I got my brew done today and used the hops, and have some more questions.
- When I was boiling the hops (for 15 minutes) a lot of the "scum" ended up around the brim of the saucepan, which I scraped back into the water. Was this a good idea or not?
no worries, the scum is awesome and full of hoppy goodness. you should have only boiled for 5 -10 minutes for flavour though
- Do I need to be concerned about introducing an infection from the boiled water+hops? I cooled the hops/water down for 30 minutes (by sitting the saucepan in cold water with the lid on) before adding it all to the fermenter (it was the first thing I added, followed by the rest of the BE2 and the can of goo). The hops + water was still warm enough that the remaining 19 litres of water was all cold to arrive at a final temperature of 24 degrees (total fermenter volume = 23L).
- If I do need to be concerned about infection, how do I reduce the risk in future brews?
If you are cautious and sanitary, no. and you needn't have worried about cooling then adding...just tip the hot stuff in the fermenter and dump everything else on top....the 19L of cold water will pull the hop temp down quick smart, and lock in that flavour addition without upping the bitterness
- I added half the BE2 to the hops and water as suggested by someone above. Whats the idea behind that
a crazy homebrew store guy described it to me like this "the chain of molecules in sugar expand when they are heated, allowing the hop bitterness molecules inbetween them. then when you chill the sugar it locks the hops thingies in"...or you could research alpha acids and isomerisation
- My specific gravity ended up being 1034, which sounds kind of low. Actually, he highest I have ever had is 1036 which was the last lager I brewed. Why do I keep getting such low OG's ? I follow everything to the letter!!!! I have a brand new hygrometer after replacing the one I got with the starter kit because it was WAY out of whack, and I have tested it with fresh water and it showed 1000.
sorry, no idea on your low SG...you did add another kilo of fermentables right?