First Brew-Day in North Texas

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muhteeus

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Two friends, my wife, and me finally sat down and brewed our first batch Saturday. We went with the Cincinnati Pale Ale recipe from how to brew.

Cincinnati Pale Ale (How to Brew)
  • 2.5 lbs Dry Amber Malt Extract
  • 3.3 lbs Liquid Pale Malt Extract
  • 6AAU - Bittering (Centennial) - 60min
  • 5AAU - Aroma/Flavoring (Willamette 2.5, Cascade 2.5) - 30min and 15 min
  • Ale Yeast (White Labs, "California Ale", WLP001)
  • OG: 1.045

The recipe was a bit open ended. I didn't really read much into hops, just kinda picked what I assumed are some safe hops for an American style Pale Ale. I added roughly 3AAU Cascade at flame out for a slighty hoppier aroma (I hope!).

Everything really went well. We cleaned and sanitized everything as best as we could, even sanitized the yeast bottle.
  • The boil was maintained at 214F with a medium vigor. There was not much risk for boilover due to the small boil volume compared to kettle volume. 3gal - 10gal.
  • DME was mixed into 3 gallons of cool water, then boiled. LME added @ T=55min (5min before flame-out). The pour was controlled and agitated to prevent scorching.
  • Hop additions were done at the prescribed times. Dumps were slow and spread out over the surface area.
  • We topped off the final ~2.5 gallons of wort with ~2.5 gallons of top off water. Which dropped our temp to about 140F. We took the temp down to 89F with a wort chiller in about 15min (79.5F ground water temp.... gotta love Texas). The final cooling was done in a sink ice bath while stirring for about 10 min (down to 78F).
  • Racked to 6.5gal primary while agitating. Pitched yeast. Rocked the baby, per instructions.
  • Note: Wet carboy bungs will slide into the fermenter.... thank God it was sterilized. It's never coming out.
  • Placed second, dry bung and airlock on.
  • Currently fermenting VERY actively at 71F.

We measured the OG to be 1.044.

So our first brew day was a great success. Pictures soon. Thanks for all of the help HBT! :mug:
 
I recently transferred the beer from the 6.5gal primary to the keg. Everything went smooth.

The gravity measurements tapered off around a 1.009. I cold crashed at 35F for about 4-5 days, then transferred to the keg. Force carbing at 35F for 2 weeks to get the 2.5volumes of CO2 needed!

We snuck a taste of the sample for the gravity reading and it was delicious. Delicious and flat. I was excited that there was no surprises on flavor or texture. My first batch will be a success!!!

Thanks HBT!:ban:
 
Hello HBT,

I had my first tasting of the brew yesterday (1 week left in carbonation and conditioning). The brew was a nice, light amber color with about 1/3" of persistent head. Not much nose to speak of. Taste was malty at first with a crisp bitter finish and a slight citrus on the back of the tongue. Mouthfeel is adequate for the style, very crisp, clean, and bubbly. Flavors are still a bit unrefined, but I am very happy with our first brew.


When are we all invited over to help drink it?
Halloween Party this weekend! :)

IMG_20121021_142045.jpg
 
Craigtube has a video on how to get that bung out of the carboy. Neat idea,but you'd have to look it up. I don't have the link anymore. You basically push a thin material cloth into the carboy,get the bung to rest on it,& pull slowly. He showed that it does work.
 
I had a bung go into the carboy on my first two batches! I simply "rigged" a metal coat hanger to get them out. I'll post a pic when I get home, but the way I did it was this. 1) Cleaned carboy. 2) Sprayed carboy mouth with Star San. 3) Tilt the carboy upside down with the narrow end of the bung facing the opening of the carboy. 4) Insert hanger and pull out bung.

The bung came out with minimal effort and zero damage. I have learned since to spray the bung and let dry before inserting it into the carboy, lol! And welcome to the addiction known as Homebrewing, lol
 
Here's a pic of the bung remover I made with a coat hanger. The flat part rests on the end of the bung. You might have to move it around all edges of the bung to work it out.

image.jpg
 
Here's a pic of the bung remover I made with a coat hanger. The flat part rests on the end of the bung. You might have to move it around all edges of the bung to work it out.

Thanks. This is a great idea! I actually used a corkscrew to get mine out. I now know to let them air dry first!
 
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