Really Rough first brew.

You know, after reading posts on this site for about a month I really thought I knew what to expect on my first brew day but boy was I wrong. Ok, let me step you through my busy afternoon/evening.
I started out today with a kit from the home brewery for a 5 gallon batch of IPA. I've got a 15 gallon brew pot so I started the batch with 6 gallons. The brew went pretty well. I've got an electronic thermometer so I watched it close and stayed in the timelines of when to add this and that. When I reached the end of the boil I realized that the wort chiller that came with my kit was a bit too small to work in my 15 gallon brew pot or so I thought. So I decided to fill a metal trash can full of ice and chill my wort in a 6 gallon brew bucket. About 2 strokes into my auto siphon I realized that it wasn't working, a plastic clip on the inside was floating around and I wasn't getting any suction. I went ahead and poured the wort into the bucket trying not to splash too much but you know how that goes. Once in the bucket it took 2 1/2 hours to get to 75. After I finally got the wort chilled I filled my 6 1/2 gal carboy. Not really, it only filled it half full. I thought about boiling another 2 gallons of water and then adding it but at this point of the evening I thought I would take my chances on having some really strong beer. So, after all that I've got a few questions.
1. How much water do you use to start out with for a 5 gal batch?
2. When boiling your wort, do you leave the lid off your brew pot or leave it on?
3. What do you guys do to chill your wort?
Other than that I know what I did wrong and am making the equip corrections this week. I plan on doing my 2nd brew next Sunday.
Any insight guys would be really apreciated.

Cable Guy

well i cant answer all of those but when producing my wort i use about 1.5 gallons of water. I leave my lid somewhat on to keep water from evaporating but not let it get to hot and boil over...basically i find the right heat point (about 5.5 on my electric stove) and crack the lid a bit. To chill my wort i will get a 5 gallon Poland Springs jug (sanitized) fill it with the remaining 3.5 gallons of water and place it in my freezer. Once i see a layer of ice ill take it out and then dump it into my fermentor. I then dump in my hot wort after its one boiling. Worked out about 75 degress everytime.

What I find really easy is to try to stick my pot in a sink or bathtub--trashcans are fine, but they're really thin (especially if you have a 15gal pot). A tub full of ice will chill your wort down real fast. Uh, what else. Yeah, don't pour hot wort, but I think you knew that. Unless you know how much water you'll boil off, I'd just make sure you top up your post-boil wort up to 5gal. Leave the lid off when you boil, so you can avoid boilovers.

I have only done two batches, but I set my pot (4 gallons) in the bath tub half full of cold water and it cooled within the hour both time. Now I bought a wort chiller, but have yet to use it. Good luck

Do you guys think the beer will be any good with only half a 6.5 gal carboy? After sitting down for a while and thinking about it I'm not so sure I haven't ruined my first batch. Bummer.

Cable Guy said:

Do you guys think the beer will be any good with only half a 6.5 gal carboy? After sitting down for a while and thinking about it I'm not so sure I haven't ruined my first batch. Bummer.

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Well, what's your OG? Did you add top-up water after you finished boiling?

Here's just afew observations...

Cable Guy said:

About 2 strokes into my auto siphon I realized that it wasn't working, a plastic clip on the inside was floating around and I wasn't getting any suction.

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Well, I don't think an autosiphon is made to withstand boiling hot liquid, so that might be one reason that didn't work out. I could be wrong, though. Happens quite a lot actually

Cable Guy said:

Once in the bucket it took 2 1/2 hours to get to 75.

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A full boil is going to take a long time to chill just in a bath.

Cable Guy said:

After I finally got the wort chilled I filled my 6 1/2 gal carboy. Not really, it only filled it half full.

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Really? How long did you boil?? How big a burner??? If you started with 6 gallons, you would have had to have astronomical evaporation to get down to 3 gallons of wort!

Cable Guy said:

I thought about boiling another 2 gallons of water and then adding it but at this point of the evening I thought I would take my chances on having some really strong beer.

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Do you have a hydrometer? That is your best bet for figuring it out. If it is below what you expected/what the recipe predicted, you can certainly add water to reach the OG you want.

Cable Guy said:

So, after all that I've got a few questions.
1. How much water do you use to start out with for a 5 gal batch?
2. When boiling your wort, do you leave the lid off your brew pot or leave it on?
3. What do you guys do to chill your wort?

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i don't do full boils yet, so I can't answer that one, but I would specualte based on what I have read here that between 6 and 6.5 gallons should get you 5 after about a one hour boil.

Leave the off when boild for sure. Less risk of boilovers (although in a 15 gallon pot it will be tough BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE ) and also there is stuff that is boiled out of the wort that need to be able to evaporate and get away.

I currently just ice bath in the sink, but with a partial boil it's pretty easy. I have a plate chiller, but have yet to use it since I don't have a spigot on my kettle yet. If you have an IC, you should try and use it, even if it seems small - it'll still kick the snot out of an ice bath!

Good luck on the next batch. Just keep brewing!

