I followed the directions to the letter, but never really got any sludge in my pot, and my siphon kept clogging up with hops while transferring to primary, even though I was holding the end just below the surface… When I got to the part where there seemed to be a layer of lighter stuff in the bottom, I stopped siphoning. This left me about 1 1/2-2 gallons in the pot. Is this normal? Now I have about three fingers of sediment in my primary, looks like the stuff in the pot. Added the 2 gallons of water to my primary, like the directions say, and I end up with an OG of 1.023, which corrects out to 1.025!!!
I’m not even sure I should pitch this now, and I have a starter of 1056 ready to go.
You got overzealous about avoiding trub. You would have had much better results just pouring it all into the carboy. Next time put your hops in a muslin bag, take it out and pour the rest into the carboy. You had low gravity because all that wort you left behind was a lot of what would have contributed to a correct gravity.
After searching a bit, i found some more info on this problem. I really shook the carboy good, and re-took the gravity. It is now at a corrected 1.030. I have read I can mix up some DME and toss that in, then pitch, but I shouldn’t expect it to taste right. It may taste good, just not like a Pale. I tasted the wort in my gravity cylinder, and it is way bitter with hops, and a hint of malt background. So I think I will add some DME and my yeast, and see what I get. Wish I had the money for a kegging system, I am going to hate bottling this only to have it taste bad.
Some people may say otherwise, but i would just leave it alone, Once it’s in the carboy, i don’t mess with it. I would just correct your process for you next batch.
[quote=“Gonzo”]So should I even bother with it? What can I do?
EDIT
After searching a bit, i found some more info on this problem. I really shook the carboy good, and re-took the gravity. It is now at a corrected 1.030. I have read I can mix up some DME and toss that in, then pitch, but I shouldn’t expect it to taste right. It may taste good, just not like a Pale. I tasted the wort in my gravity cylinder, and it is way bitter with hops, and a hint of malt background. So I think I will add some DME and my yeast, and see what I get. Wish I had the money for a kegging system, I am going to hate bottling this only to have it taste bad.[/quote]
You took the time to brew it, might as well see what it does. If you treat it right you will more than likely end up with a beer in the 2.3-2.5% ABV range (just and educated guess). It would make a good “Sunday afternoon sipper”.
From my limited experience, the unfermented wort will taste quite different than the finished product. I have been told it takes some time & experience to be able to taste unfermented wort and project what the finished beer will taste like.
I am not sure how comfortable I would feel about adding unboiled extract to a batch of beer. Most people live and learn. It may not be that bad. Trying to fix it can easily make it worse
I don’t worry too much about trub in the fermenter, but you might be better off pouring through a strainer to get rid of trub rather than siphoning. An added benefit would be the aeration you’d get from pouring thrugh a strainer. As to OG, obviously leaving wort behind in the kettle, thaadding top up water will reduce your OG. I would have just gone short on volume and maintain your OG. As you’ve diacovered, it’s very difficult to get top up water mixed well enough to get an qccurate OG reading. Assuming you use all the extract and your volume is correct, you will get the OG the kit is designed for.
If you are fermenting in a bucket go to your closest big box hardware store and get a paint straining bag. Sanitize it, put it in your bucket and pump in your wort. Lift the bag out and you’ve captured the trub.
Using a car boy, get a large funnel that fits the carboy, put the paint straing bag over the top of the funnel, pour in your wort, it will clog the neck of the funnel, but all you have to do is carefully lift the bag and let it drain. From experience I had bought the funnel with the screen and that clogged right off. The paint straining bag works really well, fits a 5gallon bucket, and is very easy to clean.
My problem now is blowoff! I came home to find a distinct odor of baking bread in the house, and my Wife does not bake! Sure enough, the airlock was across the room. I put my secondary lock on there, as a temporary stop-gap, and it blew off too. I thought it would last until I could get some 1" tubing, but no. Now I don’t have a way of getting any tubing tonight, so I just have a piece of star-san’d foil on there, and the carboy in a bucket. Hope it keeps airborne bacs out of there until I can get to the store tomorrow.
chillax dude, i have done way worse and ended up with good beer, just get an air lock on there as as possible, and call it a day, worse come to worse you learned some lessons, i think you will be just fine though :cheers:
My problem now is blowoff! I came home to find a distinct odor of baking bread in the house, and my Wife does not bake! Sure enough, the airlock was across the room. I put my secondary lock on there, as a temporary stop-gap, and it blew off too. I thought it would last until I could get some 1" tubing, but no. Now I don’t have a way of getting any tubing tonight, so I just have a piece of star-san’d foil on there, and the carboy in a bucket. Hope it keeps airborne bacs out of there until I can get to the store tomorrow.[/quote]
What was your temp? I have found that blow offs (for me) occur if fermentation temmps get too high. Low sixties is what I aim for.
[quote=“mppatriots”]
What was your temp? I have found that blow offs (for me) occur if fermentation temmps get too high. Low sixties is what I aim for.[/quote]
Another lesson learned, don’t put the box the carboy came in over the carboy to protect from light. It will hold in the heat of fermentation. It was at 72, so I moved it in to my basement, where the air temp is between 63-65 degrees. I put the box over it, concerned about light, and just TOTALLY spaced on the fact that cardboard is insulation. So I don’t know what it reached at it’s max. After sitting all night, in the open air in the basement, the Kreuzen dropped by half, so I put an airlock on it and brought it upstairs. I did something else stupid, in that I put it in a 5 gallon bucket to catch the overflow, and now I can’t remove the bucket to read the fermometer! I think it is glued in there by dried kreuzen. I poured some easy-clean solution in the gap between bucket and carboy, and it is loosening up, so I will be able to remove it soon to read the temp. As I still have some vigorous ferm going on, I know it did not get too cold.
I do have another question though, what about yeast loss from the blowoff? I noticed that when it started to blow the second airlock off, that (3-piece) airlock was full of cream with a small yeast cake at the bottom. As I said, ferm is still circulating the wort, the airlock is still bubbling, so it was obviously not a detrimental loss. I guess with all the reproduction going on, it is not an issue, but it made me curious.
Don’t worry about the lost yeast, you will be fine.
Next time start the fermentation in the cooler basement. My basement is around 59* which means my intense fermentation is about 64, which I consider perfect
I brewed it Wed. night, and here it is Sun. morning, and my Kreuzen is gone, and the airlock silent. Wort temp is 68, and there seems to be a marked drop in activity visually in the wort. I have no intention of racking to secondary yet. Should I take an SG reading now? Would that reading give any clue as to if it is stuck, or proceeding normally?
+1. The best thing you could do is pitch your yeast, confirm fermentation started and leave for a 3 week vacation. You beer quality will thank you for it.
