I brewed a batch yesterday and everything was going pretty well except for occasional parenting/family needs that came up. I had a checklist which usually keeps me on track when I need to step away for a few minutes but I was in the middle of prepping hops when things upstairs went south. This resulted in only measuring out 1oz of my 3oz last minute hop addition. Any way to add the other two ounces into the batch somehow like boil up some DME, add hops, cool and pitch into fermenter?
Depends on what your plan was for the hops. Were you calculating some bitterness from the addition or just flavor/aroma?
As Jeffy said, it really depends, both on the calculated IBUs of the original brew as well as what percentage of the bitterness was provided by that late addition. If it was intended as a 60 IBU IPA and now you’re only at 50 IBU, just do a dry hop and call it good enough. In fact, that’s my suggested solution overall. I think that adding it via boiling the hops in DME will just be too haphazard, in terms of questionable hop utilization, loss of aroma, etc.
Skip it and move on. Lesson learned and do whatever works for you (brew day check list?) to improve your process.
The 3oz of simcoe apparently add about 20 IBU in those last 5 mins (according to Brewersfriend) along with the typical late addition flavor aroma…
Andy Farke - yes, it would be about 50 IBU currently and ideally should be 70. It’s only like $20 in grain so I could just cut losses and chalk it up to an educational experience (next time I’ll prep additions in ziploc when kids are in bed - as Kevin suggested).
I do have a few ounces of Centenial ziplocked in the freezer from a refund where the pouches arrived partially open. I haven’t been sure why I’ve been saving them but maybe I’ll use those instead. Dunno.
No big deal. Make a small liter-sized ‘starter’ wort, boil them for 5 minutes, cool, and add to the fermenter. Good to go.
I would just dry hop it. Call it a hoppy APA instead of an IPA and enjoy it.
Yep, just what I do when I forget.
Take 2 or 3 ounces and throw them in the fermenter at high krausen.
Maybe you’ll like it with the smaller amount.
I really appreciate all the input, folks. I ended up doing this and boiling the 3oz of Simcoe for 5 mins. The Centennial hops I was going to use smelled a little funkier than I remember so didn’t use them. After cooling and straining, I used a 60cc syringe to transfer from pyrex thru the fermenter airloc hole. I pulled a taste before and after and can definitely telll there are hops in there now. I’m enjoying the smell in the kitchen until the kids get up and complain “What stinks!”.
Just an update: I kegged this batch on 12/19. FG was 1.010 and had been there for about seven days. I used my harvested Verdant from a previous batch (month old yeast) along with a starter and and some yeast nutrient. I had the starter on the kitchen counter for the day and the next morning there was a good 2" thick layer of foam that formed. It looked thicker than usual though, almost like krausen. Not sure that’s a sign of anything, it was just different. I also had an unfamiliar foam on the yeast in the fridge that never went away (Imgur: The magic of the Internet). Of the few re-pitches I’ve done, I’ve not seen the foam on top hang around this long.
During transfer (closed), I ended up filling the keg completely - so much that the beer started filling the vent hose going back into the fermenter. Oops. I usually use a scale under the keg so I can tell how full it is but got in a hurry and tried to eyeball it. I emptied about a quart through the vent hose and put the keg in the kegerator around 35F at 25PSI. A couple days later I dry hopped with 3oz of Cascade and tapped it three days later.
The first glass was quite full of yeast, haze and other flecks of thinks. I must have sucked up a bunch of trub during transfer. The taste was reminiscent of the first batch of cider I made. OK at first, but then a slight “barf” aftertaste. After a few days, and maybe six pints, the taste and considerable haze was still there so tried some gelatin. This took a few days to clear things up and most of the barf taste went away. I moved the keg the other day to get to a yeast jar and the taste came back so thinking the bottom of the keg might just be full of trub.
I read later on that a starter shouldn’t have a lot of gravity to it. It’s only supposed to get the yeast to reproduce and not actually do any heavy fermentation. I made the starter in a four cup Pyrex. I started with a full liter of water but decided to pour some out to make room for DME and stirring. It was around 800ml. Maybe the richer starter had stressed the yeast?
How have y’all fixed or avoided yeasty flavors? I don’t think it’s related to the original hop shenangians but maybe it is?
“Barf” of “Vomit” aftertaste is usually Butyric acid caused by bacteria infection. “Cider” or “Apple” can be a sign of infection acetobacter bacteria. While your starter SG shouldn’t be any higher that 1.040 ideally, that’s most likely not the issue with the off flavors you are experiencing.
Yeasty off flavors can be due to excess yeast or over abundance of dead cells at pitching, like from pitching on an entire yeast cake. It can also just be the yeast strain - I’m not familiar with the Verdant strain.
Hrm… Interesting. I may need to up my sanitation game with some iodophor. Does the Butyric acid flavor typically go away after while or would it be present through the entire batch?
If I may: I’ve found thorough cleaning is vital to good sanitation. Use a cleaner of choice to ensure all deposits are removed before sanitizing. If you don’t get the biofilm, beer stone, and other deposits off your equipment before using your sanitizer of choice, the sanitizer cannot work. Emphasis is usually on sanitizer but cleaning may be more important.
Taste is truly subjective and I am just speculating what you are experiencing. If it truly is butyric acid, no, it won’t go away and might get worse. But again, I’m just guessing and it could be you are tasting something else entirely which could go away.
Not sure what sanitizer you are using but iodophor is phine (lol) but so is StarSan, etc., as long as (like BrewBama said) your stuff is completely clean.
Yup, I could have easily missed something. Usually my chiller gets a buildup of gunk on top of each coil that needs to be scrubbed off after every use but it gets boiled for at least 15 mins every use anyway so wouldn’t any leftovers would be pretty well cooked off?
I ran across an article (butyric acid, | Craft Beer & Brewing) yesterday mentioning that Butyric Acid off flavors can sometimes be attributed to cane sugar additions. Looking back at my notes, I added a cup of sugar to my “hop fix” solution (simmered on stove top for five mins however). I’m curious about that since my cider is made the same way (except no sanitizing of the sugar). Basically organic apple juice with 1.5 cups of table sugar in it. Both times I’ve made it, it had to go a good month in secondary to get rid of the butyric acid off flavor. It’s simply an unpleasant beverage otherwise.
All in all though, it’s a good reminder about getting the gunk off before sanitizing. There’s a lot to clean up on brew day and I can be a corner-cutter with things when time gets tight.
I appreciate the speculation, thanks 
I’ll never know where I can improve if I never get any feedback. Besides, you’re going on very, very little information. What you all posted gave me some ideas where to look and that helps immensely.
Hah! Usually just starsan solution. I keep a batch mixed in a fermenter bucket and check the pH (usually it’s 2.5) before using it again. It gets cloudy sometimes but I guess that’s not supposed to be an issue? I’ll dump some into the fermenter bucket and some into the keg and then pour it all back for next time. Given that I’ve still got the same 32oz bottle of concentrate from July 2020, maybe I’m not going through this stuff as fast as I thought I would benefit from using a fresh batch every time.
Could have something to do with the way you added your hops. But I have used lots of cane sugar (up to 20%) without strong cidery or butyric off flavors.
While it’s a good idea to keep everything clean I wouldn’t stress to much about whatever happened on the hot side, the cool side is where you need to be careful. I used an IC and hose it off and just dunk it in the boil at 10-15 min prior to flame out. If it has obvious residue I will definitely take the time to clean it but mostly a good hose down after the boil does the trick.
But…certainly, you never forget!