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4JBrew

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Today I purchased the remaining pieces to get started in homebrewing. I am using a Brewer's Best 6.5 G ale pale, which I will use for Primary. I have a 5G PET (recycle code 1) Plastic carboy I will use for secondary in about a week. The equipment I purchased came with a Midwest Supply Autumn Amber Ale ingredient kit. Here are some pictures as I take the plunge. Please comment if there are things I should have done, or done differently along the way..

Thanks!

1.) Here I am using some Star-San to sanitize the bucket and other pieces/parts. I sanitized the lid by simply using a sponge to rinse it down. How long can the equipment be "dry" before it needs another sanitization?
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2.) I have a device called an iGrill that I use to track temperature. I was bringing the water up to 155 so I can steep the grains.
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3.) The ingredient kit came with some specialty grains. I placed them in a large zip lock bag and crushed them down a bit with a roller before adding them to the muslin bag.
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4.) Once the water hit 155, I placed the grains (in bag) into the water for 28 minutes.
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5.) While the grains were steeping, I placed the LME into a hot water bath to "loosen up".
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6.) I added the LME to the pot.
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7.) ---hmmm looks like a boil over waiting to happen! (It didn't, thankfully, but I will be buying a new kettle)
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8.) I was getting ready for the hops..
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9.) Once we had a boil, I added the bittering hops.
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10.) The Hallertau bittering hops (pellets) were put in for a 60 minute boil. the Fuggles were put in for the final 2 minutes of the 60 minute boil.
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11.) After 60 minutes I placed the wort into an ice bath...got the temp from 213 -> 85 in about 25 minutes. I stopped at 85 cause I was topping off with cold water.
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12.) I used a sanitized pyrex measuring cup to top off with cold tap water into the primary fermenter to hit the 5G mark.
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13.) I placed the airlock onto the lid (filled to the marks with a Star-San/water solution), pitched the yeast, closed the lid, and placed on an elevated platform in the basement.
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A couple concerns/questions.. When I was transferring the cooled wort to the primary, I had a large funnel with screen.. There was a bunch of "stuff" at the bottom of the kettle...I wasn't sure how much to include in the primary. I was thinking, the less "wort" that goes in, the more top-off water needed, the weaker the beer???

Also, I have refractometer that I used to take a reading before I pitched the yeast. It was calibrated with TAP water to 0. The initial reading was 1.065 ( I think...I'll have to look at it again tomorrow). That seemed high?
 
If you are referring to the trub, i try to get as little as I can into my fermentor, that said it will settle out with your yeast later on.
Secondary ferment? not needed but if you insist on doing it wait until fermentation has stopped before racking.
 
The only thing "wrong" that I saw in your process (there are very few things wrong in brewing in general) was i'd have added more water. normally, wort with all the extra stuff at 5 gallons produces about 4.5 gallons of actual beer. once all the trub/yeast cake/ krausen settles out, you have a pile of stuff at the bottom that you won't be drinking. That would also explain your higher than expected gravity (less water means more concentrated beer)

overall, you've done a fine job with your first beer. If your anything like me, you probably fretted like crazy making your first!

Enjoy!
 
Looks good to me. The hard part now is waiting!

I'm by no means an expert, but I think I can answer some of your questions. I've got 6 extract batches under
my belt, and am nearly done building my all grain setup.

As far as sanitation, I think if you sanitize your equipment well, it can sit for a good amount of time. I've
done a complete 'equipment sanitation' a day before I've brewed on a few occasions. Never have had an
infection. I think the only time you might want to re-sanitize is if you knowingly contaminated something.

The 'stuff' at the bottom of your kettle is 'trub'. Basically small hop pieces from the hop pellets. I pour the entire
volume of the kettle through the strained funnel. It takes a while as I usually have to clear the filter of trub
with a big spoon every half gallon or so. Just pour it all through, whatever gets into the primary is ok. Once it's all in then dilute to 5 gal. or whatever your batch size is.

The instructions in the kit should say what the O.G. Should be. 1.065 doesn't seem too high. Should give a pretty strong beer.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.
 
I'm still new to this obsession so my knowledge is limited, but the process looks good. My only recommendation is to consider a late extract addition if you continue to brew extract kits. Add about 1/3 of your liquid extract at the beginning of the boil and add the rest with anywhere to 15 minutes left our at flame out. This will help avoid scorching and maillard (sp?) reactions, and will give you color closer to style. Other than that, make sure you take the pot off the heat when you add the extract and stir like crazy.

