A couple of questions

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Mesa512

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Ok guys I have a couple of questions...

1. My brother and I started our very first brew this past Sunday. We didn't do too bad but we did make some mistakes. When we added in the pislner grains we just added them to water. We did not put them into a bag to (steep). When it comes time to bottling I am curious what you guys think will be the best way to strain our the remains. I was thinking a cheese cloth, but I am afraid this will strain out the yeast as well. Let me know what you guys think.

2. How much water do I boil my priming sugar in? My instructions just say to boil in water.

3. I've been reading online, what is so great about Starsan?

4. How does temperature play a role when taking hydrometer readings?

Thanks a lot for all your help.
 
Ok guys I have a couple of questions...

1. My brother and I started our very first brew this past Sunday. We didn't do too bad but we did make some mistakes. When we added in the pislner grains we just added them to water. We did not put them into a bag to (steep). When it comes time to bottling I am curious what you guys think will be the best way to strain our the remains. I was thinking a cheese cloth, but I am afraid this will strain out the yeast as well. Let me know what you guys think.

2. How much water do I boil my priming sugar? My instructions just say to boil in water.

3. I've been reading online, what is so great about Starsan?

4. How does temperature play a role when taking hydrometer readings?

Thanks a lot for all your help.

1. Are you saying you boiled the grains for the full hour? If so, your brew might be a little tannic, but that's unfixable at this point, I would just strain with sanitized cheese cloth (or hop bag) around my siphon into the bottling bucket.

2. I usually use 1 Cup

3. It is great because it is no rinse, and it can be stored for 1 month+, and a little goes a long way if you use a spray bottle.

4. Yes, take your readings as close to 60F as possible, here you go:
Hydrometer Temperature Adjustment Calculator | Brewer's Friend

Hope that helps!
 
Hey regarding the pilsner grains. Someone on here told me to boil them for 30 min at 160F before putting in the malt extract. So the cheese cloth won't remove any yeast when I rack it into the secondary fermentor. Thanks for the response.
 
no, the cheese cloth won't affect the yeast populations. you're actually leaving behind a ton of yeast when you rack into secondary and when you bottle you leave behind even more. but there's still enough residual yeast to get carbonation.

as for the priming sugar/water ratio, a safe bet for your first few brews until you want to get technical with it is 4 oz sugar(2/3 cup):2 cups water. Boil for a few minutes, cool and add to the bottling bucket and rack on top of that to mix it in. that's how John Palmer recommends doing it and it's worked for me.

and yeah, star san is great for all the previously mentioned reasons. it just makes sanitation REALLY easy.
 
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