Hello brewing world!

Hi everybody.
Ive been reading these forums for about 2 weeks now aswell as other sources from the internet and Ive finally taken the plunge and bought myself a starter kit from my local homebrew shop.

Im doing a wheat beer with aspirations of moving onto stronger lagers and beligum style beers.

I hope to become an active member on the site but am a total noob for now!

I suppose an opening question for me would be...............
Im doing this 1.8kg wheat beer extract kit and have followed the instructions to the letter except for not doing a full 23 ltrs and only doing 20 to keep the abv up near 5%. Now I understand the need for sanitisation/sterilization and have done with all my equipment but while im waiting for my "wort" to cool before I can add my yeast doesnt this leave my brew wide open to nastiness?

Yes. That's why you want to cool as rapidly as possible (plus a couple of other reasons). Immersion chillers and counter-flow chillers work well for this and immersion chillers are fairly easy to make (especially if you can solder). Cool quickly then pitch your yeast and cover

In theory, yes. However, just keep it covered, and out of area where things are blowing area, such as your back porch. I'm assuming you are cooling it somehow with an ice bath or chiller. Remember, you don't need to add the yeast until it is at fermentation temperature. If you need to drop it in a swamp cooler or freezer until it's cool enough to pitch, that's fine.

BTW, keeping the fermenter cool is one of the most important things you can do for your first batches of beer.

Thanks for the advice.
I will go run it a cold bath now then. Id been letting it cool naturlly! Hope its not knackerd been cooling for an hour! Whoops. But it is in a cool room with no breeze or dust.

Damn dude. You must have gotten an early start to have already had your wort cooling for an hour! Impressive!

Drinking and brewing go hand in hand for me so early morning brewing is a no go for me...

Ahhh. Time difference. Im in the UK. Started the brew at about midday. Its 3pm here now. And the brew is in my bath in cold water. I havent got enough ice for a proper ice bath.

That would explain it! Cheers!

x5starguerillaa said:

Thanks for the advice.
I will go run it a cold bath now then. Id been letting it cool naturlly! Hope its not knackerd been cooling for an hour! Whoops. But it is in a cool room with no breeze or dust.

Click to expand...

Some do it that way too, leaving it to naturally cool overnight, just make sure you cover it. Some do open fermentation (look it up before you do it!). There's a lot of different ways to make beer. Figure out what works for you.

Thanks for the reassurance. I must admit, until its been bottled and ready to drink.........and then......with fingers crossed it tastes alright, I will be panicing. Beginners nerves I suppose.

The nerves get better, trust me! I remember my first brew I was checking in on it like every day?! Now, I just relax and let them go. I do get a little nervous still when I'm taking my FG readings hoping that I get a similar FG to what the recipe suggests and that first taste of the sample but that's about it.