Latest in a long line of dumbasses!

GroovePuppy · 09-30-2008, 09:18 PM

Hi all,

I'm a first-timer. Got a basic equipment kit from a friend who never used it and started an all-extract British Pale Ale 10 days ago. I have cleaned and sanitized properly, did squeeze the grains that came with the kit a little (first oops), carried the 5 gallons of boiling liquid upstairs only burning my bare leg once (next purchase - wort chiller) and pitched dry yeast straight onto the wort in a plastic primary.

According to the instructions I moved to secondary after the foam had subsided completely which was at 2 days. Reading here now it seems I should have at least done the 1-2-3. Got a bit of foaming in the carboy but none through the airlock, bubbling has slowed to a trickle to now. Measured the SG for the first time on day 7 (another oops) and it's at 1.009 against a target of 1.012 so I figure it's close to done fermenting.

Plan now is to leave it in the secondary to the three-week-since-boil mark then bottle for around three weeks. Wow, this hobby requires patience and I have none. I got a nice taste when I did my SG measurement and I don't think I've destroyed it yet. Smells like a nice ale, bit of fruit overtone like Pete's Wicked I was drinking at the weekend.

So I didn't really have a question. Any questions I had were answered by reading the previous posts. Just wanted to say "hi" and reassure you that your supply of enthusiastic idiots is far from depleted.

Cheers

GP

**bradsul** · 09-30-2008, 09:22 PM

Welcome to HBT and to this great obsession!

Sounds like you have a pretty great first brewing experience going so far if those are your only 'oops' so far!

**BigKahuna** · 09-30-2008, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GroovePuppy

Any questions I had were answered by reading the previous posts.

You're not really a N00 b around here are you? Fess Up! You're a Mod Playing a joke right....Ed.....Orfy.....Come On.....

Seriously, Congratulations. Sounds like you are well on your way. The cure for the time issue....build a "Pipeline" where you have beer on tap...or bottle aging, and beer in primaries...and plenty to drink too. It takes a while...but the reward is fantastic.

GroovePuppy · 09-30-2008, 09:30 PM

I did have one other "oops" which scared the crap out of me. I was putting the bubbler in and pressed the lid in. When I let it go it sucked a small amount of filtered but unboiled water back into the primary. Seems like I dodged a bullet there although a friend who has some prize-winning brews says she tops of in the secondary with filtered, unboiled water. Thought I'd ruined everything though.

I can definitely see it becoming an obsession. I mean I already like beer but I'm already looking at fermentation chillers (I'm in CA and I don't want to quit for the summer), cooler mash tuns, etc. I just need a proper taste of my first brew!

Apollo · 09-30-2008, 09:36 PM

Grats on the first brew. You'll get a lot of different opinions on air lock liquids. Myself, I use cheap vodka. Others use a starsan solution, and others do as you and use tap/filtered water. I'm sure there are some other things people use as well. Just go with whatever solution works best for you and most of all relax!!

DuffmanAK · 09-30-2008, 09:36 PM

Personally, I keep a bottle of cheap vodka around and put that in my airlock, if it gets sucked in, no biggie.

Welcome to a great hobby!