1st.Brew here we go!

hey all,
Brewing a Williams extract German Ale. I would rather make a lager, but I don't have the fridge to lager yet (yey. The smack pack is ready(38 hours after smacking and it's swollen). I am doing a full boil( starting with 6 gals. in a 10 gal pot out side(edge of the garage, the weather will be 32 deg F. with 20 mph wind). I am planning on putting in 1/3 of the lme(all lme kit) at the start then the rest with 15 min left(wort chiller goes right after that) in the boil. Any precautions I need to take with brewing in the garage other than after the boil be vigilant of sanitation? Do I need to be concerned with the wind with temps in the 30's or is that just a problem with the warmer weather? I will make a big batch of star-san and have a spray bottle full of the star-san standing by. Do folks spray their hands often after the boil to keep bugs out. I will ferment in my basement(63deg). The kit says to ferment for 14 days. Any problem with leaving the brew in the fermenting bucket for 14-21 days(yeasty funk)? Any input would be great
cheers,
ed

If you're brewing in the garage with propane, leave the door opened enough for good ventilation, beware of CO poisoning and maybe even get a CO detector... CO poisoning permanently affects your brain....

Be prudent about sanitation, but don't go insane. Anything preboil is unimportant (almost). Afterwards, be extra careful, cool as fast as you can, sanitize everything, pitch healthy yeast. In doubt about a bad move, don't panic... Yeasts are pretty resilient...

Oh and 14-21 days is actually the best range. A lower beer is ok at 14, stronger is better at 21. A lot of people take gravity readings often but usually after 3 weeks you take only one reading and if it's as low as you thought it would be, fermentation is over 99% of the time... Except maybe for 10+% beers... or weirdo yeast strains...

Have fun... ;-)

Welcome to the hobby I have two under my belts both are kits the addiction is dangerous though,

Cheers

Thanks for the replies and I feel welcome to the forum. There is a wealth of info on this forum.

I think I will stay with the simple kits until I get my "sea legs" and then try new types/styles of brewing. There are some good folks on here. I know that if i am off track, somebody will offer advice/raise the bs flag and help me out(I have thick skin).

Sounds like you got it down...RDWHAHB...and try to purge your memory of your fermenting concoction until it's ready.

I wouldn't kill yourself trying to sanitize everything around your kettle while you're cooling your wort. If it's 32* it should cool down pretty quickly with an immersion chiller. I would highly recommend checking your gravity once a week and using that to determine when fermentation is done versus waiting 14-21 days. Some yeast strains, Wyeast American Ale II for example, work very fast. I've had some brews finish active fermentation in 4 days with that strain. Welcome to the club, it's an awesome hobby. You have any brewing software to help you out?

Well the wort is in the fermentor . Things went ok, how I almost had a boil over with a 10 gal pot idk. The pot is wide but I digress. The OG was about 1.054 ish at 61 deg., so that was good. When I pitched the smack pack, I did not shake it up well enough. After I sealed the bucket, I looked at the smack pack(dirty in sink water) and there appeared to be quite a bit of yeast left on the bottom. I just hope enough yeast made it into the wort. The fementor is in a 62 degree basement so I will take a wait and see approach. Time will tell.
thanks for the advice
cheers,
ed

Time will tell. If the fermentor is properly sanitized, you should be fine. Remember, it might take a few days to see bubbles in the air-lock (or, you might not see any at all). If you did under-pitch, it might take them time to let the yeast colony populate to a proper level. Don't worry. Check the gravity next weekend and see how much it has dropped. If it is still around 1.054, consider re-pitching some yeast (maybe some dry yeast that will activate faster - might not be a "German ale" anymore, but should still yield a good beer).

Thanks and I will heed your advice. No panicking on the crew. The smell from the boiling wort was great. I did taste the wort from the hydrometer reading . I could taste the hops for sure a tad bitter (which will mellow) and great smell.

Update and advice help please. The fermenter is still at a steady 63 deg.. I have some airlock activity after about 40 hours after my rookie mistake of not shaking the smack pack, it was burping every 5-10 seconds. I will assume it is under pitched but what can I expect with the Ringwood 1187 yeast 1/4 to half pitched(guess) in an extract batch? Should I take a reading after 5 days or wait longer? Warm up it up a bit or let it ride? A rookie mind want to know.

Cheers,
Ed

You probably got more of the yeast in there than you think and should be ok. Read up on yeast starters for the next batch. A starter is very easy way to make sure your pitch rate is correct. yeastcalc.com will help you figure out ow big to make the starter.

Yeast will eventually grow to the required amount, just let them work, relax, have a beer if you get nervous. I am not one to take too many gravity readings. Let it go 2 weeks, if it isn't bubbling anymore it is probably done, take a reading. Top little yeast may change the flavor, but with an ale that's not such a big deal. The most important thing to learn when new is cleaning and sanitizing. With kits, the rest will work itself out! Welcome to the dream, enjoy yourself, use this wonderful forum.