Enjoy the obsession!
 
Thanks for taking the time to document and post this. I have recently gone through the same exact process, and yes the hardest part is waiting. Currently I am waiting to get my caps in so I can bottle... Then more waiting. I glad to see that everyone says you did things correctly. Can't wait to consume, let us know how things go.
 
qzpm150 said:
Thanks for taking the time to document and post this. I have recently gone through the same exact process, and yes the hardest part is waiting. Currently I am waiting to get my caps in so I can bottle... Then more waiting. I glad to see that everyone says you did things correctly. Can't wait to consume, let us know how things go.

Once you get through your first batch the waiting gets easier. I no longer feel the urge to take little peeks into my fermenter like I did for my first. I just check the airlock or blowoff periodically until I see some action and then pretty much leave it alone.

I still haven't made it past a week in the bottle before trying one. I don't know if I'll ever get over that urge. Maybe once I have a solid pipeline.
 
MTate37 said:
Once you get through your first batch the waiting gets easier. I no longer feel the urge to take little peeks into my fermenter like I did for my first. I just check the airlock or blowoff periodically until I see some action and then pretty much leave it alone.

I still haven't made it past a week in the bottle before trying one. I don't know if I'll ever get over that urge. Maybe once I have a solid pipeline.

It definately gets easier to wait. I have a big Belgian that I brewed 3 months ago and its still bottle conditioning...sitting nice and cozy in my closet without so much as a sniff from me.
 
Here are some things that may make your next batch better.
1. Have Midwest or wherever you buy your kit from crush the specialty grains for you. They have the equipment for it and will get the grains crushed better and you'll extract more flavor.
2. When you add the liquid malt extract (LME) you should be stirring very vigorously. That LME is much more dense than the water and wants to settle to the bottom of the pot where it is very difficult to mix in and then it will scorch. You don't want the scorched flavor in your beer.'
3. Your yeast need oxygen to propagate. I give mine oxygen by pouring the wort into the fermenter bucket, back to the pot and back to the fermenter bucket. I pour it all in. It doesn't seem to affect the flavor, it all settles out when the ferment is over, and I get all the wort that way. I hate to throw away any potential beer.
4. You are way too careful about the amount of top off water. You really don't want to come out to exactly 5 gallons, you really want about 5 1/4 so you end up with 2 cases of 12 oz bottles full with perhaps a little left over. It won't hurt to be off by a little either, just don't go overboard and end up with watered down beer.
5. When you top off your wort with water it is very difficult to get it all mixed well. Your OG is what the kit says it is. Your FG (final gravity) is what you measured. The yeast will have ensured mixing by then.
6. My beer started tasting better when I practiced temperature control during the ferment. I don't do as well as some with that but I try to keep the fermenter cool for at least the first 3 days. Mine go in a room where it is 62 to 64 degrees and that seems to be enough to keep the yeast from "running away with themselves" and producing the higher alcohols (fusel alcohols) that give the beer a hot alcohol taste or some of the other off flavors that hot ferments cause. You should look into a "swamp cooler" to aid your temperature control if you want better beer or if you have more money to throw into this you can use a refrigerator with a controller (Johnson controller).
7. As others have mentioned, time is your friend. Let the yeast have the time they need to eat the sugars, reprocess the byproducts, and absorb off flavors. You won't need to secondary this kind of beer and indeed you add a chance for infection or oxidation when moving the beer. I'd leave it in the primary fermenter for 2 to 3 weeks before bottling it.

BTW, nice pictures and welcome to a fun hobby. I wish you well on your journey to becoming an accomplished brewer. You'll have a lot of fun with both ends of this hobby.
 
Thanks, everyone for the feedback! Trub...duh! I should have known that. I've watched enough videos and have Palmer's book. Had a brain ferment for a moment. Yeah, I was pretty torn at the idea of racking to secondary, but I really want to try it. I'll probably start brewing half batches soon using 3G carboys. Maybe I'll do half with the Primary / Secondary method, the other half I'll leave in the Primary. Actually, that's a full batch with different fermentation methods...... nevermind! haha! Maybe after that I'll start "brewing" half batches.:)

I woke up to start work this morning and took a peek at the airlock hoping to see some early activity. Nope. Waiting patiently.

Here's a screen shot of the temperature charting showing the points of steeping, LME addition, and first hop introduction.

