Fermenter Explosion=Cloudy Beer???

[ANewrBrewr]

First time brewer here....I started my first batch of PSA IPA (brewers best kit) and decided I should dry hop it in the fermenter. Turns out the dry hops clogged my blow off tube and resulted in a top explosion from my carboy. Cleaned everything up and put the airlock back on and the beer seems to still be fermenting away. However prior to the explosion the carboy had a lot of settling on the bottom and the beer seemed rather clear....after the explosion there is very little settling on the bottom and the beer looks like a heavily creamed coffee, even after 3 days!! Is this good or bad....also how do I know that the beer is still good...I'm worried I may have had some contamination from the explosion.

Another ?.....My OG reading was 1.022, for an IPA I'm told this is very low. I added honey to the wort to try and increase the ABV? Not sure why the OG was so low...how will this effect my end result?
Thanks.

 

[mburnett274]

Relax it will probably be fine. next time dry hopp at the end of fermentation or after fermentation.
it takes awile for the beer to clear depending on the yeast used. I usially wait 14 to 20 days before I keg my beer.
Your OG looks very low so eather your reading is wrong or your beer was very weak. what was the recipe?

 

[rorygilmore]

There's no way your OG was 1.022 as the kit contains 7.5 pounds of extract. You probably had an error in your gravity reading. A common mistake when doing the partial boil method is to take the gravity reading without very thoroughly string the water that was used for top-off.

Your beer will eventually clear, but it might take a few weeks. Also, you want to wait until the majority of fermentation is over before adding dry hops as they'll add much more aroma vs. during fermentation.

 

[ANewrBrewr]

Thanks guys....I suspect you are correct in saying that I didn't stir the wort/water enough prior to taking the OG! So my next question would be; I know it seems to be a big deal about keeping air out of the carboy....so is it bad to occasionally take off the air lock to check the gravity? Also from the blow off I had there is now a lot of hops (and other stuff) that has stuck to the inside of the carboy near the top and drying out. Is this going to cause any problems?

Thanks again this forum is an amazing asset!

Cheers!

 

[ghpeel]

Nope, no problems with the gunky stuff. As for the airlock, don't take it off every day or anything, but checking it a few times won't hurt. I know its hard, but just relax and leave that beer along for 2-3 weeks. If ancient Mesopotamian farmers could make beer with just dirty jugs and baskets, then you will be fine! Beer is kinda hard to truly frack-up.