Humpty Dumpty English Bitter is likely a dumpty

Since I had to dump it, there is alot of trub. Good news is that this fermenter has a trub dump at bottom. I will wait a couple more days to start dumping. I just took another try and it is amazing how much the taste has changed for the better. However, no way will this beer be at its best when done. Just too hot for too long.
You are tasting yeast in an active stage - it won't taste very pleasant.

You should wait 8-10 days before taking your first sample. Even after 8 days, if there is still a lot of yeast in suspension it will most likely not taste as expected (yeast strain dependent to some degree). If your fermenter is clear then simply wait until the beer starts to clear and the yeast drops out of suspension before taking your next sample.

"However, no way will this beer be at its best when done. Just too hot for too long." - as others have stated: as long as you didn't pitch the yeast while it was still hot or leave it open to potential wild yeasts then you are fine. I've waited hours before pitching - no big deal. Many will wait overnight to allow a gradual cool down - again, fine.

Give it time :) - Often easier said than done. -
 
Lots of people "transfer" everything from the kettle into the fermenter, don't sweat this.
Leave it be, don't dump the trub it is fine, and I would suggest that you stop taking samples too. This yeast needs 10-14 days to do its job. Relax, brewing is not a race! I am sure that Mozart did not write any of his works in a couple of days...

Are you going to b bottling this batch?
I am going to keg it. But now the trub valve is clogged. I cannot clean while the beer is fermenting.
 
I sure hope we talked you off the ledge!

The most difficult, yet most important thing to learn in brewing is patience!

Welcome to Brewers Friend by the way. This is a really good community with a lot of very experienced, knowledgeable people. We are all happy to help, you did the right thing to post your question(s) here.

Good luck, and be sure and keep us up to date on how this turns out.

Even if it isn't a great beer, you made it! Brew, learn, repeat:)
Thank you for your kind words. I did not dump it but now the trub valve is clogged. It is a grainfather conical fermenter. Any suggestions as to how to unplug it?
 
You are tasting yeast in an active stage - it won't taste very pleasant.

You should wait 8-10 days before taking your first sample. Even after 8 days, if there is still a lot of yeast in suspension it will most likely not taste as expected (yeast strain dependent to some degree). If your fermenter is clear then simply wait until the beer starts to clear and the yeast drops out of suspension before taking your next sample.

"However, no way will this beer be at its best when done. Just too hot for too long." - as others have stated: as long as you didn't pitch the yeast while it was still hot or leave it open to potential wild yeasts then you are fine. I've waited hours before pitching - no big deal. Many will wait overnight to allow a gradual cool down - again, fine.

Give it time :) - Often easier said than done. -
Thanks. Trying to empty the sediment but the valve at bottom is not working. I cannot get anything to come out. Grainfather conical fermenter. So much stuff in there. I have to get this out. Any suggestions?
 
Here is a link to an excellent article on this forum for the beginning brewer. Learning to brew will take time. There is so much to learn, but it will come from time, experience, and of course patience.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/brewing-for-beginners/
Thank you. I am going to make another beer today. Everything is set and ready to go. HOpefully I will make less mistakes. The English Bitter I am making had to be dumped into the conical and now I can't empty the sediment at the bottom. I have a transfer pump which I can do when I keg. Hopefully this will keep me from getting all the sediment but I would like to fix it so I can get as much of the trub out as possible.
 
I use to ferment in containers without drain valves, used an auto siphon to rack from fermenter to keg.
Screenshot_20210607-105126_Chrome.jpg
 
Thanks. Trying to empty the sediment but the valve at bottom is not working. I cannot get anything to come out. Grainfather conical fermenter. So much stuff in there. I have to get this out. Any suggestions?
Old tech: siphon the beer out.
 
