Homebrewers - Whats in the fermenter?

[BlackDog]

When I made my Ferocious last night, everything went right according to the receipe until the very end, and then I made several errors. I don't think any of them are show stoppers, but I got careless.

1) When I was hopping at the end, I was supposed to take the 2 oz of hops, split it into 5 batches, and add them at 20, 15, 10 5 and 0. But I mistakenly only made 4 groups, but still followed the 5 hopping time schedule. So I didn't have any left to toss in at 0 minutes.

2) When I was rinsing off my stir paddle after I stirred the wort I had chilling in ice, I accidently sprayed water into the wort.

3) When I finally had everything done and the bucket sealed up, when I was putting the airlock on I pushed the rubber gasket through the lid and into the bucket. So I had to open the lid, pour the wort back into the kettle, get the gasket, and do it all over again.

Hopefully neither of the last two compromised the sanitation of the wort. I had a strong yeast starter, so hopefully the yeast will get cranked up quickly and knock out any nasties that may have gotten into the wort.

[BlackDog]

Originally Posted by BlackDog

Hopefully neither of the last two compromised the sanitation of the wort. I had a strong yeast starter, so hopefully the yeast will get cranked up quickly and knock out any nasties that may have gotten into the wort.

Originally Posted by kaisersozei

Warren: #3 would be the only thing that might cause me some concern, but not really all that much. Quick fermentation should ease your anxiety!

The fermentation was underway nicely when I got home from work this evening. I set the bucket up with a blow-off tube into a gallon water jug, and I counted 32 bubbles in 30 seconds. It's really chugging along. The lid is even "domed" a bit from the pressure in the bucket. Hopefully the strong fermentation has aleviated any sanitation problems.

[BlackDog]

I just racked my first batch over to secondary. It's the Midwest Liberty Cream Ale extract kit, with the addition of 1 lb of flaked corn. I used Safale US 05 yeast. It was in primary for 2 weeks at about 67 degrees, and had a strong fermentation for the first few days. There is about an inch of gray creamy yeast left in the primary bucket. The beer tastes OK; like flat, thin beer, maybe a little hefe weizen-ish. If I'm reading it right, the gravity is 1.10.

Does everything look OK? I was expecting it to be much clearer than this by now.

[kaisersozei]

Originally Posted by BlackDog

I just racked my first batch over to secondary. It's the Midwest Liberty Cream Ale extract kit, with the addition of 1 lb of flaked corn. I used Safale US 05 yeast. It was in primary for 2 weeks at about 67 degrees, and had a strong fermentation for the first few days. There is about an inch of gray creamy yeast left in the primary bucket. The beer tastes OK; like flat, thin beer, maybe a little hefe weizen-ish. If I'm reading it right, the gravity is 1.10.

Does everything look OK? I was expecting it to be much clearer than this by now.

Hmm. I'm not trying to be a dick, but I've never had a beer look like that in the secondary. On the other hand, I've never used flaked corn, so that might have something to do with it. In any event, I wouldn't worry about it.

[BlackDog]

Originally Posted by kaisersozei

Hmm. I'm not trying to be a dick, but I've never had a beer look like that in the secondary. On the other hand, I've never used flaked corn, so that might have something to do with it. In any event, I wouldn't worry about it.

After doing some reading, I believe that when I added the corn, there were not enough enzymes from the malt to convert the corn starches into fermentable sugars. Last week I added some amylase enzyme and a new yeast starter. The amylase enzyme converts starches to sugar. The wort looks a lot better now. Still hazy, but not as cloudy as that picture. I may rack it over to a clean carboy and add some Biofine to help clear it further before I bottle it.

[landhoney]

'Dark' Saison is bubbling away, just a standard saison grain bill with .5 lbs Special B, and 1 lbs D2 - Dark Belgian Candi Syrup added to darken it up and add some raisin/toffee flavors. Bottled an IPA/PA and Saison as well.


And just keeping track in case anyone else is interested:
The following people may be interested in brewing a 'Cigar Asylum' beer:
kenstogie
ODLS1
St. Lou Stu