First kit brew - Ditch's stout. Probable disaster!

[Drzava]

After a few turbo cider demijohns, it was time for my first ever 'proper' homebrew session this weekend - "Ditch's Stout". Things didn't go too well unfortunately.......

For those that don't know, Ditch's stout is a simple hack of the Cooper's original stout kit - made with 1kg of dark spraymalt and a cup of sugar (dermera in my case), up to 20L.

Added the spraymalt to ~10L cold tap water and had at it with the stirring paddle stuck into a drill. Massive foam of course!

Dissolved ~200g dermera sugar in a litre or so boiling water and added.

Heated the kit tin and added and mixed.

Waited (for ages!) for the foam to die down somewhat to add water to bring to 20L. Temp was low (aiming for 25ish degrees) so added a good bit of hot water.

And here was my main problem - I ended up with my wort at 31C! Decided to leave it cool. Looked at the instructions in the meantime - big warning that you should pitch the yeast anyway at any temp below 32C as the risk of infection is too great if let sitting - which does make sense. So fired the yeast in and gave it a quick stir.

OG 1.056.

Next morning and the airlock is bubbling fiercely - several bubbles a second. I had covered the fermenter with a bin bag in case of explosions. Checked temp - 25C (ambient 18). Happy with that - that's the temp Ditch sets his heater to. VERY strong smell of banana.

Last night I took a look at the Ditch's stout thread on JBK. Ooops - Ditch actually uses 23C. Removed the bin bag to help temp get down. This morning, temp is down to ~23C and airlock activity has reduced somewhat. Still a banana smell.


Reading around, it's likely my brew will be significantly impaired, if not ruined due to the high starting and fermenting temps! I'll stick with it anyway and see how it turns out. Hopefully, extended time in the bottle will clear it up.


Oh, and why was my wort too warm? Because my stick on LCD thermometer (from the Homebrew Company) isn't working properly that's why! I have an infrared thermometer that I've been using for my cider brews. However, when adding water to the fermenter for the stout I just kept an eye on the thermometer which I had just stuck on (was doing a few other things at the same time). Turns out that the fucker won't give a temp reading unless you press it with your finger! So while I thought the temperature was too low to give a reading (bottom of scale is 18C), turns out it was actually too high. Only copped it when I had about 18L in the fermenter and put my hand on it - it was warm! Out with the infrared - temp 40C! Could only add a couple of litres cold water then, hence the 31C pitching temp!

[Bubbles]

The instructions on those Coopers kits, with regard to fermentation temperatures, are notoriously bad. Sorry to say that it sounds like you pitched far too hot and might end up with some dodgy flavours in your brew. Funnily enough, I made the exact same mistake when doing a Ditch's Stout back in the day. Chalk it down as a lesson learned. You should aim to be pitching at 18-20 for most ale fermentations (obviously, beers like Belgians and weissbiers are the exception). Stick with it, you'd never know, you might end up liking it.

The stick-on thermometers are also known for being hopelessly inaccurate, unfortunately.

[molc]

Ever for a Belgian, you want to pitch around 18C and get the yeast growing before starting to ramp up the temperature. A high pitch temperature just gets them stressed out and throwing out all sorts of crazy phenolics that are hard to clean up afterwards.

[LordEoin]

First of all, throw away your aquarium thermometer and get a brewing one. They go from about 10C. They can sometimes be off by a couple of degrees but usually they're fairly close but people just dont read the instructions to find out what the different colours mean.
Second, take your stirring paddle out of the drill. That'll be grand for aeration (provided your drill is clean) but you'll scratch the shit out of your bucket treating it like that.
For pitching at around 18-20, 3liters of boiling water and topped up with cold tap water usually gets me fairly close to the mark.
Just ride it through and you should have something drinkable but a bit off.

[DEMPSEY]

When it is ready and conditioned in the bottle just serve it to the members of your familyyou don't like and tell them it your belgium experiment

[Drzava]

Don't worry, I'm aware of the first rule of homebrewing - ignore the kit instructions! I only looked at them for the first time while my wort was cooling and saw the warning about warm, uninoculated, wort. In fairness, the warning make a lot of sense - hence my pitching even though I knew the wort was really too warm. The problem with the thermometer is that it wouldn't work until rubbed with a finger (which I found out too late) - it actually seems accurate enough (agrees with my infrared one), but that's no good if it won't give a bloody reading unless coaxed! Really annoyed by it TBH - first time using it, will stick with the infrared from now on. Has anyone come across a stick on thermometer acting like this before?

As for taking up the fermentation temp as 25 (as opposed to 23), and thinking I should pitch a couple of degrees higher than this, well that's my own bloody fault!

Anyway, temp has dropped to 21C now, and hardly bubbling at all, so I guess it got most of its fermentation done in two days!

[Drzava]

Intended to leave this alone until the weekend at least....... but first brew impatience struck! So drew off a sample last night. Temp now down to 19C and the airlock equalised so not much going on it seems. Anyway, SG was only 1.026 so, at best, fermentation has slowed substantially; at worst, it's stuck. Banana smell from the sample but that soon cleared. In the interests of science I necked the sample and, well, it tastes like stout! A bit watery, but it's not too bad really!

[mervynskidmore]

First of all, throw away your aquarium thermometer and get a brewing one. They go from about 10C. They can sometimes be off by a couple of degrees but usually they're fairly close but people just dont read the instructions to find out what the different colours mean.
Second, take your stirring paddle out of the drill. That'll be grand for aeration (provided your drill is clean) but you'll scratch the shit out of your bucket treating it like that.
For pitching at around 18-20, 3liters of boiling water and topped up with cold tap water usually gets me fairly close to the mark.
Just ride it through and you should have something drinkable but a bit off.

What do you mean by instructions for what different colours mean?

[LordEoin]

Just because a number is lit up doesn't mean it's at that temperature.
You need to look at what color it is.
Red = 1°C below the stated temp
green = at the stated temperature
blue = 1°C above the stated temp
Some strip thermometers are different, so read the instructions that came with it or watch this quick video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBb2q2GI3pY

[Drzava]

As of the 18th (2 days after last post), SG had dropped slightly further to 1.020 and temp to 18C. Will check it again tonight.

[Drzava]

Still 1.020 as of the 20th, so I have the honour of having a stuck fermentation on my very first brew! Anyway, cuddled it with hot water bottles last night 21st until it got up to 23C, giving it some serious shaking along the way (didn't remove lid). Temp currently still 21C but nowt happening in the airlock. Will check the gravity again tomorrow.

[Drzava]

1.018 yesterday, and that's looking at the hydrometer optimistically! Warmed it again to 22C and removed the lid and stirred. No action in the airlock this morning though! I'll take another SG tomorrow, but I reckon this batch is for the drain unfortunately! Regardless, it's out of there at the weekend - want to get another brew on and I only have space for one at a time.

[LordEoin]

You're poking at it way too much.
It sounds like it's still fermenting out, so just leave it alone for a week.
All this poking is going to introduce an infection.

[Drzava]

Last night was the first time I actually 'poked' it - lid had remained sealed since pitching until then. I had warmed and swirled it previously. At best, it's dropped only 2 gravity points in 5 days (and that's being generous with the meniscus last night). We'll see how it's looking later in the week. It's probably easy to get impatient with your first brew too I guess!

[Drzava]

Still 1.018. Five days now including all sorts of encouragements to ferment! In two minds over whether to chuck it down the drain, or give it another week. Problem is I can't get another brew on until it's gone. Tastes OK now, banana smell is finally gone.