Brew #1 - Sanity Check

Hello everyone!

Well, a week ago today I brewed my first home brew ever. It's a Brewer's Best Scottish Ale. The brew went off without any serious mishaps (no dogs drinking it, no thermometers breaking, no boilovers). The only "bad" part was how long it took to get boiling on my glass cooktop. Anyway, I just wanted to post some observations I made during the week in hopes that someone will point out if I did anything wrong.

1) Put into primary on 2/27/2010, temp was about 70*. O.G. was 1.0356 as best as I can tell.

2) Sat it in the guest bathroom where the outside fermenter temp was about 70* all week.

3) Bubble rate after 24 hours was about 1 every 3 seconds. Every 24 hours thereafter it was 3 minutes, 5-7, 5-7, 5-7, then 11-12 last night (3/5/2010).

4) Today I opened it up and moved it to the secondary carboy. The specific gravity before moving was about 1.0146 (this and the O.G. add 0.0016 to account for the 70* temp instead of 60*).

As far as I know, things seem to be going ok. The beer looked darker than I expected. The kit says amber brown but it looked a bit darker (although it looked lighter in the siphoning tube so I dunno).

Do any of you more experienced brewers see any mishaps I may have made? I expect to leave it in the secondary carboy at least two weeks. In any case, I'm having fun and looking forward to bottling day. I'm enjoying reading the forum here too.

Thanks!
Bill

It will always look darker in the primary or secondary than it does in the sample, bottle or glass due to the fact there is more material for the light to pass through in the fermentor than in the smaller container so no issue there.

So far so good. Did you use liquid extract? If so, that could explain the darker color. LME tends to darken a brew. The flavor shouldn't be affected.

Also, I am assuming your gravity readings were 1.356 and 1.146?

I too, am a fairly new brewer. I followed the directions on my Brewers Best Irish Red Ale to the "T". But what I have learned from reading the info on this forum, is to let the wort age on the yeast for at least 3 weeks. This is what I have been doing , and am satisfied with the results. I am sure someone with more experience will comment and stear you in the right direction.
Good luck and have fun.
Steve

SwillyBilly said:

3) Bubble rate after 24 hours was about 1 every 3 seconds. Every 24 hours thereafter it was 3 minutes, 5-7, 5-7, 5-7, then 11-12 last night (3/5/2010).


Bill

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Quit. Watching. The. Airlock!

Stickshaker said:

Quit. Watching. The. Airlock!

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That's actually very good advice. I, myself, like seeing the airlock bubble and like to go down and catch a whiff but it isn't a gauge to measure your progress by.

captianoats said:

Also, I am assuming your gravity readings were 1.356 and 1.146?

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Lol, I really hope not! Or else that's one sweet 'n' heavy brew!!!

@OP - Congrats on your first brew, now get to brewing your second batch!!!

Congrats on your first brew!

Remember fermentation can raise the temp inside the carboy as much as 8 degrees. Also you didn't mention whether or not the tub was filled,, but if you place the fermenter in water it will help keep the temp from fluctuating.

I'm pretty sure the gravities were 1.0356 and 1.0146. The O.G. on the recipe said it should be 1.034 to 1.038.

I didn't have water in the tub. We don't get much temperature fluctuation in that room. There aren't any windows in there.

And I can't help but watch the airlock. It reminds me that there's brew in there!:rockin:

Thanks for the reassurance. Now it's in the carboy so I'll be able to see what's going on. Two weeks until bottling day...I hope!

It was just advice, I watch (and smell) mine frequently too.

I see a lot of carboys on this site that have heads and are overflowing. Are those being used a primaries? Will a see a head in the secondary?

Thanks for all the comments and advice!