Two brew day screw-ups. Thoughts?

[jonny24]

So, I made my first IPA Monday night. Haven't brewed since September, did my first wine and apple cider though. A few things didn't really go according to plan so I thought I'd see what you guys think.

First, was with my grain. Used 5.5kg of 2-row, comes in 2kg bags, easy enough right? It wasn't until the 30 minute mark of my hour mash and I was cleaning up, I picked up the bag of leftover 2-row. Thought it seemed pretty full.... ****!

I had weighed out .5 kg, instead of having .5 kg left over. So I was 1kg (2.2lbs) light in my mash

After a few minutes of cursing at myself and trying to Google, I went ahead and threw in the last kg, and mashed for an extra 15 minutes. So the majority got 75 minutes, and that last bit got 45.

Both seem like reasonable mash times, so I'm not tooo concerned about this part. Adding the extra bit of grain lowered my mash temp a few degrees, down to about 149 vs the 153 it started, but it was still good. I actually got decent efficiency (for my system) so it didn't seem to hurt.

Second was at the end of my brew. I had been cooling with my IC, but decided that it was late and I'd leave it outside overnight in a sealed bucket to cool. So I put everything away.

I then remembered that I was already rehydrating my US-05. My beer was around 90F still, bit high to pitch, but after Googling I read that leaving the yeast in the water for too long with nothing to eat could be bad for it. I was pretty tired and wanting to be done with brew day, and didn't want to get the (now non sanitized) chiller back out. And rather than risk leaving my yeast in water all night I just..... threw it in.

The bucket was then out overnight, all of the next day, and last night. The temperature range that whole time was between 0C and 10C (32-50). I wasn't home during that time, I texted my brother to put it inside. So I have no idea what temperature the beer was when.

Should I be worried about off flavours from the original too-high pitch, a long slow cool down to possibly too cold, and then coming back up to temp? I know there's nothing I can do about it know but just curious if others have had similar experiences and had it turn out ok?

Thanks

 

[m1k3]

I have pitched warm and then cold crashed down to 50F to start fermentation... I would not recommend this (better of to wait and pitch) but I had zero problems... the wort warmed back up and fermented well.

Since you were rehydrating already the only option would have been to feed some of your wort to the yeast until the full batch cooled. But once you start rehydrating, I agree you don't want to wait overnight to pitch.

I bet everything you did will be just fine.

 

[mredge73]

It should turn out just fine.
Some esters may have developed during the lag stage while it was warm; these may or may not get covered up by the hop flavors of the IPA.
Good news is that you can still do something to help; give it some extra time sitting on the yeast cake for the yeast to clean up their mess.

The mash mistake will yield a slightly more ferment able wort due to the drop in temp; expect your FG to be lower than expected giving you a higher ABV and thinner body.
This shouldn't hurt an IPA unless you are really trying to clone/replicate another brew.

 

[jonny24]

Thanks for the replies guys, I feel a bit less worried. I checked the temp this morning and it was almost at 60, and the thermometer came out with krausen gunk on it (I just stuck it through the airlock hole). The one edge of the bucket wasn't quite down from when my brother checked it last night for me, so I'm assuming that's why I had no airlock activity. Should be bubbling away when I get home tonight.

 

[ncbrewer]

I checked the temp this morning and it was almost at 60, and the thermometer came out with krausen gunk on it (I just stuck it through the airlock hole).

If you put a fermometer (stick-on thermometer) on the bucket you can get the temperature without opening or contacting the beer at all. I like to check temperature often, so this matters to me.