First solo brew. Did I **** it up?

murphyebass · 03-05-2016 7:18pm #1

Today was first solo brew

I have brewed before but it's all been joint brews with a mate.

They all went fine no issues thankfully.

I veered slightly from the norm with a very late hop addition after flame out, during the wort chiller part.

At 20 degrees I removed the late hop addition but incredibly stupidly I took a steel colinder from the sink that id used earlier in brew day for rinsing the grain.

ie I didn't wash it or sanitise it after the use earlier.

On putting the bag of hops into the colinder over the wort and draining the liquid back into the fermenter I realised my mistake.

Does this mean I've definately contaminated the brew or is there a chance it'll be ok?

I finished off the brew anyway as normal.

Is it just the case of waiting a few weeks now?

How will I tell if it's contaminated or not?

Very angry with myself. A momentary lapse of concentration in an otherwise good day out in the garden brewing.

brianbrewed · 03-05-2016 7:48pm

You'll probably be ok.
It's pretty hard, in my experience so far, to feck up a beer.

If the yeast starts bubblin' in the next day or three it'll be grand.

Adding hop during the chill phase sounds a bit unusual to me.

I normally add my last hops at flameout.
I dry hop once primary fermentation is over.

murphyebass · 03-05-2016 7:59pm

brianbrewed wrote: »

You'll probably be ok.
It's pretty hard, in my experience so far, to feck up a beer.

If the yeast starts bubblin' in the next day or three it'll be grand.

Adding hop during the chill phase sounds a bit unusual to me.

I normally add my last hops at flameout.
I dry hop once primary fermentation is over.

So you add them at flameout and then what remove them immediately?

Stupid question but is flameout when my 60 min is done and I unplug my kettle?

That's when I did the chill. I added the hops once I removed the plug and took them out when I was taking out the wort chiller at 20 degrees.

I most likely made a big mistake doing that too but as I say I saw something online saying to do it as it helps to keep the aroma. During the boil you mainly get bitterness.

Other than that I'm really hoping you're right in it being ok. You're saying once I get bubbles it should be ok?

If so please god there'll be bubbles in a day or two

brianbrewed · 03-05-2016 8:17pm

So you added the hops at flameout (or plug-out).
That's when you unplug.
I normally use pellet hops and just throw them in whole.
No hop bag or anything.
I use leaf hops for early hop additions.

Don't fret about it now.
You'll know in a day or two.
If the rest of your equipment was sanitised properly you should be ok

murphyebass · 03-05-2016 8:33pm

brianbrewed wrote: »

So you added the hops at flameout (or plug-out).
That's when you unplug.
I normally use pellet hops and just throw them in whole.
No hop bag or anything.
I use leaf hops for early hop additions.

Don't fret about it now.
You'll know in a day or two.
If the rest of your equipment was sanitised properly you should be ok

Everything else sanitised. Just this one lapse of thinking.

I had the hops in muslin bags which is why I removed them.

They were hop pellets so next time I'll not bother with the bags.

I used:

60g Citra at 60 mins
60g Simcoe at 15 mins

And then tried what I thought was called hop bursting adding really late as I mentioned above at flameout ... hop additions of:

140g Amarillo
200g Columbus

This was all very experimental and kinda just throw it in and see what happens.

brianbrewed · 03-05-2016 8:43pm

Sounds nice.

Now it's time to play the waiting game.
What yeast are you using?

murphyebass · 03-05-2016 8:54pm

brianbrewed wrote: »

Sounds nice.

Now it's time to play the waiting game.
What yeast are you using?

Glad ya like the sound of it. If it does work God knows how it'll turn out. I lobbed in some begin candy sugar as well to up the abv

Yup waiting game indeed.

Mangrove jacks us west coast yeast log m44

brianbrewed · 03-05-2016 9:12pm

Whats the grainbill

murphyebass · 03-05-2016 9:22pm

brianbrewed wrote: »

Whats the grainbill

1.5kg best pale malt crushed 6EBC

Edit ... also used muntons LME 3kg Maris otter extra light.

macnug · 03-05-2016 9:28pm

murphyebass wrote:

At 20 degrees I removed the late hop addition but incredibly stupidly I took a steel colinder from the sink that id used earlier in brew day for rinsing the grain.

I do stuff like this all the time and never have an infection. If your house is generally clean you will get away with a lot.

murphyebass · 03-05-2016 9:31pm

macnug wrote: »

I do stuff like this all the time and never have an infection. If your house is generally clean you will get away with a lot.

glad I'm not the only one.

