1st all grain batch, kreusen not dropping

[TheDarkSide]

Wow..what a day, huh?

I think your first step is to taste it. When you left it in the kettle overnight and the next day, was it covered? When you came back to do your 20 minute addition, was the wort close to boiling temp (i.e. flame just went out) or what is cooled significantly (i.e. went out a while ago)?

I suspect with you mowing and stirring stuff up in the air, you may have an infection. Only tasting will tell, but I would possibly consider this a lost cause...or maybe it will be the best beer you ever made and you'll need to reproduce it someday

[Ozwald]

Wow. At the very least I hope there were some lessons learned. I agree to give her a taste & be patient with it. It might work out, it might not. You can always dump it later, but I'd still hang on to the chance that it might be salvageable.

[gwk453]

Sounds kind of like how primitive man discovered beer......hope it taste better...... Wow that was one lightning rod of a starter!!!!!!!......I am surprised it didn't trigger a tidal wave!

How about a youtube video of the tasting


Gary

[bazookazilla]

I have expected the worst ever since I gave up on it on brew day. I just figured I might as well go ahead and pitch since I already had so much time and $$ invested and it went so poorly. Not to mention lots of cash spent on new equipment and time spent studying and researching to help prevent something like this from happening. I should has been much more aware about not lautering slowly enough and I NEVER should have started drinking before I pitched, or at least flameout...
I think I also should have started with a 5 gallon batch for my first AG beer.

[Afterlab]

Wow..what a day, huh?

What a day and then some. I guess to for once stray off of technical brewing stuff, ask yourself what type of brewer you want to be. If you are looking to really perfect recipes, numbers and what not then you really need to consider investing more time and energy in preparing, perfecting and paying attention to your brew day. You could've gotten away with a lot of the unfortunately shitty things that happened to you on an extract batch but with all grain you really need to monitor and prepare for the processes involved so that theoretical shit does not hit the fan like it did, especially on your first all grain brew day.

To be honest my biggest concern from your initial post is the lack of execution that occured on brew day and not necessarily the krausen not dropping during fermentation. If you are looking to just make drinkable and slightly above average beer you are probably safe not over-thinking brew day and having the occasional mistake. If you are serious about the hobby, and it sounds like you are, take brew day seriously and drink and do chores afterwards. There is a reason the title Brewer and Master Brewer are considered to be jobs and that is they require focus to produce a consistently quality product. You are already investing 4-5 hours on an all grain brew day, do what you need to do to ensure you haven't wasted those 4-5 hours.

[gwk453]

Wow..what a day, huh?

If you are serious about the hobby, and it sounds like you are, take brew day seriously and drink and do chores afterwards..

Excellent advice Afterlab!!!!!!!!! ............ There is just to much to deal with on brew day!


Gary

[BDawg]

Wow..what a day, huh?

If you are serious about the hobby, and it sounds like you are, take brew day seriously and drink and do chores afterwards..

Excellent advice Afterlab!!!!!!!!! ............ There is just to much to deal with on brew day!


Gary

+1

[mobrewer]

I bet you would've still made a drinkable beer all the way up until the wort was left out all night. I'd be worried about some souring after sitting out all night. I did something similar when I first started and the beer went sour. And not a pleasant sour like Belgian sour ale either. I choked down three beers then poured the rest of the batch down the drain. Maybe you'll have better results than I did.