mlstarbuck said:
I brewed this today, but I think I screwed up on several things.
The #7 size rubber stopper wouldn't stay in the carboy. I tried everything, but it kept pushing loose. I should have tested it beforehand. I panicked and transfered all the wort to a sanitized ale pail. I hope that in the process I didn't allow it to get infected.
I accidentally let some of the sediment past my funnel filter into the wort. I plan on bottling this. How do I remove the sediment? I don't want it in my bottles. Also ,what temp do I keep the bottles at after I fill them next Sunday?
Finally, it's been in the fermenter for about 4 hours but I don't think anything is happening. I poured the hot wort directly onto 2 gallons of the cold RO water, then topped off with another half gallon of it. I then pitched directly into the carboy.
My first brew day was more hectic than I envisioned. I'm probably over-thinking it...but the thought of ruining ~$40 worth of ingredients has me anxious.
We all have had those first batch jitters.let me put your mind a bit at ease:
1. Fermentation can take up to 48 hours to show visible signs. Also, the airlock is not the end all indicator that fermentation is happening, but more of a helpful indicator...sometimes.
2. beer is more resilient than you think. It if actually kind of hard to completely ruin a batch
3.the most important thing to remember with brewing is that DETAILS MATTER! make sure you follow each recipes specific directions until you have the experience to know when and where to deviate from a recipe (I'm still not there).
Your sediment in the primary is no big deal.many just dump the whole kettle contents into the bucket. The yeast, and sediment will settle as they go their job. Your bottling process involves a siphon. Read the directions, and you will find that the sediment is mostly going to be left in your fermenter when you rack to secondary it your bottling bucket.
Now the serious stuff:
Rome wasnt built in a day. Good beer cant be done in a week. I have had a wheat beer in primary for almost a month now. I suggest you do some serious reading, or you wii end up wasting much more than 40 bucks worth of ingredients. You should be leaving that beer in the ale pale for three weeks (or 1 week in primary, 2 weeks in secondary), before you even think about bottling it. Once it is in bottles, at about 70 degrees, in adark area, leave it there for no les than 2 weeks, or it won't be properly carbed. Then, you need to cold condition for a few days before drinking.
It really seems to me, that you have some ideas if how things should go, but not everything. Please read through these forums, and use the search tool. Absolutely any question you can conjure up, has ben asked and answered a dozen times...answers coming from revvy,yooper,and goldiggie should be read twice...they are ALWAYS great answers.
Good luck
I am going to end my reply with one word:
Hydrometer.