New to the site and first brew attempt

I've been wanting to get into homebrewing for awhile now, but couldn't justify spending the money. I thought that kegging was the only way to go and didn't have the space or the money. Well my wife surprised me for valentines by buying me a Brewers Best starter kit. She works at a consignment shop in town and got the kit for $25. It was dusty, but had never been used. Anywho I bought a few extra items and an Irish Red Ale kit from Midwest. I stopped by my local homebrew shop and he gave me a case of bottles. I guess people bring bottles in to him all the time so he keeps them out back to give to his customers. I'll go back in a week or so and get another case. Everything I ordered from Midwest came in today, so I figured I'd give it a whirl. I think it went pretty well for my first time. Had 2 boil overs, but once I got the flame adjusted right it was smooth sailing. I'm just glad I was on the deck and not in the kitchen on the wife's new stove!

Brew kettle set-up. 30qt Turkey fryer from Wal-Mart



Mixing in the extract



Cooling in the sink. Took an hour to get down to 76 degrees that includes running to the store to get ice.



Hydrometer reading @ 76 degrees. Kit called for 1.042 to 1.046 OG.



Put to bed for the next few days in the primary. Bought a better bottle for secondary.



I'm glad I was able to find the site. I have been lurking for quite a while trying to glean some knowledge, I can't wait to taste the payoff!

Looks like you made beer! Welcome to the addic...hobby!
Unless you're planning on adding fruits or oak or anything, you may just be able to run a longer primary straight to bottling. Opinions on here vary but I am a proponent on just doing a longer primary till the SG stays steady for a few days then going to bottles for 2-3 weeks (depends on my patience level).
But all things aside, looks like a job well done. Spend some time reading books about brewing and browsing every corner of the site. Get to know the various possible infections and how to prevent them. But most of all have fun and RDWHAHB (relax don't worry have a home brew)!

Sweet! How'd that turkey fryer do? I've considered picking that same model up, but thought I'd read something about that built-in timer being a PITA.

Congrats, welcome to the greatest addiction in the world!

Your gonna want to brew another pretty soon because filling that beer pipeline keeps a curious brewer from cracking into the beer thats not ready yet

Looks exactly how I got started several years ago... sans the brew kit. 30 qt aluminum pot and a turkey fryer brings back a lot of good memories. Good luck in your future brewing endeavors....

mikeh80 said:

Sweet! How'd that turkey fryer do? I've considered picking that same model up, but thought I'd read something about that built-in timer being a PITA.

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Turkey fryer did well. Timer was a little annoying, but not bad. It shut the flame off twice, but its easy enough to relight without removing the pot.

Woke up this morning and the airlock is bubbling once a second or so. Already planning batch 2 for next Saturday! Thinking about doing a third the following Saturday.

So the Irish Red has been going for a week now. I haven't seen any activity in the airlock for a few days. I was planning on taking some readings after two weeks or so. On Thursday night I put together a batch of cider. I used the Caramel Apple Cider recipe found here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/caramel-apple-hard-cider-292770/ Tonight I brewed up another extract kit, this time from brewers best. It was recommended by my LHBS. It is the Weizenbier kit. No grains to steep with this kit. Everything went a lot smoother tonight with no pesky boil overs! Here are a few pictures from tonight.

Kit all laid out (Had already added the first LME)



Brewing away



My brew buddies wondering what the heck I'm doing.



Hydrometer reading @68 degrees.



From left to right: Weizenbier, Irish Red, Caramel Apple Cider



After reading some info about the Weizenbier I decided to do a blow off set-up. Just took a piece of 1/2" ID tubing and fit it over my 3 piece airlock. After a few days of fermentation I will switch back to the standard 3 piece set-up. This will be my last brew for a little bit. I'm all out of primaries and would like to start tasting some of the brews before I keep going. I'd like to make sure that I'm not making bad beer before I keep brewing and brewing.

I got the same burner. I use the pot for cooking crab during crab season. I went out bought a 8 gallon SS kettle. As for the timer I get a cresent wrench and get it stuck, timer stops and flame stays on. Im to lazy to go in and remove it. ha ha. Looks like some nice brews.

I highly recommend you get a test jar/tube to take your hydro samples in.

