first brew in two weeks have some questions.

i know all of these questions have most likely been asked before but i like to get new answers first hand that pertain more to me.

first off i'm really excited to do this. just ordered the brew kit and ingredients kit(scottish 60) from northern brewer. i'm a little confused though on what i need to do on brew day. i've read most of palmers "how to brew" online book and in the first section he mentions boiling first two galons of water then putting it into the fermenter, then using a 3 gal boil kettle boil your ingredients and add them to the water in the fermenter. i don't have a 5 gal boil kettle, is this an ok practice to use? i was just thinking that 5 gal worth of ingredients concentrated into 3 gal of water would be bad? has anyone done this and does it work well?

and im gonna be doing this on a household stove that was made around early 2000's. it's electric will this be enough heat to keep a steady boil going?

and any other tips are welcome thanks guys this forum rocks:rockin:

with an extract brew, what you want to do is get 2 gallons of water boiling, then remove your pot and add your extracts and hops, then return to heat and bring back to boil, careful of the hotbreak. dont let it overflow, pain in the butt to clean carmelized sugar off burner. then you want to adjust your boil so that its a light steady boil, then set your timer for 60 mins. youre going to lose about .5 gallons of water on the boil. so you have 1.5 gallons in your pot. you need another 3.5 in the fermenter. you have to have a cool wort (70 degrees or so) to pitch your yeast, so what you can do is put 2.5 gallons of clean filtered water (and you can boil this ahead of time to sanitize if you want) into the fermenter, and 1 8lbs bag of ice (8lbs of ice is one gallon). then immediately pour your wort into the bucket. stir until the ice is melted, make certain to stir vigorously to aerate the wort. let it settle, then pitch your yeast, cap, install airlock, and report back in 14 days.

here's my personal, cursory rundown, though its different for everyone, and depends on ingredients

1. sanitize everything that's going to be touching the beer - fermenter, kettle, spoon, etc.

2. heat up about 4 quarts of water to just shy of a boil

3. put your grain bag into the kettle, turn off the heat, and steep for about 50 minutes

4. after 50 minutes take the grain bag out, sparge it with a half gallon of 170 degree water over the kettle, and get rid of the grain bag

5. stir in your malt extracts and heat the wort back to a boil

6. once it's boiling, add your hops for however long you wish

7. once your boil's over, pour the wort into your fermenter through a filter and add cold water to it until it reaches the 5 gallon mark

8. cool the wort as quickly as possible to around 65-68 degrees and then pitch the yeast

9. seal the lid, put on the airlock, and voila - the waiting game begins.

very basic instructions, but hopefully it helps.

forgot to mention the grain steeping, if you are going to steep grains in this brew, it is the very first thing you do before you even boil the water. get the 2 gallons of water up to 154-160 depending on your grains, then tea-bag steep for 30-40mins, then sparge slowly with 170 degree f water. then you can bring to a boil. by the way, anything that is going to be in the boil water, i.e. stir spoon, grain bag, kettle---you dont have to sanitize. anything that is not going to be boiled, absolutely imperative that you sanitize.

thanks guys that cleared it up some for me, does it matter what u use as a stir spoon? i don't think the kit comes with a specific spoon so can i just use one i have sitting around the kitchen (sanatised of course)

stainless steel is best, if you can get it - as long as its something that won't have creepy things getting stuck in it and messing with your beer like wood

dangerbrew said:

stainless steel is best, if you can get it - as long as its something that won't have creepy things getting stuck in it and messing with your beer like wood

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hey ur from Burlington? i've got a friend that goes to school there, been there a few times it's a cool town.

red96jeep said:

hey ur from Burlington? i've got a friend that goes to school there, been there a few times it's a cool town.

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Yeah, I love it here. The microbrewery scene is off the charts - so many great places, and within walking distance as well.