my first brew

Just picked up a brew kit and am planning on brewing tomorrow. I am just crious about the hop schedule. The lady at my local brew shop that sold me my kit also sold me the ingredients for my first beer, an IPA. She had me pick up 2 oz of centennial hops and 1/2 oz simcone cake. She said to add 1 oz of the centennial at the beginning of the boil, then add the rest of them 10 minutes later. Then add the simcone at 10 minutes left. Does this seem right? seems from what i'm reading the second hop addition should come at 30.
Thanks for your time

That does seem a bit odd. I don't know your recipe but it's your beer so you can change it however you like. I would probably go with the 30 minute addition.

Good luck on your first brew and don't forget to have fun!

Or you could always dry-hop in the secondary with some Cascades. I found that to be a good way to bring mucho hoppiness.

RGH said:

Or you could always dry-hop in the secondary with some Cascades. I found that to be a good way to bring mucho hoppiness.

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I wasnt actually planning on doing a secondary fermentation. I was planning on letting it sit in the primary for about a week and a half to two weeks and then bottle conditioning it for another 3 or so weeks

also what do you guys use to sanitize your siphon, etc. The 5 gallon bottling bucket that came with my kit is not tall enough to fit the entire racking cane in it. Also will emptying the solution through the spigot on my bottling bucket sanitize it properly?

I attach the clear plastic tubing to my bottling bucket with sanitizing solution in it and attach the racking cane to the end of that. I just let it run through the spigot into the hose and cane to sanitize them all Then I swap out the cane for bottling wand and do the same thing. Seems to work well for me anyway.

chemman14 said:

what do you guys use to sanitize your siphon, etc. Also will emptying the solution through the spigot on my bottling bucket sanitize it properly?

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Yes, especially since your equipment is brand new. Put your racking cane in the bucket and splash some solution on whatever portion is too tall to fit inside. Then siphon some solution out of the bucket using the cane.

Welcome to the hobby! You life will never be the same

Edit: The hop schedule is a little weird. Are you sure she didn't mean the final ten minutes of the boil?

Spludge said:

Yes, especially since your equipment is brand new. Put your racking cane in the bucket and splash some solution on whatever portion is too tall to fit inside. Then siphon some solution out of the bucket using the cane.

Welcome to the hobby! You life will never be the same

Edit: The hop schedule is a little weird. Are you sure she didn't mean the final ten minutes of the boil?

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the 1/2 ounce of simcoe hops was the "aroma" or last 10 minutes as I understood

That may be right, I've just never seen a hop schedule like that. Essentially a 60 min boil for hops imparts the same aspects of the hops as a 50 min boil would, bittering.
If it was me I would do 1 oz cent boiling, 1 oz cent with ten minutes left and simone at flameout.
I will leave it to the experts to correct me

Spludge said:

That may be right, I've just never seen a hop schedule like that. Essentially a 60 min boil for hops imparts the same aspects of the hops as a 50 min boil would, bittering.
If it was me I would do 1 oz cent boiling, 1 oz cent with ten minutes left and simone at flameout.
I will leave it to the experts to correct me

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ok, will wait for "experts" haha

waiting haha

also, when do I add the irish moss? and how much?

A teaspoon of Irish Moss at the second hop addition is probably fine.

...and Spludge's hop schedule sounded about right.

carbon111 said:

A teaspoon of Irish Moss at the second hop addition is probably fine.

...and Spludge's hop schedule sounded about right.

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sweet so my parents have a wine cellar that they keep at 55. Is that too cold for ale yeast? mabey i can convince them to up it to like 62 for a week or so

chemman14 said:

sweet so my parents have a wine cellar that they keep at 55.

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That's too chilly.

Unless you keep your place really warm, most ale yeasts ferment better at "room" temperatures. (65-70 Fahrenheit)

It may work in their wine cellar but would take forever...

A great resource with a lot of the information you may find useful can be found here: http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

carbon111 said:

That's too chilly. Unless you keep your place really warm most ale yeasts ferment better at "room" temperatures. (65-70 Farenheit)

It may work in their wine cellar but would take forever...

