First brew time!!!!!!!!!!

T-MINUS 8 HOURS AND 26 MINUTES!!!! (not going to be a very productive day at work today!)

Sanitze sanitize. Have all your equipment ready. Its easy and gets easier as you do more. Have fun and good luck.

I already cleaned and have everytyhing laid out. I have my 7.5 gallon brew pot. I have my additional water frozen in sanitized sealed containers to add to the wort for a cold break, and I am going to begin sanitzing everything else when I begin the boil. I am picking up some Anchor Steam beer for the boil to drink and gonna put on some Pink Floyd for the journey. I've watched so many damn videos on You Tube, I feel like a pro already. I'm ready!!!

Don't forget the little things. Scissors, thermometer, airlock pieces, big spoon, where you placed the thermometer, etc.

All in the bucket waiting for sanitation. Call me a dork, but I slapped my yeast pack last night (doing good this morning) and I went through a dry run as if I was rehearsing a dance. Using all Spring water, I have a fermenting room with no windows that no one goes in and a brew belt to warm it up (I keep the house at 68 degrees). I have done several batches of wine before so I can fight the urge to peek under the lid at the fermentation. I plan to do 3 weeks in the fermenter and then 2-3 weeks in the bottles (which I have already, I just need to get the labels off and clean and sanitize- I will do that next week).

What style beer are you making?? You probably don't want to use the brew belt. 68 is an almost ideal room temp for fermenting for most yeast! I wish I could ferment at a room temp of 68 down here in FL! The brew belt is meant for peeps in the great white north who have 40 degree brew closets in the winter.

Keep it at 68 and forget the brew belt until winter, your beer will have less off flavors with a good, controlled ferment at 68 instead of a violent, fast, hot ferment at 75!

Best of luck on your first brew!

What are you brewing?

EDIT: Too slow...

Caribou Slobber from Northern Brewer. I think next, I might try a Heff and try to customize it with additives. I have three glass carboys and a bucket fermentor (from making wine) so I can get a few batches going at a time. Thanks for the tip about not using the brew belt.

i always slap it the night before (insert funny 'that's what she said' comment here). are you doing 2 stage fermentation or 1 stage (ie are you transferring after a week or two into a carboy, or are you keeping it in 1 bucket until bottling)? i'd recommend you do a single stage fermentation unless you're doing something crazy like dryhopping or making a lager. i find it makes a better beer and saves you time and lessens your risk of contamination.

gotta have the pink floyd in the background and a beer in the hand. just don't get lost and boil over because you're stuck in a flashback.

edit: been there, done that.

Shut your blinds and keep an eye out for "the man" while you're doing this nefarious activity.

Right on Hobo- that can be dangerous. Na, I am sticking with the single stage. I read enough where eveyone said it is simpler and better. With the wine in the past, I have had secondary racking, but I want to keep the oxygen away and keep it simple. I will save the 2 stage for when I try a Cucumber ginger Summer Ale or an Apricot Peach Whitbeir.

Question- when I get my water to the tempt to steep my specialty grains for 20 minutes, do I need to regulate the temp, or let it continue to climb towards the boiling temp?

boomtown25 said:

Question- when I get my water to the tempt to steep my specialty grains for 20 minutes, do I need to regulate the temp, or let it continue to climb towards the boiling temp?

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It's been my experience that you want to heat to ~5 degrees above your steep temp and dump in your grains. That will lower it to about your steep temp. You want to maintain that temp as best you can for the duration of the steep. Different reactions occur at higher/lower temperatures that you don't necessarily want in your beer. When I'm doing specialty grains, I don't leave the stove, but I'm kind of anal.

to avoid tannins (bad tasting stuff) from extracting into the water itself from steeping grains, i tend not to boil the steeping water first. try to get it up to 150-160. don't worry about sanitation too much yet, since you'll eventually have to boil this steeped water for 30-60 minutes and that'll kill anything in it. then when you take the grains out, you go to full boil, add extract, hops, etc and follow the brew schedule regularly.

unionrdr said:

Ground control to Major Tom...commencing count-down, engines on. We have ignition,& may God's love be with you...

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Uh oh...I know how that one ends!

boomtown25 said:

Caribou Slobber from Northern Brewer. I think next, I might try a Heff and try to customize it with additives. I have three glass carboys and a bucket fermentor (from making wine) so I can get a few batches going at a time. Thanks for the tip about not using the brew belt.

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I'm about to brew the Slobber this weekend. A couple of small things that I didn't realize on my first brew day: Sanitize your scissors and yeast packet, sanitize whatever you cover your pot with as you cool it, soak your liquid extract in hot water, it will pour easier, a lot of people use vodka in the airlock instead of water. Save a couple of Anchor Steams for when you're finished with everything, so that you can savor the feeling of accomplishment.:fro:

Scratch said:

Uh oh...I know how that one ends!

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Can ya hear me Major Tom? Can ya here me Major Tom? Here,I'm sitting on my tin can. Far above the moon. Planet Earth is blue,& there's nothing I can do...Seriously thought,my wife steeped her grains at 160F for the 20mins specified. At least the electric stove can do that right.
I understand the normal steep time is 20-30 minutes at 150F-165F.

and mostly - have fun!

boomtown25 said:

Caribou Slobber from Northern Brewer. I think next, I might try a Heff and try to customize it with additives. I have three glass carboys and a bucket fermentor (from making wine) so I can get a few batches going at a time. Thanks for the tip about not using the brew belt.

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Wonderful! keep them all full at all times.