I just brewed my 2nd batch of beer 2 nights ago. It was my first solo batch and also the first time I was brewing a recipe I developed myself. I had a few questions about things that came up.
- My only fermentable was 3lb of light DME in a 3 gallon (full boil) batch. This should put me at roughly 1.043 for my OG, but I measured 1.049. I just dumped a full 3-lb bag of DME into the pot without weighing it first. Is there generally a bit of overfill in a bag of DME? Should I have weighed it out first? Any other reason my OG would be so high?
- All my calculations for IBU were based on roughly a 3 & 1/4 gallon average boil volume (start at 3.5 gallons, boil down to 3ish), but when I added my DME my brew kettle was probably closer to 4 gallons to start because of the added volume of the DME. Do I have to factor in this extra volume in my IBU calculations? Will I end up with a higher IBU than I calculated?
- My @$#%ing digital thermometer's calibration got all messed up while I was cooling my wort (I was wondering why it took so long to come down those last 20 degrees). So I ended up pitching a vial of WLP001 to wort that was about 59F. I have the fermenter in the warmest part of my basement (about 64F ambient). Last night (24 hours later) the wort was reading 64.5F and I saw 1-2 bubbles/minute coming through the airlock. I've read that WLP001 has an optimal temp of 68-73, should I bring the fermenter into a warmer room to get it to warm up a bit, or will it be ok at its current temp?
Thanks in advance,
Eric