Hopefully I get away with it

Slevster · 04-05-2016 3:02pm

murphyebass wrote: »

Everything else sanitised. Just this one lapse of thinking.

I had the hops in muslin bags which is why I removed them.

They were hop pellets so next time I'll not bother with the bags.

I used:

60g Citra at 60 mins
60g Simcoe at 15 mins

And then tried what I thought was called hop bursting adding really late as I mentioned above at flameout ... hop additions of:

140g Amarillo
200g Columbus

This was all very experimental and kinda just throw it in and see what happens.

That's a huge amount of hops. How much wort had you in the boil kettle?

Slevster · 04-05-2016 3:04pm

brianbrewed wrote: »

Sounds nice.

Now it's time to play the waiting game.
What yeast are you using?

..the waiting game sucks - Let's play hungry hungry hippo!

murphyebass · 04-05-2016 3:07pm

Slevster wrote: »

That's a huge amount of hops. How much wort had you in the boil kettle?

I know yeah. I was looking for a massive hop flavour & bitterness. Could be a disaster but sure I'll learn from if it is too much.

25 litres to answer your question.

Slevster · 04-05-2016 4:15pm

murphyebass wrote: »

I know yeah. I was looking for a massive hop flavour & bitterness. Could be a disaster but sure I'll learn from if it is too much.

25 litres to answer your question.

Be interested to see how it turns out. With that must hop oils, you've probably killed any nasty bugs;)
No point in worrying. The sooner it bubbles, the better. The bugs don't like alcohol or co2 produced during the fermentation process.

I sometimes sterilise a small jar, and half fill with the wort (taken just before I add the yeast). I cover with tinfoil and leave somewhere warm (hotpress) . I keep an eye on it, to see if and when any particles/clumping forms on the surface of the wort, which is due to bacteria acting on the wort. This will let you know if you picked up bugs pre fermentation. If you get past the first 24hrs, you should be OK. If you get past 48hrs you will be OK and longer than 72 hrs your system is sound (basically , you want it to get past the time needed for the fermentation to kick off in full flight. The bacteria is feeding of the same food the yeast is eating)

murphyebass · 04-05-2016 6:20pm

Slevster wrote: »

Be interested to see how it turns out. With that must hop oils, you've probably killed any nasty bugs;)
No point in worrying. The sooner it bubbles, the better. The bugs don't like alcohol or co2 produced during the fermentation process.

I'll be interested myself. Last couple of IPA's have been good don't get me wrong but I kicked up the hop content massively to see could I make more of an American big hitting IPA as apposed to a nice sessionable mellow IPA if you get me.

It could be awful in fairness, if it survives that is.

The lad I brew with said the same on the volume of hops killing the bacteria alright lol. It's wishful thinking but I like it.

I'll check it in about an hour and let ye know if there's any bubbles yet.

I like your jar idea but tbh I was so pissed off at myself I didn't even take the gravity nevermind a jar to check. I just took the hops out and fired the colinder across the garden!! Was so pissed off at myself.

Will do the jam jar next time though. Good idea.

murphyebass · 04-05-2016 7:56pm

Well the good news is I checked the beer and I have bubbles every 20 seconds or so.

Will have to see how it goes from here but it's something I suppose.

brianbrewed · 04-05-2016 8:18pm

Sounds ok.
Just leave it till its finished.
Try and resist the urge to peak into the fermentor.

murphyebass · 04-05-2016 8:25pm

brianbrewed wrote: »

Sounds ok.
Just leave it till its finished.
Try and resist the urge to peak into the fermentor.

Yeah it's tempting but I'll definately wait. We normally wait 4 weeks but I'll probably bottle this one in 2 or 3 depending on if the bubbles have stopped.

I was going to dry hop but I don't think I will now. Don't want to waste more hops if it is knackered.

BeardySi · 04-05-2016 8:45pm

murphyebass wrote: »

I was going to dry hop but I don't think I will now. Don't want to waste more hops if it is knackered.

Chances are if it's gone bad you'll see it when you open it up to dry hop - if it looks good go ahead and add the hops. That said I'd imagine you'll be fine. It's not like you used a preticularly dirty colander, just one that hadn't been sanitised.

brianbrewed · 04-05-2016 8:47pm

I wouldn't bother dry hopping if I were you.
There's already a hell of a lot of hops in there already.

I'd be very surprised if it was fecked.
People were brewing beer for millenia without problems and crazy cleansing products.

murphyebass · 04-05-2016 9:00pm

Treadhead wrote: »

Chances are if it's gone bad you'll see it when you open it up to dry hop - if it looks good go ahead and add the hops. That said I'd imagine you'll be fine. It's not like you used a preticularly dirty colander, just one that hadn't been sanitised.

