My first Brew Day - Pics

Well, Tom Petty was right. The waiting is indeed the hardest part. Brewed my first batch list night... Newcastle clone extract kit. It took longer than I was expecting, but i think it went pretty well. I ended up pitching yeast right after midnight. Fermenter is bubbling like crazy right now.

The only thing I'm really worried about is sanitation. I tried really hard, but I'm worried that I missed something somewhere. From what I've read, it sounds like one little slip up can screw up your brew.

I also see a lot of stuff floating around in the brew... stuff that apparently got through the fine mesh bags I was using. Maybe I steeped the specialty grains too long (abount 30-35 min)? Will most of that settle out in primary and secondary fermentation?

After steeping specialty grains:


Boiling:

Ice Bath:


Straining into primary:


Fermenting in primary:

RDWHAHB. Looks clean from here. Now leave it alone and start looking forward.

Congrats.

You did fine - and you're going to have great beer.

There is a post in the forum here somewhere, where a guy talks about all the things he did to try to muck up a batch, and it still turned out fine. As far as sanitation, you just have to remember that people back in the 1600's didn't even know bacteria existed, and they still made good beer. Be clean, be neat, but don't get worked up worrying about it.

That stuff floating in the brew is most likely the yeastys doing what they do so no worry there! now the hardest part, waiting!

The bags aren't fool proof, they aren't like 2 micron filters. You will get some floxome (stuff) that gets through, same if you try putting hops in cheese cloth as I did to reduce the "Stuff".

It's all ok, you will see a nice "Cake" form on the bottom of your Primary as it all starts to fall out of suspension. Then if you transfer to a secondary in say 10-14 days, even finer fall out will accumulate mostly yeasties that were still at work when you transfered to secondary.
All in all Time will clear it up and you will have a Very Fine Beer!

I've been brewing a long time, and have never had a problem with contamination. The first few years, I was brewing in a college dorm room and sanitation was sketchy at best. Honestly, I think the chances of infecting a batch are pretty small, even with minimal sanitation. I'm sure you're fine.

mattmcl said:

I've been brewing a long time, and have never had a problem with contamination. The first few years, I was brewing in a college dorm room and sanitation was sketchy at best. Honestly, I think the chances of infecting a batch are pretty small, even with minimal sanitation. I'm sure you're fine.

Click to expand...

In the modern world I am not sure if there is any place as UNsanitary as a dorm room. Well...maybe my frat was worse but essentially they're in the same category.

In addition, I'd like to add that people have been brewing beer for 1000s of years and I'd bet most of those years had beer being brewed in less than sanitary conditions. Stick to the basic steps of sanitation and be patient. Odds are everything will work out just fine.

Thanks guys.. that makes me feel a little better about sanitation. I think I was pretty careful, just wasn't sure exactly how careful I needed to be. Can't wait to try this stuff... I love the sound of the bubbling fermenter.