What else can go wrong?

[jambafish]

I've read about it. I've talked about it. I've worried over sanitation. But nothing seems to be going right.

My yeast arrived while I was on vacation and my new housemate forgot to put it into the refrigerator. I ordered a flask in order to make a starter to ensure that it would be alive. I also ordered antiseptic, but it turned out to be cleaner. A friend said I could boil and use isopropyl alcohol, so I did that. I boiled everything, then put the 650 ml into the flask on the gas stove. When it boiled I added the malt. It boiled over a little bit, but it wasn’t too bad. But when I added the yeast nutrient it really boiled over and I lost about 50 ml of water. Figuring that it had another 10 minutes to boil, I added a little more water.

The next tragedy was in the cooling phase. My thermometer stopped working. In the sink the cooling flask was quite buoyant and actually pitched to one side. I caught it as it was going down into the icy water and I’m sure some of it got into the flask.

After a month of thinking about this process, here I am testing the temperature with my icy hands. Figuring I had to go all the way, I pitched the yeast, covered the flask and began praying.

So I ask you, what is the likelihood that this will possibly turn out?

 

[BelligerentAlbino]

As you keep brewing I am sure you'll add dozens of things to the "what else can go wrong list". Relax and fight all temptation to dump. I submerged my entire hand up to my elbow in my bottling bucket to retrieve a piece of chocolate that fell out of my mouth (wow that sounds a lot grosser than I thought) and it still made a pretty kick ass stout. Yeasts are hardier than we give them credit for.

One of the best things you can do is search around these forums for mistake and should I dump threads. They talked me off many a ledges.

 

[wyzazz]

Depends on how hot that water was, anything much over 100F and you likely cooked them little buggers to death. On the other side of things, if you get see activity in the starter then all is well. RDWHAHB & buy a sachet of US-05 or S-04 for when things go wrong.

 

[rtichota]

I cracked my carboy in half on my first batch, can't get much worse than that! Wait it out, pour some of the starter into a glass and give it a taste. If it's tastes funky get your US-05 out, if not all is well and get your brew on!

 

[rtichota]

You're tasting it after it is done fermenting of course

 

[Frodo]

You're tasting it after it is done fermenting of course

The spent liquid of my starters always taste the same... like unhopped oxidized nastiness. That's what they are though, unhopped and oxidized; yours taste good to you (or "not funky")?

 

[rtichota]

Truth be told, I've never tasted a bad (funky) starter. I always assumed it tastes somewhat like contaminated beer.

 

[jambafish]

Thanks for the encouragement. I'll taste it today.

Last night I put it into the closet (the warmest spot at 60 degrees) and I'm about to check it for activity. My only concern with the cooling temperature is that it was too cold. It felt warmer than the snow water in the sink, and it wasn't 100 since it was cooler on my arm. Intuition told me it was in the 60-70 range, which would be great. But sometimes intuition is just code for hopefulness.

When making my starter a funny thing occurred to me which is "how do I get the malt extract into the flask?" The funnel was too small and I couldn't just pour it in since it had to be measured. I won't share that adventure, but I will say that the moment the malt hit the hot flask it stuck to the sides and I had to swirl to get it to release. I've not done the research just yet, but I imagine I'll find that when brewing in the flask I should have added the malt extract at the beginning.

I saw somewhere that nutrients cause flash overflow but for some reason I thought I had a handle on the situation. Boy, was I wrong about that. Flash it did. It went from a calm boil to an explosion of foam.

Next time I'll . . .

 

[jambafish]

Okay, so I looked at my yeast starter. It has the white band at the bottom. It feels a little cold so I moved a space heater into the room near the closet and turned it to 65.

One question I'm about to research is whether or not I should aerate by swirling or leave it alone?

 

[Torg]

That white band is healthy yeast. You can look at the Yeast Washing Illustrated thread but it does not really show the band well. I have seen it very blatantly white against a beige trub.

As for boiling it over and adding water to replace volume, you are simply loosing OG points. Really less then a few pints its acceptable.

As for sanitation (and there are people here that will crucify me over this), you can get away (sometimes) with nothing more then cleaning. You are going to infect that beer with a massive yeast infection. Those yeasts will naturally fight off other things (even other yeasts). That is not to say that you should not also sanitize, but really if you can not it is not the end of the world.

If you fail to cool it, called a cold break, it will cause what is known as Chill Haze. It does not effect taste, just clarity.

