First Brew- American IPA extract!

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whathits14

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Just finished my first homebrew tonight! Here the skinny:

MoreBeer! American IPA ingredients kit.
Came with:
9LBS ultralight malt extract
1 oz gal hops for bittering (11.3 % AA)
4 oz cascade hops, 2 oz for flavoring and 2 for aroma. (7.5% AA)

I took a chance and ordered a turkey fryer kit (Bayou Classic, 30L aluminum stock pot and outdoor gas stove) that I found off amazon for ~$50. Considering I couldn't find a decent kettle or stockpot for less than about 75 on craigslist or at the local homebrew store, I felt it was a reasonable purchase. Downside is that aluminum is not durable and I have heard can impart some undesirable metallic tastes to the beer....we will see. Plus is that the stockpot is 7.5 gallons and allows me to do a full boil. Also, there is NO way my old POS electric stove could boil enough liquid in a reasonable amount of time to do even a partial boil, and I can work outside so messes are a lesser concern.


The actual brewing went great, the turkey fryer throws out plenty of heat and it was easy to control the boil. Only minor mistake I made was putting in the flavoring hops ten mins too early, but I think it will be OK ;). Working outside is great in case there were any spills, which I was fortunate enough to avoid. Cooled the entire batch down in a large 10+ gallon bucket that I had lying around in the garage, ran water from the hose to it and got a few packs of ice in there. Very quick cooling, got the wort down from ~190 to around 70-80 in about 20 min. Transferred to a carboy, and set in the garage to ferment. I have an airlock on there for tonight, but I will check in the morning to see if it looks like I need to place a blow off tube on there.

My only complaints with the ingredient kit are that it comes with pelleted hops. Oh well. Next time I will be buying ingredients separately and will be sure to get fresh hops, might even try a mini mash. Looking to do a Imperial Stout, or maybe a nice holiday spiced porter... I was thinking nutmeg, a little chili powder, and a hint of orange rind, any thoughts? Total investment in this setup was around $200, and that includes the ingredients for the first batch ($35). Considering me and my roommates drink like fish, we should actually be able to save some money over the next year versus paying $8 a sixer for some good micro.

I'd love to hear about any similar experiences people have had with malt extract kits, and also any suggestions going forward on how to make this beer as good as possible....I'm also sure I will run into trouble somewhere down the line so any preemptive advice would be great!

Thanks for reading

-Erik
 
Welcome to the world of homebrewing. It wont be long and you'll be a total addict. That's a good thing! Dont get hung up on the pelletized hops. Nothing wrong with them if stored correctly. I use them about 50% of the time. Hopefully your supplier didnt give you cheesy hops. You picked the best homebrew forum for finding all the info you'll ever need!! :mug:
 
Thanks! :tank:


Update: Looked at the brew this morning and no signs of fermentation yet. Carboy has zero bubbles, it looks completely flat. Hopefully yeast will pick up by this evening. I used White Labs California ale yeast is anybody wants to comment...more later
 
Sounds like it went well, I can't help to point out though...

-There is nothing wrong with aluminum. No off flavors. Just need to boil some water in it first to develop a protective oxide coat. A 30L Al pot is what I used for my first 2 years of brewing.

-Pellet hops are just as fresh as anything you get short of picking them yourself. In fact, depending on how they are handled they can be fresher than whole hops. And many people (myself included) prefer pellets.
 
Well I did not boil water prior to brewing in the stockpot, so hopefully any off tastes will be minimal.

Update: The yeast have begun to work their magic! looks like I left just enough room in the carboy to avoid blow off as the foam from the fermentation is up to the neck, but no further. It smells good too, very hoppy. Can't wait!
 
Sounds like fun. I've only used alum, no probs there, same for the 30qt. It's tough at times but learn to brew with what you have. I prefer pellets for hops, whole hops absorb a lot of liquid (using them now).

Welcome to HBT! :tank:
 
There are pros and cons to using both leaf hops and pellet hops. The biggest con to using leaf hops (and pro for pellets) is freshness and storability. Pellet hops are compressed and even if some of the outer surface of the pellet oxidizes over time, the majority of the pellet stays fresh. The biggest con for pellet hops, at least for me, is how small the particles are when the pellets are boiled and trying to keep them from moving from vessel to vessel. I'm about to try the strainer bag approach.
 
This kit will probably be my next brew. Of course they say they're out of stock online, but they always have them available up in their Concord retail location. So far, I've found their kits to be pretty straightforward and haven't had any issues with them.
 
The brew kit I picked up came with some nylon mesh bags, which helped with the pelleted hop particles somewhat, but the actual pellets are formed from some pretty fine particles and a small amount snuck through...same with some of the specialty grains, but its a negligible amount.

Shooter, I will be sure to let you know if the kit is worth it :mug:

Question for anybody who know the answer...I have access to some pretty high quality filters, would straining the beer before transferring to the bottling bucket be possible with a ten micron filter? My only concern is that I do not know how large yeast are, or if they tend to agglomerate into micro/macro colonies so I am unsure if this would also filter out a majority of the yeast. I imagine it would be possible to skim some yeast off the top before bottling and save those...any comments welcome!

update on the brew: looks like the yeasty beasties have calmed down a little bit, but are still fermenting away...color seems to changing a little as well, but it could just be the lighting. More to come.

Off to drink some beer.....
 
If you filter before bottling you may have to add some yeast. If you're kegging you can force carbonate. However, if you're careful in your transfer, you shouldn't really get any sediment in the bottles. There will be a little in there after carbing and conditioning, but that's normal. I get little bits of the hop pellet coming through the steeping bag as well, but they usually settle out in the fermentor and I don't really notice them when I transfer for bottling.
 
