Here's what I wrote down for my first brew so far. Am I missing anything that would be good to document? I know there are a lot of procedural mistakes/misunderstandings, and my second batch is fermenting now with a lot of improvements. I'm looking for suggestions on what I should be writing.
11/10/2012 - First batch started. Imperial Nut Brown from Brewer's Best kit:
~3 gallons of water in 5 gal pot.
Stepped at 155-160 for 20 minutes, temp stayed within range checked every 5 minutes:
4oz Chocolate
4oz Caramel 80 Lovibond (term for darkness)
8oz victory
Boil start:
6.6lbs Amber LME
2lb Amber DME
8oz Maltodextrin
1oz Columbus hops
LME added first, pouring slowly and scraping with a spatula to get more out, then DME and maltodextrin added together and stirred in. Boil over risk was non-existent until the hops were added when it foamed up approximately a gallon; did not need to take any action to prevent boil over though.
Flavoring at 40 minutes and Aromatic at 55 minutes:
1oz each Willamette (will LAM it apparently)
No particular changes were noted when these later hops were added.
Cooled to ~85 degrees and siphoned into primary fermenter, assuming the siphoning would cool wort further. Siphoning seemed to "sputter" often, maybe adding air? [in retrospect, I was probably catching on particulate matter] Not much residue left in boil pot, maybe a couple of tablespoons. Added ~1 gallon boiled water and pitched Safale S-04 yeast dry into fermenter, did not take temp at pitch time.
Checked OG, was high and volume was low, so added ~1 gallon straight tap water to primary fermenter and stirred vigously. Some foam at surface prevented a good reading, but it looked like it was on spec at 1.071 OG (note: get sampling cylinder). Sealed lid and airlocked with vodka.
Did not use proper sanitation when cooling wort due to licking the thermometer after readings. Realized this was dumb after a bit and started sanitizing probe between readings. Wort cooled over approximately 45 minutes to an hour in a sink ice bath.
Fermentation visible the next morning, temperature at 72-73.
11/11/2012 - Noticed temps on fermentation vessel at 78 degrees. Put by open window, down to 72 degrees at bedtime. Swirled gently a couple of times, hoping to help equalize internal temperature.
11/12/2012 - In the morning, temp looked around 68-70 degrees. Left it by an open window during the day, temp was down to 63 degrees when I got home. Moved it up onto a table, hoping the temp shock is not too extreme. It still seems to be fermenting happily, though there is a strong apple smell from the airlock.
11/13/2012 - Temp still at 63 degrees in the morning. Bubbler going every 30 seconds, strong apple smell still evident. Moved fermenter away from window. Got home, fermenter around 65 degrees and slower bubbling. Before bed, bubbler continues to slow, calling it a night while fermenter at 67 degrees - moving it a bit closer to the window. Steady temperature control will clearly be a continuing issue without modifying my current setup - perhaps a water bath will help normalize temps.
11/14/2012 - Temp at 65 in the morning, leaving it be for now. The consideration will soon be whether or not to rack to a secondary. Possibly less green apple smell today, bubbler pretty quiet.
11/15/2012 - Temp 66-67, looking good. I've been agitating by turning quickly back and forth, I really don't like sweet notes in most beers and I want to make sure the fermentation process is as complete as possible.
11/17/2012 - Temps staying around 63-65, took a gravity reading at 1.025 which should be high but the beer did not taste especially sweet and in fact was awesome.
11/18/2012 - Gave a sample out to neighbor which wasn't the smartest idea. Hopefully it won't backfire.
11/20/2012 - Up to 68, not a problem at this stage but it highlights how I need to improve my temperature control.
11/25/2012 - Bottling day. Haven't been able to get at temp for a few days, but it was 64 last night.
Being quite dumb, I decided to put the bottling sugar directly at the bottom of the bottling bucket instead of dissolving it in boiled water first. Being more dumb, I only used the bottling cane to stir the wort. I took occasional samples, and the beer at the end was noticably sweeter and also there was some bottling sugar at the bottom of the bucket that hadn't dissolved into the mixture. I attempted to compensate by filling the last bottles up past the normal cane point to at least try to avoid exploding bottles. FG at 1.021... I should have taken more readings but 0.003 difference in a week seemed like it would be stable enough.
Bottled in 8 1L bottles, 4 16oz, and 13 12oz bottles.
11/26 - recapped some of the really topped off bottles to a more normal range. Noticed some slight carbonation in the headspace with a smoky look to it.
11/28 - couldn't wait, pulled bottle with a large amount of headspace, put in freezer for 30 minutes. Nice cream colored head with 2-3 fingers fairly large bubbles that fell to 1/2 finger within 5 minutes. Some yeast chunks settled down after pour and a little left in bottle. Nose is alright, a little sweet. Taste is fairly sweet, little bit of bannana, almost a little bit of soapiness or fusels. Some good beer is definitely somewhere in there, but it's just very "green" I'm hoping; I think it will get better with some age. Hops are present but in the background. Definitely good alcohol content.
