My very first home brew...

Hi folks...
My very first home brew is sitting in a nice, cool, dark corner...waiting to ferment. The whole procedure would have taken about three hours if I hadn't had an unfortunate boil-over, lol! I swore I wouldn't do that. So, all my burner pans and what have you are soaking right now. Might have to go out and buy some steel wool. I hope, hope, hope I didn't screw this up...I was meticulous about cleanliness. I even washed down every horizontal surface in the room with a bleach solution. I think I'll drag a chair over to my carboy and wait and watch...

congratulations...what did you make, when did you pitch, and did you make a starter? just wondering how long you are going to sit there waiting

YAY! It's such a good feeling!!!!

DeathBrewer said:

congratulations...what did you make, when did you pitch, and did you make a starter? just wondering how long you are going to sit there waiting

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I made an amber ale...the guy at the Wine &Hop shop said it was the best for newbies. I'm not quite understanding your brewmeister lingo, DeathBrewer....what is a starter? The yeast? I used dry yeast which I rehydrated exactly as instructed...and slung the whole lot into the carboy at 12:45 central time, lol! The beer shop guy told me I should upgrade to liquid yeasts when I start getting better at brewing. I am very excited...but I imagine I will have to wait at least twenty-four hours until anything begins to happen.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to get pictures up on here...do you have to use photo bucket or some such thing? You wouldn't believe what my stove looks like right now...or maybe you would!

Melana said:

YAY! It's such a good feeling!!!!

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It is! I was feeling sort of nervous but I imagine that's a first time brewer's sort of feeling. Now I know more what to expect. I can't wait for it to be finished!

Junebug said:

It is! I was feeling sort of nervous but I imagine that's a first time brewer's sort of feeling. Now I know more what to expect. I can't wait for it to be finished!

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If you're anything like me you won't wait and you'll go on to brewing up the next few just so that you'll have enough delicious beer to drink in the hot summer months. Life without airconditioning is useless without beer.

Junebug said:

Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to get pictures up on here...do you have to use photo bucket or some such thing? You wouldn't believe what my stove looks like right now...or maybe you would!

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Right, you have to use photobucket or the like and then just click "insert image" and paste in the url of the photo. Pictures are always appreciated!

On a side note, it's nice to see some more women around here! I'm glad you're here.

Here we go...

Yooper Chick said:

On a side note, it's nice to see some more women around here! I'm glad you're here.

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I too was happy to see that I'm not the only woman out there with an interest in brewing. Wish my female friends were interested in brewing... or at very least beer!

Yooper Chick said:

Right, you have to use photobucket or the like and then just click "insert image" and paste in the url of the photo. Pictures are always appreciated!

On a side note, it's nice to see some more women around here! I'm glad you're here.

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Thanks, Yooper Chick... I'm glad to be here!

Melana said:

I too was happy to see that I'm not the only woman out there with an interest in brewing. Wish my female friends were interested in brewing... or at very least beer!

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Melana, it was a female acquaintance of mine who suggested I give home brewing a try. She invited me in and gave me some samples of her efforts and wow...I was blown away! Last summer, she made a very nice beer that contained hints of coriander and orange...it was a nice, light summer sort of drink. She's made other types of ales and lagers that were impressive as well. I guess I equated home brew with swill. We are definitely in the minority, however. It rather boggles the mind that more women are not interested in this hobby...but then, I guess I don't really know too many women who really enjoy beer. Anyway, I'm glad there's a few of us here!

I'm glad too.

WOW it was another woman that gave you the idea... What a wonderful world we live in.

Nice. Rehydrated dry yeast (Safale or Nottinham is the best I've found) works just fine. I've had rehydrated dry yeast (with no yeast starter) start in just a couple hours (2-4) before. Then again, I've had a few that didn't start for 8-16 hours, so don't sit and watch too long.

SilkkyBrew said:

Nice. Rehydrated dry yeast (Safale or Nottinham is the best I've found) works just fine. I've had rehydrated dry yeast (with no yeast starter) start in just a couple hours (2-4) before. Then again, I've had a few that didn't start for 8-16 hours, so don't sit and watch too long.

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I already went down and checked it once, SilkkyBrew...couldn't help myself! I bet I'll have some activity to report tomorrow, however. For now, I have to head out to the supermarket and pick up some steel wool...that wort is crusted on my stove like nothing I've ever seen before! I am never going to have another boil-over again...I hope.