Smerfs8485 said:

I got the same burner. I use the pot for cooking crab during crab season. I went out bought a 8 gallon SS kettle. As for the timer I get a cresent wrench and get it stuck, timer stops and flame stays on. Im to lazy to go in and remove it. ha ha. Looks like some nice brews.

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Never though of the crescent wrench trick. Might have to give it a try!

jimmarshall said:

I highly recommend you get a test jar/tube to take your hydro samples in.

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I have a wine thief, but haven't used it yet. I have the hydrometer sitting in starsan during the brewing process and just drop it in before transferring into the fermenting bucket. Will this cause problems?

The concern is that the hydrometer can break fairly easily, if you test in a tube it won't ruin the whole batch when it happens.

jimmarshall said:

The concern is that the hydrometer can break fairly easily, if you test in a tube it won't ruin the whole batch when it happens.

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Thanks for clearing that up for me. Winethief it is. Thanks again.

Good job filling that pipeline, looks great! You got enough bottles for all that? lol

Ostomo517 said:

Good job filling that pipeline, looks great! You got enough bottles for all that? lol

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Not yet. Been starting a collection thanks to friends and the LHBS. I have just shy of 100 so far. I need to find some milk crates or something more substantial thank cardboard for them to live in.

I have the same burner. Wrappednsome electrical tape around the timer knob and forgot it even existed

So I decided to take a hydrometer reading on the Irish Red today. It has been in two weeks now and is sitting at 1.014 best I can tell. Kit calls for 1.010-1.012. I'm not planning on bottling until next Saturday, so I will take another reading or two before then. Here is a picture of my sample in the glass before I partook. I was impressed with the flavor and even my wife seemed to like it.

rtyler8140 said:

...I was impressed with the flavor and even my wife seemed to like it...

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The greatest part is that it gets exponentially better when cool and Carbonated

stpug said:

The greatest part is that it gets exponentially better when cool and Carbonated

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Yeah I'm afraid of the 3 week wait once it is bottled. Might have to lock it up and have my wife hold the key. haha

I collected up a big stack of Leinenkugel's 12 pack boxes with the seperators to keep my bottles in. The top is 2-3 layers with tabs to keep them closed. The carboard is pretty heavy & can take long term use. And that blow off jug should be on the floor next to the fermenter.

unionrdr said:

I collected up a big stack of Leinenkugel's 12 pack boxes with the sperators to keep my bottles in. The top is 2-3 laters with tabs to keep them closed. The carboard id pretty heavy & can take long term use. And that blow off jug should be on the floor next to the fermenter.

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Ahhh didn't even think of that. Makes sense so that I dont accidentally siphon the water into the fermentor.

Great color. Thats going to be tastey with some carbanation. Out of all the brews I have done my Irish Red has been the favorit of everyone who has tryed my beers.

I was able to bottle the Irish red on Saturday. I bought an autosyphon to transfer to the bottling bucket. The transfer didn't go as smooth as I hoped. I ended up getting 44 bottles and used the full 5oz of priming sugar. Might end up overcarbed I suppose. I did some research on the forum and found some info that will hopefully make the transfer smoother next time. I'm bottling my cider on Thursday and the wizen on Saturday. Gravity looks good on both and they taste great.

^^^This is why I have spigots on both my fermenters. Straining into the FV's keeps trub levels compacted well below the spigots,so that's a non-issue. Makes racking to secondary or bottling bucket easier,& with no stream of airbubbles in the tubing like siphons. I used my auto siphon once.
After that,everything got a spigot. The rack tube goes on the spigots' spout,& down half way round the bottom of the bottling bucket or secondary.
No aeration this way,& a swirl is also induced.
Also,gently tipping the FV or bottling bucket will allow the last bit of beer to be racked out with no gunk being sucked up. But di itgently.

"I think it went pretty well for my first time. Had 2 boil overs..."

I'm no expert at this either, but that gave me a chuckle. Nice photos!

andy6026 said:

"I think it went pretty well for my first time. Had 2 boil overs..."

I'm no expert at this either, but that gave me a chuckle. Nice photos!

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Yeah apparently adding the hops all at once at full boil is much like baking soda and vinegar.

