noobie doing first brew

Hey I just wanted to introduce myself, My name is Bill and today I brewed my first batch of ale. Bought an extract kit, an irish red ale and it is currently in my fermentation bucket in the basement.

My biggest concern is that the OG was 1.04 and it should have been closer to 1.048-.056.

There was still a lot, comparatively speaking, of wert in the brew kettle after I transfered it to the fermentation bucket and I was wondering if that could be the reason the OG was low.

Any constructive comments would be appreciated. Thanks,

Regardless of how this turns out...I really enjoyed it!

The og is consistent through the whole 5 gallons. So if it was 1.04 then it's 1.04 be it 1 liter or 5 gallons. You'll just get less beer at the end

gravity of the wort is the concentration of sugars in the water. leaving wort behind didn't affect the numbers (other than the amount of drinkable beer you'll have). did you have to add top-off water to reach final volume after boiling your extract and hopping it? if so, the reason for any discrepancy in the gravity and expectation is because it's real difficult to get them to mix thoroughly. if you didn't have to add that top-off water, then maybe you didn't add as much extract as you meant to? the nice thing about extract brewing is that 1 pound of extract is going to give you a set amount of gravity points per gallon of water at 100% efficiency

So the good news is, you will have beer when all is said and done, so kudos for taking the plunge into brewing; it's a great hobby. I started Partial Mash and moved into All Grain after a couple years, but I still do partial mash recipes since they are easier than All Grain on my stove top, and I an arguably make twice the quantity while consuming the same space and time with PM vs AG.

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you transferred to the fermentation bucket and topped up with water (assuming you didn't do a full volume boil).

If so, the wort left in the kettle is the reason for the low OG; wort is the fermentable lovely magic left behind by the malted barley; it's pretty much the bees knees.

Just out of curiosity, why didn't you pour all of the wort into the fermentation vessel when you transferred?

However; Relax, Don't Worry, Have A Home Brew. (RDWHAHB <-- you're going to see that here a lot) or a micro-brew considering this is your first batch.

Now if you want to bump the gravity (and ABV) by the eight to sixteen points that you are currently missing out on, you can add some additional boiled extract (will provide the extra points and keep the beer true to style) or some boiled sugar-water (will add points, dry the finish out a bit, and lighten the color of the beer) or pretty much anything else that will ferment (honey, brown sugar, agave nectar etc.).

Don't freak out, you will still have beer when fermentation is complete, it will be of a lower ABV than initially intended by the kit, but assuming you have good sanitation practices, it will taste pretty darn good, mostly because you made it instead of going to the corner package store to pick it up.

Welcome to the hobby, it's fun times.

as to why I didn't transfer all of the wort...there was alot of icky stuff in the bottom of the pot and I didn't want to transfer that as well.. Thanks for the info and the good replies. I am pretty excited about this!

If you had more wert than would fit in the ferment bucket, did you boil it long enough? More boiling would concentrate your sugars more resulting in a higher OG.

biohazard-brewing said:

as to why I didn't transfer all of the wort...there was alot of icky stuff in the bottom of the pot and I didn't want to transfer that as well.. Thanks for the info and the good replies. I am pretty excited about this!

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It all goes in the bucket, then later it will cake on the bottom, and you can rack off the beer, leaving the cake. Don't worry about the low OG. Kits can be off a little and it's hard to get every drop of LME out of the can. You have a nice beer coming, enjoy. Don't drink it too young.

mikescooling said:

Don't drink it too young.

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^excellent advice.

get that pipeline going.

mikescooling said:

it's hard to get every drop of LME out of the can. You have a nice beer coming, enjoy. Don't drink it too young.

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Sanitize the can, drop the empty-ish can in for a minute or so, then retrieve it with a pair of tongs.

biohazard-brewing said:

as to why I didn't transfer all of the wort...there was alot of icky stuff in the bottom of the pot and I didn't want to transfer that as well.. Thanks for the info and the good replies. I am pretty excited about this!

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Making beer isn't a pretty process but don't let the looks of the stuff in the bottom of your pot keep you from getting beer. I dump all that stuff into the fermenter and it all settles out to the bottom when the ferment is done. I never leave wort behind.:rockin:

Great advice...Thanks, I will remember that for next time. the instructions were not very clear and so I was shooting from the hip on some of this stuff..

Do you ever use a strainer when dumping from the brewing pot into the fermentation bucket?

biohazard-brewing said:

Do you ever use a strainer when dumping from the brewing pot into the fermentation bucket?

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I never have. All that ugly stuff goes into the fermenter bucket and settles to the bottom of it. That way I make sure I get all the beer I paid for when I bought the ingredients. You have already boiled all the goodies out of the hops and what's left don't change the flavor so why bother filtering them out.

Welcome aboard. My first batch was 6 weeks ago. All extract, simple as making soup. My advice is trust your smell and taste over your eyes until you know what things should be like. Smells good, taste good, is good. Oh, and patience, 6 weeks from fermenter to drinking on most beers.

Was that a Midwest kit? Midwest makes an excellent Irish red ale

What was the temp of your sample in the hydrometer?

biohazard-brewing said:

Do you ever use a strainer when dumping from the brewing pot into the fermentation bucket?

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Yes. I always use a kitchen strainer when dumping my chilled wort into my fermenter bucket. Gets some of the trub and hot/cold break material out. Doesn't get it all, but most of it. Although folks are correct- it's no biggie, it all settles out anyway.

