Pics of my first attempt at brewing.

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Axegod said:
Hey,

Pretty good to try grain with the first brew!

Groovy.

I am sure it will kick ass.

Cheers,

When my friend and I made our first it was like... "Hey lets toss some grain in...."........ "Ah.... ok...."
 
I still haven't used grain....
I started 15 years ago, and have averaged about 1 batch a year. (extract)
Now I am settled, I will do more - and will do an AG batch within a few weeks.

Cheers,
 
Pretty cool Bro!

I hadn't brewedin about 5 years since the last time, and I recently started again. I am ate up with it pretty bad now. I have brewed three in the last six weeks and hopefully I'll get a couple more done this week and can slow down, and drink some soon!
It is a good time brewing, for me anyhow. I'm sure "your" beer is gonna kick some a$$!!
 
I am looking forward to brewing some AG's in the next few weeks...
and have my secondaries all filled in an effort to have a good stock of properly
aged beers as well.
We'll see how my patience holds...
15 years ago, I only had a small shop to go to & Papazian's book....now with
the internet & several more books this is even more fun than I remember!
 
Beer Snob said:
That was real nice:) How did you waterproof the probe? Or was it already waterproof?
The probe is waterproof all on it's own. It's basically just your run of the mill kitchen probe thermometer;14 bucks at walmart. I get more use out of that thing than any other piece of equipment in my kitchen. It's nice because I just toss the probe in with the sanitizer and then all I have to do when I'm ready is plug it into the gauge and toss it in the pot. It also helped me realize what temp the water should be at a rolling boil and kept me from having troubles with any boilovers. 214.3 is the magic number on this particular brew. Any higher and I started to have foam.
And as far as the grains go, I was going to originally do just the extract but someone on the board suggested some grains that would help out with the Brown ale theme. I figured, why not? Get a bag, put the grains in and steep them at 150-155 for 30 minutes. I am hoping it pays off. I can tell you it added a really rich caramel color to the brew. I am going to sneak a taste when I rack to secondary this weekend. I just hope I didn't screw up and contaminate something. I was more careful with this than with just about anything else I have ever done:D


Dan
 
Walker-san said:
uh-oh.... did you pour that wort through the strainer while it was still piping hot?

-walker
Yes why? What does that do? I basically followed the instructions in "The complete joy". I poured it into two gallons of cold water and chilled it to pitching temp, pitched, aerated, moved to the garage and installed the airlock. Please tell me I didn't ruin my batch?
Will the wort pick up the flavors of the strainer or something, thats the only thing I can think of besides warping the container.

Edit: Did a search and came up with Hot side aeration..gotcha. Lets hope my batch comes out OK. I won't make that mistake again. I think I am going to buy a chiller for my next batch.


Dan
 
Corrrect, Hot side aeration.... It can lead to oxidation in the beer. It won't ruin the beer but can make it oxidize faster. If you drink it fast you prolly won't even notice. :D
 
I've been pouring hot wort (about 1.5 gals) through a strainer for 16 years and never had a problem with oxidation.

Although I sometimes add a gal of cold water to the pot before pouring into the primary.

I also have beers that are over 1 year old that have no problems with off-flavors or excessive carbonation and have never been placed in a fridge.

I wouldn't worry about it.:mug:
 
Looks like you have fun, to me it looked like you followed good eats exactly. Hopefully it will turn out fine.

If your grains were in the bag why did you need the strainer?
 
Todd said:
Looks like you have fun, to me it looked like you followed good eats exactly. Hopefully it will turn out fine.

If your grains were in the bag why did you need the strainer?
I strained the hops and whatever grains that were small enough to slip through the bag. I didn't find out till last night that it's ok to leave that stuff in there. Live and learn.
I did take a bit from the good eats episode, like soaking the equipment in the bucket, but I used Star san instead of bleach. I am going to get a new primary and keep the bucket for sanitization purposes. It worked great as I could just go in and toss stuff in while I was brewing and then pull it out when I needed it. It was also big enough to fit pretty much everything. It was a really good time and I can't wait to go for another batch. Not sure what I will try yet.


Dan
 
I question this step.

2935747820033907545sPBlSE_ph.jpg


Did you pitch the yeast in that plastic bucket? Now that I'm kegging, the only plastic my beer touches is tubing and adding the wort to the carboy via a funnel. If you're fermenting in that plastic bucket, I suggest getting 2-3 glass carboys if you want to make mulitiple brews at the same time.And get a largerfunnel.
 
Nicely done. As was said above, I might have let the wort cool before straining. I made a wort chiller, though, so I haven't had to worry about that in a while.

Keep posting progress.


BTW-Nice hat! You originally from the Hub?
 
Mr Bigins said:
I question this step.

2935747820033907545sPBlSE_ph.jpg


Did you pitch the yeast in that plastic bucket? Now that I'm kegging, the only plastic my beer touches is tubing and adding the wort to the carboy via a funnel. If you're fermenting in that plastic bucket, I suggest getting 2-3 glass carboys if you want to make mulitiple brews at the same time.And get a largerfunnel.

I did pitch in the bucket. It's my primary for this batch. I am going to get another carboy for my next batch though. I was thinking about getting a better bottle? I have 6 gal glass carboy right now that I will probably use as my primary from now on and just use a blowoff tube for the really active fermentation and then airlock it. I am going to get a 5 gallon next to use for my secondary and then hopefully add on so I can do more than one batch at a time.


Dan
 
Truble said:
Nicely done. As was said above, I might have let the wort cool before straining. I made a wort chiller, though, so I haven't had to worry about that in a while.

Keep posting progress.


