First brew about 30 minutes ago

I've been wanting to brew for years and for my birthday this year my wife let me buy a starter kit that would allow me to do a full boil and it came with a wort chiller, which was awesome.

My first brew is an American Pale Ale from a kit put together by morebeer.com. From sanitizing my first piece of equipment, through the brew process, to cleaning the last piece of equipment took me 5 1/2 hours! I know it will get faster, but there was a lot of checking and double checking throughout the process. Also I learned that my kitchen stove doesn't boil 6 gallons very well. A big outdoor burner is next on the list.

I also made my first noob mistake (kind of). After measuring the OG and making the temp conversion I knew should have had a measurement between 1.052 and 1.056. With the conversion I was getting 1.072!

I was freaking out a bit searching the web when I found this place. I couldn't find an exact match to my problem, but I did notice it was pretty common for noobs to misread the hydrometer. So, I rechecked the hydrometer, then rechecked the temp conversion chart (from "How to Brew" by John Palmer) and realized that I should have added .0018 instead of .018. Suddenly instead of 1.072 I was right in the spread at 1.056. Those pesky zeroes.

Not really a beer making mistake, but it was a measurement reading mistake. Now my beer is in the fermenter in a dark room at 67 degrees.

I guess I'll know how I did in just a few weeks. The next challenge to tackle will be my first bottling session!

congrats! what gets me is it never gets old, i still get that giddy feeling while brewing that I got during my first batch

Congrats on brewing your first! There is a wealth of info here, just to get you started, look for blowoff tube, temperature control, yeast pitching rates, late extract addition... These are all things they dont really tell you about, but all have significant impact on improving the quality of your brews. Reading a couple of the stickies should give you a bunch of good info on things to look out for in the next couple weeks.

Congratulations Jay, welcome to the addiction!

Wow. Pretty impressed that you did a full wort boil! Don't get me wrong, that is never a bad thing - it is just that most extract recipes don't require it. Not to mention I think my kitchen stove would die before I could get six gallons rolling!

Bayou Classic and King Kooker are your friends. If you want to do a full boil, those cost as little as $35 and you can get it going fast. And your kitchen windows (and living room, dining room, bathroom, etc.) won't be sweating profusely and your house won't be 80 degrees when you're done!!

Just curious - how did you chill it to pitching temp? I am guessing a lot of the 5+ hours was bringing it all to a boil then chilling it to below 80 degrees.

Welcome, Jay, and congrats one your first (of many) batches.
Sounds like you are off to a good start. Soon enough, you'll be as obsessed as the rest of us...

Greetings and welcome to the obsession (yes, obsession)!

Congrats on the first batch!

Born in Vallejo so always glad to see new brewers from that area!

bankerbrewer said:

Wow. Pretty impressed that you did a full wort boil! Don't get me wrong, that is never a bad thing - it is just that most extract recipes don't require it. Not to mention I think my kitchen stove would die before I could get six gallons rolling!

Bayou Classic and King Kooker are your friends. If you want to do a full boil, those cost as little as $35 and you can get it going fast. And your kitchen windows (and living room, dining room, bathroom, etc.) won't be sweating profusely and your house won't be 80 degrees when you're done!!

Just curious - how did you chill it to pitching temp? I am guessing a lot of the 5+ hours was bringing it all to a boil then chilling it to below 80 degrees.

Click to expand...

Most of the 5 hours was me double checking the steps and sanitization before I did anything, and getting the 6 gallons to boil took forever. Cooling the wort was not problem because I bought a wort chiller which brought the wort down to 77 degrees in about 15-20 minutes.

I pitched the yeast at 77 degrees and had bubbles in the airlock within an hour. The side of my carboy feels the same as room temp right now and the thermometer next to it says the room is at 68 degrees, so I'm feeling pretty good about it so far.

Thanks for all of the welcomes!

the best part is when you pour that first pint and exclaim "i made this!"

Congrats on the 1st batch. Your process will speed up even while maintaining good sanitation. You will see time and time again the many mistakes many of us make, and oddly enough still make good beer.
Fortunately, there are some folks on here that really know thier stuff. I learn something everytime I log in.

Welcome

Congrats on your first brew! I have found that the people here are very helpful.

Out of curosity which starter kit did you go with? I am looking to pick up one, and I cannot make my mind.

I'm using the American Pale Ale II kit from morebeer.com and after a day and a half in the fermenter it's looking just like all the textbook pictures, so I'm pleased so far. I pitched it with SafeAle-05

Congratulations! I started doing full boils on my electric stove top (straddled front & back burners) but soon started doing partial boils as per my extract kit instructions. I'm actually getting better tasting beers doing partial boils. An outdoor burner is on my list too.

You'll love this hobby (obsession)!

Fishin-Jay said:

I'm using the American Pale Ale II kit from morebeer.com and after a day and a half in the fermenter it's looking just like all the textbook pictures, so I'm pleased so far. I pitched it with SafeAle-05

Click to expand...

I was actually asking about the equipment kit, however that does sound good...

00drew said:

I was actually asking about the equipment kit, however that does sound good...

Click to expand...

Sorry about that! I went with the Kit #4 "Super Deluxe Bottling Kit" from morebeer.com

MoreBeer is local to me so it was nice to go to their showroom, ask questions, and get to talk to someone about the whole kit. I also went with the deluxe kit because I wanted to be able to do a full boil and have a wort chiller. It all seems great so far. Good luck!

Fishin-Jay said:

Sorry about that! I went with the Kit #4 "Super Deluxe Bottling Kit" from morebeer.com

MoreBeer is local to me so it was nice to go to their showroom, ask questions, and get to talk to someone about the whole kit. I also went with the deluxe kit because I wanted to be able to do a full boil and have a wort chiller. It all seems great so far. Good luck!

Click to expand...

I have been looking all over on line and cannot make up my mind. I will be heading to one of the local brew shops here and hopefully make a decision. Thanks for letting me know what you went with. I like the idea of the kit coming with the wort chiller. I will look that one up and see what I decide. Thanks and have fun, I wish I had my first batch done!

you can make a 50ft x 3/8 M grade copper (refrigeration) imersion chiller for $50. mine is 25ft wrapped arround a 20# co2 bottle and 25ft wrapped arround a 5# bottle. the outer coil enters at top and simaltaniously feeds the bottom of the inside coil (to cool both ends of the keggle instead of taking heat from say the bottom through the top where it cant remove more energy then out). i might have to make each coil exit seperately if it increases 10gal cooling times.

You never forget the excitement that first brew gives you. I actually think I remember my first brew better than when I lost my virginity! (That WAS a very long time ago though)

the first brew or that other thang?

mordantly said:

the best part is when you pour that first pint and exclaim "i made this!"

Click to expand...

I agree! After my first beer I felt like Tom Hanks from Cast Away when he made fire.

mordantly said:

the first brew or that other thang?

Click to expand...

Let's see now. I am 52. My first brew was about two years ago.........I'm hoping I was referring to the other thang!

My first brew lasted much, much, much longer than the first time with the other thang.

Welcome!

perhaps i could have had better results with some planning..