brew 5gal BIAB in a 5gal pot by topping off with the sparge as the wort boiled down, and topping off with water in the fermenter.

Thank you John. I ran it through Brewer's friend and the calculator said OG was supposed to be 1069, however I ended up with 1052. Did I sparge too quickly or what could be the issue here?

 

[Yeastmeister]

I brewed yesterday for the first time in probably 5 years. I brewed an extract kit Allagash Grand Cru kit. The kit was probably 2 years old. I thought that I had put the hops in the freezer, but apparently I had just left them in the box. The yeast pack was expired by a year (given the quarantine, I couldn't go out to get fresh supplies). Everything went pretty well until the end. The hops didn't appear to be dried out and had a moderate aroma.

A few questions:
1. Do you think I am OK having used a slap pack of yeast that is a year old. It hadn't fully expanded the pack like I had remembered in the past, though there seems to be some yeast activity this morning.

2. The recipe had a target ABV of 5.7% and I wanted to bump that up a bit, so I added some dextrose that I bought for a wine I have planned. I added 1# in the 5 gallon recipe. The OG was targeted at 1.06 and ended up a hair under 1.07. I understand that I must wait for FG to know for sure, but I am just looking for a ballpark alcohol percentage that the pound of dextrose may end up adding. I am guessing there is a rule of thumb.

3. I didn't not have enough ice and I have a well issue that is reducing my water pressure. Bottom line, it took around 3 hours to cool the wort. The pot that I am using is only 5 gallon, so I went very close to the top. I was unable to put the lid back on. I topped it off with well water added directly (not preboiled or conditioned). I had the lid of for probably an hour and a half, I am concerned this may be an issue. In the meantime, I had read it should be covered, so I transferred to my fermentation bucket, put the lid on and let it cool in that. I pitched the yeast around 72 degrees. I was more concerned with how long it had taken to cool then getting the temp down to 68 degrees as called for.
All of that said, what is the likely impact of what I did here.

Side note would be that I followed every direction to a T, was very finicky about sanitizing, temps were good, timing was good, no overflows. Only thing that went wrong was I through the plastic stop into the fermenter lightly and it hit the top of the hydrometer, bounced it into the bottom and broke off, I couldn't believe it, but lesson learned...

Here is the recipe (HBS subbed out some ingredients due to stock, but in my haste, I kept no record):

Extract:
6.6 # Wheat LME

Grains:
1# Pale
8 Oz. Crystal
8 Oz. White Wheat
1 tbs Smoked

Additives:
1 # Clear Candy Sugar
1 Oz. Sweet Orange Peel
1/2 Oz. Star Anise
1# Dextrose (added to bump ABV)

Hops:
1 Oz. Brewer's Gold (9.7AA)

Yeast:
Wyeast #3944 Belgian Witbier

Thanks for any input.

 

[doug293cz]

Okay so I've got some pineapple beer on the go and some cider. How long does it take before you. Can start seeing signs of fermentation?

It can be anywhere from a few hours up to 3 days.

Brew on

 

[JohnSand]

Thank you John. I ran it through Brewer's friend and the calculator said OG was supposed to be 1069, however I ended up with 1052. Did I sparge too quickly or what could be the issue here?

It takes a while to determine efficiency. When I first started grain brewing my numbers were usually off., sometimes they still are. Just make notes and you can get closer each time. If it really bothers you, you can keep some malt extract on hand to adjust it. Most brewers would tell you not to worry, you'll still make beer.

 

[JohnSand]

I brewed yesterday for the first time in probably 5 years. I brewed an extract kit Allagash Grand Cru kit. The kit was probably 2 years old. I thought that I had put the hops in the freezer, but apparently I had just left them in the box. The yeast pack was expired by a year (given the quarantine, I couldn't go out to get fresh supplies). Everything went pretty well until the end. The hops didn't appear to be dried out and had a moderate aroma.

A few questions:
1. Do you think I am OK having used a slap pack of yeast that is a year old. It hadn't fully expanded the pack like I had remembered in the past, though there seems to be some yeast activity this morning.

