Brewer's Best American Pale Ale

First all.. Nice site you all have here and a lot of good information!

For Xmass I got my first home brew kit to start brewing because of an adiction to the craft beer world. I sell high pressure steam boilers for a company and have alot of customers that use my equipment such as Sly Fox, Victory, Capt. lawrence, Susquehanna Brewery, Troegs, Flying Fish, etc etc.. So I figured to give it a shot because of my love for the beers these customers make...

My first batch I made yesterday was the Brewer's Best American Pale Ale. How does this taste?

During the process yesterday I had a friend help me out and I warmed the 2 cans of liquid malt to be ready. Recipe calls for 1 first and 40 mins later the 2nd. When I walked away and told my friend to pour the malt, he accidently put both in at the same time. This has me a little nervous because it is my first brew ever making. I do not think it may be a big deal but wanted to check it with you all on here to see if it is. Other then that I followed the directions to the "T" and hoping for the best.

I have it stored in my basement and fermometer is reading in low 60's and the yeast is working.. Have bubbles going so I am please its working good within 24hrs.

From What I have been reading most people are letting it sit for 3 weeks.. In either the primary all 3. Others 2 weeks in the primary and then 1 in a secondary to clear up the beer. What do you all recommend? I like the idea of using the secondary to have a clearer crisp beer.. How long have people let this sit?

Sorry for the long post but I am newbie now with an addiction.

Thanks

The early addition won't hurt too much. Your beer will come out darker than expected. Most people at LME late because the longer it boils, the darker the wort becomes. If you don't care about such a thing, you probably won't even notice.

Another reason people say they add LME late is to prevent some of the 'extract flavor' that people say they can taste. However, a lot of people say they can't taste that at all, so it's all up to you, the drinker.

Either way, you'll be fine, RDWHAHB.

Adding both cans at the beginning will be fine as long as you mixed them well and none of it got scorched on the bottom. Boiling extract for 60 minutes will darken it, so your beer might be a little darker than normal but it will taste just fine. When I used to use extract I would add all of mine in at flameout because the extract only really needs to be sanitized which will happen pretty quickly in wort that was just boiling. This way it wouldn't darken up and it gave me a head start on cooling.

I would advise skipping the secondary. Secondaries are really only useful for adding dryhops, fruit, wood, etc. to beers or if you want to age a beer for more than a month or two. You will get the same amount of clarifying by leaving it in the primary for an extra week rather than tranfering it to the secondary for that week and you won't risk contamination.

Also, welcome to brewing!

setters45 said:

From What I have been reading most people are letting it sit for 3 weeks.. In either the primary all 3. Others 2 weeks in the primary and then 1 in a secondary to clear up the beer. What do you all recommend? I like the idea of using the secondary to have a clearer crisp beer.. How long have people let this sit?

Sorry for the long post but I am newbie now with an addiction.

Thanks

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The general theory is that 3 weeks in primary is all it takes. There is lots of debate about whether or not you need to ever use a secondary for anything other than adding fruit/dry hopping/etc.

My personal preference is to use a secondary on light beer styles to help with clarity. I generally transfer as my gravity is NEARING, but has not yet reached FG (others say that you should wait until you've gotten to your FG for the most clear beer . .. but I don't like to risk transferring it and losing too much yeast.)

The important part here is that you should be taking hydrometer readings, no matter your choice on using the secondary or not. It's all well and good to say 3 weeks in primary, 3 weeks in the bottle . . . but you've got to have hydrometer readings to know if you've finished fermenting, or if it got stuck, or if something else happened.

After the OG reading, I generally take hydrometer readings starting about 12 days in. If it's near the FG, I'll take another sample in 2 days. Once you get 3 readings the same at/near the FG, you'll know fermentation is over. At this point, you can bottle.

Thanks Guys!! Has anyone ever tasted this recipe kit from Brewer's best?

setters45 said:

Thanks Guys!! Has anyone ever tasted this recipe kit from Brewer's best?

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That kit was my very first brew. It came out pretty good. The thing I noticed is that the advice to leave it in the bottle for 3 weeks before drinking it, so it can carb and condition, it very good advive. I drank a few at two weeks. Pretty good but body a little thin. By three weeks much better. At 4 weeks they were very good.

This kit was my second brew, I love it, has a great taste.
Adding the extract early will not hurt the beer any, it will just be a bit darker.
I left mine in primary for 3 weeks then bottled it.

i am on day 6 of fermenting and the air loc stopped bubbling and the frothy head that formed now has dropped... should i continue to ket this ferment? directions clame 6-8 days and then wait for 48hrs to make sure no more bubbles for the 48hrs.. i would like to transfer. to the 2nd carboy for a clearer beer.. not sure if fermentation is done yet thiugh.

I'd say don't rush. The bubbles slow and stop but the yeast are still working. Just let them do their thing, maybe for another week if you can wait.

setters45 said:

i am on day 6 of fermenting and the air loc stopped bubbling and the frothy head that formed now has dropped... should i continue to ket this ferment? directions clame 6-8 days and then wait for 48hrs to make sure no more bubbles for the 48hrs.. i would like to transfer. to the 2nd carboy for a clearer beer.. not sure if fermentation is done yet thiugh.

Click to expand...

Just because the airlock isn't bubbling doesn't mean the yeast aren't working. The airlock bubbling only indicates that the beer is releasing CO2 which is only one of the many aspects of fermentation. They are still fermenting and cleaning up after themselves. Don't listen to the directions, they're almost worthless. If you really want to secondary it I would leave it in the primary for at least 2 weeks then secondary it for a week or two then bottle.