That's right, I said woot!
I finally made the time for my first brew day, yesterday, and I woke up to this. I beautiful carboy full of fermenting beer. It makes some serious glubs from the blow-off tube going into the jug of sanitizer. It's Norther Brewers Three Hearted kit.
Like I said, it was my first brew day and it went pretty smooth and I learned a thing or two.
First, and foremost, I bent the SWMBO over for a quickie. Not sure how long I will be able to maintain this step on brew day, but I intend to for as many brew days possible.
I had three minor hiccups. First, I forgot to get ice for the ice bath until I had already started steeping the specialty grains. No biggie, I went to the store after my boil started and my wife minded the pot.
Next, after the ice bath, I didn't get that great of a whirlpool. Lots of stuff still floating. The auto-siphon stopped siphoning. I thought I just had too much stuff floating around. It was actually clogged. Next time my siphon stops, I will check that, instead of dumping the wort into the fermenter. There was quite a bit of trub left in the pot, but not as much as I would like to have left.
The last little thing I did not like was how I pitched my yeast. After topping off and aerating the wort, there was a nice foamy head. I sprinkled the yeast on top of that. After the head settled, I had a huge clump of yeast. Perhaps, next time, I will give the wort some time to settle before pitching the yeast.
Aside from those three things, I thought the brew day went great. And those are some minor details, anyway...
I finally made the time for my first brew day, yesterday, and I woke up to this. I beautiful carboy full of fermenting beer. It makes some serious glubs from the blow-off tube going into the jug of sanitizer. It's Norther Brewers Three Hearted kit.
Like I said, it was my first brew day and it went pretty smooth and I learned a thing or two.
First, and foremost, I bent the SWMBO over for a quickie. Not sure how long I will be able to maintain this step on brew day, but I intend to for as many brew days possible.
I had three minor hiccups. First, I forgot to get ice for the ice bath until I had already started steeping the specialty grains. No biggie, I went to the store after my boil started and my wife minded the pot.
Next, after the ice bath, I didn't get that great of a whirlpool. Lots of stuff still floating. The auto-siphon stopped siphoning. I thought I just had too much stuff floating around. It was actually clogged. Next time my siphon stops, I will check that, instead of dumping the wort into the fermenter. There was quite a bit of trub left in the pot, but not as much as I would like to have left.
The last little thing I did not like was how I pitched my yeast. After topping off and aerating the wort, there was a nice foamy head. I sprinkled the yeast on top of that. After the head settled, I had a huge clump of yeast. Perhaps, next time, I will give the wort some time to settle before pitching the yeast.
Aside from those three things, I thought the brew day went great. And those are some minor details, anyway...