So today at about 11 am cst, will be 3 days and still no bubbles in the airlock. I pitched the yeast at 74 degrees. It was a Brewers Best kit.
I opened it yesterday and took a look. No bad smells and it looks as I thought it should. What should I do now?

biohazard-brewing said:

So today at about 11 am cst, will be 3 days and still no bubbles in the airlock. I pitched the yeast at 74 degrees. It was a Brewers Best kit.
I opened it yesterday and took a look. No bad smells and it looks as I thought it should. What should I do now?

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Since you mentioned opening to take a look, I assume you are using a bucket fermenter. The lids on these may leak a little around the edge so you don't see bubbles in the airlock. The signs you are looking for when you open the lid is a ring of bubbly gunk around the bucket just above the level of the beer that is perhaps half an inch to 1 1/2 inches wide (krausen ring) and the smell of fermenting beer. Put your face down close to the opening and take a careful sniff. If you have a burning sensation in your nose it means that there is a nice layer of CO2 that has been given off by the fermentation. If neither of these signs are present, take a sample with your hydrometer and compare with the original gravity. No change means you had dead yeast and should pitch again.

ok. I opened it up again and saw the ring on the bucket and got a real strong burning smell. So at this point I assume that everything is proceeding as it should and I should just let it continue. How do I know when it is done fermenting? Or should I just stick with the original bottling schedule? Thanks for the reply RM.

It won't hurt your beer to go longer than scheduled. It's really hard to get the yeast to work to a schedule anyway, you gotta use a really small whip. You bottle when the gravity quits changing which you measure with your hydrometer. If you have the patience, leave the beer longer as the yeast will consume many of the off flavors and intermediate products of fermentation and then will flocculate out. By waiting you get better tasting beer and less sediment in the bottom of the bottles.

In addition to leaving some of the wort behind there are a couple other things that will affect your gravity reading. First, make sure you're top off water is well mixed into the wort. Second, the temperature you take your gravity reading at will change the reading. Glass hydrometers are built to read at 60F. If you are reading at a different temp, adjustments need to be made.

Like everyone else said, you'll still have beer and it will probably still be pretty tasty. If you're feeling daring and creative, boil up some other fermentables and dump them in. Now you have a semi-custom brew :rockin:

RM,
Thanks for the help and the advice! Cheers

did you do a full or partial boil (i.e. boil 5 gallons of water, or just 2 and then thin out with 3 gallons later.) My first two brews were kits and i did partial boils. The bitterness and hoppiness was totally off since the hop utilization depends on boil volume, and it takes many more hops in a small boil than a full boil.

Just an FYI.

Welcome, I'm pretty new too, only 50 gallons under my belt.

It was a partial brew. about 3 gallons and then thinned out with 2 gals. Not sure why it would take more hops. wouldn't they just be more concentrated in the 3 gal mix?

Hops are better utilized in as close to a full brew as possible. Also, you should try using a third of your extract for the full boil and add the last 2/3 at the last 15 minutes or so. Hops like a low gravity boil.

Thanks Shred,
I put in the hops according to the instructions, 1 packet at beginning of boil, 2 packet at 45 mins, turn off boil at 60 mins.

The instructions that came with the kit were pretty specific about a 2.5 gal boil and adding water to 5 gals at the end before the pitch.

I am not trying to be a smart ass, but are there better directions to follow online somewhere?

biohazard-brewing said:

There was still a lot, comparatively speaking, of wert in the brew kettle after I transfered it to the fermentation bucket and I was wondering if that could be the reason the OG was low.

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Actually it could be. It's all math and proportions. So much extract at such a volumw is such a gravity. Always. If you left wort behind *and* then topped up to full amount then you decreased the extract and increased the volume => lower gravity.

But if before you left the wort behind your volume was correct than less extract and less volume in same proportions => same gravity.

Did you top off, and what did you top of to and how much did you leave behind?

More likely it's a misread (happens *all* the time.).

You boiled and added the hops and the sugar; Bill you did a dam fine job. It's his first brew. Lets not scare him away with beer geeknes. Bill I have no idea what all their talking about. Here is what I brew on

biohazard-brewing said:

Thanks Shred,
I put in the hops according to the instructions, 1 packet at beginning of boil, 2 packet at 45 mins, turn off boil at 60 mins.

The instructions that came with the kit were pretty specific about a 2.5 gal boil and adding water to 5 gals at the end before the pitch.

I am not trying to be a smart ass, but are there better directions to follow online somewhere?

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The instructions with most kits I've seen aren't great. I think they're compensating for brewers who may not have a large enough brew kettle to handle more than 2.5 gallons or may be lacking other equipment.

A few things happen when you use later extract additions:
1 ) Better hops utilization
2) Lighter color (extracts, especially liquid, will begin to caramelize in a long boil)
3 ) Cleaner tasting beer (again, from the caramelization)

As a rule, I generally do 1/3 of my extract added right after I remove any steeped grains. If you dump it in while the wort is off the heat and allow it to slowly come back to a boil you won't have to deal with as much foam-up (if any). I add the other 2/3 in the last 10-20 minutes. There is no need to boil it longer, or really at all as long as it dissolves completely. It's an extract so all the enzymatic magic has already happened.

These forums are a great place to get instructions on just about anything you can think of. Just browse around and post questions. 90% of the techniques I've picked up have come from here.

Oh, and with your hops - the reason for those timings is in 60 minutes you will boil off all flavor from the hops and leave behind bitterness. These early addition hops are your bittering hops used to balance out the sweet malt flavor. The 2 you added in the last 15 minutes were your flavor hops. They contribute some bitterness, but retain most of their flavor. The hops you added at flame-out are aroma hops. They will contribute little to no bitterness but give that nice "bouquet" to your beer. The same is true for dry hopping (hops added to your fermenting vessel).