Brewing Master

Question:

I’m no expert, but I believe that in order to be effective at bottling given beer pH, you need to use a lot of Pot Met. So much that it will adversly

affect I don’t understand the relationship with pH.  I’m using the Pot Met to gobble up oxygen, not as a sanitizer.  I’ve never read that it is more or less effective at removing oxygen dependant upon pH. cheers, -alan

Response:

I’m no expert, but I believe that in order to be effective at bottling given beer pH, you need to use a lot of Pot Met. So much that it will adversly affect I don’t understand the relationship with pH.  I’m using the Pot Met to gobble up oxygen, not as a sanitizer.  I’ve never read that it is more or less effective at removing oxygen dependant upon pH.

Alan, I think you’re correct. I believe free SO2 serves as an antioxidant, while molecular is antimicrobial. So pH should not have an effect on antioxidant effectiveness.

Response:

Now, here’s the problem: We’re watching a repeat of Good Eats this afternoon, and we realize that we were a gallon short on the water. Thanks in advance. Les

I always top off the wort with a gallon or so of cold tap water in the primary fermenter.  Your risk of contamination is very low if you keep everything sterile.  Boil a little water in a tea pot, then dump it out and fill it from your tap, if you trust your tap water. Particularly now that fermentation has started your yeast have a big head start on any foreign bacteria. You will be adding a little more water when you bottle, if you boil your priming sugar (corn sugar or malt).  I don’t see any harm in adding it now.

Response:

Good to see you geting back into it. This is what I would do. I would go buy a gallon of meneral water at the grocery. And pour the whole thing in. No boiling, no cooling, no head ach …60cents to perfection. Use meneral as it is better then distilled for making beer but distilled or ozanated would work. It would be best to do this as soon as posible so strait into the fermenter. Just be shure not to splash too much. If you are using a carboy just pour down the inside edge like a beer glass. This is a BAD idea. Mineral water, as well as the tap water that Alan suggested above, is loaded with O2. You need to boil the water first to drive off any oxygen, or you will oxidize the beer at this stage.

Stage?  Fermentation was just beginning–he was only four hours or so into it.  In fact, adding the water any time during the first few days should pose no problem.  I would have suggested a gallon of distilled water from the store if there was any question, but the mineral water is a much better idea. What surprises me is that folks will pay $1.50 for a 12 oz bottle of Evian, when mineral water which is just as good costs half that per gallon, and most tap water is around 1 cent per gallon.  Spell "Evian" backwards.

Response:

says… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Good to see you geting back into it. This is what I would do. I would go buy a gallon of meneral water at the grocery. And pour the whole thing in. No boiling, no cooling, no head ach …60cents to perfection. Use meneral as it is better then distilled for making beer but distilled or ozanated would work. It would be best to do this as soon as posible so strait into the fermenter. Just be shure not to splash too much. If you are using a carboy just pour down the inside edge like a beer glass. This is a BAD idea. Mineral water, as well as the tap water that Alan suggested above, is loaded with O2. You need to boil the water first to drive off any oxygen, or you will oxidize the beer at this stage. Stage?  Fermentation was just beginning–he was only four hours or so into it.  In fact, adding the water any time during the first few days should pose no problem.  I would have suggested a gallon of distilled water from the store if there was any question, but the mineral water is a much better idea.

Paul, you’re right. I posted this after reading another post in this thread regarding adding water at bottling time, and was still thinking in those terms. Sorry for any confusion.

Response:

Good to see you geting back into it. This is what I would do. I would go buy a gallon of meneral water at the grocery. And pour the whole thing in. No boiling, no cooling, no head ach …60cents to perfection. Use meneral as it is better then distilled for making beer but distilled or ozanated would work. It would be best to do this as soon as posible so strait into the fermenter. Just be shure not to splash too much. If you are using a carboy just pour down the inside edge like a beer glass. This is a BAD idea. Mineral water, as well as the tap water that Alan suggested above, is loaded with O2. You need to boil the water first to drive off any oxygen, or you will oxidize the beer at this stage.

Doesn’t this depend on how far along the fermentation is? If it’s nearly done, yes, this is a bad idea. If it is not, I don’t see how this will hurt.

