astrean
Member
Hello all! My name is Adam and I'm a first-time homebrewer from southeastern Michigan.
About 2 years ago, my wife bought me one of those Bed, Bath, and Beyond "brew your own beer" kits. I was still going to graduate school and working full-time back then, so free time for hobbies was scarce. I got to the fermentation stage and then got really busy with work and school. Needless to say, the beer was wrecked after I left it in the bladder fermenter for over 3 months!
I promised myself that I would try my hand at homebrewing again after I graduated. It's been a full year since I finished school, and I'm finally homebrewing for real! My wife talked me into getting some "real" equipment, so I went to my local homebrew supply and bought enough equipment to do 5-gallon two-stage fermentation batches.
I tried out my first recipe last night, a light American ale. I found an American Pale Ale recipe on beerrecipes.org and thought it sounded easy enough for my first try. I did make a few changes to the original, and here's the basics for what I used:
- 6 lbs Cooper's Light liquid extract
- 1 lb crystal malt (lov 20) steeped before boil
- 3/4 oz Casacde hops @ 5 minutes
- 1/2 oz Cascade hops @ 30 minutes
- 1/2 oz Hallertau @ 55 min (in a sock)
- Wyeast California V Ale liquid yeast
I did learn a few lessons tonight. I'm hoping that someone can offer some insight that might make things easier for me next time around:
- Yeast slurry; I had taken the liquid yeast and mixed it in a sterilized jar with 1 cup wort @ 5 minutes boil and 1 cup sterilized water. Does it matter if the jar is covered or open to air?
- Primary fermentation in a 6.5-gallon carboy. It wasn't easy to shake the carboy nor remove liquid for specific gravity measurements once I dumped in the sterilized water, wort, and yeast slurry. Is it better to do the primary fermentation in a bucket? Can I prep the solution in the bucket, then transfer it to the carboy?
I'm sure I'll learn a lot more once I taste the final product, and learn even more as I do more batches. I'm looking forward to discussing homebrewing with all of you, and learning from the great wealth of experience here!
About 2 years ago, my wife bought me one of those Bed, Bath, and Beyond "brew your own beer" kits. I was still going to graduate school and working full-time back then, so free time for hobbies was scarce. I got to the fermentation stage and then got really busy with work and school. Needless to say, the beer was wrecked after I left it in the bladder fermenter for over 3 months!
I promised myself that I would try my hand at homebrewing again after I graduated. It's been a full year since I finished school, and I'm finally homebrewing for real! My wife talked me into getting some "real" equipment, so I went to my local homebrew supply and bought enough equipment to do 5-gallon two-stage fermentation batches.
I tried out my first recipe last night, a light American ale. I found an American Pale Ale recipe on beerrecipes.org and thought it sounded easy enough for my first try. I did make a few changes to the original, and here's the basics for what I used:
- 6 lbs Cooper's Light liquid extract
- 1 lb crystal malt (lov 20) steeped before boil
- 3/4 oz Casacde hops @ 5 minutes
- 1/2 oz Cascade hops @ 30 minutes
- 1/2 oz Hallertau @ 55 min (in a sock)
- Wyeast California V Ale liquid yeast
I did learn a few lessons tonight. I'm hoping that someone can offer some insight that might make things easier for me next time around:
- Yeast slurry; I had taken the liquid yeast and mixed it in a sterilized jar with 1 cup wort @ 5 minutes boil and 1 cup sterilized water. Does it matter if the jar is covered or open to air?
- Primary fermentation in a 6.5-gallon carboy. It wasn't easy to shake the carboy nor remove liquid for specific gravity measurements once I dumped in the sterilized water, wort, and yeast slurry. Is it better to do the primary fermentation in a bucket? Can I prep the solution in the bucket, then transfer it to the carboy?
I'm sure I'll learn a lot more once I taste the final product, and learn even more as I do more batches. I'm looking forward to discussing homebrewing with all of you, and learning from the great wealth of experience here!