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I am not a very seasoned brewer either, so take this for what it's worth. Overall you are on the right track. I would recommend that you watch a couple of things.

1. You took all that time to sanitize and then used cold tap water to top off with. i would suggest using bottled "spring" water or boiling the tap water first.

2. Make sure to hit your numbers, not your volume. So if your gravity should have been 1.060, adding more water.

I'm sure those are minor and the beer will be excellent!
 
I agree with the previous posts. You're doing really well. You might want to ditch the S-type airlock for a 3 piece one though. The S-type get clogged easily and are hard to clean if you get krausen into it. A blow-off tube is useful to have on hand as well.
 
Here are some things that may make your next batch better.
1. Have Midwest or wherever you buy your kit from crush the specialty grains for you. They have the equipment for it and will get the grains crushed better and you'll extract more flavor.
2. When you add the liquid malt extract (LME) you should be stirring very vigorously. That LME is much more dense than the water and wants to settle to the bottom of the pot where it is very difficult to mix in and then it will scorch. You don't want the scorched flavor in your beer.'
3. Your yeast need oxygen to propagate. I give mine oxygen by pouring the wort into the fermenter bucket, back to the pot and back to the fermenter bucket. I pour it all in. It doesn't seem to affect the flavor, it all settles out when the ferment is over, and I get all the wort that way. I hate to throw away any potential beer.
4. You are way too careful about the amount of top off water. You really don't want to come out to exactly 5 gallons, you really want about 5 1/4 so you end up with 2 cases of 12 oz bottles full with perhaps a little left over. It won't hurt to be off by a little either, just don't go overboard and end up with watered down beer.
5. When you top off your wort with water it is very difficult to get it all mixed well. Your OG is what the kit says it is. Your FG (final gravity) is what you measured. The yeast will have ensured mixing by then.
6. My beer started tasting better when I practiced temperature control during the ferment. I don't do as well as some with that but I try to keep the fermenter cool for at least the first 3 days. Mine go in a room where it is 62 to 64 degrees and that seems to be enough to keep the yeast from "running away with themselves" and producing the higher alcohols (fusel alcohols) that give the beer a hot alcohol taste or some of the other off flavors that hot ferments cause. You should look into a "swamp cooler" to aid your temperature control if you want better beer or if you have more money to throw into this you can use a refrigerator with a controller (Johnson controller).
7. As others have mentioned, time is your friend. Let the yeast have the time they need to eat the sugars, reprocess the byproducts, and absorb off flavors. You won't need to secondary this kind of beer and indeed you add a chance for infection or oxidation when moving the beer. I'd leave it in the primary fermenter for 2 to 3 weeks before bottling it.

BTW, nice pictures and welcome to a fun hobby. I wish you well on your journey to becoming an accomplished brewer. You'll have a lot of fun with both ends of this hobby.

All of this.

Also, don't believe yeast companies that tell you you can always just pitch one vial or pack. For dry yeast you want to rehydrate it in 90* (or so) water for at least 15 minutes prior to pitching (in sanitized pyrex/glass, covered loosely with sanitized foil) and you can usually pitch just one pack of dry yeast.

Liquid yeast almost always needs a "starter". If you start using it, start also buying some extra DME to keep on-hand and learn how to make a starter. It's simply making a mini-extract beer of about 1L (typically) by addding DME to water in order to achieve a gravity around 1.030-1.040, then cooling and pitching your yeast into that wort in a sanitized flask/jar, again, loosely covered in sanitized foil. The yeast then multiply and you grow your cell counts sufficiently to pitch them into a typical 5g batch of beer.

You can also just pitch two vials, but my LHBS charges $10/vial :eek:

I know some of this seems like a lot, but spend some time on the forums and look in the DIY, yeast, equipment, and beginners section and you'll learn a lot.
 
Thanks all for the additional feedback. A couple things....I really was worried about using tap for top-off water, bit I started a Newbie Questions thread and asked that specific question. For the most part, I thought the consensus was that it was ok. I came "this close" to boiling and placing in a sanitized container in the fridge but concluded if shouldn't be necessary. I'm hoping that I exercised enough sanitization cautiousness that I shouldn't have infected anything....but, how will I know? Since I've never home brewed before and not tasted this kit, I don't know what to expect. The thing I am slightly concerned about is the possibility that the LME may not have been stirred vigorously enough while adding. It's possible that when I turned the burner back on, there may have been some settled LME on the bottom of the pot. When I dumped out the trub, there wasn't any noticeable signs of scorching on the bottom of the pot. I'm so excited for this. I have a tendency to go all out when I start a new hobby, and I suspect I will be quite invested in this one!! This community is great, and I can't wait to update everyone on this ride. BTW, I just took a whiff of some escaping airlock gasses. Mmmmm. Hahah. I do appreciate the suggestion of skipping the secondary, but I am pretty certain I still want to do it. So, you guys that recommended I skip it, please know I really appreciate your advice. I will follow that suggestion on a subsequent batch!!
 
