First Timer

I've just finished my first ever brew after having been talking about it for so long and as much as I enjoyed it I'd be lying if I said it all went to plan so I'm hoping for advice if anybody can help.

Everything went pretty well up until the point of syphoning the brew into the FV, where I lost control of the speed of the syphon flow and ended up with brew all over the floor and an only half full demijohn and after all the effort, it hardly seemed worth it.

I guess my first question is, after worrying that the syphon would not get going, how do I stop it from flowing so quickly and/it control the speed of it's flow in general? I had my brew on a kitchen counter and my demijohn on the floor. I suspect that the distance between the two was too great? I also had a muslin bag to try and catch the hops as the liquid passed from one into the other and this became full very quickly. Is there a better way to deal with this issue?

The other issue I had was that my hydrometer reading was way off what I was expecting as my kit told me to expect a reading of 1055 whereas what I ended up with was a reading of 1042. Is that a big difference and will it have a huge effect on the end result? My brew was also a much darker colour than I expected. I was brewing a hoppy pale ale but it came out looking like a murky dark brown and I'm not sure why.

My final issue is potentially not anything I need to worry about but after my syphon mishap, I had scrambled around to try and minimise the loss and have no idea if I have contaminated the batch, so how and when would I usually be able to tell if the batch is contaminated?

Any help much appreciated.
Thanks

James

I guess my first question is, after worrying that the syphon would not get going, how do I stop it from flowing so quickly and/it control the speed of it's flow in general? I had my brew on a kitchen counter and my demijohn on the floor. I suspect that the distance between the two was too great? I also had a muslin bag to try and catch the hops as the liquid passed from one into the other and this became full very quickly. Is there a better way to deal with this issue?
In my view the best way to stop hops going forward is to keep them in the FV, either by using a muslin or better nylon mesh bag or by having a nylon mesh sock over the end of the siphon tube cane. For the siphon tube itself you really want it to go into the vessel in which you are siphoning rather than dangling in space. You can get small on-off valves that fit in the siphon tube itself but I found early on that they restrict the flow too much so I don't use one. So if I'm bottling, I just quickly move the end of the siphon tube from one bottle to another and put up with the very small amount of spillage.
The other issue I had was that my hydrometer reading was way off what I was expecting as my kit told me to expect a reading of 1055 whereas what I ended up with was a reading of 1042. Is that a big difference and will it have a huge effect on the end result? My brew was also a much darker colour than I expected. I was brewing a hoppy pale ale but it came out looking like a murky dark brown and I'm not sure why.
SG readings can be out for a number of reasons including
- hydrometer misread
- lower SG because fermentables not properly mixed
- faulty hydrometer (test your hydrometer by dunking it in water at 20*C or the calibration temp, it should read 1.000)
Can't comment on the colour, except to say that any murkiness should clear later .
In the end your beer is what it is!
My final issue is potentially not anything I need to worry about but after my syphon mishap, I had scrambled around to try and minimise the loss and have no idea if I have contaminated the batch, so how and when would I usually be able to tell if the batch is contaminated?
If your equipment and anything coming into contact with your beer is clean and sanitised you are unlikely to have contaminated it. You will only really know after a few weeks in the bottle by tasting it.

Welcome to the Forum. :thumb:

You need to start buying some gear! (Don't worry, it won't be your last visit to the shops!)

I'd start off with one of these syphon tubes from Wilco ...

http://www.wilko.com/homebrew-accessories+equipment/wilko-syphon-pack/invt/0022573

... it comes with a tap to control and start/stop the flow.

The Wilco site is also a great one for working out what you need for brewing and the prices are pretty fair as well.

I use one of these on the end of my syphon tube ...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01M74BJW3/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

They are fine filters so if there's a lot of loose junk in the FV I wrap a hop-bag or a bit of muslin around it as a pre-filter.

Best of luck! :thumb:

PS

Don't touch the batch for at least two weeks! If it's "off" it's "off" and if it's not then "looking at it" is the quickest way to make it "off"!

1.get a clamp or tap on the out end of the syphon
2.dont expect to arrive at the OG the instructions say you will
3,dont fret about contamination,if you've done the basics itll be fine,it really is difficult to balls up a brew contamination wise
4,keep brewing you will get better at it