Junebug said:

DeathBrewer....what is a starter? The yeast? I used dry yeast which I rehydrated exactly as instructed...and slung the whole lot into the carboy at 12:45 central time, lol! The beer shop guy told me I should upgrade to liquid yeasts when I start getting better at brewing.

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http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=19886

This is a starter kit, mainly for liquid yeast.

basically, you boil 1/2 cup of dry malt extract in 2 cups of water for 10 minutes, and then drop the temperature (70-80F)

Then put it in the sterilized flask (or use the flask to boil), pitch the yeast and cover it with aluminum foil.

You'll want to aerate it well (shaking for a few hours while you drink a homebrew works fine, although a stir plate is ideal i hear) then let it ferment for 1-2 days.

this will greatly increase your number or yeasties and you will get a nice vigorous fermentation. i ALWAYS use a starter now.

With dry yeast, you generally don't need to do this

Junebug said:

...I was blown away! Last summer, she made a very nice beer that contained hints of coriander and orange...it was a nice, light summer sort of drink.

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That there was a Belgian Wit and you'll be glad to know it's an easy recipe. Very popular this time of year.

Welcome aboard ladies. Yooper's had her hands full trying to class up the joint all on her own.

Joe Dragon said:

Some people stand over the brew with a squirt bottle of cool water and give it a shot when it starts to act up. Others just accept the fate.

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I bolied over my 1st ever, and still pretty much stand over it for the entire hour with cold water in hand...but i found (upon everyone here's advice), that the key is to skim off the hotbreak when it foams up. I did that last time and it never tried to boil up at all.

DeathBrewer said:

http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=19886

This is a starter kit, mainly for liquid yeast.

basically, you boil 1/2 cup of dry malt extract in 2 cups of water for 10 minutes, and then drop the temperature (70-80F)

Then put it in the sterilized flask (or use the flask to boil), pitch the yeast and cover it with aluminum foil.

You'll want to aerate it well (shaking for a few hours while you drink a homebrew works fine, although a stir plate is ideal i hear) then let it ferment for 1-2 days.

this will greatly increase your number or yeasties and you will get a nice vigorous fermentation. i ALWAYS use a starter now.

With dry yeast, you generally don't need to do this

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How cool...maybe I should give it a try even though I'm a noob. The guy at the shop mentioned eventually upgrading to liquid yeast...do you think that's what he meant? I have so much to learn!

He meant liquid yeast. The starter is really optional, at least for lower gravity beers. you can pour liquid yeast directly in after waking it up (directions on the vial or pack)

but you'll always get better results with a starter and you'll have a guarantee that your yeast are alive and happy

so much to learn...so much time! it's a wonderful hobby.

browse through these forums and run a search for any questions you have. this is by far the best resource i've ever found :rockin:

BierMuncher said:

That there was a Belgian Wit and you'll be glad to know it's an easy recipe. Very popular this time of year.

Welcome aboard ladies. Yooper's had her hands full trying to class up the joint all on her own.

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I'm very happy that this is an easy recipe! Thanks for the welcome.

Joe Dragon said:

And the boil over- it’s some kind of strange right-of-passage. It happens to everybody. Some people stand over the brew with a squirt bottle of cool water and give it a shot when it starts to act up. Others just accept the fate.

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Wow...you know, I just finished cleaning up my stove about a half hour ago. I kept everything soaking in hot water, got some steel wool and used a bunch of elbow grease. I am never going to let this happen again!

BrewDey said:

I bolied over my 1st ever, and still pretty much stand over it for the entire hour with cold water in hand...but i found (upon everyone here's advice), that the key is to skim off the hotbreak when it foams up. I did that last time and it never tried to boil up at all.

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Good to know...skim it. I do not want to repeat today's cleaning experience, that's for certain!

Congrats on the first brew. Nice sense of accomplishment, isn't it? Just wait until you serve up some beer to your friends and they comment on how fantastic it is.

hey welcome to homebrewing im on my 4th batch and i have found that the hobby is way more addicting then the end product, and i just wanted to mention that the guys at the wine & hop shop are kickass they have been really nice to me and answered all my questions dispite how beginner the questions were

happy brewing

fleas

Welcome.
I love beer loving women!!!

No question too stupid Trust me on this

Happy Brewing.

dibby33 said:

No question too stupid Trust me on this

Happy Brewing.

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Yeah. Trust Dibby on this one. He's asked em all.




Kidding Dib.....

Don't make promises that you cannot keep... I STILL have boilovers, until I finally get my keggle home! Remember, even if you skim off the hot break, you will still have opportunities for boilovers when you introduce hops or moss... watch closely.