2. The recipe had a target ABV of 5.7% and I wanted to bump that up a bit, so I added some dextrose that I bought for a wine I have planned. I added 1# in the 5 gallon recipe. The OG was targeted at 1.06 and ended up a hair under 1.07. I understand that I must wait for FG to know for sure, but I am just looking for a ballpark alcohol percentage that the pound of dextrose may end up adding. I am guessing there is a rule of thumb.

3. I didn't not have enough ice and I have a well issue that is reducing my water pressure. Bottom line, it took around 3 hours to cool the wort. The pot that I am using is only 5 gallon, so I went very close to the top. I was unable to put the lid back on. I topped it off with well water added directly (not preboiled or conditioned). I had the lid of for probably an hour and a half, I am concerned this may be an issue. In the meantime, I had read it should be covered, so I transferred to my fermentation bucket, put the lid on and let it cool in that. I pitched the yeast around 72 degrees. I was more concerned with how long it had taken to cool then getting the temp down to 68 degrees as called for.
All of that said, what is the likely impact of what I did here.

Side note would be that I followed every direction to a T, was very finicky about sanitizing, temps were good, timing was good, no overflows. Only thing that went wrong was I through the plastic stop into the fermenter lightly and it hit the top of the hydrometer, bounced it into the bottom and broke off, I couldn't believe it, but lesson learned...

Here is the recipe (HBS subbed out some ingredients due to stock, but in my haste, I kept no record):

Extract:
6.6 # Wheat LME

Grains:
1# Pale
8 Oz. Crystal
8 Oz. White Wheat
1 tbs Smoked

Additives:
1 # Clear Candy Sugar
1 Oz. Sweet Orange Peel
1/2 Oz. Star Anise
1# Dextrose (added to bump ABV)

Hops:
1 Oz. Brewer's Gold (9.7AA)

Yeast:
Wyeast #3944 Belgian Witbier

Thanks for any input.

Hi Yeastmeister, welcome aboard!
This batch will probably be different than designed. Some brewers might tell you that it's hopeless, but plenty of us have made mistakes and still ended with good beer.
My thoughts: The dry yeast will likely be good, it lasts a looong time. At one pack in a 1.070 beer, you under-pitched. That can result in more esters, but in a Belgian some prefer that. Your LME has probably darkened, and may not fully ferment, leaving your beer slightly sweet. This could be exacerbated by using old hops that have probably lost some of their bitterness. While all of this may sound terrible, give it time. Even if it is not great at first, it may improve. My first Belgian had a few mistakes too. Another member assured me that it would be undrinkable, but it ended up one of my best beers at that time. Let us know the results, and keep brewing. Study and practice yield great beer.

 

[Yeastmeister]

Hi Yeastmeister, welcome aboard!
This batch will probably be different than designed. Some brewers might tell you that it's hopeless, but plenty of us have made mistakes and still ended with good beer.
My thoughts: The dry yeast will likely be good, it lasts a looong time. At one pack in a 1.070 beer, you under-pitched. That can result in more esters, but in a Belgian some prefer that. Your LME has probably darkened, and may not fully ferment, leaving your beer slightly sweet. This could be exacerbated by using old hops that have probably lost some of their bitterness. While all of this may sound terrible, give it time. Even if it is not great at first, it may improve. My first Belgian had a few mistakes too. Another member assured me that it would be undrinkable, but it ended up one of my best beers at that time. Let us know the results, and keep brewing. Study and practice yield great beer.

It sounds like I am going to have a malty beer... This was a good trial run to re-familiarize myself with the process. I have another "old" kit, an Oatmeal Stout. I plan to brew that next weekend. At least I'll be well prepared to quickly cool the wort down.