BTW-Nice hat! You originally from the Hub?
I spent three years stationed in New Hampshire right on the border and learned to love the Red Sox. Been a fan ever since. Same with the Patriots. I would love to go back there again. I miss the hell out of that place.


Dan
 
I use the air locks first but once the brew has life, I reomove and add a sanitized blowoff tube for each.

Picture014.jpg


Those are now in glass secondary's. Atleast 3 carboys are needed if you're doing double batches. You transfer into secondary in the empty carboy. Then clean the empty carboy good, sanatize the cardoy and transfer the 2nd batch into that one.
 
Willsellout said:
http://community.webshots.com/album/552170664UgVfgm

Just click play. It's a slideshow of this last Saturday.
I made a Brown ale and I think it came out good. It wasn't all that difficult and I had time enough to transition smoothly from one part to the next. It was a blast!
Can't wait to taste!


Dan
Congratulations, you're making beer.

One note: you never "sparged" as you titled one of your pictures. Straining your wort to remove the trub is not sparging; it's just straining. Sparging is done to rinse sugar from grains.
 
If you poured water over your hops/grains then you did sparge.

The pic just shows straining...:D

Definitions of Sparge on the Web:
  • [SIZE=-1]
  • To spray grist with hot water to remove soluble sugars (maltose). This takes place at the end of the mash.
    www.fosters.com.au/enjoy/beer/beer_glossary.htm[/SIZE]
    [SIZE=-1]
  • Injection of air below the water table to strip dissolved volatile organic compounds and/or oxygenate the groundwater to facilitate aerobic biodegradation of organic compounds.
    www.nsc.org/ehc/glossar2.htm[/SIZE]
    [SIZE=-1]
  • To sprinkle. To rinse the grainbed during lautering.
    www.howtobrew.com/glossary.html[/SIZE]
    [SIZE=-1]
  • To wash out all soluble products from the mash prior to boiling.
    www.zooass.com/bar/glossary/[/SIZE]
    [SIZE=-1]
  • The rinsing of mashed grains with hot water in order to extract sugars, proteins, etc. from the grain. This requires the use of a manifold or false bottom in the mash tun. The liquid is collected in the kettle so that it may be boiled. In the brewing of beer from barley, this process generally includes the addition of hot water in the top of the mash tun while simultaneously draining sweet liquor out the bottom.
    xb-70.com/beer/chicha/terms.htm[/SIZE]
    [SIZE=-1]
  • To distribute water over grains or hops in order to wash out extract.
    www.siebelinstitute.com/brewterms/S.html[/SIZE]
    [SIZE=-1]
  • Rinsing grains to extract residual sugar that clings to the grains after they have been mashed. Warm water is poured over the grains and hops above a strainer.
    www.cnn.com/FOOD/resources/food.for.thought/beverages/alcohol/homebrew/glossary/[/SIZE]
    [SIZE=-1]
  • agitate by introducing air or compressed gas; "sparge the water"
  • sprinkle: the act of sprinkling or splashing water; "baptized with a sprinkling of holy water"; "a sparge of warm water over the malt"
  • sprinkle: scatter with liquid; wet lightly; "Sprinkle the lawn"
    wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn[/SIZE]
 
bikebryan said:
Congratulations, you're making beer.

One note: you never "sparged" as you titled one of your pictures. Straining your wort to remove the trub is not sparging; it's just straining. Sparging is done to rinse sugar from grains.

Why is it that you only post when you want to tell someone that they are wrong about something, bikebryan?

-walker
 
bikebryan said:
Congratulations, you're making beer.

One note: you never "sparged" as you titled one of your pictures. Straining your wort to remove the trub is not sparging; it's just straining. Sparging is done to rinse sugar from grains.
Yeah I got my terms mixed up and was going to change it yesterday but got lazy. Give me a break, I'm still learning. I think I watched "Amber waves" one too many times:D


Dan
 
Willsellout said:
Yeah I got my terms mixed up and was going to change it yesterday but got lazy. Give me a break, I'm still learning. I think I watched "Amber waves" one too many times:D


Dan


I still have yet to catch that episide




grats dude, but you still have the hardest part ahead of you.

.....waiting for it to carbonate in the bottles without drinking them all first
 
It looks like the cable on your thermo. is plstic coated but you should still not immerse the whole thing in the wort. There are countless members here that have ruined thier probes by getting the backside wet.
Welcome to the party. Since you are new that means you are supplying the beer. Get to work!!!!:tank:
 
Well the thermometer probe is silicone coated so it can withstand high temps used in the oven without any kind of melting. I haven't had any issues thus far with any kind of penetration of water or anything else inside the cable itself. It may look like the whole thing was submerged, but it was just the last few inches of the probe that was actually in the boil. I was going to use a candy thermometer but my kettle has a lip that doesn't allow for it to sit in there. I am kind of stuck as far as what I can use so I will just keep using this. It was really nice to be able to see the temp on the display and It seemed to have no problems with this last boil, and it still works perfectly. We will see with these next few batches whether it will stand up. I hope it does because of how convenient it was.


Dan
 
Just added a few more shots of me transferring to my 5 gal carboy for secondary. It's been 7 days and the fermentation has slowed down to basically nothing. I cleaned everything including the carboy and sanitized. When I was pouring out the sanitizer from the carboy it got a ton of bubbles in it after all the liquid was out. So I rinsed again with some more water. Hope this didn't do anything bad? During the transfer, I slipped a ladle in that I sanitized and took a taste. It's still rough and bitter but the flavor is in the background and it's a good one I think. Very nutty; Reminds me of a newcastle which is a good thing.
I do have a question though. For a typical 5 gallon batch, how much corn sugar would be added? Or is there another type of sugar that I should use to add to the brown ale like brown sugar or maple syrup or something?

Thanks.


Dan
 
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