Need your wisdom.

So...I went out today, bought a brewing kit and the equipment, and started what will hopefully be a lifelong hobby.

The instructions that came from the shop to brew a basic beer told me to boil 2 gallons of water, and dump it, along with the malt extract and sugar into the primary fermentor and mix it all up. Then add cool water up to the 5 gallon mark. This is exactly what I did.

I later read instructions online telling me to boil the malt extract with the water for roughly 60 minutes.

So, my question is...did I mess it up? Or is it still good to go?

Another question...My wort is currently in an ice bath trying to cool down, should it be covered and sealed while doing so?

Any help is muchly appreciated. Cheers!

You bought a Cooper's kit, didn't you? Don't worry, you'll be able to drink it, though it may not taste all that great. Count it as a learning experience.

Now go here, and read up a bit on brewing. Compare this batch to your next. Welcome to home brewing!

It's a morgans kit. And thank you, i'm new to this and any help I can get is great!

Welcome to HBT!

A canned kit is a good way to learn sanitation and process. It should make drinkable beer but it won't be the best beer you ever make.

Kits that come with extract, hops, and sometimes steeping grains are a step up from the canned kits and will make a much better beer. After that you can decide how obsessive your brewing will become.

I never covered the pot while cooling but some folks do. Either way will work. Mainly you don't want anything falling in that could contaminate you beer. Don't worry, it is very hard to mess up beer!

One thing that can mess it up is following the direction to those kits that say your beer will be ready in X amount of days. Leave your beer in the fermenter for three weeks before thinking about bottling it up. The wait will be the hardest part of brewing!

First of all, welcome to the obsession.

Second, I'm not familiar with Morgans, but is it a hopped extract? If so, you'll have beer when it's done. I would recommend brewing from extract recipes to get your process down, then move up from there.

Yes, it's a hopped extract. So, by just pouring the can and the sugar in my fermentor along with boiling water, will everything be fine? Or is it crucial to boild it on the stove?

The Palmer book that is linked above is a great place to start. A lot of people also like The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian as a starting off point. I'm not familiar with the type of kit you picked up, but you'll find a lot of extract kits that involve boiling the malt extract for 60 minutes. They also have hops and everything else you need. But yeah, it sounds like the kit you got will familiarize you with the basic process. Good luck!

Oh, and one final piece of advice- spend a lot of time reading on Homebrewtalk. Just do searches for questions that you come across and you'll gain tons on knowledge. This place is the best!

Thanks a million! I'm glad I found this place.

SamD said:

Yes, it's a hopped extract. So, by just pouring the can and the sugar in my fermentor along with boiling water, will everything be fine? Or is it crucial to boild it on the stove?

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For a kit like the one you bought, you'll be fine. There are a lot of kits that have unhopped extract, and you'll need to boil them for an hour or more. In fact, for your next brew, look for an unhopped extract kit so you'll better understand what you're doing.

Thank you. I will keep that in mind. Another quesetion is...the bucket I was sold to be my primary fermentor just has a good airtight lid, no spots for stoppers or anything. Is this an issue? Or perfectly normal? I figure the stopper and such is for the carboy.

You could drill a hole and put a stopper with airlock in, but for now, just don't seal it tight. Leave it alone for 3-4 weeks, and then bottle. When it's bottled, drill the hole, get an airlock with a stopper, and brew again. One more thing I'd recommend: buy another bucket and brew another batch next week.

Okay. So, is the secondary fermentor necessary?

SamD said:

Okay. So, is the secondary fermentor necessary?

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No, except for fruit beers. Those really are hard to clear without a secondary.

No. If you search here on HBT, you'll find that most people don't use secondaries. I only use them if I want to bulk age, or dry hop. I typically leave my fermenting beer alone for 4 weeks, then bottle or keg.

That's one reason I recommend buying another bucket, if you have more than one going at a time, you'll be able to sleep at night because you'll all but forget the fact that you have fermenting beer. Waiting is the hardest part for the new homebrewer...

So RDWHAHB.

Okay. Thanks again. I'm afraid I won't sleep at night because i'll be on here all night teaching myself.

spiffcow said:

Now go here, and read up a bit on brewing. Compare this batch to your next. Welcome to home brewing!

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Definitely take the time to follow that link and read (free online) John Palmer's book. It is an easy read to learn the basics. Then he will take you as deep into the technical side as you want to go.

...then read all of the Sticky notes for this forum. By then, you will be an expert only lacking experience. Welcome to the addiction

Make sure that the lid on the bucket is not perfectly sealed. Just place it on top of the bucket. Without an airlock, or some other way for the CO2 produced by fermentation to escape, a sealed lid will end up hitting the ceiling and you will have a mess.

Thanks for that tip, I made sure the lid wasn't sealed. So you say you leave it alone for 4 weeks, do you still do hydrometer tests during that 4 weeks?

You should do an OG (or SG) reading before adding yeasts and then a FG reading before you bottle. It's isn't necessary to take readings intermittantly.

I do a reading and a taste at two weeks. I then leave it alone for a week and a half. I use what's called a Wine Thief. You dip the sanitized Thief in the bucket, let it fill, and then drop the hydrometer into it to take your reading. Then empty into a small glass to taste it. I usually get about 4 oz. of beer at each sample, and I do three samples - that's my first pint of my creation.

Okay. I'm thinking of buying another bucket this weekend, with a lid the has a hole for a stopper, and starting another batch with the methods I learned from the links above. It is worth finishing the one I have started, correct?

Absolutely I would finish it. There's nothing wrong with a prehopped all extract beer. It'll taste like a commercial beer after a few weeks. My first 2 batches were those type and I'm enjoying one right now! Good luck

Being able to wait is huge, i have a hard time with it, but am learning. I too was following the instructions that came in the kit and was ready for good beer in 2 weeks, not the case. I kegged a bavarian hef after 2 weeks of fermenting, and it tasted like crap. So i just let it sit, and each time i taste it, it gets better and better. This hobby will teach you to be patient. Good luck and welcome to the addiction!

Absolutely. You won't know how your beer turns out until until it is finished, so don't dump it. In fact, I'd recommend never dumping a beer, that's considered alcohol abuse.

Even if a batch doesn't turn out well in a few weeks, it will get better over time. And if for some reason it doesn't, you can always cook with it.

Okay, so even when it's bottled, it will get better with time? So I should keep it in the fermentor for at least 4 weeks? I'm nervous because there's no airlock, it's just a lid, i'm afraid things will get in and out.

Many folks use fermenters without airlocks and make great beer so no need to worry. I leave all my beers at least 4 weeks and yes, it will get better with age.

SamD said:

Okay, so even when it's bottled, it will get better with time? So I should keep it in the fermentor for at least 4 weeks? I'm nervous because there's no airlock, it's just a lid, i'm afraid things will get in and out.

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New parent nervousness! That's why Papazian invented the phrase RDWHAHB! (Or possibly a craft brew, in your case.)

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo yea....... RDWHAHB!

Justibone said:

New parent nervousness! That's why Papazian invented the phrase RDWHAHB! (Or possibly a craft brew, in your case.)

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Yep, but just remember, in a month or two, you'll be RDWHAHB'ing. Having two batches going at a time will help.