Hello. I’m a rookie. I make a 5gal batch of Wheat Hefeweizen. I did not check the gravity at the beginning of fermantation, but I check it now and it’s 1.060. I’ve left it in the fermentor for about a month hoping it needed more time. I’m assuming that’s incorrect. I checked it 2 weeks ago and the gravity was the same. Also, I know I pitched the yeast too early. I pitched it right as I poured the hot wort into the 2gal of cold water in ice I had prepared prior. My guess is I killed the yeast and the brew has not been fermenting. In the first week or so I did see some bubbles slowly evacuate through the carboy. . Any advice from a pro would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
I’m not going to go so far to say I’m a pro but I know enough to be dangerous ;D
Yes, I would say you pitched your yeast too early and the hot wor t probably killed them. Unfortunately at a month in your brew is probably beyond saving. I think you already have realized you need to pitch (add) your yeast once the wort has cooled to fermentation temperature.
Don’t get discouraged and try again. We all have stories about batches that went wrong.
Definitely not a pro, but I have a suggestion. I’d taste a sample to see if its sweet. If it is, buy the cheapest pack of dry yeast you can get, rehydrate it in water no warmer than 75 and no cooler than 65, and then pitch it in and forget about it for a month. You may come up with something drinkable. Now if it tastes sour when you sample it, all hope may be lost and it may be infected with something wild. Good luck and post back what you do.
Yep, you definitely killed your yeast by adding it with your almost boiling wort. A few other things, too. Without more details about your process I might be off here, so ignore the following if you are already doing this…I wouldn’t recommend using ice in the wort as it can contain bacteria. Using it in the water bath to cool your container is okay, but don’t put it in the wort. Also, be careful about pouring hot wort into a cold glass carboy (even with cold water in it). The temperature change can shatter the carboy. Better to cool it down in your brew kettle then rack it into the cold water (or put cold water into wort, then transfer to carboy). Anyway, we all make mistakes. Don’t worry and keep at it, you will be brewing good beer soon!!
If its been two weeks you may want to go ahead and dump this one. And always chill your wort down under 70 degrees before pitching. When you get further along in this hobby you will begin to release how extremely important fermentation temperature, and yeast pitching temperature, are. I recommend buying a good hombres book - www.howtobrew.com
I am throwing out a guess here, but since I can’t think of a hefeweizen that is much higher than 1.060, I would guess you still have sanitary wort, and I would follow big chicken’s advice and throw a pack of WB-06 or another cheap dry yeast in the wort. Worst case, you lost a few more dollars and best case, you have a drinkable beer.
Also,
+1 on buying how to brew
+1 on keep trying, you will get it eventually
i realize the risk of contamination using store bought ice dumped into wort but i have done it 60+ times and never had a problem. i know some people freeze their own filtered water. i started out using an imersion chiller, then ice dumping, now cfc. from my experiences the risk of contamitation from ice dumping is minimal, i only stopped because i am trying to be more exact and consistent.
Bilingual autocorrect??
LOL. I think that was actually my typing error this time. But an hombres book might be a good read, too. ;D
Not following the logic here. How does the high OG result in the wort remaining sanitary?
I’d probably chalk this up to experience, pour it out and brew again. There’s no telling what sort of changes that wort has gone through over the last month but I don’t suspect it’s good. Just my opinion.
I think the logic is the og was probably supposed to be 1060, still is 1060, therefore no bacteria or wild yeast have gone to work. May or may not be true. Taste it first if you dare.
Taste it before dumping. Always. If it doesn’t taste nasty I would pitch yeast and see what happens. It’s low risk.
I agree if it tastes even semi good. Try with the some cheap yeast and see if it starts fermenting. If it does I would bottle after its done fermenting and try one. I also would only try one beer the first time. I’m not sure if something can get in there that would be harmful to your health.
I’ve saved most of a batch that definitely got infected. White layer of mold at the top. But I carefully inserted my siphon and got about 4 gallons out of a 5 gallon batch. Nobody got sick and the beer was delicious.
But then again I guess it just matters how much you care about that batch. If you don’t just start over.
There are very nearly no harmful organisms that can live in beer, or even wort for that matter. Now, something that can taste so nasty as to make you lose your lunch…
No known pathogen can live in beer. Not sure (doubtful actually) if this is true about wort. This is a very sugary substance that bacteria and whatnot of all kinds are fighting each other to get a piece of. This is why we all do everything possible to encourage a quick start to fermentation. The quicker the yeast can begin to do their job, the less likely other nasties can move in and do their thing. Then again, a cheap pack of dry yeast is a small price to pay to see what happens. I just hope you don’t actually lose your lunch over this little experiment because that would be no fun at all.
I talked to an award winning homebrewer a couple years ago who stored unfermented wort for months, sometimes years before pitching yeast and fermenting. He seemed to think it made the wort better, sorta like spaghetti sauce is better the next day…
As long as your vessel was sanitized, you should be fine repitching.
+1. You may have messed up on pitching the yeast, but maybe you were exceptionally good in sanitizing! Smell, then taste. You’ll know if it’s bad or not after a month. Good luck!
Dave
Well, you guys are braver than I am. I’d dump that crap and start over again.
Chances are you will have some off flavors even if you decide to pitch more yeast, but that being said I recommend pitching more yeast for experimentation value at a minimum. You never know what can happen. The worst case scenario is that you’ll dump it. I also recommend reading “How to Brew” by John Palmer or you can got to http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html.