The colander was clean before straining/rinsing the grain through/over it with cooled boiled water.

Then I put it in the sink, didn't clean or sanatise. Doh

murphyebass · 04-05-2016 9:02pm

brianbrewed wrote: »

I wouldn't bother dry hopping if I were you.
There's already a hell of a lot of hops in there already.

I'd be very surprised if it was fecked.
People were brewing beer for millenia without problems and crazy cleansing products.

Yeah Im thinkin I won't bother at this point but I could change my mind yet. I have 100g of antanum I was going to use, plus I'm due a visit to motley brew tomorrow so might pick up more.

I do like hops me.

Hopefully you're right on the cleaning. In fairness I was spot on for the rest of the brew.

Slevster · 05-05-2016 12:10am

murphyebass wrote: »

Yeah Im thinkin I won't bother at this point but I could change my mind yet. I have 100g of antanum I was going to use, plus I'm due a visit to motley brew tomorrow so might pick up more.

I do like hops me.

Hopefully you're right on the cleaning. In fairness I was spot on for the rest of the brew.

It will be a very expensive brew with all those hop additions. Don't think I've seen that amount of hops added at a single addition before!

Picked up the jar trick from the basic brewing podcast.

murphyebass · 05-05-2016 6:36am

Slevster wrote: »

It will be a very expensive brew with all those hop additions. Don't think I've seen that amount of hops added at a single addition before!

Picked up the jar trick from the basic brewing podcast.

Yeah it's probably a lot alright but I figure try it once and see what the result is.

I'm sure others in the past have put in more than that though.

Hopefully it hasn't gone bad and I'll have an interesting beer at the end.

Wish I'd taken the og now as well but **** it I'll be able to tell once I've drank a few in and around what the abv is

brianbrewed · 06-05-2016 10:13am

I ran your grain bill through Brewmate and you are looking at around 7.5% ABV if you were brewing 19 litres of beer.
Your IBU's are around 117.
I reckon though the beer will seem even more bitter with those MASSIVE late kettle additons.
Do you use Brewing Software to formulate recipes.
If not I reccommend 'Brewmate' as it is free and easy to use.

I used antanum hops in my last Amrican Pale Ale.
Lovely Hop, a more subtle version of Cascade in my opinion.

RasTa · 06-05-2016 12:39pm

Shouldn't get too many IBU's out of those additions at flameout. Although how did you hop burst? Also I'd definitely use a bag when using pellets with those amount of hops as all that hop gunk would end up in your fermentor.

UnknownSpecies · 06-05-2016 3:39pm

The newest Brulosophy experiment suggests that flameout additions left to stand give similar measured IBUs as 20 minute additions. It was an interesting result and shows that IBU calculations on brewing software are flawed and should only be used as a guide.

http://brulosophy.com/2016/05/02/hop-stand-vs-20-minute-boil-addition-exbeeriment-results/

BeerNut · 06-05-2016 4:03pm

UnknownSpecies wrote: »

IBU calculations on brewing software are flawed and should only be used as a guide.

Not only that but, in my experience, IBUs are unrelated to sensory factors like flavour. High IBUs do not mean the beer will taste bitterer than low IBUs. It's all so sketchy I don't really see the point of IBUs as a measure of anything useful.

UnknownSpecies · 06-05-2016 11:03pm

BeerNut wrote: »

Not only that but, in my experience, IBUs are unrelated to sensory factors like flavour. High IBUs do not mean the beer will taste bitterer than low IBUs. It's all so sketchy I don't really see the point of IBUs as a measure of anything useful.

Totally agree and it gets worse the higher the calculated IBUs go. I've been brewing lately with nothing but late hop additions for all bitterness and they've been much... juicier... That's the best word I can use to describe it.

Slevster · 07-05-2016 1:17am

BeerNut wrote: »

Not only that but, in my experience, IBUs are unrelated to sensory factors like flavour. High IBUs do not mean the beer will taste bitterer than low IBUs. It's all so sketchy I don't really see the point of IBUs as a measure of anything useful.

But its a guide. Ie if you brew something that you like, then thou have a base to work from.
But as previous poster noted , getting your bitterness from late additions , will rely on your experience as most software won't attribute bitterness for them. But the OP's flameout addition is really huge, along with earlier additions. I can't see it being anything but really bitter. Probably. But I could be way off the mark. I would be way too tight to try this. Am very interested to see how it turns out.

First solo brew. Did I **** it up?

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