Also if you pitch it too hot (say about 100F), it will encourage the yeast to ferment faster and create more esters. I used a thermometer that was broken (no not on purpose) and pitched a lager while the wort was maybe 120F. All it did was make a lager that tasted like someone dumped a bottle of imitation banana in it. When I left that for two weeks most of it went away.

Basically as long as it is not infected, and infections are very obvious, it is fine. If it too cloudy chill it to just above freezing for a week. If it tastes fruity or off (and you do not want it), leave it at 68F or hotter for a week.

 

[jambafish]

.

 

[jambafish]

Great advice!

 

[BaldManBrew]

US-05, I use it every time. Easy Easy Easy, and I can rely on it to work. As you know, you'll need a new thermometer. I'm a huge fan of keeping things simple and easy. I use PBW for cleaner, and Star San for sanitizer. Both ultra simple products. Your next batch will go much smoother. The first one is a little nerve racking because you want to get everything right. As Oscar Wilde said "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes."

 

[jambafish]

It doesn't taste like anything I can identify, and I'm not seeing any activity. I think the bubbles are from my having agitated it earlier. Can anyone please help to identify? I'm planning on pitching this tomorrow night. Thanks.

 

[wyzazz]

Doesn't look like it took off at all, does it still taste sweet? If it's still sweet by the time you want to pitch than you will want to pitch your dry backup sachet of yeast, you do have a dry sachet of yeast in the fridge for a backup right?

 

[jambafish]

sadly, no. no backup. I've not tasted it in a while. I'll try it tomorrow night. I know, it doesn't look very promising, but given the circumstances I'm not surprised.

 

[Frodo]

I disagree, that looks like every starter I've ever made after it's done but before it's been refrigerated to really clear it, with a layer of yeast on the bottom. I'm betting it's fine.

 

[jambafish]

I moved it to the refrigerator. I'll taste it tomorrow before pitching.

 

[wyzazz]

I disagree, that looks like every starter I've ever made after it's done but before it's been refrigerated to really clear it, with a layer of yeast on the bottom. I'm betting it's fine.

The only way to know for sure is to take a gravity reading or to to taste it. My starters always show some type of activity, whether that be a plethora of bubbles or remnants of a small krauesen ring. I almost always give them a little taste if I have any doubts.

 

[jambafish]

I haven't taken the gravity, but I came home at lunch to give it a taste. Tastes like pizza starter. Very bready, yeasty, and almost a little salty or at least very dry.

So that's good news, right?

 

[wyzazz]

Yep, that's good news.

 

[Hang Glider]

Sweet, like a fingerful of malt would be bad. That starter looks just fine!

When you're ready, set in fridge. Pour off most of the "water" and then swirl the yeast and the last of the liquid together and pitch into your 65F wort. (you DID get another thermometer, didn't you?)

 

[jambafish]

As a follow up to the good and the bad I have this. We brewed and it went quite well. The wort chilled a little too quickly. We went from 150 to 56 in almost no time because we set the 15 gallon pot into a pile of snow and ran icy water through the chiller. But no problem. We let it warm back up in the room for just a few. It only went to 67 but we figured that since the yeast was still warming up from the frige and still not totally room temperature that it would be fine.

We poured it all together, took the gravity, closed it all up....and then realized we had disinfected everything except the carboy.

Ay ay ay.

What to do? Horrible mistake, but then the carboy was new and had been sitting in an ice cold room for weeks. We figured we'll keep it and see what happens.

Feeling a little sick about the mistakes with this process, I moved it to the closet and closed the door.

Today I was awakened by the strangest deep bubbling sound. Yes, it lives and it's going really, really strong. It has perfect timing, the bubbling, and it's been consistent since early this morning. It looks great, too.

Might have wild yeast, or it might be just fine. I'll report back.

 

[Hang Glider]

Just LOOK at how many things you learned in one short brew! Awesome!

welcome to your newest obsession.

 

[jambafish]

@Hang Glider

Yes! I've learned so much it's a little shocking. I've realized so many things about brewing, and I'm ready to brew the next batch! I'm right now drinking a Mendocino IPA and thinking I can do that!

The heartbeat (as my wife calls the percolating) started slowing down tonight, but it's still going. I'm so curious to taste this batch.

Few weeks now.

 

[jambafish]

I do have a question. I'm supposed to move to a secondary in 2 weeks. Could do that, but I hear it's not necessary.

Also, I'm supposed to bottle on the 1st, but I'll be out of town the 27th-5th. Should I do it before I leave or after I return?