my brewday and bottling day step by step

3 short months ago i brewed my first batch. prior to that i read and watched everything i could about brewing and i was still extremely confused. here is my step by step i follow. hope it helps.


1. RELAX, DON’T WORRY. HAVE A HOMEBREW.
2. CLEAN KITCHEN COUNTERS WITH CLOROX CLEAN-UP.
3. MIX SANITIZING SOLUTION IN 3 GALLON BUCKET.
4. WASH/SANITIZE
STOCK POT PLASTIC SPOON
THERMOMETER HYDROMETER
PRIMARY BUCKET AND LID
WATER PITCHER
STRAINER MEASURING CUP
TABLESPOON WINE THIEF AND TUBE
5. CHECK INGREDIENT KIT. MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS THERE.
CRACK GRAINS (IF NECESSARY) HAVE YEAST??
6. START STEEPING WATER ON STOVE.
7. BAG GRAINS. (USE LARGE ZIP LOCK BAG TO MIX IN)
8. STEEP GRAINS TO RECIPE TEMPERATURE
9. WARM THE CAN OF LME.
10. HEAT SMALL POT OF WATER TO 150 DEGREES (TO RINSE GRAIN BAGS OFF)
11. RINSE STEEPING BAGS
12. ADD WATER TO BRING VOLUME UP TO 2 ½ GALLONS
--TO SAVE TIME, THIS WATER CAN BE HEATED IN SEPARATE POT DURING
STEEP
13. HEAT TO SLOW ROLLING BOIL
14. REMOVE FROM HEAT
15. ADD LME AND DME (QUICKLY-AVOID CLUMPING IN BAG)
16. RETURN TO SLOW ROLLING BOIL.
WATCH FOR BOIL-OVERS
17. STIR CONSTANTLY
18. ADD BITTERING HOPS FOR X AMOUNT OF TIME. RECORD TIME
19. BOIL SMALL POT OF WATER (FOR YEAST)
20. POUR 1 CUP WATER (FROM STEP 19) IN SANITIZED MEASURING CUP AND COVER
21 ADD FININGS (IF USING ANY)
22. ADD AROMA HOPS FOR X AMOUNT OF TIME. RECORD TIME.
23. FILL SINK WITH COLD WATER AND ICE.
24. TERMINATE BOIL. COVER POT. PUT IN ICE BATH.
25. WHEN YEAST WATER TEMP IS 95-105 DEGREES ADD YEAST. RE-COVER MAESURING CUP FOR 15 MINUTES.
26. AFTER 15 MINUTES STIR YEAST. RE-COVER FOR ANOTHER 15 MINUTES.
27. WHEN WORT IS APPROX 70 DEGREES. POUR-STRAIN INTO PRIMARY.
28. TRIPLE STRAIN BACK AND FORTH. CAREFUL OF ICE WATER DRIPPING OFF
POT.
29. ADD WATER TO BRING VOLUME TO 5 GALLONS.
30. STIR HARD TO MIX/AIRATE WORT
31. TAKE ORIGINAL GRAVITY READING. RECORD.
32. PITCH YEAST
33. STIR AGAIN TO AIRATE.
34. SECURE LID ATTACH BLOW OFF TUBE.
35. CLEAN/SANITIZE ALL EQUIPMENT


BOTTLING DAY

DO YOU HAVE CAPS AND PRIMING SUGAR?

1. RELAX, DON’T WORRY, HAVE A HOMEBREW
2. BOIL 5 OZ CORN SUGAR WITH 2 CUPS WATER
3. COOL TO ROOM TEMPERATURE
4. SANITIZE
CAPS-- MEASURING CUP -- SIPHON -- WAND --
BOTTLING BUCKET --
5. TAKE FG BEFORE RACKING
6. SIPHON TO BOTTLING BUCKET
7. ADD PRIMING SUGAR WATER
8. STIR GENTLY--DO NOT AIRATE
9. BOTTLE AND CAP

AGE AT 70 DEGREES FOR 1-2 WEEKS
REFRIDGERATE AND ENJOY

Thank you. With only 4 batches of beer under my belt it's nice to go over someone else's process and ensure that I'm doing everything correctly.

I am curious, why do you steep your grains in a smaller volume of water and not the whole 2.5 gallons? Do you start your boild with 2.5 or 3 gallons (to account for boil-off and trub)?

Felixio said:

Thank you. With only 4 batches of beer under my belt it's nice to go over someone else's process and ensure that I'm doing everything correctly.

I am curious, why do you steep your grains in a smaller volume of water and not the whole 2.5 gallons? Do you start your boild with 2.5 or 3 gallons (to account for boil-off and trub)?

Click to expand...

One reason is that it is nice to rinse your grains to get all the sugar out. More important for BIAB. So if you steep (or mash) in less water than you plan to boil, your rinse water can be used to bring you up to boil volume.

In steeping,you can get away with using more water,since you're just rinsing the sugars out of the grains. 150-165F for 30 minutes works fine.
Mashing must be more precise. 1-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain must be used. 150-156F or so mash temp generally for 1 hour.
For 5lbs of grains,I use 2 gallons of water to mash at 152-154F on average.
Then sparge with 1.5 gallons of water at 165-168F. This gives 3.5 gallons in a 5 gallon BK/MT. I get better results sparging to boil volume rather then just adding water to bring it up to volume.
Not to mention,paint strainer bags are way better than the muslin ones given with PM kits. The pain strainer bags can be rolled over the lip of the kettle to allow the grains to be stirred when added to break up dough balls & get them evenly wetted. This gives higher efficiency,& thus higher OG into the range specified by kit or recipe.