Made my first beer with my grainfather all in one brewing, grainfather fermenter and glycol chiller. Let me say that ALL the equipment worked spectacularly and the recipes on the app were spot on when the next steps were necessary. However, as a novice, I made some big errors with equipment which caused me to have to dump the hot wort in fermenter and to use the gylcol chiller to cool it down. I messed up with chiller with amount of liquid (though I did what video said) and it was hours and hours before I figured out I should have the liquid in the tank up to the top.
I made so many stupid errors that I think the beer is ruined. I took a gravity reading this am and it is exactly at original gravity. I took a taste and was VERY sad. I am not familiar with English Bitter beer but if the taste is not good, should I assume the beer is ruined? I only have two fermenters and I have two more recipes that will need a couple of months. So I thought I would make something that doesn't need alot of time and will likely have to break down and buy another fermenter. I love these grainfathers. I can track its progress wirelessly no matter where I am.
Does anyone have an opinion about the beer being contaminated or just cooked poorly? Am I correct in thinking it should have had an acceptable flavor? The yeast is going to town.
 
Got the trub out from bottom of fermenter. 2nd fermenter is set up and ready for me to start cooking. Going to read things one more time. The most important thing is NOT to make the same mistakes. The chiller now has a proper hose it is hooked up to so I can cool wort in all in one brewing system and glycol chiller will help it get down to 70 degrees once it is transferred. I think this time could be easier and better.
The beer is truly pale. Because I didnt use the screen during sparge I am guessing I did not do well to get it all. We shall see. I need to look up color again. It is in one of my books how it should look.
 
I use to ferment in containers without drain valves, used an auto siphon to rack from fermenter to keg.
View attachment 16110
Yes, I had that when I made beer in buckets. I got the valve unplugged. It is quite awesome actually. I have a pressure transfer kit as I am going to keg it. It is interesting to think about still using something like that.
 
I tip my fermenters back so the trub settles away from the spigot, not sure if that is feasible with the grainfather fermenter. It is hard to tell from the picture, but it does the trick!
20200417_221523.jpg
 
I tip my fermenters back so the trub settles away from the spigot, not sure if that is feasible with the grainfather fermenter. It is hard to tell from the picture, but it does the trick!
View attachment 16112
I got one of these delivered to me. They had to come back and get it. I am getting the trub out fine now. THis fermenter has valves at bottom that do this. It was so thick I had to keep opening and closing as it clumped out. Eventually beer was coming out. I should have done it sooner. I know better. The gravity has gone down but still nowhere near its final gravity. I have fermenting now at 50 degrees. 4 days at 70 degrees. But there was not alot of movement with yeast yesterday. I went down to fifty this am. Slowly starting to move again.
 
Leaving the trub in until the very end has some benefits for the beer. Much of the trub is yeast, almost as much is hops, both needed. I am kinda new to this, but I would not remove the bottom sediment prior to completed fermentation.
 
Leaving the trub in until the very end has some benefits for the beer. Much of the trub is yeast, almost as much is hops, both needed. I am kinda new to this, but I would not remove the bottom sediment prior to completed fermentation.
This is a good piece of advice!
 
Leaving the trub in until the very end has some benefits for the beer. Much of the trub is yeast, almost as much is hops, both needed. I am kinda new to this, but I would not remove the bottom sediment prior to completed fermentation.
I do this. Once active ferm is done. At the time that people would transfer to secondary, i dump trub out the bottom butterfly
 
I got one of these delivered to me. They had to come back and get it. I am getting the trub out fine now. THis fermenter has valves at bottom that do this. It was so thick I had to keep opening and closing as it clumped out. Eventually beer was coming out. I should have done it sooner. I know better. The gravity has gone down but still nowhere near its final gravity. I have fermenting now at 50 degrees. 4 days at 70 degrees. But there was not alot of movement with yeast yesterday. I went down to fifty this am. Slowly starting to move again.
Why drop the temp? If you've already done 4 days at 70 then I'd just let it finish at that temp. What type of beer is it? I start my beers at lower temps and either let them free rise on their own to a certain point or allow most the fermentation to happen and then drive it up with heat pads to allow it to finish up.
The movement you are seeing now is happening because of the yeast/trub dump you just did - the movement stirred the yeast back up into suspension more than likely.
Are you dropping the temp to get down into a cold crash state? If so, I'd wait until the fermentation in complete to do so.
 
I have fermenting now at 50 degrees. 4 days at 70 degrees. But there was not alot of movement with yeast yesterday. I went down to fifty this am. Slowly starting to move again.