Okay guys, quick question. My airlock stopped bubbling after three days. Do any of you think that is going to be a problem? My plan was to move to a secondary on Wednesday.
 
When the airlocks stops bubbling it means that.......the airlock stopped bubbling. A gravity reading is the only indication as to the state of fermentation. I believe you mentioned that you use a refractometer, correct? If so you are going to have to use a compensation calculator to check gravity now that fermentation has begun as alcohol cause skewed readings (good one here: http://seanterrill.com/2012/01/06/refractometer-calculator/). There is really no need to transfer to secondary (bright tank) other than personal preference (plus it's just another avenue to introduce oxygenation or infection AFAIAK), just give it 2-3 weeks in primary, verify that final gravity reading is stable over a 72 hour period, and call it done!
 
As stated above, transferring to secondary risks infection and serves virtually no purpose for most beers. Time in primary will settle the beer just fine without introducing oxygen/bacteria at a time when the beer isn't off-gassing Co2 that usually helps drive-off things trying to get in. You should take gravity readings after a few weeks in primary. When they're stable, technically you're OK to bottle.
 
You might consider skipping the whole secondary process altogether... save that carboy for hard cider or fruit beers. Most of us just primary- easier and it makes great (better, IMO) beer. Cheers!
 
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So, day 6. I opened up the primary and took a peek (and s.g. reading).

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I setup my auto-siphon and got it going.

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In addition to me really wanting to use the secondary this time, the recipe (Midwest Supplies) calls for a secondary. I know the general consensus from this thread was that the secondary really wasn't necessary, but I figures I'd exercise some good sanitation practices and give it a go. Reading today was 1.034. Correction on the o.g. should actually be 1.064. I'll let it sit for two weeks and take a couple subsequent readings. If stable, bottling will begin.
 
That's the primary?? Looks clean...too clean. Fermentation happened there??

You know, that was exactly my first reaction. I was expecting to see some croisan, but it was just....well.....flat. I am new to this, but certainly had a bubbling airlock and a drop on my SG readings. I supposed I just need to wait as planned....unless there is something else I can do at this point.
 
After 6 days it only dropped to 1.034 from 1.064? What yeast did you use? This is very curious to me and not to mention another reason to leave the beer in primary for 2 full weeks.
 
I used Muntons Ale Yeast (dry). Honestly, I wasn't sure if introduced enough oxygen into the wort before I pitched the yeast, but once the airlock starting bubbling the next day, I thought I was in good shape....
 
4JBrew said:
I used Muntons Ale Yeast (dry). Honestly, I wasn't sure if introduced enough oxygen into the wort before I pitched the yeast, but once the airlock starting bubbling the next day, I thought I was in good shape....

Hmm. I can take 1.064 down to 1.012-15 in 4-6 days, hence my concern. I'm curious to hear where it's at in a couple days.
 
Happy Thanksgiving all. Today I took a look at the carboy and noticed some very light activity in the airlock. so....... I'll check in 12 days (take a SG reading), if the day 13 and 14 check are the same, off to bottles it goes!
 
Bottling Day!

It's been three weeks since brew day, and subsequent SG readings have been stable. So, let the bottling begun!

I started by sanitizing my bottling bucket, wand, and auto siphon.

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I then placed my caps in sanitizing solution.

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The night before, I placed 48 bottles in the dish washer (no soap) and ran on the sanitary cycle. I then gave each bottle a quick rinse in the sanitizing solution and placed back in the dishwasher upside down to drain.

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I added the priming sugar to 1 cup water and boiled for 5 minutes.

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I then placed the pot in an ice bath to expedite the cooling of the solution.



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I racked the beer from the carboy to the bottling bucket.

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I ended up with 44 bottles. Had a little spill when the hose came off the spigot, and another when the bottling wand got stuck.

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I'm gonna give the first bottle a taste on Dec 19th. I'll keep you all posted.
 