 

[Yeastmeister]

Hi Yeastmeister, welcome aboard!
This batch will probably be different than designed. Some brewers might tell you that it's hopeless, but plenty of us have made mistakes and still ended with good beer.
My thoughts: The dry yeast will likely be good, it lasts a looong time. At one pack in a 1.070 beer, you under-pitched. That can result in more esters, but in a Belgian some prefer that. Your LME has probably darkened, and may not fully ferment, leaving your beer slightly sweet. This could be exacerbated by using old hops that have probably lost some of their bitterness. While all of this may sound terrible, give it time. Even if it is not great at first, it may improve. My first Belgian had a few mistakes too. Another member assured me that it would be undrinkable, but it ended up one of my best beers at that time. Let us know the results, and keep brewing. Study and practice yield great beer.

Also, thanks you for the insight.

 

[JohnSand]

If you find it way out of balance when it's finished, there are ways to increase bitterness. A dry hop will have some effect, a hop tea more. You could also brew a bitter beer and blend them. Experiments like this can be fun and interesting. On the other hand the old kit doesn't owe you anything, so if it's really off you can dump it. I'm interested in how it turns out. You can probably find other threads on HBT about brewing old kits.

 

[Yeastmeister]

If you find it way out of balance when it's finished, there are ways to increase bitterness. A dry hop will have some effect, a hop tea more. You could also brew a bitter beer and blend them. Experiments like this can be fun and interesting. On the other hand the old kit doesn't owe you anything, so if it's really off you can dump it. I'm interested in how it turns out. You can probably find other threads on HBT about brewing old kits.

Yes, I thought about dry hopping. Today, I'm about 60 hours in and there is very little if any activity. I do see what appears to be a mostly solid 1/4" krausen, there is a faint yeasty smell, but mostly a very strong sweet wort smell. I am wondering if I should try pitching some more yeast. I have Fleishmanns bread yeast and Red Star Premiere Classique wine yeast.

 

[doug293cz]

If you have got krausen, it is fermenting. Just let the yeast do their job. Lack of airlock bubbles is usually more about leaks than slow/no fermentation. Use your hydrometer to monitor SG drop. It's really the only foolproof way to know that fermentation is on going, and also when it is done.

Brew on

 

[ncbrewer]

Do you think I am OK having used a slap pack of yeast that is a year old.

Liquid yeast? Probably this is the problem with lack of fermentation activity. I'd say add the bread yeast if that's all you have. But at 60 hours in, I don't know if it would work or not. And I've never used bread yeast. so it's just a wild guess at using it. Good luck.

Edit: Brulosophy did an exbeeriment with bread yeast and found a phenolic character.

 

[JohnSand]

I don't think I would use bread yeast.

 

[Krupa]

Hi, I am looking to launch a hard seltzer brand - however, instead of making it through the fermentation process, I would like to make it by blending carbonated water to clear alcohol.. can you'll pls tell me about the advantages or disadvantages of this methodology? Why do most seltzer brands in the U.S. brew vs. blend? Is it taxation related? Would the taste/ flavor be the same for both of these methods?

 

[JohnSand]

Well, it would certainly be quicker. But isn't that just a mixed drink?

 

[Yeastmeister]

I don't think I would use bread yeast.

OK, so I’ve got a bit of an update. I had moved the fermentation bucket into my closet and hadn’t thought about it in a few days, then got thinking to I might just check to see if there was or had seemed to be any activity in the airlock. It did not appear to be the case so I decided to crack the side of the lid open and take a whiff. I expected to smell a sweet slightly alcoholic aroma, but it was all sweet. So I lifted enough of the lid and was thrilled to discover mold floating on the surface. See below. Any thoughts on what I should do?

 

[Yeastmeister]

The image didn’t post last time, hopefully this works... I skimmed the floaties off the top with a sanitized spoon. I had a taste and basically it’s a sweet, pleasant and syrupy with very muted hop bitterness, hardly there at all, just a dull bland bitterness. I broke my hydrometer, so I can’t take a reading, but it does not appear that any measurable fermentation has taken place. I cannot go out and get more yeast, I could order some online if that makes sense. The alternative is that I throw bread yeast in, wine yeast in or both. Of course if anybody has any insight it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Yeastmeister]

I am having trouble posting the image, I’ve confirmed my registration through email but that appears to be the issue... Anyway there were a number of floating circular mold spores, like lilly pads from hell. Dime to quarter size and shape. White fuzzy perimeter and a light blue center. It looked like bread mold. Also a half dollar sized, transparent mold with a hazy whitish perimeter, seemed like it might be another penicillin like lilly pad in formation. Finally a peachish-orange glob of fleshy fuzz and some minor foamy white streaks. I’ve squeezed the lid back on for the time being and now I’m second guessing myself for tasting it...

