turketron

Recipes 

Got a Northern Brewer kit for Christmas from my brother, and brewed my first batch on 1/14. My equipment kit didn't come with an ingredient kit, so I used one for a Badger Dark Ale from the local shop here in Madison. I feel like my brewing process worked pretty well, although after lurking here since brewing day I realized there were a couple things I probably didn't do properly (didn't aerate enough, didn't boil the tap water used to top off the bucket ), although I think I lucked out because it doesn't seem to have tainted the beer at all.

I bottled it this past Saturday after 3 weeks fermenting. It tasted pretty good, so I'm quite excited to taste the final product. The bottles are stored at about 65 degrees so I'm going to give it at least 3 weeks in bottles before I open one.

I'm looking forward to starting my next batch, I'm thinking of doing either a porter or oatmeal stout from the kits available at my local store. I do have a couple questions before doing my next batch:

1) The recipes included with the kits from my LHBS don't list OG/FG, what is the best way to calculate what gravity readings to shoot for?

2) Both the porter and oatmeal stout recipes say the kit includes liquid yeast. From what I've read lurking here for a few weeks, I should plan on creating a starter when using liquid yeast, correct?

3) The bottles from my first batch are in a room with an ambient temp of about 64-65 degrees, although they are sitting about a foot away from the radiator so they're closer to 70 or so on the side nearest the radiator. Should I be rotating the cases of bottles every few days or so to ensure they all carb at roughly the same rates?


As a final note, I just wanted to say how great of a resource this site has been already. Can't wait to brew more!

turketron

Recipes 

thought of one more question- the only pot i've got big enough to boil a few gallons worth of tap water is the same one I need for the wort. If I boil enough water for topping off the fermenter beforehand, and let it cool in another bucket (that's been sanitized) with a lid, it would still be adequately sanitized after a couple of hours when it's time to add to the fermenter, right?

imrook

Recipes 

Congratulations on your first brew! Don't sweat the mistakes -- those are all very minor and we all make 'em. Here are my answers to your questions:

1. I like to use the recipe calculator at Hopville: http://beercalculus.hopville.com/recipe It will calculate the O.G. and F.G. ranges for you. You can also use BeerSmith, Promash or any other brewing software you like. You can also calculate O.G. by hand if you want. Palmer explains this process here: http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-5.html

2. You should make a starter when using liquid yeast. Having said that, I don't and I've never had a problem. I harvest my yeast, and subsequent batches get pitched at a much higher volume than the first, so I'm only underpitching once, but it still produces good beer. Someone will pop in here and say "Always, Always, ALWAYS make a starter!" but I enjoy not having to start my brew day 2 days early.

3. If you're excited and want to rotate your bottles, by all means. My first few batches, I would keep stirring the yeast up to "help" them carb quicker. Fact was that I was as excited as a kid in a candy store and couldn't help myself. That phase ended for me a while ago and I'm now happy to let the bottles sit in the corner and carb at their own pace. Do what makes you happy, but you don't have to worry about it.

turketron

Recipes 

great, thanks for the help!