My first brew plan

I know... everyone is tired of me posting about my first brew coming up this weekend... but I thought i'd write out my plans and let you guys critique them...

Brew plan. Irish Car Bomb Stout

Clean and Sanitize (Friday Night)
Brewpot
Stirring Spoon
Tablespoon
Measuring cup
Yeaster starter jar
Fermenter and lid
Airlock
Thermometer

Set out ingredients (Friday night)

5# Lite/Pale LME
1# Chocolate Malt
1# Crystal 60
8oz Flaked Oats
8oz Roasted Barley

1oz Fuggles Pellets (60min)

Nottingham Yeast

Boil 1 Gallon of water for incidental use leave out to room temp cool

Get bag of ice for ice bath cool down.

Put specialty grains into bag.

Add 3 gallons of water to kettle. Bring to 155 degrees and let grains steep for atleast 30 minutes.

Place extract bottle in warm water to aid in pouring of extract.

Bring water to boild. Remove to add in Extract. Slowly pour in extract make sure to keep stirring so it does not scorch bottom of kettle. Add in hops as stated.

Boil for 60 minutes.

Add finishing hops in last 10-15 minutes.

Rehydrate yeast in jar. Add warm (95-105) boiled water into jar and stir in yeast. Let sit for 20 minutes. Ensure it is a suspension. Not mixed up.

Pour ice and water into tub to create bath to cool wort to 65-70.

After boiling complete move kettle to water bath. Cool as quickly as possible to 65-70

After cooled prepare to move to fermenter.

Take OG reading w Hydrometer

Pour into fermenter aggressively so it splashes and churns. Oxygenation should only occur at this time. Can pour back and forth a few times to get the right amount of Oxygen.

Add enough clean water (will boil and let cool) to bring volume up to 5 gallons. Try to aerate again a few times.

Pitch in the yeast.

Place lid on bucket. Insert airlock.

Move fermenter to basement. (Need swamp cooler?)

You won't get an accurate hydro reading if u take it before u top it off with water. It will be higher due to the concentration in three gallons

Oops.... I mean that to be after it was cooled and topped off. THank you for the catch!

It's very common to have trouble getting from boiling to pitching temps. Put your three gallons of top off water in the fridge the night before. This will get it down to about 40 degrees. Having a lower boil volume actually helps you here. Cool the boil pot in the ice bath in the sink. Don't add any water to the pot at this point. One bag of ice will probably get the temperature down to just over 100 degrees before it all melts. You need to get the 2 gallon boil pot down to 110 for the 3 gallons of 40 degree top off water to bring the combined temperature to pitching temperatures. If you run out of ice, and miss the mark don't sweat it. Transfer it to a sealed container such as your fermented and let it cool for several hours.

So the key is just to make sure its cooled before pitching. Got ya.

dneubeck85 said:

You won't get an accurate hydro reading if u take it before u top it off with water. It will be higher due to the concentration in three gallons

Click to expand...

This is a great point, but also remember that the clarity of the wort is important in getting accurate sugar readings, aswell as making sure that it is mixed thoroughly before taking a sample. Clean wort will read more accurately than wort with suspended solids in it as a hydrometer measures density of sugar in solution and anything else that has density like proteins, hops and other things.

Secondly, make sure you consider the temperature of your wort at time of hydro sampling, 68 degrees F is the industry standard for most calibrated hydrometers, but charts like this one are great if you are a few degrees above or below 68. Good luck on your brew! The first time is always the best, and you will never forget it!

I noticed your missing an essential step.

Step. 1
Open a HomeBrew to drink while HomeBrewing

Anything that will touch the wort after the boil needs to be sanitized the day-of the brew. You don't really want to sanitize it the night before and let it sit. I usually fill my fermenter with star san and water during the last 30 minutes of the boil, or whenever during the boil, and toss all other things, airlocks, spoons, turkey baster, etc. into there. I also put my spoon in there after each time I stir while chilling.

For curiosity's sake, did you get your specialty grains pre-milled? If not, don't forget you need to "crack" them before steeping otherwise you'll get very little out of them.

I boil 4 gallons (enough for top up and whatever else I need, better to have extra than not enough) of water the day before and put it in my bottling bucket (sanitized with lid on) and now with colder night time temps I leave it in my garage until I am ready for it.

I did ask for the grains to be crushed. Looking at how "dirty" the bags are I am assuming they were done so.

So only the stuff AFTER the boil needs to be sanitized.

sok454 said:

I did ask for the grains to be crushed. Looking at how "dirty" the bags are I am assuming they were done so.

So only the stuff AFTER the boil needs to be sanitized.

Click to expand...

Yes. The rest needs to be cleaned and rinsed well though. Once the temps are below a boil (or so) infection can creep in, so anything that touches wort thereafter must be recently sanitized, preferrably JUST removed from sanitizer.

I would recommend getting and sanitizing a blow off tube vs. the airlock. put the tube in the fermenter and place the other end in a small bucket with sanitize water. This should fit the same 1.25" hole (if I remember correctly) on your fermenter lid where the stopper goes. This will give the krausen somewhere to go if you have an aggressive fermentation. After a few days, you can replace the tube with the airlock once it dies down.

If you use carboys, yes, I'd use a blowoff tube if you're putting 5+ gallons in a 6-6.5g carboy. Buckets, never had any krausen in the airlock, personally. It's all about headspace and width of vessel. Carboys get narrower, channeling the krausen into the smaller opening.

Sanitize the airlock/blowoff tube, fermenter, lid to fermenter, siphon and/or racking tube, gravity sample extractor (ie. turkey baster or thief), and any aeration tool (i use a stick blender).