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Good to see you geting back into it. This is what I would do. I would go buy a gallon of meneral water at the grocery. And pour the whole thing in. No boiling, no cooling, no head ach …60cents to perfection. Use meneral as it is better then distilled for making beer but distilled or ozanated would work. It would be best to do this as soon as posible so strait into the fermenter. Just be shure not to splash too much. If you are using a carboy just pour down the inside edge like a beer glass. This is a BAD idea. Mineral water, as well as the tap water that Alan suggested above, is loaded with O2. You need to boil the water first to drive off any oxygen, or you will oxidize the beer at this stage. Doesn’t this depend on how far along the fermentation is? If it’s nearly done, yes, this is a bad idea. If it is not, I don’t see how this will hurt.

Yes, I already clarified this in a previous post.

Response:

I wouldn’t. Pot Met may be OK during some parts of wort processing, but I wouldn’t use it at those dose (150 PPM) during bottling. At beer pH, how effective is it? Actually 1/2 tsp is a bit much for a regular sized batch, isn’t it? I’ve begun using about 1/8th in a regular (20 litre / 5 US gallon) batch. As to how effective it is, that’s really the question, isn’t it?  That’s right up there with the HSA question.  As I’ve only just begun doing this my last couple of batches I haven’t really got the data for effectiveness, but a brew-friend swears by it and has slowly convinced me …

I’m no expert, but I believe that in order to be effective at bottling given beer pH, you need to use a lot of Pot Met. So much that it will adversly affect the flavor and aroma of the finished beer. Using it at other stages, like mashing, may be more practical (I won’t claim usefull) because you can use larger quantities knowing that little will remain by bottling time.

Response:

I wouldn’t. Pot Met may be OK during some parts of wort processing, but I wouldn’t use it at those dose (150 PPM) during bottling. At beer pH, how effective is it?

Actually 1/2 tsp is a bit much for a regular sized batch, isn’t it? I’ve begun using about 1/8th in a regular (20 litre / 5 US gallon) batch. As to how effective it is, that’s really the question, isn’t it?  That’s right up there with the HSA question.  As I’ve only just begun doing this my last couple of batches I haven’t really got the data for effectiveness, but a brew-friend swears by it and has slowly convinced me … cheers, -Alan http://www.thebeersite.com/

Response:

Here’s the deal:  wait until it’s time to bottle and then use a gallon of mineral water to boil the priming sugar (or extract).

This is what I would do as well.  Just add the extra water to the priming solution you are going to boil at bottle time. John. —                            *** John P. Kolesar ***            *** Head Administrator, Monty Python’s Flying Talker ***

Response:

This is a BAD idea. Mineral water, as well as the tap water that Alan suggested above, is loaded with O2. You need to boil the water first to drive off any oxygen, or you will oxidize the beer at this stage. Yes, I suppose that might be a concern if you added the water at bottling time. But if you add within 24 hours of pitching the yeast you do not have to worry.

Yeah, that’s true in some cases but really depends on the yeast and temperature. In some cases, fermentation is mostly complete within 24 hours. You could also add a 1/2 teaspoon of potassium metabisulphite at bottling to eliminate the need to boil the water.  This will also combat oxygenation while racking, bottling, etc.

I wouldn’t. Pot Met may be OK during some parts of wort processing, but I wouldn’t use it at those dose (150 PPM) during bottling. At beer pH, how effective is it? – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -cheers, -Alan www.thebeersite.com

Response:

I would not add water due to contamanation problems. I am not an expert by far though as for being a gallon short it should only bring you O.G. if all goes well you will just have a stronger beer allthough this is a guess but it sounds right to me.

Shouldnt matter. Add it now, or later… just make sure you boil the water first to sterilize it, then cool it down. Fermentation wont be effected by water volume, at least not 1 gallon difference. Me, I’d just add it to the bottling bucket… easier to pour 1 gal of water into a bottling bucket than through a 1" wide carboy mouth.

Response:

says… If you decide to add water, I’d do it at the time you bottle, and boil it and let it cool beforehand.  You take the risk of ruining a batch of beer though….

