1st 5 gallons, a comedy

[ramegoa]

Well I thought it was amusing, the batch might be wasted but still going to go through the fermentation and bottling... still has to taste better than schlitz (no offense to any schlitz fans)...

First, (a lesson for the new brewers) 5 gallon kettle is a MUST, don't just put 2.5 gallons in a pot and say.... hmm looks ok. I had to drain some off into another pot after adding the extract for fear of over flowing.
A watched pot never boils, but turn your back, and said pot will drench your stove!! Got the wort back up to boiling, turned around to get the hops, and heard the oh so familure hiss of liquid hitting the burner... But at least I know that I have more room in my undersized pot now!! lol.
Still going through with the brew though, I hate wasting money so I will wait it out and hope my caribu slobber isnt a caribu slaughter....
No questions or anything (I learned my lessons for the next batch) Just thought this was an amusing story to put up for my first 5 gallon brew...

 

[Fancy_Pants]

Hang in there man, I had a batch that was ruined by the taste of hose water due to a leaky home made wort chiller (fixed since then). Needless to say the metallic taste came out strong after a month of bottling condition but 2 months later it wasn't half bad.

 

[Bluelinebrewer]

Well I thought it was amusing, the batch might be wasted but still going to go through the fermentation and bottling... still has to taste better than schlitz (no offense to any schlitz fans)...

First, (a lesson for the new brewers) 5 gallon kettle is a MUST, don't just put 2.5 gallons in a pot and say.... hmm looks ok. I had to drain some off into another pot after adding the extract for fear of over flowing.
A watched pot never boils, but turn your back, and said pot will drench your stove!! Got the wort back up to boiling, turned around to get the hops, and heard the oh so familure hiss of liquid hitting the burner... But at least I know that I have more room in my undersized pot now!! lol.
Still going through with the brew though, I hate wasting money so I will wait it out and hope my caribu slobber isnt a caribu slaughter....
No questions or anything (I learned my lessons for the next batch) Just thought this was an amusing story to put up for my first 5 gallon brew...

If that's the worst thing that ever happens on brewday, you'll be a lucky man!! That stuffs a real bi*ch to get off the stove after it dries up, huh?? I'd say my worst brewday was the one and only stout I've ever brewed. It was an extract brew and, being a new brewer, I was very anal about making sure my wort was down to 70℉ before pitching. I dropped my floating thermometer into the wort to check the temp, and I heard the unmistakable thud/crunch of glass breaking on metal, under water. The entire contents of my thermometer fell into my freshly brewed wort. I had to toss the batch.

Good luck in your future brews! Cheers!

 

[Starbug]

I feel for ya buddy, I can relate, my first was less than a year ago and just like yours was a NB caribou slobber. We didn't have a fermentation chamber and pitched it at some ridiculously high temperature, 80-90 i think, then once it kicked off it went insane for about 24 hours and was around final gravity and stopped. Gave it a few more weeks in primary before bottling and while it seemed a bit funky for awhile (mostly due to the fact that we started sampling bottles 3 days in) by the time we got to the last one around a month or month and a half after bottling - they were juuuust starting to get really really good and taste like a proper brown.

Best advice I can give is even if it tastes pretty gnarly the first few weeks, give it some time, you can always toss it later and start again if it doesn't pan out.

 

[ramegoa]

and the hits keep coming,
Got the wort to temp, put it in my fermenter with little issue, pitched and put aside, during cleanup, I realize I pitched the wrong yeast!! It was a smack pack I put aside for a different brew, because it was slow in activating (which I looked up, it was normal for that one), meanwhile the smack pack of yeast that is bursting at the seams is still sitting on the counter.... crap

 

[ramegoa]

So, I guess there is a question in here after all,
Can I put the smack pack back in the fridge?
And how important is the yeast in the whole scheme of things flavor wise?

 

[RM-MN]

Putting the smack pack back in the refrigerator will slow the yeast down, maybe even put it to sleep, but it won't kill it. Set it in a container in case the pack bursts and cover the container with saran wrap to keep contaminates out if it does.

 

[LLBeanJ]

The other yeast will be fine in the fridge for a while. The fact that it's already been activated will make no difference on the long-term viability.

What yeast did you pitch?

 

[Dralzz]

Don't feel too bad. Everyone makes mistakes. I know I made a few on my first two (forgot to take OG, squeezed specialty grain bag, aerated after pitching, pitched too warm, fermented a bit warm). Your beer will most likely be drinkable. And if not, time heals most beer wounds.
My rule is that I record what mistakes I make, and review them before making the next batch. That way I only make DIFFERENT mistakes.