Dropping the temp before final gravity is reached is a perfect formula for a stuck fermentation. Few yeasts ferment at their best at 50 degrees, even at the beginning of fermentation, and certainly not a yeast that would be typically used for an English Bitter.
Where did you get the notion that lowering the temp would be beneficial? Temperature fluctuations are very much undesirable. At this point you've stressed the yeast in every possible way and I wouldn't count on a full or clean fermentation.
English Bitter with the right yeast is one of the easiest beers to brew. Next time you attempt it, keep it simple...Mash at 152 or so, get a good boil, cool to 68 degrees, pitch Nottingham yeast or S-04, hold the temp at 68 (no higher) for around 7 days, drop temp (optional), let the yeast settle and bottle up.
 
Dropping the temp before final gravity is reached is a perfect formula for a stuck fermentation. Few yeasts ferment at their best at 50 degrees, even at the beginning of fermentation, and certainly not a yeast that would be typically used for an English Bitter.
Where did you get the notion that lowering the temp would be beneficial? Temperature fluctuations are very much undesirable. At this point you've stressed the yeast in every possible way and I wouldn't count on a full or clean fermentation.
English Bitter with the right yeast is one of the easiest beers to brew. Next time you attempt it, keep it simple...Mash at 152 or so, get a good boil, cool to 68 degrees, pitch Nottingham yeast or S-04, hold the temp at 68 (no higher) for around 7 days, drop temp (optional), let the yeast settle and bottle up.
Good advice.
 
Made my first beer with my grainfather all in one brewing, grainfather fermenter and glycol chiller. Let me say that ALL the equipment worked spectacularly and the recipes on the app were spot on when the next steps were necessary. However, as a novice, I made some big errors with equipment which caused me to have to dump the hot wort in fermenter and to use the gylcol chiller to cool it down. I messed up with chiller with amount of liquid (though I did what video said) and it was hours and hours before I figured out I should have the liquid in the tank up to the top.
I made so many stupid errors that I think the beer is ruined. I took a gravity reading this am and it is exactly at original gravity. I took a taste and was VERY sad. I am not familiar with English Bitter beer but if the taste is not good, should I assume the beer is ruined? I only have two fermenters and I have two more recipes that will need a couple of months. So I thought I would make something that doesn't need alot of time and will likely have to break down and buy another fermenter. I love these grainfathers. I can track its progress wirelessly no matter where I am.
Does anyone have an opinion about the beer being contaminated or just cooked poorly? Am I correct in thinking it should have had an acceptable flavor? The yeast is going to town.
Wort remaining hot for an extended period will not ruin a beer. Lots of brewers use a no-chill method where the wort goes into a container hot and cools to room temperature overnight before pitching yeast.
Made my first beer with my grainfather all in one brewing, grainfather fermenter and glycol chiller. Let me say that ALL the equipment worked spectacularly and the recipes on the app were spot on when the next steps were necessary. However, as a novice, I made some big errors with equipment which caused me to have to dump the hot wort in fermenter and to use the gylcol chiller to cool it down. I messed up with chiller with amount of liquid (though I did what video said) and it was hours and hours before I figured out I should have the liquid in the tank up to the top.
I made so many stupid errors that I think the beer is ruined. I took a gravity reading this am and it is exactly at original gravity. I took a taste and was VERY sad. I am not familiar with English Bitter beer but if the taste is not good, should I assume the beer is ruined? I only have two fermenters and I have two more recipes that will need a couple of months. So I thought I would make something that doesn't need alot of time and will likely have to break down and buy another fermenter. I love these grainfathers. I can track its progress wirelessly no matter where I am.
Does anyone have an opinion about the beer being contaminated or just cooked poorly? Am I correct in thinking it should have had an acceptable flavor? The yeast is going to town.
Finally kegged my Humpty Dumpty English Ale. Took six hours to move from fermenter because the couplers were all backwards and then I had to hook up others, etc. That said, beer is actually very interesting. I want to make it again because I know I did not get all the complex flavors. But need help. I have the gas at 12 psi. But the beer is coming out flat. What am I doing wrong?
 

Back
Top