Why would adding the correct volume of water ruin it? – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I wanted to start slow and try my hand at brewing up some homemade sodas first. To this end, I started buying some equipment in June. A new job and some ill health prevented me from doing anything with the equipment until now. This week, Alton Brown of Food TV’s "Good Eats" did a show on homebrewed beer. A friend was watching the show and he got all excited. I’ve been trying to interest this friend in homebrew for some time, but it took Good Eats to do it. Anyway, we went down to the homebrew store yesterday and bought the rest of the equipment we needed to do beer. We took over his kitchen this morning and cooked up our first batch. While waiting for the beer to finish, we’ll try soda next weekend. Now, here’s the problem: We’re watching a repeat of Good Eats this afternoon, and we realize that we were a gallon short on the water. I know exactly what went wrong: I screwed it up! I had the recipe for soda in mind (4 gal.) and didn’t add enough of the water. So, now, what to do? My friend wants to break the seal on the glass carboy and add the extra water. I want to leave it alone, let the fermentation finish, and add it to the bottling bucket before the second fermentation and bottling. I’m thinking that the chance of contamination is greater than spoiling the batch by being a gallon short. I’m thinking the greater sugar concentration will simply make the fermentation run a little faster. Exalted homebrewers, what bit of advice do you have for a couple of first time brewers? Thanks in advance. Les

Response:

Add it when bottling.   On the other hand, if you leave it as is, you’ll end up with some rich, strong beer.  I might consider leaving it as is ! Clarke

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I wanted to start slow and try my hand at brewing up some homemade sodas first. To this end, I started buying some equipment in June. A new job and some ill health prevented me from doing anything with the equipment until now. This week, Alton Brown of Food TV’s "Good Eats" did a show on homebrewed beer. A friend was watching the show and he got all excited. I’ve been trying to interest this friend in homebrew for some time, but it took Good Eats to do it. Anyway, we went down to the homebrew store yesterday and bought the rest of the equipment we needed to do beer. We took over his kitchen this morning and cooked up our first batch. While waiting for the beer to finish, we’ll try soda next weekend. Now, here’s the problem: We’re watching a repeat of Good Eats this afternoon, and we realize that we were a gallon short on the water. I know exactly what went wrong: I screwed it up! I had the recipe for soda in mind (4 gal.) and didn’t add enough of the water. So, now, what to do? My friend wants to break the seal on the glass carboy and add the extra water. I want to leave it alone, let the fermentation finish, and add it to the bottling bucket before the second fermentation and bottling. I’m thinking that the chance of contamination is greater than spoiling the batch by being a gallon short. I’m thinking the greater sugar concentration will simply make the fermentation run a little faster. Exalted homebrewers, what bit of advice do you have for a couple of first time brewers? Thanks in advance. Les

Response:

oops that should be raise your O.G

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I would not add water due to contamanation problems. I am not an expert by far though as for being a gallon short it should only bring you O.G. if all goes well you will just have a stronger beer allthough this is a guess but it sounds right to me. Liam I wanted to start slow and try my hand at brewing up some homemade sodas first. To this end, I started buying some equipment in June. A new job and some ill health prevented me from doing anything with the equipment until now. This week, Alton Brown of Food TV’s "Good Eats" did a show on homebrewed beer. A friend was watching the show and he got all excited. I’ve been trying to interest this friend in homebrew for some time, but it took Good Eats to do it. Anyway, we went down to the homebrew store yesterday and bought the rest of the equipment we needed to do beer. We took over his kitchen this morning and cooked up our first batch. While waiting for the beer to finish, we’ll try soda next weekend. Now, here’s the problem: We’re watching a repeat of Good Eats this afternoon, and we realize that we were a gallon short on the water. I know exactly what went wrong: I screwed it up! I had the recipe for soda in mind (4 gal.) and didn’t add enough of the water. So, now, what to do? My friend wants to break the seal on the glass carboy and add the extra water. I want to leave it alone, let the fermentation finish, and add it to the bottling bucket before the second fermentation and bottling. I’m thinking that the chance of contamination is greater than spoiling the batch by being a gallon short. I’m thinking the greater sugar concentration will simply make the fermentation run a little faster. Exalted homebrewers, what bit of advice do you have for a couple of first time brewers? Thanks in advance. Les

Response:

This is a BAD idea. Mineral water, as well as the tap water that Alan suggested above, is loaded with O2. You need to boil the water first to drive off any oxygen, or you will oxidize the beer at this stage.

