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Author Topic: what did i create? first brew please help!  (Read 1845 times)

Offline George9617

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what did i create? first brew please help!
« on: March 05, 2015, 02:11:39 pm »
soo im new to the forum, mainly joined to learn more about brewing beer and pick up the tricks of the trade. with that being said i bought a home brew kit that was supposed to make a gallon of beer, only i ended up with about half a gallon somehow so i feel like something is def gonna be wrong or the percentage will be off. also i used a rather different hop adding regimen, i added 1/4 of the hops at a time. the end product was 4 measly beers that im not sure will taste well. the beers are one week into fermenting and have a nice clear color so far and about half inch of sediment at the bottom. hope i have given enough info for some help thanks in advance !!!

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: what did i create? first brew please help!
« Reply #1 on: March 05, 2015, 02:18:19 pm »
hmmm, what were the insructions that came with the kit?

ingredients and a rundown of what you did and when would be great too.

I'm guessing you boiled the water with some malt extract (liquid or dry), maybe some steeped grain. then you added hops at 4 different times in during the boil?

missing the volume into packaging will happen. on a '5 gallon' batch I aim to get 5.5 or 6 gallons into the fermenter if I want 5 gallons into bottles/kegs. it's not linear, you'll lose a higher percentage on a 1 gallon batch though. I would aim for 1.25 or 1.5 gallons into the fermenter if you want an actual gallon of finished beer.

More details will help us help you though.
"Creativity is the residue of wasted time"
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"errors are [...] the portals of discovery"
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Offline George9617

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Re: what did i create? first brew please help!
« Reply #2 on: March 05, 2015, 04:38:11 pm »
http://www.monsterbrew.com/BrewingOverview.cfm heres a link to the instructions i followed 100% or so i thought...used grain, i feel like maybe too much evaporated or something

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: what did i create? first brew please help!
« Reply #3 on: March 05, 2015, 04:52:22 pm »


First off, welcome !  Secondly, this looks like an all extract kit, meaning that the fermentable sugars and OG (original gravity) are basically a done deal per given volume of the recipe. If your volume came in under the target amount, you could've just topped off with water to hit your target. Do you have a hydrometer ?  I hope so. You need to check gravity - once a day over three successive days - until you have reached a steady reading. This will mean fermentation is over and it's safe to bottle the beer without having bottle bombs.
Jon H.

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: what did i create? first brew please help!
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2015, 04:55:33 pm »
Those instructions are pretty general but okay.

Assuming you didn't do a partial boil (where you would top up in the fermenter with water) you should have begun your boil with at least 1.5 gallons and probably 2 gallons in the pot. you added your steeping grains as you brought your water up to temp then removed them and added the extract, stirring well with the heat off to avoid scorching your extract before it was all dissolved.

you can do what you want with the hops so long as you are aware that adding less in the early parts of the boil will reduce the bitterness which can make a beer seem too sweet. I would always recommend following the recipe to the letter the first time you brew it and tweaking to your tastes on subsequent batches.

I suspect you started with too low a volume in the kettle, and/or boiled too much off. the result will be a stronger beer. The good news is that you likely had plenty of yeast even for a higher gravity batch than intended. if it was really only half a gallon and was supposed to be a whole gallon it will be a very strong beer indeed. give it plenty of time to finish fermentation. you say the beer is clear after 1 week of fermentation? have you tasted it or measured the gravity? it's important to monitor the process to know when it's done and how it's working.

I would still like to hear a step by step rundown of exactly what you did on brew day and since then.
"Creativity is the residue of wasted time"
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"errors are [...] the portals of discovery"
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Offline mbarnaby

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Re: what did i create? first brew please help!
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2015, 06:07:13 pm »
what ever the style was suppose to be just put imperial in front of the style name and it will be perfect.  It sounds like you just boiled to much water off, even following the instructions.  I done a lot of smaller experimental batches (2.5 Gallons) I have found that after an hour boil my gravity is high and the volume low.  I just top it off.  now that it is fermented I would just wait it out and see how it turned out.  might be the greatest mistake ever.  If the first bottle is bad wait another 6 months and try again.

Offline George9617

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Re: what did i create? first brew please help!
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2015, 07:51:58 pm »
http://s22.postimg.org/kbaed1iy9/IMG_1893.jpg couldnt figure out how to attach so i improvised. its only been a week so im gonna let it go one more then try it out. as for the steps id list it all but id just be typing the instructions, i know too much evaporated. i do like what barnaby said, "might be the greatest mistake ever". if my math is correct it should just over 2.5 Xs stronger than a reg ale, and if it sucks im still gonna drink it lol
« Last Edit: March 05, 2015, 08:04:15 pm by George9617 »

Offline Stevie

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Re: what did i create? first brew please help!
« Reply #7 on: March 05, 2015, 10:07:27 pm »
Did you ferment in the bottles? If so, you skipped a step. Give those bottles a squeeze, they might be over pressurized.

And adding a photo to the post is pretty simple. Click the Mona Lisa button and add your image url.

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: what did i create? first brew please help!
« Reply #8 on: March 06, 2015, 06:09:19 am »
http://s22.postimg.org/kbaed1iy9/IMG_1893.jpg couldnt figure out how to attach so i improvised. its only been a week so im gonna let it go one more then try it out. as for the steps id list it all but id just be typing the instructions, i know too much evaporated. i do like what barnaby said, "might be the greatest mistake ever". if my math is correct it should just over 2.5 Xs stronger than a reg ale, and if it sucks im still gonna drink it lol




If you quote this post you can see the code for embedding an image.

+1 to what steve said. I couldn't tell from your OP but did you ferment this beer in a bucket before going to the bottles or did you mix the yeast and wort and then immediatly put it in the bottles?
« Last Edit: March 06, 2015, 06:10:57 am by morticaixavier »
"Creativity is the residue of wasted time"
-A Einstein

"errors are [...] the portals of discovery"
- J Joyce

Offline George9617

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Re: what did i create? first brew please help!
« Reply #9 on: March 06, 2015, 02:37:29 pm »
yea fermented in a glass gallon jug waited two weeks and bottled now its in second stage , i see where the confusion was, its only been a week since bottled i meant.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2015, 02:45:49 pm by George9617 »

Offline Stevie

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Re: what did i create? first brew please help!
« Reply #10 on: March 06, 2015, 02:43:15 pm »
yea fermented in a glass gallon jug waited two weeks and bottled now its in second stage
Did you pour it into the bottles with all the sediment from the fermentor? I am asking because that is a large amount of sediment.

Offline George9617

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Re: what did i create? first brew please help!
« Reply #11 on: March 06, 2015, 03:38:38 pm »
ugh i agree i had lost the rubber piece for the cane stick, so i went from top to bottom with the siphon. i was hoping it was a normal amount. i stopped right before it got to the sediment level, also it was kinda hazy from the get go maybe i disturbed it too much before the siphon. first brew so i had to screw up lol my next batch i want to attempt a black lager, but i will def do more homework first.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2015, 03:47:54 pm by George9617 »

Offline Stevie

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Re: what did i create? first brew please help!
« Reply #12 on: March 06, 2015, 04:03:29 pm »
Pickup a copy of How to Brew by John Palmer. While waiting, you can read an older version of it online at howtobrew.com

Offline George9617

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Re: what did i create? first brew please help!
« Reply #13 on: March 06, 2015, 04:39:13 pm »
ty il check back next thursday
« Last Edit: March 06, 2015, 06:02:46 pm by George9617 »