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What would you do?

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 5:07 pm
by SoonerMike
Last night I brewed a White House Honey Ale. During my boil, the hop bag came undone and dumped all the crud into the wort. I finished the boil, chilled the wort, then filtered into the fermenter. I ran it thru a micro mesh filter screen 3 times. Took me 1 1/2 hours as the screen kept clogging. I pitched the yeast around 1:00 this morning.
My question: Can I save this brew, or should I trash it?

My plan was to ferment to fg, filter it to secondary, cold crash, then filter to bottling bucket. Even thought about filtering to bottle. I really hate crud in my beer, plus, crud in the bottle seems to produce gushers, which I hate also. What say you?

Re: What would you do?

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 5:14 pm
by BlackDuck
You will be fine. Don't trash it. I don't use hop sacks, I just throw them in commando. If you screened a good amount out transferring to the fermentor and the cold crash that you have planned should take care of just about all your issues. I make IPA's with anywhere from 8 ounces to 13 ounces of hops in a 5 gallon batch. None of them are put in hop sacks, I also strain and cold crash and my beers come out just fine.

Let 'er ride!! You'll have good beer when it's all said and done.

Re: What would you do?

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 5:30 pm
by mashani
Why would you trash it? The hops should settle into the trub for the most part.

There is 2oz of commando hops in my fermenter right now. I'm not going to cold crash, I'm not going to filter it, I'm not going to secondary it and I guarantee you I will end up with good beer. I've never gotten a gusher from a random hop bit in the bottle when it happens, but I don't actually expect to get any.

Trashing it is a crime against the beer gods IMHO.

Re: What would you do?

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 5:45 pm
by SoonerMike
I thought I'd be ok, but wasn't sure. Showing my inexperience. As far as crud in the bottle, I've had some bottles from previous brews the had crud in them and gushed when opened. Lost 3/4 of the bottle. Talk about crime against beer!! Bottles with no crud in them were just fine.

Re: What would you do?

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 6:42 pm
by FedoraDave
Unfortunately, you did all that work for naught, Mike.

As the others have noted, it'll all settle into the trub, and you'll be jake by the time you're ready to bottle.

If it's really keeping you up at night, cold crash that puppy two days before you bottle, to get as much settling of suspended particles as possible.

But do not -- I repeat, DO NOT chuck this beer.

Re: What would you do?

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 7:16 pm
by berryman
I agree with everything above............ cold crash it if you want and that should help, I didn't read that you might of used Whirlfloc, that is a big help also on settling. By no means dump it, even if its not as clear as you would like it to be, it will still be very drinkable.

Re: What would you do?

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 7:49 pm
by SoonerMike
Dave, I'll admit I was stressing a bit at 1:00 this morning. But, the last thing I wanted to do was commit crime against beer. Now, I'm concerned about it reaching fg. I ended up with about 1 1/2 gal. Of wort into the primary. Worried it may turn out weak. Time will tell.

Re: What would you do?

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 7:52 pm
by SoonerMike
Berryman, didn't use whirfloc, but did use Irish moss last 15 minutes of the boil.

Re: What would you do?

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 8:38 pm
by Chuck N
FedoraDave wrote:DO NOT chuck this beer.
Heyyy!
:laugh :laugh

Re: What would you do?

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:07 am
by Gman20
yea i go commando too..... I just throw hops in boil and then use a strainer when i pour in fermenter. I only strain once tho all that messing with the wort would worry me more than the hops would. and have never had a gusher(knockin on wood) but i would never dump it unless i know it's bad for sure.

Re: What would you do?

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 10:17 am
by Brewbirds
I see no one pointed out that there should always be some "crud" in your bottles as a result of bottle carbing and conditioning. It is a normal part of the process and not the cause of gushers.

The gushers are a results of the Beer Gods being mad at all of us home brewers this year and none of us know why. :lol:

Well I do - Beer_Lord and BlackDuck have been sucking up the global hop supply and we're all getting punished for it. :p

For what it's worth I throw the wort into my fermenter break material and all with no straining and seem to be doing fine so far. The Whirfloc/Irish moss seems to take care of it for me.

Re: What would you do?

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:44 pm
by FedoraDave
Chuck N wrote:
FedoraDave wrote:DO NOT chuck this beer.
Heyyy!
:laugh :laugh
Okay, you can Chuck your beer.

Mike needs to Mike his beer.

I will continue to Dave my beer.

It's all good.

Re: What would you do?

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:52 pm
by JimH
SoonerMike wrote:Dave, I'll admit I was stressing a bit at 1:00 this morning. But, the last thing I wanted to do was commit crime against beer. Now, I'm concerned about it reaching fg. I ended up with about 1 1/2 gal. Of wort into the primary. Worried it may turn out weak. Time will tell.
If you are worried about it that much, the Borg certified disposal team will be glad to "dispose" of the beer in a manner deemed appropriate by the council. Our head is RickBeer, he can fill you in on proper etiquette.

I think you will be OK. I certainly understand your determination for clear beer. Your beer will survive, my beers are only relatively clear, and I go commando. I just use a bottling bucket, and transfer over. Not too much worry there.

Re: What would you do?

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 9:01 pm
by BlackDuck
Brewbirds wrote:Well I do - Beer_Lord and BlackDuck have been sucking up the global hop supply and we're all getting punished for it. :p
It's not my fault....you can't pin this on me. But go right ahead and pin it on Beer-lord....it's all his fault!! :muahaha:

Re: What would you do?

Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 4:47 am
by FedoraDave
Or we can blame Swenocha.