Soon to make my first (kit) brew...

So, my wife finally caved and I've got my first HB set-up (Williams). Also have a kit from them as well (American ale). Couple questions before I even begin:
1) They (Williams) mention a cooling time of 5-12 hours, but that it can be lowered considerably with an ice bath. Wouldn't 5-12 hours give you a much bigger chance to let bacteria into your brew? I've got cats and I don't trust 'em; they'd love to ruin my brew just to spite me!
2)They mention pouring the wort into the primary fermentor. Other people have mentioned not aerating your beer too much. Wouldn't this pouring aerate a whole bunch? Should I siphon instead, or is that just from the primary to the secondary? (and is there any trick for not getting a huge amount of trub into the primary?)
I guess that's it for now. I'll have a whole slew of questions later I'm sure.

Ok, Cover me... I'm going in!

Welcome and good job convincing the wife! That was the first of many convincings associated with this hobby.

1) 5-12 hours is ridiculous. I assume your doing a partial boil (2-3 gallons) so just cool the boil kettle in a bath of cold/ice water to under 100 degrees F and then top off in the fermenter with cold water from the fridge to achieve yout 70-80 degree pitching temp. 20 min tops.

2a) If the wort in kettle temp is under 100 you should have little problem with pouring the wort into your fermentation vessle. Pouring much above 100 is rumored to create hot side aeration.
2b) After you have cooled your wort in the kettle, stir it around in a repetitious circular motion creating a vortex like current. Wait about a minute. Most of the trub should wind up in the bottom-middle of the kettle. Now you can siphon from the outer edge. If you would rather pour the wort into the fermenter, you can pour through a strainer to collect some hops and break materials. Or, you can just dump it all in! No biggie. Remember you are making beer - it's not an exact science if you aren't doing it for a living.

Just to clarify on 2 - after your wort is cooled you actually WANT to aerate it. Oxygen is desired at this point; your yeast is going to need it to grow. So pour it, shake it, splash it around! It's all good at this point.

This is the only time in the process where you want to introduce oxygen.

As far as turb, some use a strainer and others do nothing. If you're going to use a secondary it's not really important as you'll be leaving most of the junk behind in the primary.

Check out www.howtobrew.com, it will answer tons of your initial questions.

ARV9673 said:

I've got cats and I don't trust 'em; they'd love to ruin my brew just to spite me!

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If your cats are like mine, they will stay well away from the brewing process at all times except when you need to move a large and heavy kettle full of hot wort either to the burner for boiling, or from the burner for cooling.

They will wait until you have picked up the kettle, and then try to step between your legs as you stagger from point A to point B.

It's OK to trip over the cat and spill the wort, BUT UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU DROP THE WORT ON THE CAT, as I am convinced that cats are trained and represented by lawyers who specialize in personal injury cases, and will sue you for every penny you possess

-a.

ajf said:

They will wait until you have picked up the kettle, and then try to step between your legs as you stagger from point A to point B.


-a.

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I think your cats and my cats must be communicating this technique to each other.