First Brew - So far So Good?!? Maybe?

Brewer's Friend 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
B

BrewMark-SantaBarbara

Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2012
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
Location
Santa Barbara
Well, I got through the initial steps of getting the partial mash into the fermenter and through all its steps. Although I neglected to take an Original Gravity. However I did do a 6 Gallon Boil and ended up with just over 5 gallons after my boil was done. (Had read somewhere to start a little higher to yield better flavor if you could).

So I'm gonna guess I should be fine, but wont be able to figure out what the alcohol % is now cause I wont have starting numbers?

Also it was hovering around 70-72 degrees F during day hours, I live in Santa Barbara, so we have little to no insulation here and night time can get cold in the house (probably around 55). To help the situation I wrapped a couple towel's around the outside of the fermentation bucket, its keeping it around 75 during the day and I'll check to see where it drops down to at night, but I've got some good bubbling going on. Maybe one gulp every 1.5 - 2.5 seconds. Really hopeful this goes well, I want to get this thing bottled so I can try another batch this weekend, constant supply and a ton of practice is the goal.

Me and the brazilian wife planning on moving to brazil and opening a brew pub there. I need to figure out some good brews that are light and tasty while being FREEZING cold as is the custom there.
 
You'll probably want to look into a swamp cooler to keep that beer cool in those conditions. You want to try to be in the 62-66 degree range or you can get some off flavors from the beer. It can be quite a bit warmer inside the fermenter, so keep that in mind.

You won't be able to figure out the ABV, but there are ways to calculate it roughly with just the ingredients. It's not super important to know as a homebrewer, but can be helpful when deciding what to serve company when they need to drive home!

Good luck with the dream!
 
BrewMark-SantaBarbara said:
Well, I got through the initial steps of getting the partial mash into the fermenter and through all its steps. Although I neglected to take an Original Gravity. However I did do a 6 Gallon Boil and ended up with just over 5 gallons after my boil was done. (Had read somewhere to start a little higher to yield better flavor if you could).

So I'm gonna guess I should be fine, but wont be able to figure out what the alcohol % is now cause I wont have starting numbers?

Also it was hovering around 70-72 degrees F during day hours, I live in Santa Barbara, so we have little to no insulation here and night time can get cold in the house (probably around 55). To help the situation I wrapped a couple towel's around the outside of the fermentation bucket, its keeping it around 75 during the day and I'll check to see where it drops down to at night, but I've got some good bubbling going on. Maybe one gulp every 1.5 - 2.5 seconds. Really hopeful this goes well, I want to get this thing bottled so I can try another batch this weekend, constant supply and a ton of practice is the goal.

Me and the brazilian wife planning on moving to brazil and opening a brew pub there. I need to figure out some good brews that are light and tasty while being FREEZING cold as is the custom there.
Click to expand...

You started with 6 gallons and did a full 60 min boil and ended up with over 5 gal!!?? You lost less than a gal to evaporation!? That's crazy. Here in Northeast, I start with 7 to hopefully get 5!
 
revco said:
You'll probably want to look into a swamp cooler to keep that beer cool in those conditions. You want to try to be in the 62-66 degree range or you can get some off flavors from the beer. It can be quite a bit warmer inside the fermenter, so keep that in mind.

You won't be able to figure out the ABV, but there are ways to calculate it roughly with just the ingredients. It's not super important to know as a homebrewer, but can be helpful when deciding what to serve company when they need to drive home!

Good luck with the dream!
Click to expand...

Depending on the style, I thought some styles/yeasts do well at 65-70 degree range??
 
doomXsaloon said:
Depending on the style, I thought some styles/yeasts do well at 65-70 degree range??
Click to expand...

some yeasts can do 70, maybe a bit more, but with the towels the OP said he put around the fermenter, he said it was about 75. That is probably too high for any yeast to ferment with out some weird flavors. White Labs Aussie ale yeast is supposed to handle high temps well, that's about the only one I can think of that might be able to do 75 without too much off flavors.
 

Similar threads

Tony B
First batch
Replies
10
Views
702
Kornssj
Kornssj
PashMaddle
First brew day is on the books.
Replies
39
Views
2K
GoodTruble
G
Lollim96
Can someone please explain AG brewing in mash tune that don’t have elements? Like cooler tuns?
Replies
13
Views
1K
marx2k
M
F
my 5 year old buckwheat mead finally tastes good
Replies
1
Views
399
Miraculix
Miraculix
B
SVBS and hop pellets
Replies
5
Views
515
stealthfixr
S

Latest posts

Back
Top