Is my beer ruined?

[pmjmay]

Hi

I am in the process of making my second kit brew. I ran into to a few issues and made a few cock ups and I am wondering if my brew will be a complete disaster.

I started the brew a couple of weeks ago when we were coming to the end of that heat wave. I used a Wilkos Hoppy Copper Bitter kit and the instructions say to ferment it between 18C - 20C, and it should be ready when the gravity is below 1008. I followed the standard instructions, mixed the tin contents with 3 litres of boiling water, add the sugar, and topped up with cold water. I decided to use 500g brewing sugar and 500 g DME. When I topped up the FV with cold water the final temperature was 30 C. I thought that would be too warm to pitch the yeast so I submerged the FV in the sink with cold water and ice cubes and stirred it for a bit a left it to cool for 30 minutes. I even added a couple of ice cubes to the wort to help cool it down. It went down to 28 C but I was growing impatient, it was getting late, and I didn't want to leave wort exposed so I pitched the yeast thinking it should be ok given that I have read that people hydrate yeast with boiled water that has cooled down to 28 C.

I keep the brew in the garage and due to the hot weather I submerged my FV in a large water container so that about 2/3rds of the FV was submerged. I use a digital thermometer designed for fish tanks so the prob is submerged within the wort. This gives me accurate readings and the thermometer keeps a record of the highest and lowest temperatures.

The following morning I checked it out and I could see a nice big head so the yeast was busy doing its thing. Over the first two days the max temperature was approx 21C and the minimum was approx 18C. On day 3 the heatwave ended and the wort temperature dropped to 17.3 - 19.5. Day 4 the minimum temperature was 17.5. I could not see the head so I opened the lid to see a completely flat wort. My first brew had a head for several days ( or at least I thought it did). I wasn't expecting it to finish so quickly so I measured the gravity to find the reading higher than the OG. So I thought two things have happen here, I did not take the OG reading properly and I have a stuck fermentation because the temp went below 18 C. I took the FV out the water container and wrapped it in blankets. After researching what to do I gave it a stir on Day 5 to liven up the yeast. On day 6 I saw some bubbles on the top of the wort so I figured I would give it another day. On day 7 I bought a sachet of brewing yeast thinking I would use it if there were no signs of life. There were still a few bubbles but not much life. I took the gravity and it was down to 1009. I the figured the reading I took on day 4 was incorrect. I usually drop the Hydrometer into the wort to take the reading. It is possible the hydrometer got caught up on the thermometer cable. On day 6 I used a sampling jar to take the gravity. I then fell ill and didn't look at it until day 11 and the gravity had not changed. So I am concerned that yeast has not fermented the wort properly given the gravity is 1009, and I'm worried that I have left to wort exposed to the open air through all the poking about.

I was going to bottle it but I barrelled it instead given that I think this beer is probably ruined, I didn't want to waste my time bottling it, and I thought it would probably condition better in the barrel rather the bottles. It's been in the barrel for a few days now but I'm giving it four weeks before I try it. There is pressure in the barrel so there must be some yeast alive eating up the sugar.

So anyway, I have waffled on a bit here but what do you all think? Have I ruined the beer?

Paul

[cumbrianwolf]

I would give it a few more days to make sure that gravity reading is stable or dropping, the variable temperature should have no major affect as I assume the lows were early morning as 5gallons of beer takes some time to loose its temperature and the amount of time that it was subjected to the cold would have been minimal due to the rising sun warming things up quickly.

[pmjmay]

Thanks for the advice. It's already barrelled but I will bear that in mind next time. I'm more concerned about the possibility of the beer being exposed to air as a result of my poking about.

[SiMania]

I can't see anything there to suggest it's ruined. 1009 is a good fg so bottle it and get it down your neck!

[Ditch]

Paul; Taste it.

[pmjmay]

Thanks for the advice.

If 1009 is considered ok, I will stop worrying about that.

I will taste it in a bit and see what it's like.

[tazzymutt]

Given that you used some DME in your brew I would expect the FG to be a little higher than the instructions suggest it would be for an all sugar brew. DME has some unfermentable sugars in it, which is why it adds body to the finished brew. Additionally; 1009 compared to 1008 is probably close enough that the hydrometer can not reliably resolve the difference and anyway, have you checked the accuracy of the hydro? What temperature did you take your FG reading? (That also affects hydrometer readings).

The good thing about a PB is that it will pressure relieve if you kegged a bit early; no risk of it turning into a bomb the way bottles can so no problem.

All in all, it sounds like your brew will be fine, if you can leave it alone long enough to finish conditioning.

Happy brewing and enjoy your bevvy,


Ian.

[pmjmay]

Well, I tasted the beer and it didn't taste great but it didn't taste vinegary so I'm guessing the beer is ok and just needs time to condition.

Thanks for your feedback Ian. At the time, I did test the hydrometer and when placed in tap water it reads 1000, so I guess it's fine. I am not sure of the temperature of the beer at the time I took the readings but I think it would have been around 18C.

Based on what you say, using DME explains the 1009 reading. On my first brew the FG was 1003, and with that brew I used brewing sugar. I was not expecting a huge difference when using DME. The first brew was a different beer kit so i guess that makes a difference as well.

You make an interesting point about using a barrel compared to bottles with regards to pressure when potentially kegging early. I will bear that in mind when I use the bottles which hopefully will be on my next brew.


I feel more at ease with regards to this brew so thank you all for your valuable feedback. I will look forward to guzzling this beer in a few weeks time when hopefully it's completely conditioned.

Cheers

Paul

[Ditch]

Well, I tasted the beer and it didn't taste great but it didn't taste vinegary so I'm guessing the beer is ok and just needs time to condition.

Sounds like ye'll be fine then. I had my first, truly, bad batch a few weeks ago. One sip of it and and I wanted to die!

Ye beer's not gonna taste like angels lips at this stage. But, believe me, if it's a drainer? You'll Know! Never mind staring at it and smelling it. Put it in ye mouth and see. Works every time

[wanus]

Sounds to me you av ad the same experience as me durin the heatwave.All that's happened is ur brews fermented quick cos of the high temps.Listen to Ditch he also helped me out with the same thing.Ur brew will be fine.

[pmjmay]

Sounds like ye'll be fine then. I had my first, truly, bad batch a few weeks ago. One sip of it and and I wanted to die!

Ye beer's not gonna taste like angels lips at this stage. But, believe me, if it's a drainer? You'll Know! Never mind staring at it and smelling it. Put it in ye mouth and see. Works every time

Cheers Ditch. I will see how it goes.

[WalesAles]

[quote="Ditch Put it in ye mouth and see. [/quote]


If you put it in your mouth, how can you see it!?
WA

[Ditch]

If it's a drainer, Wales, ye'd see it alright. As it explodes back out ~ just before ye go temporarily blind as ye CNS tries to shut down to protect itself.

I've now had minks anal gland lure and truly diseased beer in my mouth. And ye know what? On reflection, there's actually not a great f**king deal to choose between them!