So after wanting to get into homebrewing for quite a while I finally brewed my first batch today using the Midwest brewing supply Groupon starter kit. I got the irish stout recipe kit and I followed the instructions very closely. The only difference is I added some baker's chocolate to the wort with 10 minutes left in the boil. It smelled amazing.
Since I don't have a proper wort chiller yet, I had to do an ice bath in my sink. In about 10-12 minutes I brought the wort down to about 100 degrees. The couple extra gallons of drinking water I added were enough to bring it down to yeast pitching temp.
I feel like I did a fairly good job for my first time brewing. I was very thorough with sanitizing my equipment (used star-san). There is only one thing that I'm a little paranoid about. When I was chilling my wort in the sink I used my hand to move some ice around the outside of the kettle. As I took my hand out of the ice water, I saw a single drop of water fall from my hand into the wort. My heart sank. I decided I probably don't have to worry, so I continued. However I still can't help but think, "What if that drop of water is all I needed to infect my beer?"
So what do you guys think? Am I in trouble? Or am I worrying over nothing?
On a happier note, I just checked my fermenter and my airlock is already bubbling at about 1 every 3 seconds. The thermometer was at 75 about 8 hours ago when I closed the lid. Now it's at around 68. I can't see it going below 63 in my basement so I feel like I shouldn't have to worry about my yeast being happy.
Since I don't have a proper wort chiller yet, I had to do an ice bath in my sink. In about 10-12 minutes I brought the wort down to about 100 degrees. The couple extra gallons of drinking water I added were enough to bring it down to yeast pitching temp.
I feel like I did a fairly good job for my first time brewing. I was very thorough with sanitizing my equipment (used star-san). There is only one thing that I'm a little paranoid about. When I was chilling my wort in the sink I used my hand to move some ice around the outside of the kettle. As I took my hand out of the ice water, I saw a single drop of water fall from my hand into the wort. My heart sank. I decided I probably don't have to worry, so I continued. However I still can't help but think, "What if that drop of water is all I needed to infect my beer?"
So what do you guys think? Am I in trouble? Or am I worrying over nothing?
On a happier note, I just checked my fermenter and my airlock is already bubbling at about 1 every 3 seconds. The thermometer was at 75 about 8 hours ago when I closed the lid. Now it's at around 68. I can't see it going below 63 in my basement so I feel like I shouldn't have to worry about my yeast being happy.