 

[JohnSand]

You will probably not suffer from tasting the wort, generally nothing dangerous will grow in it.
At this point I would add the wine yeast and hope for the best.

 

[bracconiere]

I don't think I would use bread yeast.

it doesn't flocc....i've tried it, ended up dump half my beer down the sink, because of yeast in suspension.....

Hi, I am looking to launch a hard seltzer brand - however, instead of making it through the fermentation process,

even if you distill, gotta ferment......

 

[Yeastmeister]

OK, wine yeast it is...

 

[ncbrewer]

According to a BYO article https://byo.com/article/brewing-with-wine-yeast/, "Similar to brewer’s strains, wine yeasts ferment sugar into ethanol and carbon dioxide. However, their long-term diet of simple sugars means that most wine strains didn’t develop as many copies of the genes responsible for transporting and splitting maltose and maltotriose.3 As a result, almost all wine strains struggle to surpass 50% apparent attenuation in a standard wort. One reported exception is Lalvin ICV K1-V1116."

From a Brulosophy test
http://brulosophy.com/2020/03/30/ye...us-05-american-ale-yeast-exbeeriment-results/
, "To my palate, the beer fermented with Safale US-05 was a bit muddled with lacking enthusiasm while the one fermented with baker’s yeast tasted more like a poorly executed Belgian ale– I actually entered it as a Trappist Single in a competition and it scored in the low 30’s."

I wouldn't use bread yeast under normal circumstances, but from these limited sources it looks like a potential way to salvage this batch. I'm absolutely not an expert on this and haven't tried it myself. I'm concerned about the possible mold whichever yeast is used.

 

[Yeastmeister]

This morning, there is pretty good activity as a result of adding the wine yeast. I had read something similar, I believe they mentioned one yeast essentially cannibalized the other. It sounds like maybe I should give adding the bread yeast a shot or maybe I should just order some brewers yeast online. After work, I’ll do some research, but at this point I am thinking that I should wait for the wine yeast to do it’s thing, then add whatever other yeast I plan to add. So basically my options are
Add brewers yeast now
Add brewers yeast later
Order brewers yeast online
Do nothing

Can you elaborate on your mold concern?

 

[ncbrewer]

Can you elaborate on your mold concern?

I'm thinking of two issues - 1) Whether it's safe to drink and 2) Becoming undrinkable as the flavor gets worse.

According to this article is about mold in food: http://fermentationpodcast.com/five-questions-mold-food-safety/ - "
Molds have three methods in which can make people sick and eating mold can have any of these side effects:". But this article
http://www.moonshinedvd.com/how-to-deal-with-mold-growth-when-brewing-beer/
says "
The bottom line is that while moldy beer is probably safe to drink, you should still toss it out to improve the quality of your product."

Maybe someone else knows more about the safety of drinking beer with mold. All I can do is alert you to the issue.

 

[bronto13]

Hi everyone. I work away for up to a month at a time but want to start brewing. Is there any way I can do this without over fermenting my beer and ruining it?

 

[JohnSand]

Add brewers yeast now
Add brewers yeast later
Order brewers yeast online
Do nothing

Now that the wine yeast is in it, I would let it work.

 

[JohnSand]

Hi everyone. I work away for up to a month at a time but want to start brewing. Is there any way I can do this without over fermenting my beer and ruining it?

Hi Bronto, welcome aboard!
Don't worry, a month isn't at all too long. The yeast will ferment until they finish, and the completed product is fairly stable. If you read these forums you will find scattered reports of beer left in buckets for years. In fact, it's better to leave it an extra week than to bottle too soon.