Update on the brew! It has been a little over a week, and the yeast appear to have finished the bulk of the fermentation. Should the fermentation be over this quickly? Also, if anyone has brewed a similar extract kit before, how long would you leave it in the primary to clear and develop before bottling? I have read advice ranging from 1-3 weeks after fermentation finishes, for 2-4 weeks total time. I do not have an additional fermenter, so a secondary fermentation will not be possible, but I would like to time the bottling such that any active yeast have enough time to clean up after themselves, but soon enough so that deceased yeasts do not begin to taint the taste of the beer.

P.S. Anybody brewing up in northern California close to Humboldt State?
 
Update on the brew! It has been a little over a week, and the yeast appear to have finished the bulk of the fermentation. Should the fermentation be over this quickly? Also, if anyone has brewed a similar extract kit before, how long would you leave it in the primary to clear and develop before bottling? I have read advice ranging from 1-3 weeks after fermentation finishes, for 2-4 weeks total time. I do not have an additional fermenter, so a secondary fermentation will not be possible, but I would like to time the bottling such that any active yeast have enough time to clean up after themselves, but soon enough so that deceased yeasts do not begin to taint the taste of the beer.

P.S. Anybody brewing up in northern California close to Humboldt State?

The bulk of fermentation can easily finish in that amount of time. I leave all my beers at least three weeks in the fermentor. So, if I were brewing this beer, I'd give it another two weeks in the primary before bottling. Dead yeast won't be an issue for a LONG time.
 
Another 2 weeks or so sounds good. The beer smells a little on the sweet side. Is this normal and will it lessen with more time in the fermenter, or do you think I should add some additional yeast?
 
I wouldn't add any yeast at this point. If you have a hydrometer you can take a reading and see where it's at. It's likely near or at its final gravity, but only a hydro can really tell you for sure.

I normally take a hydro reading after a couple of weeks to make sure everything looks good. I then take a reading a week later, right before bottling, to see if anything has changed. If not, and it's in the expected range, I bottle.
 
Update on the brew:

It has been two weeks since wort has been sitting in fermenter, so I thought it would be a good time to take a hydrometer reading. I did not take an origional reading, but the kit instructions estimate ~ 1.069. The hydrometer read 1.012 (How does this look for an IPA?). Also did a tasting of the beer...it was definitely a little off in flavor. Not sure if it was the aluminum, or if the beer just needs a little more time to age out and mellow...Also it tastes a little light in flavor for an IPA, but again, maybe it just needs more time. I am going to leave it in the fermenter for another week then take another hydro reading and bottle. As a last note, there is no activity in the airlock...should I leave it as is and bottle in a week or would it be worth looking into either repitching or maybe adding some yeast hulls?
 
I'd say at 1.012 you're looking pretty good. If it hasn't moved next time you read it, you're probably ready to bottle. Don't worry too much about any off flavors at this stage. Once you bottle it, give it three weeks to carb and then sample one. Even then, it isn't always as good as it can be in another couple of weeks.

No activity in the airlock can be a good thing at this point. It could mean that the main fermentation is done, which is good, but, the airlock is not the best indicator of that. The hydro reading gives you a more complete picture and yours looks fine. Just because the airlock isn't moving it doesn't mean the yeast are dead or even dormant. They're still cleaning up the beer, but the main fermentation is over. Based on what you've said, I see no need to repitch any yeast at bottling time. Your situation is pretty much the same as every batch I've ever made and, so far, they've all carbed up just fine with the yeast that was still in suspension when I went to bottle.
 
Nice choice for a first brew. My first was an American IPA as well.

Did you use steaping grains for this batch??? I didnt see that in your ingredient list. However, if you arent happy with that particular recipe and want to give an American IPA another go try this:

Steaping Grain: (45 min at 150-158 degrees)
.75 lb Crystal 45L
.25 lb Buscuit Malt

6.6 lbs Gold Liquid Malt
1 lb Ex Light Dry Malt

1 oz Chinook at start of 60 min boil
1 oz cascade at 20 min before end of boil
1 oz Centennial at end of boil (I usually add at 5 min before boil end)

Yeast: WLP001 California Ale (Pitch at 65-72 degree aerated wort)

Fermentation: 7-10 days at 65 degrees

Dry hop in secondary fermentor (rack from primary) with 1 oz Cascade plugs for 7 days at 65 degrees.

Bottle and let condition at room temperature for at least 30 days.

I have had fantastic results with this recipe courtesy of my friendly neighborhood homebrew shop proprietor Alex at http://www.hopsandvines.net/index.php

Good luck with your first homebrew!
 
Yes the kit used some steeping grains...1 lb of dry crystal malt I believe. Steeped the grains while bringing up temperature, but I think I might have let it get too hot...hopefully it didn't break everything down, but we will see. I am about to bottle in a few mins here, and will do another (final) hydrometer reading and then small taste test to see if any of the funky flavors mentioned earlier cleared up.
 
Bottling was a breeze! Wound up with 2 full cases of beer in the bottles, a little less than expected but certainly a plentiful amount. Two more weeks...:mug:
 
And now the moment you've all been waiting for....

The beer is done. However, I messed up adding the priming starches to the batch and forgot to give the beer a little stir to get the starches dispersed in all the beer. The result of this small error is, unfortunately, a very lightly carbonated beverage. It still tastes fantastic, better than I expected, but there is no head and only very small bubbles for the most part. On the other hand, it looks like some of the last beers to get bottled got a fair share of starches and carbonated just fine...my roommate managed to get one and I tried it and it was amazing...full head, carbonation, everything...so I guess its motivation to keep poping the caps until you get a great one ;).

I'm definitely brewing again REAL soon, and you can all be damn sure that I will do my best to make sure every beer from the next batch lives up to its potential....
 
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