First Batch

Hey everybody!

Just wanted to introduce myself to this awesome community as I have also just began brewing, and I absolutely love it! Just bought most of my equipment about a week ago and brewed an extract kit (Belgian IPA) last Monday (Oct. 1). It has been a week and I just racked my beer to a secondary and took my FG which was 1.011 and my OG was 1.053 which are both right on track so I'm pretty excited everything is going well. I also added the hops to my secondary but it's floating a bit on top, I hope it sinks in a bit deeper into the brew. I added a pic and I had a question about it being cloudy, will it eventually clear out over the next couple of weeks? Overall, it smells wonderful and tastes pretty good but I know it will get better over time. Again I'm having a blast doing think and I'm already thinking about jumping to all grain but maybe ill get a few more extracts under my belt. Hope to continue doing this for years to come! Going to be a awesome interacting with you guys!

Welcome man! I'm also new to the forums and the world of homebrewing. Its great fun and there is nothing like the satisfaction of having that first taste of your first homebrew and it actually being good.

I also did a partial extract IPA for my first batch. It Came out great.

Just finished my 2nd all time batch and i did decide to make the quick transition to all grain. Either way you decide to go i just wanted to take some time and say congrats on the successful 1st batch. See you around.

Cheers.

Yeah, it'll clear up in about 3 weeks time. Let every thing settle to the bottom and compact and you're good to go. Good luck.

Congratulations on your first batch! Yes everything will settle out and kudos to you for the water bath to assist in temperature control! You might want to consider a deeper tub to submerge more of the carboy for greater temperature consistency and the ability to add ice bottles if necessary.

Glad to see you have been doing some reading on the forum Now look into the ongoing debate about primary vs secondary as 1 week primary is a little short, IMO 2 weeks is the minimum.

Looks great. And as stated above it will settle over the next 2 weeks. Depending on the kit you may notice that as it settles and the yeast drops to the bottom it will darken up a bit.

bosco

I'd definitely recommend a deeper tub when you get the chance, at least to have water cover 50% of the carboy. Taking off the yeast too early, even if you've reached FG, can cause some off flavors that the yeast didn't have time to clean up. Patience is a virtue in this hobby. Welcome and Cheers!

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and all the input/advice. I will definitely head to my LHBS or hardware store this weekend and pick up larger bucket for my water bath. Also I forgot to take into consideration the off flavors and the time needed for the yeast to clean up; I guess I got a little too excited. I also plan on purchasing another extract and I now have a better idea what to improve on my next batch. Thanks again and hopefully there wont be too much off flavor. Since I am so eager to try the finish product I also want the best possible outcome, so is two more weeks in secondary sufficient before bottling or should I give it more time as I am in no hurry and can wait longer? Again Thank You!

Hiplingo said:

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and all the input/advice. I will definitely head to my LHBS or hardware store this weekend and pick up larger bucket for my water bath. Also I forgot to take into consideration the off flavors and the time needed for the yeast to clean up; I guess I got a little too excited. I also plan on purchasing another extract and I now have a better idea what to improve on my next batch. Thanks again and hopefully there wont be too much off flavor. Since I am so eager to try the finish product I also want the best possible outcome, so is two more weeks in secondary sufficient before bottling or should I give it more time as I am in no hurry and can wait longer? Again Thank You!

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The biggest point for waiting initially is to allow the yeast to clean up after themselves. Since you're off the yeast cake, a lot of that may not happen, but two weeks should be sufficient before bottling. Make sure to take hydrometer readings a few days apart and they are unchanging and of course give it a taste. It may be a little thin and watery, but that's green beer. 3 more weeks in bottles, or shorter if kegging and you should be good. I typically taste my beers in week intervals after bottling, especially for new recipes, just to see how the flavor evolves.