Hey guys, I’m letting my wort cool right now and waiting to pitch my yeast and then into my fermenter. My question is, should I filter this through anything to get the hops and left over grains that shifted from the muslin bag into the batch, or just let them settle out?
Sorry it seems like a dumb question, but I REALLY dont want to screw this up. :o
Let it settle.
I would try to pick up as little as possible, but not sweat it (I use a siphon). However, when rushed, I have dumped the entire kettle through a sanitized strainer to catch the hops, and it turned out fine.
A small amount of trub is beneficial, and too much only really interferes with yeast harvesting.
Thank you. My thought to let it settle and do the best I could, but i wasnt sure about getting too much hops in the fermenter. Hey, what’s the worst that can happen… I brew another batch and learn from this…? Thanks again, I’m waiting for my temp to hit 80 or less… sitting at 90 right now.
Since you’re at 90 right now, take a sanitized spoon and stir the wort, creating a whirlpool. This will help accomplish a couple things. One, all or most of the hops/grain should form in the center once the whirlpool settles. Then you can siphon from the side of the kettle. Second, it will help bring the temp down a bit. Lastly, it will aerate the wort some (you should still aerate in the fermenter though, either by shaking or using some other aeration method).
You can whirlpool as long as you want, but a minute or two should be enough.
Congrats on your first batch!!
I’ll add:
I know you want to pitch that yeast right away, it’s just burning a hole in your pocket (packet?) but wait, just back off and let that wort get down to 65* you might have to put the kettle in an ice bath to do it but it will make SUCH better beer than pitching at 80*.
- a bazillion
+2.5 bazillion
hmmm… I pitched at 76. And yes it was killing me. I was dying to get it in there and get it going. Well, damage is done. Here’s a few specs:
Oatmeal Stout from Midwest Brew
All went fine except it did boil up pretty high after the hops addition. no boil over but enough to spread hops all over the inside of the pot. I tried to scrape the pot and put them back in best i could. anyway…
It took about 1/2 hour to cool in the laundry tub with the ice. Pulled it out at 78 degrees and tried to “decant” it into the fermenter. I felt this did a pretty good job of aeration. Added my yeast took a Hydro reading. 1.047 at 76deg. She’s all capped, airlocked and I’m trying to find best place to put her. Wish me luck
luck!
it’ll be okay, try your best to get that temp down some more now though, there is still time! It’s not ideal but it will still help. get the fermenter back in the laundry sink with more ice water and keep things moving with a sanitized spoon for the next 20 minutes.
- 1.060 bazillion!
1.047 Bazinga!
Hey!!! You Made Beer!!! Woohoo!!
Looking for a place to put it? I suggest somewhere that you’ll be comfortable because you’ll be in there watching it for the next three weeks: -)
Ain’t that the truth. 7th batch fermenting as expected, FG right on point even though OG was a little low. Dry hopping now, and again tonight. Gonna be dying to bottle til Monday after work. Then 2-4 weeks conditioning. I really want to drink this now. As Jim said, get comfy but let it be and do its thing. First couple batches I was too eager and now know the mistakes I made in fermentation rushes. Don’t rush it. The recipe likely does not call for enough time to get the job done, live by your hydro readings, not the recipe or airlock activity.
Congrats on the first batch!! You’ll have to report back with your first taste impressions and first batch experience(s).
Welcome to the hobby, obsession… Try some in about a week and see how it tastes. If it it tastes hot or solvent-like dump it and start again.
Congrats!
I’d only add at this point that you’d like the beer to ferment around 65-68 beer temp, not ambient.
You mentioned a tub, keep the vessel in that with water to buffer temps, if necessary you can add frozen water bottles to keep it cool, this will give you a nice clean ferment.
Cheers on the first beer!
Kudos to brewers who have the ability to dump. I rarely do, but I have. Some may remember me dumping my Wiener Quad. I’ve also dumped a partial keg of mediocre to make room for awesome. I refuse to gag down mistakes.
Ironic, because Denny has a couple bottles from batches just before my latest sharp learning curve. I would dump those compared to anything I’m making now.
The last beer I dumped was a spiced Christmas beer that was chilling with a floating thermometer in it. It was getting close to pitching temp and the thermometer broke sending glass and the metal shot (lead? ) into the wort. I dumped and rebrewed. Made a 5 hour brew day into about a 10 hour day.
I called my rebrewed unleaded
Thanks all for the advice. As with everything else… the first time around is a learning experiance. I will say I did put the fermenter back in the tub with ice and let it cool for a good while. Right now it’s in my front closet. 1st off, I noticed my airlock still dormant. I did some searches and found that my hydrometer is the way to test fermentation not airlock… but it still makes me nervous. 2nd, I live it S Fl and have NOWHERE to keep anything below 70 with out purchasing a dedicated fridge (wife would kill me). It’s in my closet right now and the house stays about 77 but the tile floor in the dark closet my stay at 76. Well see…
But! Whats a good time frame to take a good first hyrdo reading to make sure I have progress?