BeerBorg

How much can go wrong? So much for all-grain for me. Stuck sparge, brief thunderstorm, leaky chiller dripped water into the boiled wort, wort looks like mud, and at the bottom of the pot a large scorched area. First time using a propane burner outdoors. Only 4 gallon yield. My yeast starter looks sickly. I don't even like beer.

Probably be the best batch ever and you won't know how to replicate it!

Bummer Amy, like Dawg said though, might turn out great!

Maybe you should name it:

Brew of Sighs

Or

Chillwater Storm

Or

Throw it Back in the Pale Ale

Or

... Well anyway, it'll be beer!

Sorry to hear of this possible catastrophe but seriously, did you learn anything? If you did, you came out on top. Get back on that all grain horse and brew again soon. You have it in you to be a winner. Watch some youtube videos, listen to podcasts and read your hops off and you'll know that YOU GOT DIS!

Beer-lord wrote:YOU GOT DIS!

^^^ This! ^^^

And, if you decide that AG isn't for you and you enjoy extract brewing stick with that. There's nothing that says AG is better. Many a fine beer are made with extracts.

I know I sound cliche, but stick with whatever makes you happy. And if you decide to go AG again, just take your learnings like BlackDuck said and apply them. You'll have it down in no time, I'm sure.

Sorry to hear you had a bad brew day alb, that happens sometimes, but.......... what is that saying we all live by?............RDWHAHB.................it will all get better tomorrow.

I learn a new mistake every time I brew and learn from there.
Sorry you had such a bad brew day Amy. They do get better.

Now that I've had some ice cream I'm feeling a little less disgusted but I have some questions:

1) why is the wort muddy after the boil, when it came out of the mash tun clear?
2) should I expect clarifying agents to clear it up after the primary fermentation?
3) how do I avoid scorching? I can't really afford a new pot right now. If I turn down the flame, will I still get a good boil?
4) on YouTube the vorlauft demos I saw moved pretty fast. Like they opened up the spigot. Does it have to dribble to set the grain bed? Did doing it too fast clog my mash tun?

1) why is the wort muddy after the boil, when it came out of the mash tun clear?
Not sure about that. Although it may not be crystal clear, "muddy" doesn't sound right, depending on your "muddy".

2) should I expect clarifying agents to clear it up after the primary fermentation?
Yeah, it should settle out/clear up. Is the gravity good?

3) how do I avoid scorching? I can't really afford a new pot right now. If I turn down the flame, will I still get a good boil?
Scorching on the bottom of the pot may have to do with the oxygen mix of your flame. Was it blue (good) or red (not so good)?

4) on YouTube the vorlauft demos I saw moved pretty fast. Like they opened up the spigot. Does it have to dribble to set the grain bed? Did doing it too fast clog my mash tun? You should be running the sparge slowly to rinse the sugar from the grain. Too fast may not rinse as well.

EDIT" Almost forgot..."Bar Keeper's Friend" will probably make the pot look like new.

The_Professor wrote:1) why is the wort muddy after the boil, when it came out of the mash tun clear?
Not sure about that. Although it may not be crystal clear, "muddy" doesn't sound right, depending on your "muddy".

On second thought, did you pour the cold break into the fermenter? That would make it more "muddy". It will be fine after fermenting.

With regard to numbers 1 and 2:

It sounds like you did not get a good cold break while chilling... Or as The Professor suggests, maybe you did but it got into the fermenter anyway...

The 'mud' is most likely malt proteins and or polyphenols that can come from both malt and hops...

There may also be some 'hop debris' mixed in there.

Not sure if you used any Irish Moss or Whirflock in the boil which would help to clump particles and assist the break... But no matter... If you did, great, if not, try some next time.

Now however, you 'might' need to look at post fermentation assistance...

The post fermentation flocking of the yeast may take most of the debris down with it, and that would be great. Cold crashing can help as well.

If it seems like it doesn't, or if the yeast you used is a low flock yeast that likes to hang around in suspension, then some post fermentation fining might be in order...

The addition of some plain geletin can clear things up nicely in just a few days...

From the BeerSmith Brewing Blog:

"Common unflavored clear gelatin can be purchased from the local grocery store and is effective in reducing both proteins and polyphenols. Gelatin is a collagen based agent derived from hooved animals. Add 1 tsp of unflavored gelatin to a cup of hot, but not boiling water and gently mix it into your fermenter. Again, wait a few days before bottling or racking to allow the gelatin to clear the beer."

It's one of the most natural and neutral methods...

