Luzer
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- Dec 10, 2012
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I just made the White House Honey Porter over the weekend and now that I have time to reflect on my first 5 gallon batch I have a few notes and questions.
I know most of the issues will work them self out but it’s nice knowing the proper procedure for next time.
Thanks for the help.
- 1. We steeped the grains in 4.5 gallons of hot tap water. Is this an issue? We didn’t see a specific volume to steep so we took out the .5 gal of HME and put 4.5 gallons in the pot.
- 2. When we were steeping the grains we took them out after the 25 minutes and then saw that the directions said to keep them in for another 5-10 off the heat. We decided to put them back in but in a new steeping bag leaving the bottom most grains out of the new bag. Since we are going to bring the wort up to a boil I figured we should be ok.
- 3. The grains were steeping at 160F and not 155F we tried to bring the temp down but it stayed in the 160F range.
- 4. Right before it started to boil we got this white sediment on the top. I looked it up and I found out that it’s called the hot break.
- 5. After we added each ingredient we stirred it in with a metal spoon. I figured its boiling so it should be ok.
- 6. We put the immersion chiller in the wort with 10 minutes left and then added the honey and the last .5 oz of hopes and mixed it up the best we could. I didn’t see any black marks on the pot when we ported it out so I don’t think we scorched anything.
- 7. We didn't activate the yeast before putting it in the wort we just sprinkled it on top after putting the wort through a strainer to aerate it and strain out the sludge. The wort temp was at 79F before we poured it.
a. Is there anything wrong with aerating it that way?
b. There was a lot of sludge in the strainer was it ok to strain it out or should it be in the bucket when its fermenting? Does it remove flavor?
c. I didn't stir or shake it up after adding the yeast. If there isn't any activity after two days should I shake the bucket or stir it?
- 8. I took the first gravity reading right after I added the yeast since I forgot to do it after we poured the wort in to the bucket. From what I can read it was at 1.073 and Midwest Supplies says it should be at 1.053. I Googled the issues and it seems that I took the reading wrong since the kits are almost fail proof.
a. I used a wine thief and filled it up as high as it was in the bucket. I took the thief out and dropped the hydrometer in the thief and spun it. There were a few bubbles around it but it was definitely over the was definitely over the big 7.
b. Should I wait a day or two and take a reading then?
- 9. Is there any specific liquid to use with the airlock? We used the waster from our fridge that goes through a filter.
I know most of the issues will work them self out but it’s nice knowing the proper procedure for next time.
Thanks for the help.