11/10/2012 - First batch started. Imperial Nut Brown from Brewer's Best kit:
~3 gallons of water in 5 gal pot.
Stepped at 155-160 for 20 minutes, temp stayed within range checked every 5 minutes:
4oz Chocolate
4oz Caramel 80 Lovibond (term for darkness)
8oz victory
Boil start:
6.6lbs Amber LME
2lb Amber DME
8oz Maltodextrin
1oz Columbus hops
LME added first, pouring slowly and scraping with a spatula to get more out, then DME and maltodextrin added together and stirred in. Boil over risk was non-existent until the hops were added when it foamed up approximately a gallon; did not need to take any action to prevent boil over though.
Flavoring at 40 minutes and Aromatic at 55 minutes:
1oz each Willamette (will LAM it apparently)
No particular changes were noted when these later hops were added.
Cooled to ~85 degrees and siphoned into primary fermenter, assuming the siphoning would cool wort further. Siphoning seemed to "sputter" often, maybe adding air? [in retrospect, I was probably catching on particulate matter] Not much residue left in boil pot, maybe a couple of tablespoons. Added ~1 gallon boiled water and pitched Safale S-04 yeast dry into fermenter, did not take temp at pitch time.
Checked OG, was high and volume was low, so added ~1 gallon straight tap water to primary fermenter and stirred vigously. Some foam at surface prevented a good reading, but it looked like it was on spec at 1.071 OG (note: get sampling cylinder). Sealed lid and airlocked with vodka.
Did not use proper sanitation when cooling wort due to licking the thermometer after readings. Realized this was dumb after a bit and started sanitizing probe between readings. Wort cooled over approximately 45 minutes to an hour in a sink ice bath.
Fermentation visible the next morning, temperature at 72-73.
11/11/2012 - Noticed temps on fermentation vessel at 78 degrees. Put by open window, down to 72 degrees at bedtime. Swirled gently a couple of times, hoping to help equalize internal temperature.
11/12/2012 - In the morning, temp looked around 68-70 degrees. Left it by an open window during the day, temp was down to 63 degrees when I got home. Moved it up onto a table, hoping the temp shock is not too extreme. It still seems to be fermenting happily, though there is a strong apple smell from the airlock.
11/13/2012 - Temp still at 63 degrees in the morning. Bubbler going every 30 seconds, strong apple smell still evident. Moved fermenter away from window. Got home, fermenter around 65 degrees and slower bubbling. Before bed, bubbler continues to slow, calling it a night while fermenter at 67 degrees - moving it a bit closer to the window. Steady temperature control will clearly be a continuing issue without modifying my current setup - perhaps a water bath will help normalize temps.
11/14/2012 - Temp at 65 in the morning, leaving it be for now. The consideration will soon be whether or not to rack to a secondary. Possibly less green apple smell today, bubbler pretty quiet.
11/15/2012 - Temp 66-67, looking good. I've been agitating by turning quickly back and forth, I really don't like sweet notes in most beers and I want to make sure the fermentation process is as complete as possible.
11/17/2012 - Temps staying around 63-65, took a gravity reading at 1.025 which should be high but the beer did not taste especially sweet and in fact was awesome.
11/18/2012 - Gave a sample out to neighbor which wasn't the smartest idea. Hopefully it won't backfire.
11/20/2012 - Up to 68, not a problem at this stage but it highlights how I need to improve my temperature control.
11/25/2012 - Bottling day. Haven't been able to get at temp for a few days, but it was 64 last night.
Being quite dumb, I decided to put the bottling sugar directly at the bottom of the bottling bucket instead of dissolving it in boiled water first. Being more dumb, I only used the bottling cane to stir the wort. I took occasional samples, and the beer at the end was noticably sweeter and also there was some bottling sugar at the bottom of the bucket that hadn't dissolved into the mixture. I attempted to compensate by filling the last bottles up past the normal cane point to at least try to avoid exploding bottles. FG at 1.021... I should have taken more readings but 0.003 difference in a week seemed like it would be stable enough.
Bottled in 8 1L bottles, 4 16oz, and 13 12oz bottles.
11/26 - recapped some of the really topped off bottles to a more normal range. Noticed some slight carbonation in the headspace with a smoky look to it.
11/28 - couldn't wait, pulled bottle with a large amount of headspace, put in freezer for 30 minutes. Nice cream colored head with 2-3 fingers fairly large bubbles that fell to 1/2 finger within 5 minutes. Some yeast chunks settled down after pour and a little left in bottle. Nose is alright, a little sweet. Taste is fairly sweet, little bit of bannana, almost a little bit of soapiness or fusels. Some good beer is definitely somewhere in there, but it's just very "green" I'm hoping; I think it will get better with some age. Hops are present but in the background. Definitely good alcohol content.