Introduction - First Brew Questions/Observations

Hi all.

Been lurking here for a while. Took the plunge this weekend. Bought a Brewer's Best starter kit with two (6 gal and 5 gal) glass carboys. Tried an extract kit with specialty grains (Brewer's Best German Altbier).

Problems/observations I had:

1. Didn't fully realize that I needed a "violent" boil until about 10 minutes into the 60 minute boil time. Added some time to compensate.
2. Never had issue with boilover. Barely had much foam during the entire boil.
3. Used the no-rinse cleaner that came with the kit, which left a haze on my stuff.
4. Didn't have a cylinder to do an OG reading, though I had a hydrometer. Oops.
5. Had some trouble quick-cooling the wort, so don't know if I had a good "cold break" or not. I put the cooker in the sink with ice water and left it there for 45 minutes, adding ice as needed.
6. Didn't have a candy thermometer or other method of determining the temperature of the wort prior to racking it to the carboy. When I racked, the carboy temp went to 82F.
7. Pitched the yeast at 80-81F.
8. Put vodka in the airlock.
9. Put carboy in cooler with a wet towel, water w/jugs of ice, and a fan. 2 hrs later, temp was 68F. Removed ice and went to bed.
10. Got up this AM and had about a 3-inch krauzen in the carboy, airlock happily bubbling away, temperature of 64F. Dropped the fan speed and came to work.

So, how bad did I screw up on my first attempt?

Sounds like you did pretty well! Some thoughts for next time- use a no-rinse sanitizer that doesn't leave a film (or maybe don't soak so long?) like star-san. Iodophor is cheaper, and many people swear by it. I've used it without any problems. There are other sanitizers out there, too, but those are two of the ones I really like. I use a separate cleaner and then a sanitizer, but when I make wine and start with clean equipment, I sometimes use one-step.

You need to get your wort cooler faster. With stirring the ice bath, and gently stiring the cooling wort with a sanitized spoon, you can chill the wort much faster. Then, you can top up with cold water (either boiled and cooled and put in the fridge or tap water) to get you to 65 degrees or so. You did pitch your yeast a bit warm. It won't harm the yeast, but your beer might have some estery (fruity) off-flavors from such a warm intial fermentation. It still should turn out good though!

Try to keep your fermenter at 65-70 degrees. Sometimes this time of year is hard- so many of use an unused bathtub or a big cooler (I have a big igloo cooler) to put some water in around the fermenter and some bottles of ice to keep it cool. Some use a wet towel around it with a fan blowing on it- and that cools it several degrees, as you've found out!

Good luck with your first brew- sounds like you've got a good grip on the procedures. Welcome to the obsession!

Welcome! Sounds like it went pretty well. You need a good rolling boil, but not too violent. If you boiled on a stove, it is hard to get this hard rolling boil depending on how much you are boiling at one time. It will be tough to know exactly when your beer is finished unless you too an SG, but just assume you hit the estimated SG and and give it a week and then take a reading when you have a cylinder. Sounds like you will have beer, and probably good beer too.

Oh yeah, you should use stray from no rinse cleaner. Try PBW.

Update:

I checked my Altbier's FG after one week in Primary - 1.018. Target is 1.014-1.008 per the kit. I racked to secondary as I wanted to brew my next kit (BB Wiezenbier).

I tasted the Altbier hydro sample and WOW was it bitter. From what I read, this will mellow out with time in secondary and bottle. (right?)

Question I have is this: Since I was doing a 3 gal boil, I added the bittering hops and half the LME from the kit at 60 min then the remainder of the LME at 15 min. Is this why my brew is so bitter or is that just a consequence of the style and green-ness?

On a side note, the weizenbier brew session seemed to go ALOT smoother than my 1st. Got the wort cooled much faster by gently stirring the wort in the ice bath. (say down to 75F in 20 minutes).

Boodlemania said:

I tasted the Altbier hydro sample and WOW was it bitter. From what I read, this will mellow out with time in secondary and bottle. (right?)

Question I have is this: Since I was doing a 3 gal boil, I added the bittering hops and half the LME from the kit at 60 min then the remainder of the LME at 15 min. Is this why my brew is so bitter or is that just a consequence of the style and green-ness?

Click to expand...

Well, it will mellow a little bit, but not too much. Adding 1/2 the LME late in the boil increases the hops utilization, and so you basically increased your bitterness by about 25%. Next time, either download a free trial of brewing software (I like Beersmith), or ask one of us to run it through for you, so you can decrease the bittering hops.

Glad to hear the second brew went smoother! It definitely gets easier as you get the routine down.

I just had a panic attack. I've got two brews fermenting away right now. I used the no-rinse sanitizer that came with the Brewer's Best kit for both and did not rinse the carboys afterwards. I got the bulk of the sanitizer out before transferring the wort, so at most there was a film in the carboy. What's everyone's experience with this sanitizer? Will I have an off-flavor as a result?

(Seemed to me that "no-rinse" meant indeed "no-rinse", so I thought I was doing the right thing. Now, waiting for the fermentation time, I have nothing to do but fret over what I did and did not do right!)

Boodlemania said:

I just had a panic attack. I've got two brews fermenting away right now. I used the no-rinse sanitizer that came with the Brewer's Best kit for both and did not rinse the carboys afterwards. I got the bulk of the sanitizer out before transferring the wort, so at most there was a film in the carboy. What's everyone's experience with this sanitizer? Will I have an off-flavor as a result?

(Seemed to me that "no-rinse" meant indeed "no-rinse", so I thought I was doing the right thing. Now, waiting for the fermentation time, I have nothing to do but fret over what I did and did not do right!)

Click to expand...

Yep, no rinse means no rinse. It's fine. Make another batch so you don't have time to worry about this one!

Welcome to the forum.