You are well on your way. Trying to cool the boiled wort can be a challenge (and a pain). Once I borrowed and used an immersion chiller I knew I had to have one. It just made things so simple. Especially if you have a well water system which delivers the cooling water at a good temp year around in northern climates and lesser extent in more southern locals. If $ is tight and isn't it for everyone......you might want to look around for some decent pricing on some copper tubing and make your own. I caught a sale and got my chiller already made for about $50 delivered. I figure I might have been able to DYI for about half that or a little more. All depends on what you have to pay for your tubing. With a chiller and what you already have you can do a whole lot of brewing without all those gas $$$ eating runs to the store. Another hint is to make use of your freezer/refridge for cold water (top off) and of course ice. Gas is so expensive that saving there can really add up. Along with purchased ice and water.

Welcome to the hobby. I can tell from the pics you already are loving it.

mikeh80 said:

Sweet! How'd that turkey fryer do? I've considered picking that same model up, but thought I'd read something about that built-in timer being a PITA.

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I bought one of the cheap turkey fryer burners and luckily got one without the timer. Bought the same unit as a gift for someone else and they started talking about having to 'figure out the timer' and I didn't have a clue as to what they were talking about. Glad I avoided that. Mine cost me $39 through Bass Pro Shops which has them on sale all the time. It works fine in a northern climate till the temps dip and the winds blow. I am still thinking a solution out for that. They claim 58,000 BTU on my burner and it boils 5 gallons in a little over half hour if not cold and no wind. Longer with those. 1 solution a higher BTU burner, possibly one with better wind protection around the burner. $39 is only gonna get you so much especially when it includes a fish pot, a thermometer and a strainer pot. The pots aren't much good for beer brewing unless you were doing small batches of Mr Beer style of brewing but you can do those easy enough on the stove top. But the pots do make good chile, gumbo, jambalaya cookers with the end product going hand in hand with the brewed beer. I call that a WIN-WIN situation.........
One word of caution. I was reminded about the tomatoe/aluminum issue which I am revisiting. To be safe I will probably use the aluminum pot for other non tomato dishes as well as small frying cooking.:rockin:

rtyler8140 said:

Not yet. Been starting a collection thanks to friends and the LHBS. I have just shy of 100 so far. I need to find some milk crates or something more substantial thank cardboard for them to live in.

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I am doing the 32oz pet plastic bottles and I picked up some of the plastic milk crates from walmart. Caught em on sale. I think they were something like $3.50 a piece but I have seen em cheaper at beginning of school buying season in the fall. Make sure and check the height for stacking. My PET bottles are slightly taller than the crate sides so no stacking but I live with it. I can fit 12 of my bottles in 1 crate with too much empty space left over but no room to put in more bottles. With 12oz'ers it ought to handle quite a few of them and maybe fill the nooks and crannys better. They are very sturdy and never had any breakage problem. they stack pretty good, fitting inside one another when one turned on its side.:rockin:

andy6026 said:

"I think it went pretty well for my first time. Had 2 boil overs..."

I'm no expert at this either, but that gave me a chuckle. Nice photos!

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Ya gotta smile at a boil over out of doors. What else you gonna do but pay better attention to the pot. When you do it on your wifes stove inside......not too many chuckles to go around..........:smack:

Depending on how you feel about cleaning up messes you either pay more attention to the pot eventually or not. And don't lose the smile. If it ain't fun why do it if you don't have to.

rtyler8140 said:

I was able to bottle the Irish red on Saturday. I bought an autosyphon to transfer to the bottling bucket. The transfer didn't go as smooth as I hoped. I ended up getting 44 bottles and used the full 5oz of priming sugar. Might end up overcarbed I suppose. I did some research on the forum and found some info that will hopefully make the transfer smoother next time. I'm bottling my cider on Thursday and the wizen on Saturday. Gravity looks good on both and they taste great.

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My carbing step got better results once I started weighing the sugar rather than just measuring it. Not sure it is a whole lot difference but makes me feel better about the process.......more precise.

rtyler8140 said:

Ahhh didn't even think of that. Makes sense so that I dont accidentally siphon the water into the fermentor.

