Here is a perfect example of why not to brew when tired…
I have never made this before.
Ok, so 4 days ago I started the process of brewing up an extract batch of Chinook IPA. Made the starter, let it go for 48 hours and put it in the fridge to crash it. Went to work, came home the next morning after a somewhat busy 24 hour shift in the firehouse and set about getting ready to brew. Normally I come home in the evening and brew after swmbo goes to bed. However this time it was in the morning so I knew I had to be a little neater and more organized than normal. So I filled the pot, put the kit on the counter and lined all the ingredients up, made sure they were all they and then stacked all of it on top of the box, took the directions, did a quick scan and put the sheet back on top of the pile. I put the grains in to steep and set the timer for 20 minutes. Next I put the 6lb container of malt into a hot water bath to warm it so that it would pour easier. Pot comes to a boil in goes the malt, back to a boil and in go the first Ounce of chinook, hot break, lower flame and set timer. Moving right along at 50 minutes in goes the 2nd ounce of hops and then with one minute left in goes the 3rd ounce. Grab the instructions and look to check what the o.g. Should be and out of the corner of my eye I catch the words “dry hop” Huh, wait I have no hops left, damn screwed the pooch. Ok, so this won’t be the best batch I have made, think to myself ok so it’s a bit bitter, but I can go to my local brew shop and get some chinook to dry hop so maybe it won’t be to bad. Place the kettle into the ice bath and chill. Sanitize the big mouth bubbler and then add cooled wort. Now a little shaking, then go to add the starter but pause to take a sample for the hydrometer. Check temp to adjust and look at the sheet for o.g., ok its 1.053. Put the sheet back down and it slides of the box and now I see it, (anyone catch it yet?) What did the direction sheet slide off of if I put it on a flat box top? Well a bag of DME is not flat. What an idiot, I forgot to add the DME. What to do? Well since I screwed up the hops I decided to just run with it and cut open the DME and dumped it in and shook the bubbler like it was a can of paint at Home Depot in the paint shaking thing. Now what’s next, oh yeah sample for the hydrometer, Check the reading, did a double take, reading is close so I give the bubbler another throttling and retake sample and wait for the bubbles to settle and there is the reading right at 1.053. Can you believe it? Nope me neither so I get the refractometer and check it that way to and it’s right on the money. Go figure. So after this long winded screw up and ideas on what the outcome will be? (Yes, in went the yeast) The bubbler is sitting in the dark now and I am sitting waiting too. Any suggestions on the hops mistake or perhaps words of encouragement that all might turn out ok in the end or even someone to empathize and say that they might have done the same once? If it gets dumped it will be the first batch in about 20 batches that ended badly so live and learn and leave the brewing till long after swmbo has gone to bed.
Relax and have a home brew? haha!
Just dumping in the DME will likely not really show as a raise in gravity until it really dissolves. It’s extract, so you know the gravity will raise accordingly, so no worries there. Well, maybe a little worry… you do have a blow-off tube on it, right? I made a mistake on a beer I did just recently, my first real all-grain batch. Not sure where or how I screwed up, but my gravity was way low when it went into the fermenter. After it started fermenting, I made the decision to add some DME to make up for the low gravity. Fortunately it didn’t blow the lid off the bucket, but it had to have come close, I checked on it a few days later and found my airlock filled with krausen and dribbles out past the edge of the bucket lid… oops.
It probably will be a little more bitter than normal, but it’s an IPA anyway. Of course, I don’t know what the hop schedule is supposed to be to begin with so I can’t tell you just how much more bitter it’s going to be.
The schedule Is
1oz at 60
.5 oz at 10
.5 oz at 1
Dry hop with 1oz
I did
1 oz at 60
1 oz at 50
1 oz at 1
No blow off tube, just a 3 piece bubbler
Yeah it’s going to be more bitter than designed. That will fade with time. You could age it for awhile and then add the dry hops a week before bottling.
Or taste it when done and see. Might be alright. If so go ahead as planned.
The hops schedule will be fine. The recipe you posted looks a little light on hops of an IPA anyway. Get a ounce or two and DH
Just noticed the second addition at 50 , 20 would have been better but I still think if will be alright.
I will let it sit for a month or so dry hop with another ounce bottle and see what happens.
I think its 50 mins into the boil, so should be OK.
Yes you are correct, it is 50 into the boil, or 10 left depending on how you time it. I still get confused.
Now I’m confused… The top (recipe) should have mean a 60 min boil addition, an addition with 10 mins remaining, and then the final at 1 min remaining.
Did you boil the second addition for 50 mins or 10 mins? If you added it 50 mins into the boil (10 mins remaining) you did it correctly. And if that’s the case you won’t get too much more bitterness but more flavor/aroma which I think is imperative to a good IPA.
I did follow the hop schedule, it was just that on the 2nd (10 minutes before the end) and the 3rd (1minute before the end) I added a full ounce both times when it calls for a half ounce each time. Sorry for the confusing times/numbers. That was the small mistake. The major mistake was the forgetting to add the DME on the initial boil. The airlock, I am happy to say, is bubbling very nicely. Now just need to decide if and how much to dry hop it.
Then you are definitely fine. Dry hop with 2 ounces of cascade and enjoy.
Cascade hops, not chinook?
Oh yeah no worries then. I think you’ll like it better that way.
