Super Noob! Have questions

Northern Brewer General
1

Ok I am a super Noob at brewing beer. I have brewed my first batch and I think I made some mistakes of course and I would like to go back through the process and see if anyone can help me.

I used a 90 minute IPA extract kit. I followed instructions and made the tea in the sock and brought it to a boil took it off the burner and added the malt.

This is point 1 I may have made a mistake. I only had a 6 quart wort pot so the wort was only about a gallon and a half before I added the water. I will have a 5 gallon wort pot from now on so that problem will be solved. Could this mess up my beer?

Second issue I had is that I did not know that I needed to keep the mash/wort at a certain temp while I added the hops in the 90 minute coutdown. I think I had it boiling at 200 or so. Now I know to boil it much lower. Could this have messed up my beer?

Third issue is that I used tap water for the 3.5 gallons needed to get me to 5 gallons. Could this be an issue?

I transferred the beer after 10 days at 68 degrees to a carboy and added the 2 oz of hops it required to dry hop. I put the hops in first and aded the beer through the siphon. The hops rose to the top of the beer and are sitting at the top in a line of hop mush. Will this settle to the bottom?

If I pulled some settlerment into the carboy should I do a third fermentation to get rid of more of the sediment?

Last question-I opened the first container I was using for the main fermentation and it had a hoppy looking ring around the top of the beer that was about 4 inches thick so I think the beer did its bsuiness and I got the foam when the yeast was fermenting. I stuck my head near the container to smell the beer and it smelled like an IPA but when I got real close it burned my nose a little when I smelled it. Not sure if this is normal.

Thanks for any information.

I love hop beers and im pumped on my new hobby.

Super Noob!

2

if it makes you feel better, you made far fewer mistakes than I did on my first batch. and funny thing I ended up with beer

all should be OK, I believe you have made beer

:cheers:

3

2nd what the above post said, its funny brewing is a complex science and an easy art

4

[quote=“cmac4408”] I followed instructions and made the tea in the sock and brought it to a boil took it off the burner and added the malt.

You should not have boiled this grain. Should have steeped it at temps up to 170*

Second issue I had is that I did not know that I needed to keep the mash/wort at a certain temp while I added the hops in the 90 minute coutdown. I think I had it boiling at 200 or so. Now I know to boil it much lower.

Water and Beer boil at 212 degrees. not less, so you cannot boil at less than 200 degrees. Once it starts boiling and you add the hops for the 90 minutes, you want to try to maintain a low, rolling boil

Third issue is that I used tap water for the 3.5 gallons needed to get me to 5 gallons. Could this be an issue?

Probably not, but try to add boiled or spring water next time

Super Noob![/quote]

5

Welcome to the forum and the hobby!

Smaller kettle won’t mess up the beer, but a bigger kettle that allows for a more-dilute wort boil will make better beer.

Not sure what you’re asking about mash/wort temp - you weren’t mashing any grain, just using extract right? If so, then you can ignore any mention of mash temp. If you’re talking about making the hop tea prior to adding the extract, this is not a typical step in making beer - you usually boil all the hops in the wort instead of steeping in water.

Adding tap water to the fermenter can be a bad thing if the water is treated with chlorine or chloramine and you do not filter or treat it to remove these chemicals. If you are in doubt, use bottled spring or distilled water from the store (the cheap filtering machines are fine, no need to spend $1 a gallon every time, just re-fill the containers).

The floating hops will sink with time. If not, you can rack from under them. A small section of nylon panty attached to the outlet of the autosiphon will catch any stray particles, but you have to be careful to not get too many in the inlet side or it will clog. If you can get the fermenter cold in a fridge for a couple of days, it will help drop the hops out.

The burning “smell” in the fermenter is from CO2, nothing to worry about.

6

Funny, I live at 6200 ft elevation, and my water and beer boils at 201 degrees. I cannot get a boil above 203 degrees.

7

Well yea, then there is that

8

But, I do know most people live at much lower elevations, and I agree with you on your point about boiling.

9

+1 to all of Shadetree’s stuff.

10

[quote=“cmac4408”]Ok I am a super Noob at brewing beer. I have brewed my first batch and I think I made some mistakes of course and I would like to go back through the process and see if anyone can help me.

I used a 90 minute IPA extract kit. I followed instructions and made the tea in the sock and brought it to a boil took it off the burner and added the malt.

Steeping (called mashing when a base grain is involved) the grains is a normal process for extract beers with specialty grains. Keep the temp around 150* when the grain is in the water.

This is point 1 I may have made a mistake. I only had a 6 quart wort pot so the wort was only about a gallon and a half before I added the water. I will have a 5 gallon wort pot from now on so that problem will be solved. Could this mess up my beer?

The more concentrated the wort is during the boil the greater chance of caramelizing the sugars and darkening the beer. Could contribute to a burnt taste. You can boil with only a portion of the LME/DME to keep the concentration down when you are not able to boil 6 gallons of liquid. Then add the remainder of the LME/DME at the end period. Just before cooling the wort.

Second issue I had is that I did not know that I needed to keep the mash/wort at a certain temp while I added the hops in the 90 minute coutdown. I think I had it boiling at 200 or so. Now I know to boil it much lower. Could this have messed up my beer?

Boiling is boiling. Grain needs to be kept ~150*. Hops need to be boiled. What ever temp you reach a boil at is where you need to be. The boil doesn’t need to be at a “jump out of the pot” boil. Just a good rolling boil.

Third issue is that I used tap water for the 3.5 gallons needed to get me to 5 gallons. Could this be an issue?

Many people use tap water to “top up” the fermenter. There always is a chance the tap water could have a bug in it. But it’s slim.

I transferred the beer after 10 days at 68 degrees to a carboy and added the 2 oz of hops it required to dry hop. I put the hops in first and aded the beer through the siphon. The hops rose to the top of the beer and are sitting at the top in a line of hop mush. Will this settle to the bottom?

They should settle. If they don’t, give the carboy a gentle swirl. Avoid splashing. Introducing oxygen after fermentation is going can cause the beer to go stale.

If I pulled some settlerment into the carboy should I do a third fermentation to get rid of more of the sediment?

[color=#0040FF]No, just let the beer sit. Everything will settle out. Just be carefull when transferring to the bottling bucket. If some transfers over, it will not hut the beer in the bottle.

<mini rant: fermentation should be done before transferring to a 2nd vessel. There should be no fermentation going on unless new sugars are added (fruit). Let’s call it bulk storage/aging :slight_smile: >[/color]

Last question-I opened the first container I was using for the main fermentation and it had a hoppy looking ring around the top of the beer that was about 4 inches thick so I think the beer did its bsuiness and I got the foam when the yeast was fermenting. I stuck my head near the container to smell the beer and it smelled like an IPA but when I got real close it burned my nose a little when I smelled it. Not sure if this is normal.

Normal.

Thanks for any information.

I love hop beers and im pumped on my new hobby.

Super Noob![/quote]

[color=#0040FF]Congratulation! You made beer.

When you go to bottle, fill one plastic soda bottle with you beer. Squeeze the O2 out and screw the cap on. The bottle will expand as CO2 is formed. No wondering what is happening in the glass bottles.

After the plastic bottle becomes rigid, let them sit for at least 1 more week. Then put a bottle in the fridge for 2 days. Drink and marvel at your work. [/color]

11

[quote=“Nighthawk”]Congratulation! You made beer. [/quote]Actually, he made wort - yeast make beer. :wink:

12

Actually he reconstituted the wort. Someone else made the wort.

He added yeast to a liquid malt solution which resulted in an alcohol solution.

But who’s getting picky about semantics. :roll: