Cable Guy
Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2007
- Messages
- 25
- Reaction score
- 0
You know, after reading posts on this site for about a month I really thought I knew what to expect on my first brew day but boy was I wrong. Ok, let me step you through my busy afternoon/evening.
I started out today with a kit from the home brewery for a 5 gallon batch of IPA. I've got a 15 gallon brew pot so I started the batch with 6 gallons. The brew went pretty well. I've got an electronic thermometer so I watched it close and stayed in the timelines of when to add this and that. When I reached the end of the boil I realized that the wort chiller that came with my kit was a bit too small to work in my 15 gallon brew pot or so I thought. So I decided to fill a metal trash can full of ice and chill my wort in a 6 gallon brew bucket. About 2 strokes into my auto siphon I realized that it wasn't working, a plastic clip on the inside was floating around and I wasn't getting any suction. I went ahead and poured the wort into the bucket trying not to splash too much but you know how that goes. Once in the bucket it took 2 1/2 hours to get to 75. After I finally got the wort chilled I filled my 6 1/2 gal carboy. Not really, it only filled it half full. I thought about boiling another 2 gallons of water and then adding it but at this point of the evening I thought I would take my chances on having some really strong beer. So, after all that I've got a few questions.
1. How much water do you use to start out with for a 5 gal batch?
2. When boiling your wort, do you leave the lid off your brew pot or leave it on?
3. What do you guys do to chill your wort?
Other than that I know what I did wrong and am making the equip corrections this week. I plan on doing my 2nd brew next Sunday.
Any insight guys would be really apreciated.
Cable Guy
I started out today with a kit from the home brewery for a 5 gallon batch of IPA. I've got a 15 gallon brew pot so I started the batch with 6 gallons. The brew went pretty well. I've got an electronic thermometer so I watched it close and stayed in the timelines of when to add this and that. When I reached the end of the boil I realized that the wort chiller that came with my kit was a bit too small to work in my 15 gallon brew pot or so I thought. So I decided to fill a metal trash can full of ice and chill my wort in a 6 gallon brew bucket. About 2 strokes into my auto siphon I realized that it wasn't working, a plastic clip on the inside was floating around and I wasn't getting any suction. I went ahead and poured the wort into the bucket trying not to splash too much but you know how that goes. Once in the bucket it took 2 1/2 hours to get to 75. After I finally got the wort chilled I filled my 6 1/2 gal carboy. Not really, it only filled it half full. I thought about boiling another 2 gallons of water and then adding it but at this point of the evening I thought I would take my chances on having some really strong beer. So, after all that I've got a few questions.
1. How much water do you use to start out with for a 5 gal batch?
2. When boiling your wort, do you leave the lid off your brew pot or leave it on?
3. What do you guys do to chill your wort?
Other than that I know what I did wrong and am making the equip corrections this week. I plan on doing my 2nd brew next Sunday.
Any insight guys would be really apreciated.
Cable Guy