New brewer ?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

tswendson

Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
I have started my first brew, I've gone off a starter kit for a Belgian golden ale. I don't think I have screwed anything up thus far but while I was watching it this evening, the airlock/ catch has filled 3x in 2hrs, 4hrs after transferring to Carboy and adding yeast. I believe this is a good sign of fermenting, but I don't know if this is too fast. I am planning on running bottling hose to a bucket overnight to avoid spill over. I did aerate after putting yeast in, because I thought that having them rest on top was incorrect. That might be my problem. Thank you for your advice
 
Seems kind of soon. Usually you aerate before adding yeast, dry yeast works from top..down
 
I figured that out afterwards, I aerated before adding but when the yeast was sitting on-top, I instinctively have it a few rotations.
 
tswendson said:
I figured that out afterwards, I aerated before adding but when the yeast was sitting on-top, I instinctively have it a few rotations.

Youll be fine my friend. Did that too when i started out and had no problems.as for the quick fermentation, could be good and bad. Fast fermentation allows less time for the bad stuff to settle in. While on the other hand it could mean that you are fermenting too warm. What kind of yeast did you use? Get the beer temp down between 64 and 72 deg. You should be fine. Cheers
 
I don't know off hand what yeast I used, but it doesn't help that the room temp has been 74+, but hopefully night will cool it off. Thanks for your advice
 
tswendson said:
I don't know off hand what yeast I used, but it doesn't help that the room temp has been 74+, but hopefully night will cool it off. Thanks for your advice

Find a big bin and fill it with cold water and reusable ice packs. Place your carboy in and it will help your heat problems a lot. Replace the ice packs when needed to keep water temp in the low-mid sixties. Do this at least til the fermentation is done. Trust me. Or you may get bummed out from your batch. Look up swamp coolers. Good luck.
 
Thank you for your input. I have figured out my mistake, I should have started first stag in the 6.5gal bucket then transferred to 5gal Carboy. I have been able to keep it around 65degrees since then and I think it's coming along. I'll comment on the final product, hopefully it is good.
 
I think everyone's first few, if not tens of batches are quite a learning process no matter how much they have studied brewing. There are so many little steps and procedures, many of which have relatively little impact on the final product. This is compounded by the fact that you will probably be adding new techniques/equipment as you brew each batch. The key is to not get discouraged if your brew comes out a little rough. Extracts are always a little rough even if brewed perfectly. In my humble experience, I think controlling fermentation temperatures is right near the top of the list of huge improvements that can be made. I would probably put maximizing the size of your boil as up there too, with a full volume boil being ideal. No matter what, you are most likely going to end up with an extremely potable beverage that you can say was made by you. There is a certain magic to conducting fermentation of any kind, and when the final product can alter your consciousness, you can easily overlook a few flaws in the product.
 
Very true, I view this as my first born child. For maximizing the size of my boil, are you talking about batch size? I had a 15gal pot from my cheese starting up, so I can definitely increase my yield. If this is what you are talking about, what are the pros? Thx
 
Very true, I view this as my first born child. For maximizing the size of my boil, are you talking about batch size? I had a 15gal pot from my cheese starting up, so I can definitely increase my yield. If this is what you are talking about, what are the pros? Thx

Most people start brewing with partial boils due to having a small 3-5 gallon stockpot for boiling, then topping up to 5 gallons with plain water after the wort has been created and boiled. Doing a full boil that leaves you with 5-6 gallons of wort just makes things taste better. I'm not really sure of the chemistry, but I'm sure there is a reason. With a 15 gal pot, you should have no issue starting your boil with about 7 gallons and ending up with your target amount. I've found about 7.5 gallons for a 60 minute boil works perfectly for me and leaves me with 6-6.5 gallons post boil. This leaves plenty of volume to lose when leaving behind the trub while racking from primary to secondary, and again from secondary to keg. If your using prefab kits, you should follow the directions specifically as the extract/grain bill is calculated for the kit's specific final volume.
 
That makes a lot more sense. I wasn't sure why I was diluting my wort so much on this brew. It makes more sense to do a a full boil. I will figure out how to try that next time. I view the prefab kits as introduction, getting my feet wet, I already am trying to figure out flavor infusions for different styles. Thank you
 
Back
Top