I wouldn't take the lid off for two weeks. If the airlock is done bubbling, check your gravity then. If its still bubbling, wait till it stops before checking your gravity. It won't hurt to leave your beer in the fermenter for a month or more.

thanks to all for the info. I will take readings 14-20 days to check the gravity.
cheers

I have a spigot on the bottom of my fermentor. The brew has been in for 8 days and after a slow start and the airlock has stopped burping . Should I check the gravity now so I can compare it to a reading after 14-16 days and then 21 days? Would putting the bucket in a 38-41 deg fridge for a few days before bottling, help to clarify the brew? Or is that a waste of time unless you can lower the temp to 34 deg or so ?
thanks
ed

It's up to you. Being that this your first beer, it'll be hard to do this but I recommend forgetting about it for another week or two and if your beer is under 1.020 at that time go ahead and bottle. Cold crashing will absolutely work at the temp you mentioned. Even dropping an ale into the 50s for a couple days works wonders on clarity.

Take a gravity reading now if you want to play with your beer,but it's not necessary. After a while, you"ll learn to just let the yeast do their thing. The more you play with your beer the more it's exposed to oxygen and other nasties.

I will let it be until next week and then check it. Thanks!!

berger said:

Thanks and I will heed your advice. No panicking on the crew. The smell from the boiling wort was great. I did taste the wort from the hydrometer reading . I could taste the hops for sure a tad bitter (which will mellow) and great smell.

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I was super critical of my first brew (Brewer's Best English Brown Ale), and I was way more critical of it than anyone else that tasted it, But it was still good. Give yourself credit and enjoy it for what it is. I was super anal about sanitation on the first batch, and due to my personality will always be, but I've learned after my 3rd batch that while sanitation is super important, applying your style to your beer is also equally important, and that comes with how you boil, ferment, and age your homebrew. Cheers and good luck to you.

Thanks, For the boil I added half the extract at the start and then half with 15 min left,when I put in the wort chiller. I should have kept the 60 min clock going,while the wort came back to the boil. Would the longer time hurt/help or have not real effect on the brew. I was going to add the last half later but I did not know if I could get it mixed in well with the wort chiller in the pot.
Cheers,
Ed

Update. My 1st beer has been in the fermentor for over 2 weeks(2 weeks from when it started fermenting). So far,my fg is about 1.030 yesterday so I moved the bucket from a 62/3 degree room to a 69 degree room. Today the gravity was about the same 1.029. Since I grossly under pitched the yeast(rookie move I know), I was concerned about the gravity level. I just gently mixed the fermenting brew in hope to activate some of the yeast. I am planning on leaving it in the bucket for a 5 more days or so before cold crashing it in the fridge for 2 days or so prior to bottling the beer. The sample I took smelled very good(sweetish and like, well beer) and had a bitter taste but not harsh or foul. I assume that the bitter taste will mellow with age. Any thoughts or helpful hints, experiences with this sort of problem? Thanks for any and all help!!!

Cheers,
ed

I think you did the right thing in bringing up the temp slightly and giving it some gentle agitation to try to get the yeast back in suspension. Give it a few days at that higher temp and see if things pick up again. 63 degrees is at the low(ish) end for an ale. At that temp, fermentation will occur more slowly.

Yeah.. youll want to get the final gravity lower than that for the kit you picked up. Agitation and warming may do the trick, if not sprinking some dry yeast on your wort will.

Just look up "Fermentation stuck at 1.030" and you'll see that this happens quite often. Read this thread if it makes you feel any better:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/1-030-fg-curse-352017/

Notice the OP in that thread warmed up his fermenter and it was back to chugging along in about 3 days. So have some patience. That is key in this hobby.

update. The brew is burping the airlock a bit (6-8 per min). I don't know if that is good or bad. I will take a gravity reading later to see if the reading is lower. If not, I may go to a brew store for dry yeast(and more stuff for sure). Thanks for the advice and links to other threads!!
Cheers,
Ed

That's probably a good sign. Since you took the lid off and gave it a gentle stir, you released any CO2 pressure in the fermenter, so new bubbles is likely a sign of active yeast.

Since you just moved it yesterday, I wouldn't fiddle with it today. Just let it sit for a few days until you no longer see those bubbles, then take another reading, then think about doing something. Fine to go to the store and get yeast for Plan B, but hold off for a few days and see what happens. Yeast know what to do. Let them do their job. They've been making beer a lot longer than any of us have.

mdwmonster said:

Since you just moved it yesterday, I wouldn't fiddle with it today. Just let it sit for a few days until you no longer see those bubbles, then take another reading, then think about doing something. Fine to go to the store and get yeast for Plan B, but hold off for a few days and see what happens. Yeast know what to do. Let them do their job. They've been making beer a lot longer than any of us have.

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This is excellent advice and should be applied to every situation when you do ANYTHING other than letting the beer sit, in the dark or covered, undisturbed in a stable temperature environment.