First Brew Disaster

[tipping]

My first brew, mistakes where made and lessons where learned.

Ill spare the details because I didnt pay any attention to them since I had no idea what I was doing.

Mistakes:
I probably heated my grains to long
I scorched the liquid malt and noticed a few black flakes floating around but I got most of them out.
I didnt add my hops the way I was suppose to. I put in the hops (semcoe and citra) semcoe first (all of it) for 60 minutes before adding the citra for another 60 minutes.
After putting my wort in the primary fermenter I dumped a bag of Ice in which probably wasnt a good idea. Also I shorted my batch by about a gallon and a half.

However I pulled a sample from the spout this afternoon and found it had a nice color and it tasted pretty good after two days fermenting just a little sweet though. The gravity was 1.025 and the temp was around 66 degrees.

I was hoping for an IPA but im not sure whats brewing in there now. Does the gravity and temp seem normal to you guys? Any suggestions?

 

[SilverZero]

Wait, did you boil for 120 minutes, then?

Honestly, this will probably come out just fine. I know you're extract brewing, but if you think you lost the aroma and flavor of the hops, you could always dry hop for 7 days before you bottle/keg. That's what most IPAs call for anyway.

If you're at 1.025 after two days, that seems reasonable depending on your OG (post-boil) and your yeast. Did you measure those? Temperature is perfect, so you've got that going for you.

The flavor will change after 3 weeks of fermenting and a few weeks in a bottle for conditioning, likely for the better. So if it's tolerable now, you'll be golden.

 

[tipping]

I boiled for about 100 minutes. I boiled my simcoe for about 60 minutes and the citra for probably 40 minutes.

I think I will dry hop, that sounds like a good idea. When I took a sample it wasnt what I would call IPA hoppy but it tasted fine. I failed to get an OG unfortunetly and my yeast was US-05 dry yeast.

 

[MrManifesto]

not trying to be a jerk but have you covered "how to brew"? i read those first few chapters like 10 times before my first brew. DON'T just dump in ice to the fermented, that water isn't sanitized. were you hitting temps? practicing good sanitation? i wrote a whole checklist that i went, step by step with as i brewed. probably still should, i forgot the irish moss my last two brews

 

[tipping]

I will pick the book up soon. I was hitting my temps and was practicing good sanitation other than dumping the ice in the fermentation bucket. I learned my lesson and I dont plan on cowboying my brews anymore because Id like to make some quality beers someday.

 

[Ogri]

I will pick the book up soon. I was hitting my temps and was practicing good sanitation other than dumping the ice in the fermentation bucket. I learned my lesson and I dont plan on cowboying my brews anymore because Id like to make some quality beers someday.

Here's a link to the on-line version. It's a little outdated, supposedly, but still contains most of the essential info.