First batch done! Am I OK?

I just finished my first batch. An Amber ale from Midwest. Everything went fine, now its sitting in the primary in my cold ass house! I pitched at 70, now its sitting at 66, as there really isnt a good warm spot for it.
Is it OK?

Btw, the IC that I made ROCKS! Down to 70 in 15 min. :rockin:

Thx,

Yep, you're good. 66 is better than 70 for most ales. 62 would be even better, IMO. Congrats on your first brew!!

Sounds like your beer is OK. You, on the other hand, will probably never be OK again...

Welcome to the obsession!

bleme said:

Sounds like your beer is OK. You, on the other hand, will probably never be OK again...

Welcome to the obsession!

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No doubt! The second batch is already in the works, and I just cleaned up from the first one...

Congrats on your first! And like the others said....better off at 66F or even a little lower.....70F a bit high....I never ferment my ales that high.....welcome to the obsession

I thought ales liked to ferment higher? 75ish? No? Obviously not I guess.
Thanks! My SG seemed a tad high, 1.048, shouldve maxed at 1.046.
No big deal, right? It gets checked before pitching, correct?

birdley123 said:

I thought ales liked to ferment higher? 75ish? No? Obviously not I guess.
Thanks! My SG seemed a tad high, 1.048, shouldve maxed at 1.046.
No big deal, right? It gets checked before pitching, correct?

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Belgian ales like mid 70s. Mid 60s for most other ales. Makes for a "cleaner" tasting beer. And that little difference in gravity won't hurt anything. It may give you a little more alcohol but that's about it. Now the hard part...the wait.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

Yep, you're good. 66 is better than 70 for most ales. 62 would be even better, IMO. Congrats on your first brew!!

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Agree. My basement holds abuot 58-60 this time of year and it is perfect for fermenting ales.

Congrats on your first brew, and welcome to the hobby/addiction.

birdley123 said:

I thought ales liked to ferment higher? 75ish? No? Obviously not I guess.
Thanks! My SG seemed a tad high, 1.048, shouldve maxed at 1.046.
No big deal, right? It gets checked before pitching, correct?

Click to expand...

Nope, honestly IME, most ale yeasts work best if the ambient temp (immediately around the fermenter) is in the high 50s to low 60s. Fermentation creates heat, and you'll want to keep that fermentation below 70. I do most of my ale fermentations with the fermenter in a water bath ("swamp cooler") that I keep at 60-62 F.

Whats a good Spice I can add, if any to the secondary for a little extra zip? Orange peel, corriander, etc.?

Thx.

If you want zip, there is no substitute for habanero ;-)

Well maybe zip was a poor choice of words!

Lol!

I split my first batch, a cream ale, and added a bourbon vanilla extract to half. It was interesting, but almost everybody preferred the half that I didn't mess with.

My second batch was a wheat beer. I bottled 1 gallon and racked the other 4 onto blueberries. I'd say the verdict on that one was split down the middle and since blueberries aren't cheap, I'd call that a win for the base recipe again.

I think every new brewer wants to tinker with spices but I think it is important to also have the base recipe so you can learn exactly how your addition changed things.

birdley123 said:

Well maybe zip was a poor choice of words!

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Go with dry hopping on this one, if you do anything post ferment. Best choice would probably be the same hop that you used last in the boil. Dry hopping gives a bit more of that fresh hops aroma and adds to the overall character of the beer.

birdley123 said:

I just finished my first batch. An Amber ale from Midwest. Everything went fine, now its sitting in the primary in my cold ass house! I pitched at 70, now its sitting at 66, as there really isnt a good warm spot for it.
Is it OK?

Btw, the IC that I made ROCKS! Down to 70 in 15 min. :rockin:

Thx,

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Feels good doesn't it...just let it do it's thing and try to forget about it...ya right.

So in my case that would have been Hallertau bittering hops. Could you explain the whole "dry hop" thing into the secondary please?

Thx. B

birdley123 said:

So in my case that would have been Hallertau bittering hops. Could you explain the whole "dry hop" thing into the secondary please?

Thx. B

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Really simple. If you're going into a secondary (which you can do once the FG is stable), in a sanitary fashion add the hops to a sanitary carboy, rack beer on top. In a week, you're good to bottle/keg. You can also add dry hops directly to the primary once the krausen has fallen back down. Either way works well. Also, either bagging or not bagging the hops works, it's all a matter of preference.

So would bagging the hops in a sanitized hop bag then racking on top be a good way to go as far as cleaner beer goes when it comes to bottling, vs. putting in loose?

birdley123 said:

So would bagging the hops in a sanitized hop bag then racking on top be a good way to go as far as cleaner beer goes when it comes to bottling, vs. putting in loose?

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Yes, but either way works fine. If you do bag, use some fishing line (sanitized) to tie it to the neck of the carboy so it's easier to get out. Also, a handful of sanitized marbles in the bag will help keep it full submerged.

UPDATE:
I moved the fermenter to my basement per my wife's request, and all seemed fine (bubbling like mad);
checked on it this AM, still bubbling but the temp is now at 59?

Still OK? I kept reading about blowoffs so moving it down there didn't hurt my feelings any...

You are probably good for a couple more days but then you are going to have to figure out a way to warm that up just a couple degrees so the yeast don't go to sleep once the easy food is gone.

Like maybe one of those brew belts? Or is there a better way?