New Brewery Officially Opened Today

Sleepy Ale

So, I think my first batch went pretty well today. Except my girlfriend, who got me the kit, spent all day sleeping on the couch and not helping like she said.

My first attempt was Brewer's Best Nut Brown Ale. Everything went pretty smooth except for 2 things.
1. I had a very small boil over before adding any hops. I put a lid on my pot to get it to boil quicker after steeping the grain. Well, it did boil pretty quick. I caught it just as it was starting to come over the top but I see how that could really be a huge mess to clean up.
2. I didn't notice a hot break. There was just about no foam during the boil until I added the last bit of hops. This might have been because of the boil over but I was expecting some foam when I added the first hops.

In the end my OG came out to be 1.072. The kit said it should be 1.071. That's good enough for me.

The hot break, I believe, comes early in the boil. It's also what causes the boil over. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.)

And yes, boil overs can be a huge mess to clean if you're brewing inside. Outside is pretty easy, just hose it down.

And, your girlfriend sleeping all day was a help, she stayed out of your way and let you enjoy your hobby.

Congrats on the first brew.

In the future, you'll probably want to avoid using a lid (search DMS). And second, usually you get a boil over during the hot break and/or when adding hops. So, if you already had a boilover before adding hops, chances are you had a good hot break.

If I'm doing an extract, I usually crank the heat up all the way until I can see the vigorous boil about ready to happen. Then I turn the heat all the way down or off. Then I turn it back on again until it gets just to that point, and then off again. If you do this a few times and push the foam back down into the liquid you should get through the hot break without much mess. Then, after it can comes to a rolling boil without going over I'll slowly add the hops.

One of the worst things you can do is bring it to a rolling boil right at the hot break point and then dump your hops in. That's an instant boilover, huge mess, and you'll lose half your hops. So, just take it slow and steady and you'll be fine

I didn't boil with the lid on that was just to get it there quicker. I don't think I'll try that one again though. Another thing I noticed is you guys aren't kidding that you need the biggest pot you can get. 2.5 gallons boiling in a 5 gallons stock pot is fuller than you would guess. I could imagine that a 10 gallon pot wouldn't be enough for an all grain batch.

you can do an all-grain batch (5 gallon final size) in a 7.5 gallon pot, but you've got to watch it like a hawk.

Congrats on your minimal boil-over. I did the same thing with my second batch, putting the cover on to help it boil faster. Then I went and sat down in my living room for two minutes before I heard the dreaded boil-over sounds. You've heard of the superhero called Flash? I was just like him, except fatter. Man, I haven't moved that fast since that time there was only one piece of cake left. Anyway, glad you caught it right away.

And from what I understand, the hot break with extract is never going to be as dramatic as it is with AG, since the extract has already gone through one brewing cycle. So that's maybe why it wasn't all that noticeable.

P.S. And congrats on your first brew. :rockin:

I woke up to snow this morning but don't worry I'm bubbling away. My yeast is happily producing CO2! Here's to making the southern shore of Lake Erie the new Miami.

Chudz said:

You've heard of the superhero called Flash? I was just like him, except fatter. Man, I haven't moved that fast since that time there was only one piece of cake left.

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that's fricken hilarious right there.

Congrats on the first brew. A few drops of Fermcap-S can go a long way in minimizing boilovers. I use one drop per gallon and my hot break rarely gets more than 2 inches high before it rapidly subsides. Here's a good thread discussing the stuff:

Default FermcapS rock!!! Pic

I've used Fermcap 1 time, the last time I brewed. It's like magic. Highly recommend expecially for you indoor brewers! I know once I start brewing indoors on my To be Built Electric rig, Fermcap will be mandatory.

Congrats on the first brew and welcome to the hobby from a fellow Ohioan. Lots of Cleveland guys here if you want local help or group brews.

... or just scoop out the hot break just as you're hitting your boil.

Just take a large, clean spoon, and scoop out the foam.

No boilover.

and no, you're not removing anything the beer needs later. The hot break are proteins but you're not removing remotely enough for it to make a difference.

Ahh, Brewer's Best Nut Brown. My first kit as well. Not surprisingly, I had a boil over on my first brew as well. I now use Fermcap S (last brew was the first time, won't brew without it now) as well and echo the sentiments that it is a godsend!

Time to get another kit ready so you get a pipeline going! I've got two kegged, one fermenting, and one that's going to be brewed after the first of the year. Once your friends taste REAL beer, you won't be able to keep up with the demand!

I wasn't really planning on doing more than one batch at a time. As I sit back and wait for it to do it's thing, I think waiting a month or so between batches just isn't going to cut it. If I can find a nice bottling bucket, I'll be set to start a batch every 2 weeks. I was in Home Depot today but a bright orange bucket just doesn't match the clutter in my apartment. I can get buckets from work. What would I look for to know they are food safe?

Update...

I racked to secondary yesterday. Everything went pretty well. I could have made it a lot easier on myself if I would have thought the whole thing through first but I got the job done.

