FIrst 5 gallon batch - gone wrong?

[halsem]

First 5 gallon brew today.
I seemed to burn the pot with the grain sack on the bottom of the stock pot.
There was some burned substance I felt and saw after pitching the wort into the fermenter.
If there is some burning, will it have ruined the batch?
Also, I added the 3 gallon wort to 1 gallon water in the fermenter and the SG was 1080!
This seems way too high.
Anyone have any suggestions/advice for a newbie?

[imahokie]

Probably a 5gal recipe... you haven't ruined anything as far as gravity goes - just will be a bit strong ABV and flavor. As far as the burning goes - it might have a slight 'burnt' smell or flavor to it... but I wouldn't throw it out until you give it a chance

[BarefootLion]

Ok little more detail please. What were you brewing?

You added 3 gallons of wort and 1 gallon of water, thats 4 gallons, was it a 5 gallon recipe?

Where was the recipe from? Did you write it yourself? Did you add more extract than you planned for(got a 3 lb container and only needed 1 but added the whole thing)?

[halsem]

This was a 5 gallon extract recipe for a London Pride clone.
The recipe called to put 1 gall cold water into fermenter, add wort, take hydrometer reading and the top up with water to make 5 galls. I am thinking that the hydo reading may have been on a more concentrated wort. Not sure why this was instructed at 4 galls, rather than final 5.

Hope this helps

[halsem]

I was brewing a BYO clone of London Pride.
I had 1 gall cold water in fermenter, added 3 galls wort, took hydrometer reading and then topped up to 5 gals.
It was a 5 gall recipe.

[edisonst]

Do you know what the gravity was after you topped it off to 5 gallons, that would be the SG. Did you taste the wort? If it tastes burt or acrid then maybe you have a problem. If it tastes good pre fermentation then more than likely it will taste good post fermentation. Higher than expected gravity will only make a stronger beer, maybe not the one you planned but still a good beer.

[halsem]

No I didn't check the SG at 5 gallons, in hindsight that would have made sense.
I just took hydro reading today (9 sep, 6 days after pitching yeast). SG = 1012. Tasted it and it tasted sweet. This is an English bitter recipe so I expect it to be more malty than the IPAs I usually drink.
Could I dry hop to reduce the sweetness?
Should I let it sit in fermenter for more time or rack to secondary (which will also be bottling bucket). If so, I would need to add priming sugar to beer after adding it to the second bucket.

Thanks for advice
Matt

[halsem]

One more note, even though I am fermenting in basement, crystal thermometer on bucket shows temp 72-74 F.
I am using Whitelabs 013 London ale yeast, could the temp be too warm, if so how can I cool it?