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At least you found 1 thing good about that beer. Every time I try one of their offerings I have to remind myself........never again. But that is just me

rtyler8140 said:

So I decided to take a hydrometer reading on the Irish Red today. It has been in two weeks now and is sitting at 1.014 best I can tell. Kit calls for 1.010-1.012. I'm not planning on bottling until next Saturday, so I will take another reading or two before then. Here is a picture of my sample in the glass before I partook. I was impressed with the flavor and even my wife seemed to like it.

Click to expand...

I am no expert but in my case once the reading got down in the ballpark I would pay more attention to if it stops dropping appreciably rather than looking for some reading which may or may not ever be reached. Once the readings stop falling everything I have read says you should be able to bottle. I imagine there are exceptions......isn't there always some?

vnzjunk said:

I am doing the 32oz pet plastic bottles and I picked up some of the plastic milk crates from walmart. Caught em on sale. I think they were something like $3.50 a piece but I have seen em cheaper at beginning of school buying season in the fall. Make sure and check the height for stacking. My PET bottles are slightly taller than the crate sides so no stacking but I live with it. I can fit 12 of my bottles in 1 crate with too much empty space left over but no room to put in more bottles. With 12oz'ers it ought to handle quite a few of them and maybe fill the nooks and crannys better. They are very sturdy and never had any breakage problem. they stack pretty good, fitting inside one another when one turned on its side.:rockin:

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I work in a wood shop and have been collecting some scrap plywood. I'm gonna build some simple cases. Can't beat the price. I'll post pics when I get them done.

vnzjunk said:

My carbing step got better results once I started weighing the sugar rather than just measuring it. Not sure it is a whole lot difference but makes me feel better about the process.......more precise.

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Yeah I bought a scale last week. When I do the wizen I'm gonna weigh it out and adjust for the volume I end up with in the bottling bucket.

vnzjunk said:

I am no expert but in my case once the reading got down in the ballpark I would pay more attention to if it stops dropping appreciably rather than looking for some reading which may or may not ever be reached. Once the readings stop falling everything I have read says you should be able to bottle. I imagine there are exceptions......isn't there always some?

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The Irish red stayed at 1.014. I'm not concerned that it didn't fall perfectly in range. It tasted good so no complaints. I left it in the primary for 3 weeks as per recommendations on the forum.

You didn't have to leave it in the fermenter so long but by doing it that way you could be pretty certain that the beer was done fermenting (verified with hydrometer too, good for you) and that let a bunch more yeast drop out so it didn't end up in your bottles. The beer that I left in the primary for 9 weeks had such a small yeast layer it was hard to see when the beer was carbonated. Some of my first beers had a quarter inch of yeast.

Earlier this week my wife and I made a trip after work to get some bottles. I tried to get some from a recycling place here in town and they didn't want to sell them to me. The said it was a liability because I could get sick and sue them . I have been having friends collect bottles for me, but needed a stockpile for the batches I already had going. I was able to find a fellow homebrewer about an hour away selling his 12oz bottles. I paid $30 for 176 bottles.



Should be enough for me to finish bottling. On Thursday I was able to bottle my cider. Started out with 4 gal. in the fermentor and ended up with 42 bottles. Better yield than the irish red I did earlier.



I tried one tonight to see if they were carbing up. I'm afraid of bottle bombs. Still wasn't very carbonated, but tastes wonderful.



Hopefully they will carb up over the next few days and I can pasteurize them. Already have some co-workers asking if they can try some. Speaking of work, I was finally able to take an hour and work on some cases today after work. Hard to find time working 60 hrs a week. There are some things I'll modify for the next set I make, but these will work for now.



This evening I was able to bottle my Weizenbier from Brewers Best. It sat in the primary for 3 weeks. Had consistent hydrometer readings after 2 weeks, but figured I'd let it sit in there for another week. Nice yeast cake at the bottom and the siphoning went a lot smoother. The yield was 51 bottles. I was happy with that. Here they are in their new home for the next 3 weeks.



Only 2 weeks until the Irish Red is bottle conditioned (not that I'm counting)

Awesome, welcome to the obsession. I started back in August with a BB kit just like you. Be aware though, I've got a three tap keg system, 5 kegs and am doing all-grain now. Some might say it only gets worse, but how can anything this good be bad.