Adding 1/2 the LME late in the boil increases the hops utilization

Click to expand...

hmmmmmmm

It seems to me that all this will do is lighten the final product color wise. I normally put in about 1/3 LME for 60 min and the final 2/3 either at flame out of 10 minutes to go. By using only a partial of your LME you achieve the same gravity and same flavor development as if you did a full boil . . . .right?

NOT that I'm disputing you

I have nothing to do but fret over what I did and did not do right!

Click to expand...

LOL - THAT is funny and it's the reason you have more then one beer brewing at once!! Welcome to the cruel world of home brewing.

1. Didn't fully realize that I needed a "violent" boil until about 10 minutes into the 60 minute boil time. Added some time to compensate.
2. Never had issue with boilover. Barely had much foam during the entire boil.
3. Used the no-rinse cleaner that came with the kit, which left a haze on my stuff.
4. Didn't have a cylinder to do an OG reading, though I had a hydrometer. Oops.
5. Had some trouble quick-cooling the wort, so don't know if I had a good "cold break" or not. I put the cooker in the sink with ice water and left it there for 45 minutes, adding ice as needed.
6. Didn't have a candy thermometer or other method of determining the temperature of the wort prior to racking it to the carboy. When I racked, the carboy temp went to 82F.
7. Pitched the yeast at 80-81F.
8. Put vodka in the airlock.
9. Put carboy in cooler with a wet towel, water w/jugs of ice, and a fan. 2 hrs later, temp was 68F. Removed ice and went to bed.
10. Got up this AM and had about a 3-inch krauzen in the carboy, airlock happily bubbling away, temperature of 64F. Dropped the fan speed and came to work.

Click to expand...

1. no prob. just a tweak for next time
2. I rarley have one either.
3. sucks but what can ya do.
4. nuff said
5.tip - you know about cold water and ice in sink. Also - stirring really helps - dilute with VERY cold water. My last batch I got to 100 degrees and then diluted with 2 gallons of 34 degree water. I pitched at 66 degrees (a little cold maybe).
6. buy one
7. a little warm but no big deal
8. drink vodka - put sanitized water in airlock
9. Excellent
10. wow - that was fast.

OK, I drew another hydrometer sample last Friday (8/8/08) of the BB altbier I brewed 7/20/08. On 7/26 it was 1.018. On 8/8, it was 1.016. The target FG per the recipe is 1.014-1.008. Is this close enough? Fearing I had a stuck fermentation, I gently swirled the carboy after the sample was read. On a side note, the beer has really cleared up since I racked to secondary 7/26 and the bitterness I reported earlier has begun to mellow out.

The BB Weizenbier that I brewed 7/27 had a reading of 1.018, while the target is 1.014-1.008. There were also lots of what I would assume to be yeast "chunkies" in the beer as well as the sample. Tasted the sample and it was yummy for a warm, flat beer.

Should I go ahead and bottle the altbier?

I'm going to check the weizenbier next weekend before I consider doing anything with it.

A polite and respectful bump.

Check the FG tomorrow and you should be able to tell. If it is 1.016 then bottle, if lower let it chill. I would say that you have a 99.9% chance it is done. As for the Weizenbier you are going to have yeast in the beer. They don't flocculate well, (drop out of the beer) hence you get that nice cloudy Weizen. I love me some Weizen.

thanks, Choguy03. I really appreciate the willingness to help from all the good folks on this forum! This place is awesome.

Choguy03 said:

As for the Weizenbier you are going to have yeast in the beer. They don't flocculate well, (drop out of the beer) hence you get that nice cloudy Weizen. I love me some Weizen.

Click to expand...

Should they be chunky though? I had bits almost half the size of a BB.

Of course, didn't keep me from drinking the sample.

You may be ok soon, but the bottling will also help some of the big chunks fall out. If you have ever had a blue moon, you will notice some big chunks of yeasties on the bottom. No worries though.

Bottled the Altbier last night. Below are notes on the experience:


- Rinsed my new bottles thoroughly with hot water then ran them through the dishwasher with no soap.

- When I racked to the bottling bucket, I was quite pleased at the clarity and color of the altbier.

- Forgot to sanitize the caps for the 1st four bottles. I marked these and will be especially tuned to them for exhibiting "odd behavior".

- Using the bottle wand on the door of the dishwasher made this rather easy. Whoever it was that posted the "dishwasher door" method: THANKS!

- Had about 2oz left over, which I promptly put in a chilled glass and tasted. Still pretty bitter. Hopefully age will mellow this out. Tasted no "off" flavors that I could tell. Mouthfeel was light/watery. I'm sure carbonation will help that though.

- Rinsed, washed, and sanitized the 5G carboy after bottling and started up my first batch of apfelvein!

Grinder12000 said:

hmmmmmmm . . . . It seems to me that all this will do is lighten the final product color wise. . . . NOT that I'm disputing you

Click to expand...

Plug your hop additions into your brew software as both late addition and beginning of boil. You'll find that Yooper is correct (as usual.) The thinner gravity wort of the earlier boil will give you better hop utilization.

UPDATE: Checked the BB weizenbier last night. SG - 1.012. I will check again tomorrow to see if it's still 1.012. If so, I'll bottle 'er up!

Threw one of the altbiers and one of the weizenbiers into the fridge last night, a little early I know, but I HAD to taste them! Popped these suckers after brewing today.

The altbier was NICE! Good head, nice retention too. All the harsh bitterness I mentioned above was gone. Got a back-of-the-tongue bite as an aftertaste. Much-improved body and mouthfeel. For a first brew, this far exceeded my expectations.

The weizenbier was good, though I think it is still too young. The mouthfeel and carbonation weren't nearly as developed as the altbier. I think/hope this one will improve though it is quite drinkable now.