Yes, I suppose that might be a concern if you added the water at bottling time. But if you add within 24 hours of pitching the yeast you do not have to worry. You could also add a 1/2 teaspoon of potassium metabisulphite at bottling to eliminate the need to boil the water.  This will also combat oxygenation while racking, bottling, etc. cheers, -Alan www.thebeersite.com

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I wanted to start slow and try my hand at brewing up some homemade sodas first. To this end, I started buying some equipment in June. A new job and some ill health prevented me from doing anything with the equipment until now. This week, Alton Brown of Food TV’s "Good Eats" did a show on homebrewed beer. A friend was watching the show and he got all excited. I’ve been trying to interest this friend in homebrew for some time, but it took Good Eats to do it. Anyway, we went down to the homebrew store yesterday and bought the rest of the equipment we needed to do beer. We took over his kitchen this morning and cooked up our first batch. While waiting for the beer to finish, we’ll try soda next weekend. Now, here’s the problem: We’re watching a repeat of Good Eats this afternoon, and we realize that we were a gallon short on the water. I know exactly what went wrong: I screwed it up! I had the recipe for soda in mind (4 gal.) and didn’t add enough of the water. So, now, what to do? My friend wants to break the seal on the glass carboy and add the extra water. I want to leave it alone, let the fermentation finish, and add it to the bottling bucket before the second fermentation and bottling. I’m thinking that the chance of contamination is greater than spoiling the batch by being a gallon short. I’m thinking the greater sugar concentration will simply make the fermentation run a little faster. Exalted homebrewers, what bit of advice do you have for a couple of first time brewers?

Alton wanted to make it easy for someone to make beer, and did a pretty good job, but he gaffed a few places.  One IMHO was not telling you to purchase and use a hydrometer.  If you new the starting gravity the brew should have reached, you would have immediately caught the problem.  You might find the website www.howtobrew.com helpful as you progress in your brewing. Cheers, Mike

Response:

Here’s the deal:  wait until it’s time to bottle and then use a gallon of mineral water to boil the priming sugar (or extract).

Response:

That is not exactly correct. The water will not affect fermentation but the temp. of the water will. If the water added is colder than the fermenting wort it may slow down even halt fermentation. If it is hotter, it can raise the temp of your fermentation creating a wild fermentation. I would leave it alone and just be content with 4 gallons of a higher alcohol brew. Cheers.. — George Daher www.geocities.com/sgdaher/brewery

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I would not add water due to contamanation problems. I am not an expert by far though as for being a gallon short it should only bring you O.G. if all goes well you will just have a stronger beer allthough this is a guess but it sounds right to me. Shouldnt matter. Add it now, or later… just make sure you boil the water first to sterilize it, then cool it down. Fermentation wont be effected by water volume, at least not 1 gallon difference. Me, I’d just add it to the bottling bucket… easier to pour 1 gal of water into a bottling bucket than through a 1" wide carboy mouth.

Response:

Good to see you geting back into it. This is what I would do. I would go buy a gallon of meneral water at the grocery. And pour the whole thing in. No boiling, no cooling, no head ach …60cents to perfection. Use meneral as it is better then distilled for making beer but distilled or ozanated would work. It would be best to do this as soon as posible so strait into the fermenter. Just be shure not to splash too much. If you are using a carboy just pour down the inside edge like a beer glass.

This is a BAD idea. Mineral water, as well as the tap water that Alan suggested above, is loaded with O2. You need to boil the water first to drive off any oxygen, or you will oxidize the beer at this stage. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I wanted to start slow and try my hand at brewing up some homemade sodas first. To this end, I started buying some equipment in June. A new job and some ill health prevented me from doing anything with the equipment until now. <snip

Response:

Exalted homebrewers, what bit of advice do you have for a couple of first time brewers?

It’s good to be cautious of contamination, but realistically either way should be fine if you are careful and use potable water.  In some areas plain tap water is fine, while in other areas (usually more southern climes) you should boil and cool the water first. If you do not dilute til bottling time there is a chance the final gravity won’t be quite as low as it would if you dilute now, if by chance the extra alcohol produced by the higher gravity wort you have now is enough to push your yeast past its threshold of tolerance.  But the chances of that are pretty slim so it’s more ‘theoretical’ than anything. cheers, -Alan

Response:

Good to see you geting back into it. This is what I would do. I would go buy a gallon of meneral water at the grocery. And pour the whole thing in. No boiling, no cooling, no head ach …60cents to perfection. Use meneral as it is better then distilled for making beer but distilled or ozanated would work. It would be best to do this as soon as posible so strait into the fermenter. Just be shure not to splash too much. If you are using a carboy just pour down the inside edge like a beer glass.