I haven't been checking the specific gravity but it's been 7 days since I brewed this batch. I'm not sure what the kit said the OG would be but Beersmith says it should be 1.018. I got 1.023. Is that close enough to not worry or is there more fermentation that will probably happen?

I have a question about skunking. I've got my secondary in my bedroom. I keep the blind down but it's a crappy blind and a lot of light gets through. The fermentor is blocked from the window by my dresser and there is no direct light from the window getting to it. However, it is definitely not dark where it is sitting. Could this cause a problem?

Lastly, I never strained my wort on brewday. I realized I never sanitized my strainer and I had already dumped the sanitizer. The hops all seemed to dissolve into the wort so I didn't think I'd be able to strain anything out anyway. Well, I found them last night. The hops were all over the side of my bucket.

Let the beer sit for another 7 days, check the gravity then, and again over a few days more, if all readings are the same you should be good to start bottling. I always recommend taking several readings over a few days to verify fermentation is complete, you dont want to make bottle bombs!

A buddy of mine did this same kit as his first brew, but I didn't realize it was THAT big of a beer. 1.070!? Wow. I thought for sure that this was more like a 1.045ish beer...

itsme6582 said:

Update...

I racked to secondary yesterday. Everything went pretty well. I could have made it a lot easier on myself if I would have thought the whole thing through first but I got the job done.

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Mark it as a learning experience. Any mistakes you made probably won't ruin the beer, and you will never make the same mistake again.

itsme6582 said:

I haven't been checking the specific gravity but it's been 7 days since I brewed this batch. I'm not sure what the kit said the OG would be but Beersmith says it should be 1.018. I got 1.023. Is that close enough to not worry or is there more fermentation that will probably happen?

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IIRC, you said the OG was 1.070, so 1.023 isn't too far off. You'll get down a few more points, but don't be surprised if you don't get all the way to what BS says. It depends a lot on yeast health, and quantity. Then again, you could go below what BS says.

itsme6582 said:

I have a question about skunking. I've got my secondary in my bedroom. I keep the blind down but it's a crappy blind and a lot of light gets through. The fermentor is blocked from the window by my dresser and there is no direct light from the window getting to it. However, it is definitely not dark where it is sitting. Could this cause a problem?

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I don't think you'll have to worry too much. I've fermented in a room that gets quite a bit of indirect light and never noticed any skunkyness.

itsme6582 said:

Lastly, I never strained my wort on brewday. I realized I never sanitized my strainer and I had already dumped the sanitizer. The hops all seemed to dissolve into the wort so I didn't think I'd be able to strain anything out anyway. Well, I found them last night. The hops were all over the side of my bucket.

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Another learning experience. The hops won't hurt your beer.

HickoryMike said:

A buddy of mine did this same kit as his first brew, but I didn't realize it was THAT big of a beer. 1.070!? Wow. I thought for sure that this was more like a 1.045ish beer...

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Agreed... OP, are you sure this wasn't the Imperial Nut Brown Ale kit? If so, was it using Nottingham as the yeast? 1.023 is a bit high yet for that kit.

I brewed the Imperial kit about four months ago, had the known slow Notty issue (with a lag time of 100 hours before fermentation kicked off), finished at 1.024 and it was way too sweet tasting, then it finally infected and became a dumper.

It'll be beer, no matter what! You've got that going for ya, at least.

This is the Imperial Nut Brown kit and it came with Safale S-04 yeast. There was very little lag time and it fermented furiously. The next morning, the vodka had all but bubbled out. That was about 10-12 hours after pitching. The vodka spilled out and was all over the lid. I left the cap empty for another day and then filled it with more vodka. The cap bubbled away pretty heavily for another 2 days.

My plan is to stick to the 1-2-3 schedule to keep it simple. I picked up the American Pale Ale kit yesterday. I'm going to start that next Saturday. A buddy of mine is gonna come by to help. He wants to see how it all works.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. Everyone's been very helpful and reassuring.

Cool, thought those numbers were a bit off for a standard brown ale. I love Fermentis yeasts; US-05 gets most of the love, but S-04 kicks quite a bit of butt. I'm very surprised about the vodka bubbling away, but as long as the yeast was creating CO2 then the pressure in the fermenter was pushing out for the most part, and it sounds like you did the right thing by adding vodka back into the airlock before fermentation was complete. There are those posting in HBT who simply cover the airlock with foil during primary fermentation, as long as outside buggers can't easily get in it's safe.

Good luck on your next batch!

Did I ruin my first batch?! I think I'm just gonna dump it...






...into a giant stein and drink it all today.

Seriously, I couldn't be happier. The only thing I'm not sure about is the lack of sweetness. This is a Nut Brown Ale and as I tasted what I used for my hydrometer readings it was pretty sweet. The final product is not sweet. It's awesome but it is a little more bitter than I expected.

itsme6582 said:

Did I ruin my first batch?! I think I'm just gonna dump it...






...into a giant stein and drink it all today.

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Niiiiice.