ZOG
Well-Known Member
I just Started my first batch of home brewed beer. I went with the basic kit and a Midwest supply Red Larger recipe.
I went with a larger because my brew space (garage) is cold during January.
My 11 year old daughter and I spent about 4 hours in the garage last night trying to follow the directions to a "T".
We Steeped the grains for 30 Min., this smelled like a wonderful warm tea. We then added the Malt extracts an brought this to a boil and added the bittering hops. By now it stop smelling good. we boiled for an hour. right before we stopped the boil we added aroma hops and removed from the heat. I boiled the wort chiller in the wort for the last 15 min. to sterilize it and added whirlfloc to aid in clarity. once boiled we then ran cold water through the chiller and it cooled to 85 F in 9 min that worked great. we then poured the wort into a sanitized fermenter through a strainer. we then checked the hydrometer reading and it was a temp. corrected 1.044 just what the directions said it should be. we are on track if we kept everthing clean. we then checked the Temp. and added the Larger yeast (it was a bloated wyeast activator pack). we sealed it up and put it in a 60 degree room. we watched it do nothing the rest of the night and I wonder what went wrong. Then after a few hours of no bubbling from the airlock we went to bed.
The next morning though, we woke up to an airock that constantly bubbling. we are making Beer!! We watched it bubble all day. after 36 hours we will move the fermenter to the 50 degree garage for it's 7 day first stage. I wrapped it in a blanket to help aid in quick temp changes just in case the sun heats the garage up to much. I then plan to give it the 24 hours of 65 degree rest before I transfer it to a Carboy for it's long Lagering.
I dont know if it will taste good when it is finished but I can say me and My daughter spent a great night together and although she can't partake in the finished product we had a great time!
I went with a larger because my brew space (garage) is cold during January.
My 11 year old daughter and I spent about 4 hours in the garage last night trying to follow the directions to a "T".
We Steeped the grains for 30 Min., this smelled like a wonderful warm tea. We then added the Malt extracts an brought this to a boil and added the bittering hops. By now it stop smelling good. we boiled for an hour. right before we stopped the boil we added aroma hops and removed from the heat. I boiled the wort chiller in the wort for the last 15 min. to sterilize it and added whirlfloc to aid in clarity. once boiled we then ran cold water through the chiller and it cooled to 85 F in 9 min that worked great. we then poured the wort into a sanitized fermenter through a strainer. we then checked the hydrometer reading and it was a temp. corrected 1.044 just what the directions said it should be. we are on track if we kept everthing clean. we then checked the Temp. and added the Larger yeast (it was a bloated wyeast activator pack). we sealed it up and put it in a 60 degree room. we watched it do nothing the rest of the night and I wonder what went wrong. Then after a few hours of no bubbling from the airlock we went to bed.
The next morning though, we woke up to an airock that constantly bubbling. we are making Beer!! We watched it bubble all day. after 36 hours we will move the fermenter to the 50 degree garage for it's 7 day first stage. I wrapped it in a blanket to help aid in quick temp changes just in case the sun heats the garage up to much. I then plan to give it the 24 hours of 65 degree rest before I transfer it to a Carboy for it's long Lagering.
I dont know if it will taste good when it is finished but I can say me and My daughter spent a great night together and although she can't partake in the finished product we had a great time!
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