I wanted to start slow and try my hand at brewing up some homemade sodas first. To this end, I started buying some equipment in June. A new job and some ill health prevented me from doing anything with the equipment until now.

<snip

Response:

If you decide to add water, I’d do it at the time you bottle, and boil it and let it cool beforehand.  You take the risk of ruining a batch of beer though….

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I wanted to start slow and try my hand at brewing up some homemade sodas first. To this end, I started buying some equipment in June. A new job and some ill health prevented me from doing anything with the equipment until now. This week, Alton Brown of Food TV’s "Good Eats" did a show on homebrewed beer. A friend was watching the show and he got all excited. I’ve been trying to interest this friend in homebrew for some time, but it took Good Eats to do it. Anyway, we went down to the homebrew store yesterday and bought the rest of the equipment we needed to do beer. We took over his kitchen this morning and cooked up our first batch. While waiting for the beer to finish, we’ll try soda next weekend. Now, here’s the problem: We’re watching a repeat of Good Eats this afternoon, and we realize that we were a gallon short on the water. I know exactly what went wrong: I screwed it up! I had the recipe for soda in mind (4 gal.) and didn’t add enough of the water. So, now, what to do? My friend wants to break the seal on the glass carboy and add the extra water. I want to leave it alone, let the fermentation finish, and add it to the bottling bucket before the second fermentation and bottling. I’m thinking that the chance of contamination is greater than spoiling the batch by being a gallon short. I’m thinking the greater sugar concentration will simply make the fermentation run a little faster. Exalted homebrewers, what bit of advice do you have for a couple of first time brewers? Thanks in advance. Les

Response:

I wanted to start slow and try my hand at brewing up some homemade sodas first. To this end, I started buying some equipment in June. A new job and some ill health prevented me from doing anything with the equipment until now. This week, Alton Brown of Food TV’s "Good Eats" did a show on homebrewed beer. A friend was watching the show and he got all excited. I’ve been trying to interest this friend in homebrew for some time, but it took Good Eats to do it. Anyway, we went down to the homebrew store yesterday and bought the rest of the equipment we needed to do beer. We took over his kitchen this morning and cooked up our first batch. While waiting for the beer to finish, we’ll try soda next weekend. Now, here’s the problem: We’re watching a repeat of Good Eats this afternoon, and we realize that we were a gallon short on the water. I know exactly what went wrong: I screwed it up! I had the recipe for soda in mind (4 gal.) and didn’t add enough of the water. So, now, what to do? My friend wants to break the seal on the glass carboy and add the extra water. I want to leave it alone, let the fermentation finish, and add it to the bottling bucket before the second fermentation and bottling. I’m thinking that the chance of contamination is greater than spoiling the batch by being a gallon short. I’m thinking the greater sugar concentration will simply make the fermentation run a little faster. Exalted homebrewers, what bit of advice do you have for a couple of first time brewers? Thanks in advance. Les

Response:

I would not add water due to contamanation problems. I am not an expert by far though as for being a gallon short it should only bring you O.G. if all goes well you will just have a stronger beer allthough this is a guess but it sounds right to me. Liam

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I wanted to start slow and try my hand at brewing up some homemade sodas first. To this end, I started buying some equipment in June. A new job and some ill health prevented me from doing anything with the equipment until now. This week, Alton Brown of Food TV’s "Good Eats" did a show on homebrewed beer. A friend was watching the show and he got all excited. I’ve been trying to interest this friend in homebrew for some time, but it took Good Eats to do it. Anyway, we went down to the homebrew store yesterday and bought the rest of the equipment we needed to do beer. We took over his kitchen this morning and cooked up our first batch. While waiting for the beer to finish, we’ll try soda next weekend. Now, here’s the problem: We’re watching a repeat of Good Eats this afternoon, and we realize that we were a gallon short on the water. I know exactly what went wrong: I screwed it up! I had the recipe for soda in mind (4 gal.) and didn’t add enough of the water. So, now, what to do? My friend wants to break the seal on the glass carboy and add the extra water. I want to leave it alone, let the fermentation finish, and add it to the bottling bucket before the second fermentation and bottling. I’m thinking that the chance of contamination is greater than spoiling the batch by being a gallon short. I’m thinking the greater sugar concentration will simply make the fermentation run a little faster. Exalted homebrewers, what bit of advice do you have for a couple of first time brewers? Thanks in advance. Les

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