Did you make sure to shake the primary for a solid 5min to airiate ? There should have been a nice ring in the primary.

Next kit you buy. If you go with dry yeast. Buy a 11g pack of name brand yeast. Safe ale 05 is a safe bet. The Muntons if I'm not mistaken is only 6 grams.

Use a calculator such as "mr malty" to give you a idea .
 
Well well. Oops! So, I originally claimed my OG reading seemed too high. Last night before I bottled, my FG seemed high, but had remained stable for 3 readings. So, I added my priming sugar and proceeded. Last night I was thinking, "what if I have a spike in the bottles, and create a bottle bomb!?" So, this morning I took one of my bottles and tested again.....however, this time with a hydrometer instead of my refractometer. Wouldn't you know, the hydrometer reading was much lower than the refractometer reading using the same sample. The hydrometer was 1.018 when the recipe calls for 1.014 FG. My refractometer was reading 1.038!! My question is that since this new reading was taken AFTER adding the priming sugar and about 12 hours in the bottle, how much do you think this new reading is skewed? I'm thinking it might be reading high, but that would mean I am closer to the recipe FG. Thoughts??
 
As long as your readings were stable for 3 days, RDWHAHB!

Remember, adding any sugar will raise the specific gravity of the solution.

You're fine!
 
Well well. Oops! So, I originally claimed my OG reading seemed too high. Last night before I bottled, my FG seemed high, but had remained stable for 3 readings. So, I added my priming sugar and proceeded. Last night I was thinking, "what if I have a spike in the bottles, and create a bottle bomb!?" So, this morning I took one of my bottles and tested again.....however, this time with a hydrometer instead of my refractometer. Wouldn't you know, the hydrometer reading was much lower than the refractometer reading using the same sample. The hydrometer was 1.018 when the recipe calls for 1.014 FG. My refractometer was reading 1.038!! My question is that since this new reading was taken AFTER adding the priming sugar and about 12 hours in the bottle, how much do you think this new reading is skewed? I'm thinking it might be reading high, but that would mean I am closer to the recipe FG. Thoughts??

You need to de-gas a sample by letting it sit for a good few hours, perhaps some shaking in the test jar and then more resting. Co2 could be inflating your gravity reading. Also chill sample to 60.
 
I'm still new to the obsession and haven't even used a refractometer yet, but I do seem to recall something about using a refractometer to measure your final gravity will give you a skewed number because the refractometer's true purpose is to measure sugar in water, not sugar in beer with alcohol. I believe that I read that there are formulas for taking into account the alcohol when using a refractometer for measuring final gravity, but since I don't have one I haven't bothered to learn what they are. Your hydrometer reading of 1.018 with an expected FG of 1.014 sounds pretty reasonable to me. I came in a few points high on my first batch and nothing exploded on me.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I've seen similar discussions on HBT. Hopefully someone with more experience can either confirm or contradict my statements.

Edit: just found an article on Beersmith talking about refractometer use. Check it out http://beersmith.com/blog/2010/11/02/how-to-use-a-refractometer-brix-and-beer-brewing/
 
You never mentioned you were using a refrac! Alcohol bend light and you'll need to adjust for this. Google: Sean Terril refractometer

Cheers!
 
Thanks, guys! I've got a lot to learn about the tools I "thought" I knew how to use. Thanks for the links, I've got some homework to do. Oh, BTW, I was so excited today when I cracked open that first (12 hour old) bottle and was greeted by an ever so gentle "hiss" when the cap came off! I've read many threads regarding bottling time and understand that I'm a good 3 weeks off from being able to enjoy this. However, although no real reason other than curiosity, I'm gonna crack one open at week 1, week, 2 to see the differences in carbonation and taste. SUPER excited about all this!
 
Ok, so a week in the bottles. Yes, I know I need at least one more, but I wanted to see just how much carbonation I would have already. I also wanted to give it a taste at this stage. I put the bottle I the fridge last night and cracked the top today.

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No real head to speak of, but the color is right and it tasted pretty good. The refreshing whisp of air when I popped the cap was awesome. Gonna make some beer bread tonight and again next week. This is fun!!!!
 
I didn't get notification there were any new comments, sorry for a late reply!

Thanks all for the tips, comments, etc! I am VERY happy with the way this batch turned out. Giving away bottles to friends and getting great feedback!! I made some beer bread with it and it was awesome!




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I plan on making a honey wheat this weekend. I will document this one too, and as suggested, I will not be using a secondary!!!
 
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