 

[ramegoa]

I ended up pitching Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abby ale. Was going to brew La petite orange on saturday, but after smacking it, no activity (after some research here, I found that it is noted for taking its time)... It had just started swelling yesterday when I was doing the batch of caribu so i'm not worried about active yeast, just the wrong yeast for the batch,

 

[reverendj1]

Yeah, that yeast is going to be way off for Caribou Slobber. Live and learn, it will still be beer. As for boilovers, pick up some Fermcap (sometimes called foam control). 1 drop per gallon before your boil and you don't have to worry about boilovers at all. I bought a $6 bottle and 30+ batches later, I think I still have half of it left.

 

[kh54s10]

Boil overs are not serious mistakes. I did it 3 brews ago after 2 years experience. It was 7 gallons in a 10 gallon pot.

Your beer will only be different due to using the wrong yeast.

I will leave it for others to describe why you should be making starters with your smackpacks. I don't have the time right now.

 

[ramegoa]

Thought I would update my Caribu Slaughter brew. After 3 weeks of fermenting I was going to bottle, however the last couple nights I saw new activity in my airlock, looks like the yeast has gotten their second wind, I think I will leave it in a few more days...

 

[Mozart]

One note on the suggestion to perhaps use fermcap:

I know a lot of brewers use it with good results, so I'm not saying you shouldn't, but I am a believer in making informed decisions. With that in mind, the FDA recommends against using this particular product in unfiltered beer due to the silicone content.

If you decide against fermcap, I personally keep a spray bottle of plain water right next to the kettle during the boil. A quick spray atop the wort knocks the foam down pretty fast. That, and turning down the flame, of course.

 

[Mozart]

Thought I would update my Caribu Slaughter brew. After 3 weeks of fermenting I was going to bottle, however the last couple nights I saw new activity in my airlock, looks like the yeast has gotten their second wind, I think I will leave it in a few more days...

After three weeks the airlock activity is likely due to something other than fermentation.

A gradual rise in temperature can cause airlock activity, as can changes in the weather (atmospheric pressure).

After three weeks, I'd take an SG reading, and check it again after three days. If the readings are the same, it's done fermenting, regardless of what the airlock may or may not be doing.

 

[TrickyDick]

I ended up pitching Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abby ale. Was going to brew La petite orange on saturday, but after smacking it, no activity (after some research here, I found that it is noted for taking its time)... It had just started swelling yesterday when I was doing the batch of caribu so i'm not worried about active yeast, just the wrong yeast for the batch,

Might work out better with the higher ferment temps. Some Belgians they brew and pitch at 65-70 then let free rise into 80's.

I'm having a good chuckle reading this. Been there myself in years past. Do not buy a new floating thermo. They are garbage. Get a waterproof digital thermo (thermapen is the best but pricey and is only splash proof, but accurate as anything plus you can use it for food.)and make sure its calibrated - I've never met a thermometer I trusted until I got the thermapen.

Use a starter with your next batch using a portion of the extract to build the starter then just pitch the whole deal into your chilled wort when your ready. Those wyeast smack packs are supposedly only there to verify the yeast is viable from what I understand and as long as the pouch is intact the yeast will be fine.

TD

 

[Lalo]

Thought I would update my Caribu Slaughter brew. After 3 weeks of fermenting I was going to bottle, however the last couple nights I saw new activity in my airlock, looks like the yeast has gotten their second wind, I think I will leave it in a few more days...

Hey there ramegoa,
I know this is an old post/thread, but I'm curious to know how your Caribou Slobber with Belgian ale yeast turned out. I'm thinking of buying some stuff from NB and they are offering a free Caribou kit. I looked at the ingredients list and thought that with a different hop schedule, some sugar and a belgian yeast that kit might make a nice Belgian amber. If you have some recollections of how your beer came out, I'd really like to hear more about it and any suggestions you may have for me!
Cheers,
Ed

 

[Eischman]

I like squeezing things (if ya know what I mean) but I did not know I'm not to squeeze the grain bag? I guss Ill stop doing that.

 

[RM-MN]

I like squeezing things (if ya know what I mean) but I did not know I'm not to squeeze the grain bag? I guss Ill stop doing that.

You don't have to stop squeezing the grain bag, it won't really hurt anything but it probably won't help much either. You're extracting the sugars and color from those grains and you won't get much more out of them after steeping.

 

[LLBeanJ]

I like squeezing things (if ya know what I mean) but I did not know I'm not to squeeze the grain bag? I guss Ill stop doing that.

I have no doubt that folks who warn about squeezing the bag mean well, but they are propagating misinformation. Squeezing the grain bag is fine as long as the pH of the mash is where it should be, i.e., ~5.0-5.6. If the pH gets at or near 6.0 and above, then you will likely have issues with tannins, whether you squeeze or not.