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the problem is the "room" temperature here is around 75-80 as the outdoor temperature is around 90-95 on average. So lets see if i can convince my dad to let it run a little bit warmer for a couple weeks. Shouldn't hurt the wine to run 10 degrees warmer for a week or 2

carbon111 said:

That's too chilly.

Unless you keep your place really warm, most ale yeasts ferment better at "room" temperatures. (65-70 Fahrenheit)

It may work in their wine cellar but would take forever...

A great resource with a lot of the information you may find useful can be found here: How to Brew - By John Palmer - Introduction

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Just remember that the fermentation will raise the temperature of the beer as much as 4 or 5 deg higher than the air temperature around the fermenter. Recommended fermentation temperatures refer to the temperature of the beer.

Minky said:

Just remember that the fermentation will raise the temperature of the beer as much as 4 or 5 deg higher than the air temperature around the fermenter. Recommended fermentation temperatures refer to the temperature of the beer.

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Exactly, that's why I put "room" in quotes.

I guess it must be a PITA for those in hotter climes.

+1 for How to Brew

Reading "How to Brew' should be a prerequisite for registering for this site.

chemman14 said:

the problem is the "room" temperature here is around 75-80 as the outdoor temperature is around 90-95 on average. So lets see if i can convince my dad to let it run a little bit warmer for a couple weeks. Shouldn't hurt the wine to run 10 degrees warmer for a week or 2

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You could use a water bath to keep it down around the 65 - 70 area. I have to do this for my summer batches, because I don't have AC. Purchase a keg tub, fill half way with water and drop your fermenter into that. Fill up some gator aid bottles with water and freeze them, so you can drop them in the water if it starts warming up.

carbon111 said:

Exactly, that's why I put "room" in quotes.

I guess it must be a PITA for those in hotter climes.

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carbon,
I probably get a little overprotective when I'm on the n00b forum. I remember what it was like. I would hear somebody say "room temperature" and I would literally ferment my beer at an ambient temp of 70 deg (or more)!!

I remember brewing down in Florida in the mid 80's in a house without AC, and I know some of my fermentation temps must have reached close to 90 deg!! I was trying to brew "strong stuff" too, which meant a can of hopped extract and LOTS of sugar. Some of that stuff tasted like lighter fluid!!

The n00bs today have it made, in comparison. The info is out there. It just takes a while to absorb it.

My dad said I can run the wine room at 60 degrees so that should be fine

Excellent news!

...wish I had a "wine room".

carbon111 said:

Excellent news!

...wish I had a "wine room".

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yeah I cant wait. Do I have to completely fill my carboy with sanitizer solution or will filling it half way and splashing it around work as well?

Well, wash it first. Then just splashing a gallon or two of sanitizer around in there for a minute or so should be fine. Then, save some of the sanitizer solution in a bucket or large container and soak/rinse the rest of the equipment that will come into contact with the wort like thermometers, funnels, etc...

carbon111 said:

Well, wash it first. Then just splashing a gallon or two of sanitizer around in there for a minute or so should be fine. Then, save some of the sanitizer solution in a bucket or large container and soak/rinse the rest of the equipment that will come into contact with the wort like thermometers, funnels, etc...

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and should i put a piece of tin foil in there as well and allow the stuff to dry on that tin foil??

Tin foil? No, just sanitize an area of the counter, flip your fermentor's lid upside-down in that area and put things on that to dry. (What I do.)

Seriously, read through the first few chapters of this: How to Brew - By John Palmer - Introduction

Best of luck with your brew.

carbon111 said:

Tin foil? No, just sanitize an area of the counter, flip your fermentor's lid upside-down in that area and put things on that to dry. (What I do.)

Seriously, read through the first few chapters of this: How to Brew - By John Palmer - Introduction

Best of luck with your brew.

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yeah I already read that, but will read it again before I brew just to make sure I didn't miss anything