re: Homebrewing: In-Process Thread

Ordered 8 ounces of El Dorado hops for my next single hop pale ale. (Not all will be used in it)
Checked untappd to see if there was already a beer named Lost City of Gold. Sure enough, Stone just released an El Dorado IPA named Lost City of Liquid Gold


Upon further review, it's a single batch being served at the brewery.

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My first problem came with the boil over.

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Pretty common until you get some experience....or a bigger kettle. Some people turn off the flame to add the malt extract and hops. You can also try Ferm Caps LINK. I have varying degrees of success with fermcaps and find I do have to add more than the recommended amount.

As for transferring wort, get an autosiphon LINKand the tubing to fit it. You will use the sutosiphon to transfer the beer from your carboy to your bottling bucket too.

The frothy head was just from the liquid being oxygenated which is a good thing when preparing to pitch your yeast....you did pitch your yeast right? You won't have a krausen form until the yeast starts working....usually by the next day. As long as you were sanitary (sanitized your bucket, carboy and anything that touched the wort including your hands, you'll be ok.).

Thanks guys. I will buy the autosiphon and ferm caps right now. I'm pretty sure I did not contaminate anything. I did pitch the dry yeast before sealing.

Honestly I wanted to ferment in the carboy mainly so I can watch. I wanted to get the amount right so I poured the wort in the bucket (because it has the scale on the outside) so I can add enough water to get 5 gallons and I figured if I poured it in the carboy I could watch it ferment and have the 5 gallons I needed.

Another quick question. How do I know the temperature while it's fermenting? Should I take off the top for a minute? I have it in the spare room in the closet which is the coldest room in the house. We keep it around 70 degrees during the day and 67 at night.

ETA: I just realized I'm an idiot and I have an auto siphon

Can you home brew lite beer?

I keep going in my closet hoping to see some bubbles, but I don't see any. Does it take a day or two to start?

Yes I have the airlock on. The bucket is sealed. I feel like this batch is doomed.

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My first problem came with the boil over. I used a 5 gallon pot and started with 3 gallons in the pot for the wort. It boiled over when I added my first batch of hops.

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As long as you caught it before it got out of hand, it's not a big deal. I've had minor boil overs a few times and it really didn't do anything. I did have 1 boil over that put out the flame on my burner. That was a pain in the arse, but i got it cleaned up and going again. Keep in mind, this was all in my extract days.

Also, a trick i do, if i see a bunch of foam rising i lower my heat and keep a spray bottle of water handy. The water keeps the rising foam at bay. This usually only happens in the beginning of my boil, as i wait for the hot break.

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I figured I would pour the cooled wort into the bucket then add the rest of the water to make 5 gallons. Then pour that into the carboy through a filtered funnel. I thought this would help with aeration. When I added the rest of the water I noticed it was real frothy. Too much. Maybe too much krausen?

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Not sure how frothy it was, but i don't believe this is a problem. It's just your wort getting oxygen via mixing water. My carboys are always a little "frothy" when i add my wort, but that's mostly due to a little starsan being left in the carboy. This shouldn't be a problem, unless you are having troubles filling your carboy because you have too much foam. This isn't krausen, by the way. This is just aerated wort/water and possibly sanitizer foam.

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My biggest problem was pouring that into the carboy. It was impossible. It just dripped in at an incredibly slow rate. So I scrapped that and kept the liquid in the bucket, slapped on the top and airlock, and placed it in the closet. I feel like I missed something or screwed something up.

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The problem you are having here, is your hops are clogging up your strainer on your funnel. I've did my best to try to find ways to mitigate this. My tips, is that i use a large funnel with a strainer, plus a stainless steel mesh strainer. The metal strainer catches the bigger hops residue particles, while the smaller strainer gets everything else. However, this is not without fault. It will still get clogged up by the hops. So invest in some big tongs. I just take the tongs and move it back and forth to keep the hops from settling. Then, if i'm still clogging up, i stop pouring, and use the tongs to simply scoop up the hops residue and toss in the trash. I do this until i have my desired amount of wort.

Another tip, to help reduce the amount of hops residue is to whirlpool your hops in the end. Once your wort is cooled down to a decent temp, take your wort paddle or spoon and create a whirlpool in your kettle. Let this swirl for about 5 minutes. this collects the majority of your hops in the center of your kettle. Now keep in mind, this works for kettle's with valves. If you are pouring from your bottling bucket to carboy, you could possibly do the same thing. But that spigot on the bottling bucket is very small, so i can see that clogging up very easily.

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I botched my first batch and need advice.

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No you didn't. It will turn out fine. If not, you at least have things to remember not to do for next time. Coming from a serial brew worrier, these aren't major problems. Ask any on the board here, when i was first starting, or even now, when i'm trying new processes, i worry a lot, and ask plenty of questions. But for the most part, it never really is anything to worry about.

I've brewed 16 batches, and only really messed up 2. And those only were messed up in the bottling phase when i severely over carbonated my bottles (my 2nd and 3rd brews). It really takes a lot to mess up a brew during the actual brew phase. Just keep your equipment clean sand sanitized and Relax, don't worry, and have a homebrew!

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I feel like this batch is doomed.

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You're going to need to try a lot harder than you did to really doom a batch.