BierMuncher said:

Yeah. Trust Dibby on this one. He's asked em all.




Kidding Dib.....

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...and not just on this forum, I have real life to contend with also. Living on around 5hrs disturbed sleep a night and a LOT of coffee helps with being removed from sensible thoughts. Bleach vs Stainless.... :rockin:

Well, after hearing your first brew story, it reminds me of the 3..yes 3...boil overs I had in my first brewing experience. Lesson...never boil with the lid on...EVER!

I am so excited! I just went to check on my brew and the air lock is getting one bubble every two seconds...maybe I did it right! Maybe I'll have real beer in a few weeks!

time goes by so slow when your waiting for your first brew. the best thing to do is to brew another batch while you're waiting. it keeps your mind off the anticipation.

Thanks, Fritz, fleas and dibby...
fleas, yay! Another Madison resident! The Wine And Hop guys are very cool. They even help haul stuff out to the car, which I appreciate. The Pol...god, I can't take it if I have any more boil-overs...it took me hours to clean up that mess. I'm hoping that the consequences were such that I will remain ever vigilant for the rest of my life...however, I know that repeat boil-overs are more than likely to occur again, however infrequently.

Is it like this for everybody the first time they home brew? I am giddy! It seems that the brew is doing just what it should be doing and I am thrilled that I may have done this correctly, however simple this batch may be.

it's not only like this the first time you brew but damn near everytime. the wait is worth it though.

rcdirtbuggy said:

time goes by so slow when your waiting for your first brew. the best thing to do is to brew another batch while you're waiting. it keeps your mind off the anticipation.

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You know...I've been thinking of doing just that, especially after what Melana said. I have a big plastic Ale Pail that could serve as another fermenter. Plus, I have a different Ale mix upstairs. I wonder if I should start it now or wait a week or so...which leads me to another hopefully not stupid question. How many fermenters do you folks have on average? I purchased this stuff from a guy at my gym for twenty bucks...I have a 6.5 gallon glass carboy, plus a big Ale Pail, the size of which I am uncertain but could certainly discover. I imagine that at some point I will be brewing beers that require secondary fermentations. Or however that should be worded. I really want to have more than one thing going at once and would appreciate hearing about the number of fermenters/other gear you folks have.

Thanks in advance...

rcdirtbuggy said:

it's not only like this the first time you brew but damn near everytime. the wait is worth it though.

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Ah...I can see I am going to enjoy this!

I have a 6.5 gallon carboy for primary ferments, and a 5 gallon carboy for secondary ferments. The great thing is that your primary is generally only needed for a week, transfer to the secondary, refill the primary and you can leave that beer in there for weeks if you need to until your secondary is open again. I ALWAYS brew a batch when I bottle or keg one, that way it is ready when the other batch is gone. In most cases... my Helles will be a couple months being a lager, but you know what I am getting at.

Pol

I have a 6.5 gallon glass carboy and two 6 gallon buckets. i use the carboy and a bucket as my primaries so i have two batches going at all times, and i keep one of the buckets open for my bottling bucket/kegging bucket. I used to bottle but now I only keg my brew.

Junebug said:

You know...I've been thinking of doing just that, especially after what Melana said. I have a big plastic Ale Pail that could serve as another fermenter. Plus, I have a different Ale mix upstairs. I wonder if I should start it now or wait a week or so...which leads me to another hopefully not stupid question. How many fermenters do you folks have on average? I purchased this stuff from a guy at my gym for twenty bucks...I have a 6.5 gallon glass carboy, plus a big Ale Pail, the size of which I am uncertain but could certainly discover. I imagine that at some point I will be brewing beers that require secondary fermentations. Or however that should be worded. I really want to have more than one thing going at once and would appreciate hearing about the number of fermenters/other gear you folks have.

Thanks in advance...

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I have two 7.5 gallon buckets, several carboys, and a few 3 gallon carboys and 1 gallon glass jugs. I usually have one in primary, one in secondary, and one recently bottled but right now I'm running low because I haven't brewed in a while. I usually have several wines going, too; right now I'm picking dandelions and cutting rhubarb and have a apple wine bulk aging in a jug.

Welcome to the obsession!

You can never have too many barrels.

A secondary is normally used to clear / age the beer, when it is racked off the primary the trub (gunk at the bottom, made up of dead yeast cells, hops etc) should be left behind.

wow, beer brewing women! *SIGH* why are all the good women on computer sceens? =]