1. Glass carboys are scary!
2. My stove struggled to get 3 gallons to boil. Next time I will use the lid until I reach rolling boil then remove or at least partially cover. I have read Palmer's section on boiling multiple times so I realize to watch like a hawk for BO's and noted his concerns of lids and sulfides.
3. My LHBS sold me a metal mesh ball for my hops. They said it was great for 1 oz. of pellet hops. The hops indeed fit well but suprised me when it floated. I submerged it multiple times with my spoon and it always came back to the surface so I assumed that was normal.
4. When I immersed the copper wort chiller in the pot for the last 20 min it took very little time for the boil to resume and the wort boiled much more evenly as though the wort chiller was distributing the heat. Am considering putting chiller in the pot from the beginning. Also, after chiller insertion and boil resumed, the hops sank to the botom. I checked to make sure the little chain on the mesh ball didn't snag on the chiller and it did not. Maybe hops floating isn't normal.
5. OG was high, 1.052, box kit from Northern Brewer said it should be 1.040 (Irish Red) but I did a partial boil, added the wort to water already in the carboy. I don't think mixed the wort and the water fully. Also took reading after pitching rehydrated yeast. Next time better stir and reading first, then pitch yeast.
6. In all my reading I never saw anything concerning fermentation tempertures until I read this forum. Placed primary (6 gal carboy with blowoff tube) in the basement on my workbench. Temps were on the high end for the Nottingham dry yeast and rose above 70F couple times. Need to purchase a tub to hold primary in a water bath.
7. Day's 9 & 10 days SG reading was 1.012, so it went to secondary. Even after a couple practice runs with water earlier in the week I didn't get a strong siphon flow after first 2 pumps. It dribbled for a while then quit. Hope I didn't add too much O2. Gave the auto siphon a longer strong pump and got a strong flow. Won't baby it next time. Used a couple of santitized cable ties with loose ends perpendicular to act like wings on the auto siphon and pulled them just snug. They slid up and down the auto siphon tube and rested on the mouth of the carboy holding it off the bottom with no hands. I couldn't see through the beer to gauge height of yeast cake and tube tip until the level dropped. As the level in the carboy dropped I was able to slide the siphon down further without pushing it into the trub. Very successful at getting almost all the liquid out with no gunk. Proud of myself!!
Sorry this got so long. Hope this might help other noobs
2. My stove struggled to get 3 gallons to boil. Next time I will use the lid until I reach rolling boil then remove or at least partially cover. I have read Palmer's section on boiling multiple times so I realize to watch like a hawk for BO's and noted his concerns of lids and sulfides.
3. My LHBS sold me a metal mesh ball for my hops. They said it was great for 1 oz. of pellet hops. The hops indeed fit well but suprised me when it floated. I submerged it multiple times with my spoon and it always came back to the surface so I assumed that was normal.
4. When I immersed the copper wort chiller in the pot for the last 20 min it took very little time for the boil to resume and the wort boiled much more evenly as though the wort chiller was distributing the heat. Am considering putting chiller in the pot from the beginning. Also, after chiller insertion and boil resumed, the hops sank to the botom. I checked to make sure the little chain on the mesh ball didn't snag on the chiller and it did not. Maybe hops floating isn't normal.
5. OG was high, 1.052, box kit from Northern Brewer said it should be 1.040 (Irish Red) but I did a partial boil, added the wort to water already in the carboy. I don't think mixed the wort and the water fully. Also took reading after pitching rehydrated yeast. Next time better stir and reading first, then pitch yeast.
6. In all my reading I never saw anything concerning fermentation tempertures until I read this forum. Placed primary (6 gal carboy with blowoff tube) in the basement on my workbench. Temps were on the high end for the Nottingham dry yeast and rose above 70F couple times. Need to purchase a tub to hold primary in a water bath.
7. Day's 9 & 10 days SG reading was 1.012, so it went to secondary. Even after a couple practice runs with water earlier in the week I didn't get a strong siphon flow after first 2 pumps. It dribbled for a while then quit. Hope I didn't add too much O2. Gave the auto siphon a longer strong pump and got a strong flow. Won't baby it next time. Used a couple of santitized cable ties with loose ends perpendicular to act like wings on the auto siphon and pulled them just snug. They slid up and down the auto siphon tube and rested on the mouth of the carboy holding it off the bottom with no hands. I couldn't see through the beer to gauge height of yeast cake and tube tip until the level dropped. As the level in the carboy dropped I was able to slide the siphon down further without pushing it into the trub. Very successful at getting almost all the liquid out with no gunk. Proud of myself!!
Sorry this got so long. Hope this might help other noobs