Isinglass, which is derived from fish bladders, is also collagen based and works well on yeast, proteins and polyphenols

Other commercial solutions are:

ChillGuard, which is a silica gel based product that works best on proteins.

PolyClar: Which is a powdered PVPP plastic. The plastic is positively charged and very effective at removing polyphenols.

In any case, RDWHAHB! I'm sure things will settle out. You should see some of the sludge I get in my short boil, hop stand extract and PM brews... But in the end, it ends up as trub!

Folks covered most everything I can think of. But if this helps calm your nerves... the beer pictured here was made with the "wit juice" I made. That stuff when boiled with anything turns it into a cloudy muddy looking mess due to the reasons BigPapaG and other pointed out. IE combo of proteins, break material, etc. Because to avoid my house brett, I didn't sit around siphoning my wort off the break, I just dumped it from pot to containers as fast as I could. And that stuff had a hella lot of break due to all the rest steps I used in the mash.

But the fermented beer looks like this. (this glass has condensation on it, it's even clearer then it looks here). And it tastes great. This went into the fermenter opaque. 2 weeks in fermenter, 4 weeks in bottles, no cold crash, no finings. Wyeast Forbidden Fruit yeast, which is low floc. Still it ended up quite clear.
The break material will not harm your fermentation, some folks have done tests that shows that some break material in the fermenter actually seems to improve fermentation. It's just a matter of getting it to drop out. It has dropped out of all the beers I've made just fine. You just end up with more trub in the fermenter. I am not careful about my break material because of my Brett problems. Typically I just dump it all into the fermenter as fast as I can.

as was mentioned, do what makes brewing enjoyable..but... this is just your first ag attempt. your first anything is expected to be fraught with disappointments and problems.. unless youre one of the few lucky ones who skate through life without a care.

my first AG (to date my only ag due to the stinking heat here) I was shooting for an imperial stout. I made so many newb mistakes...ended up undershooting my og by lots of points. on completion it was still a very tasty stout, albeit a regular strength stout. I would say use this as a learning experience, ask questions, take notes, do everything you can to make next go better.. unless you just really don't want to do ag anymore. that's cool! it IS a lot of work and a lot of science added ... and can be tedious.
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my first 3 goes with propane were a mess. I was so worried about propane use I dialed it way down then wondered why I never got a good boil..duh. never hit my og because the boil was too feeble. one time in mid boil the burner went out with a WHOOOSH!!!!! and scared the poop out of me. I thought the tank blew up. practice makes perfect and now im fairly confident I have it down.
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starters: omg where to start! I have sometimes SO MUCH trouble getting the magnet spinning and keeping it there. I cant see it in the wort so it's like fumbling in the dark. my first two tries at starters it took nearly an hour...yes.. an hour to get it going just right. one time I also had starter go nuts and spew everywhere despite 1liter of headspace in flask. .. when I think my yeast aren't up to snuff.. or if I get feeble starter action, i'll grind up an eigth of a centrum vitamin, boil some water with some yeast to kill it, add the vitamin and toss it into the wort. the yeast seem to love it and my weak starters go nuts in the fermenter.
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break material: mashani helped me with the same problem. I was sad because my partial mash had nearly 1/2 a gallon in the fermenter of pukey looking snotty break matter, trub , and crud. I make 5 gallon batches so I expect 5 gallons!! lol... the break material didn't hurt a thing and in fact the fermentation was more robust because of it. it was pointed out to me that the more grain you use, the more likely you are to get break material. there are tricks to deal with this like letting the wort set and use a vortex to get the garbage to pool in the center in a cone, then racking carefully off the break material. there's a solution for everything.
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I too sometimes get areas of scorching in my pans. the trick is to stir and learn how high your flame needs to be. with propane it's yet another thing that requires a learning curve and time.
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sparges sometimes get stuck. it happens. you can use rice hulls next time. you just have to figure out what made it stick? do you need to rework your manifold? have you thought of doing brew in a bag?
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so deep breath... enjoy a beer or three... then reassess if you want to continue trying the AG path and if not, there is no shame in extract and partial grain. do what you like to do.

I believe your stuck sparge was from using the bag in the mash cooler. Too fine of mesh to flow correctly, make a manifold like Dave described, so far knock on wood I have not had a stuck sparge about 25 AG batches. Check out Adv. Equip. DIY Mashtun, Blackduck posted a pic of his manifold when I get home this evening I will get mine together and post a pic. They are similar but different, I pull from the perimeter and the center, his pulls slices across the diameter, his tubing drilled, mine sliced with hacksaw. Different designs same results.