Are you sure your wort chiller is too small? That will help greatly. Maybe you can bend the copper up a little more to fit outside your pot?

I've read that you leave the lid off during the boil to let some undesireable stuff from the malt get out with the steam.

You might want to go ahead an do partial boils. That way you don't have as much wort to boil or chill and when your done you can top it off to 5 gallons and have 5 gallons.

Hey man, if you are using extracts and your recipe is for 5 gals then you can top off with water to get 5 gals total, otherwise, yea, you will have very strong beer, but I doubt its ruined. Just let it age a while in the bottles, its gonna be like a barley wine or something.

You should definitely chill in the brew pot. Maybe get a smaller pot? Dunno, I have a 30qt pot and I just stick it in the bath tub and fill up with ice cold water, I leave the lid about halfway on so steam can escape, its cooled to 75 within 30 or 40 minutes usually.

You should leave the lid OFF when boiling. There is a unwanted ingredient that is supposed to be evaporated out during the boil.

Best! and don't let one bad experience ruin brewing for you. Learn from your mistakes and keep going.

Cable Guy said:

1. How much water do you use to start out with for a 5 gal batch?
2. When boiling your wort, do you leave the lid off your brew pot or leave it on?
3. What do you guys do to chill your wort?
Other than that I know what I did wrong and am making the equip corrections this week. I plan on doing my 2nd brew next Sunday.
Any insight guys would be really apreciated.

Cable Guy

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1. 6-6.5gal starting boil should get you near 5gal on a full boil. If you miss you can add water to top up. I you have a 5gal recipe but only 3gal of beer you will have a very strong beer but it will probably taste fine. Might even be great. Call it an Imperial IPA.
2. Lid off to allow volatiles to escape.
3. You should be able to reshape your chiller slightly to allow it to fit. Even it all the coils are not covered it will still chill faster
craig

Thanks for all your encouragement guys. I was a bit worn down after the whole ordeal but I learned a ton from it and am going to brew again this weekend.
This time I am going to have a big tub of ice as well as the wort chiller so I can get the temp down. I am also going to boil 4 gal of water the day before so I have it ready to top off the carboy. I'm sure I will run into diffrent things along the way, as long as I learn from them I know I will be brewing good beer in no time.
Thanks again guys.

Also, remember that you don't want a really strong rolling boil--no point. You'll lose more water to evaporation (and waste gas/electricity). You should boil, then reduce the heat just so you can see that wort from the bottom of the pot is coming up to the top. You still will sterilize/cook just fine, but you don't waste as much gas or electricity or whatever you use on your burner.

Yea, I boiled the HELL out of it. I got one of those banjo cookers and that thing throws off some crazy heat. I did turn it down quite a bit after the boil started but not nearly enough. Like the post said, I boiled down from 6 gal to 3 gal in one hour.
I'm learning.

Cable Guy said:

Yea, I boiled the HELL out of it. I got one of those banjo cookers and that thing throws off some crazy heat. I did turn it down quite a bit after the boil started but not nearly enough. Like the post said, I boiled down from 6 gal to 3 gal in one hour.
I'm learning.

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That will do it. That is a crazy aggressive boil that is way more than necessary. What I've read is you do want a roiling boil that should evaporate around 10% an hour. Aim for between 0.5 to 1gal loss for your 60 min boil. At the rate you were boiling not only was it a waste of fuel but you may caramelize the wort changing the flavors.
You can always add some water to your beer to dilute it even after fermentation. Just make sure everything is sanitized that contacts the wort/beer. Your beer will be much bigger than planned and will only make a little over 24 bottles but it may turn out to be a pretty good IIPA.
Craig

You won't believe this. I came home today @ 3 P.M. and my brew was going crazy. The lock was bubbling every 2 or 3 seconds and the yeast was jumping up and down the carboy. It may work out after all. My next question is should I add water after the fermentation when I go to secondary??? I know you said I could add water after fermentation but should I? This may turn out to be a Stronger than normal IPA.
What do you guys think??

wait...how many gallons are you at at this point? don't add water after fermentation begins.

Cable Guy said:

You won't believe this. I came home today @ 3 P.M. and my brew was going crazy. The lock was bubbling every 2 or 3 seconds and the yeast was jumping up and down the carboy. It may work out after all. My next question is should I add water after the fermentation when I go to secondary??? I know you said I could add water after fermentation but should I? This may turn out to be a Stronger than normal IPA.
What do you guys think??

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I think they said you could add water after boiling to top up, not after fermentation. You can do that if you want- take your s.g readings before you add any water, though, because one you water it down that measurement will be meaningless. I would have added water at the beginning to 5 gallons, but I wouldn't add any now unless your beer is so strong you can't drink it.

Edit- since the fermentation is just starting, you can add the water if you want. Did you ever take an s.g. reading? That'll give you the definite answer.

It's been about 36 hours since the brew and the yeasties are flying
I've got about 3 1/2 gal in the fermentor and I am not adding water. I plan on conditioning this beer for about 3 to 4 months in a keg and then diviing in.
Thanks for everyones support.