Adventures of a Virgin Brewer....first batch today!

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MonkeyWrench

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Picked my self up a complete kit plus some on Tuesday. Built a fermentation box, bought aeration equipment (aquarium pump with homemade charcoal filter), immersion chiller, and prepared to brew all week. I also got a water report from the city just out of curiosity. I also boiled my aluminum kettle (a borrowed pressure cooker). I never saw any change in color. I boiled it for an hour on Friday, and an hour on Saturday. Hopefully fine.

Here's the recipe:

6lb wheat LME, but I used 5lbs DME.
1oz Cascade 5.9 @ 0min (LHBS only had Cascade 5.4)
.5oz Cascade @ 30min
10 Cascade pellets at 55min

60min boil. WLP 320 yeast

Friday I made myself a starter for my yeast. I boiled 1l of water and added 3oz of my wheat DME. I chilled to 80* and pitched my 80* yeast. It was a little foamy in the morning, but had a nice milky layer on the bottom of the mason jar. I kept it around 70* for Saturday and warmed it up to 80* (water bath) this morning in preparation for todays brewing.

Saturday before bed, I also boiled up 1.5gal of water. That's the biggest pot I have.

Sunday (today) I got up and at 9AM I started prepping. Made up my Iodopher, well I already had about half gallon made up from Friday's starter. I filled a spray bottle with it and cleaned and sanitized the counters and all around.

I washed my kettle and filled it with 4gal of water and started heating.

When I was finally ready to start brewing (12:45), I added the rest of my 1lb bag of DME (1lb bag - 3oz for starter). I made sure that was all mixed in, then added 1oz hops. @30min I added .5oz and at 45min, I put my immersion chiller in and added my other 4lbs of DME. Temp dropped a couple degrees so while I waited for it to boil again I sanitized a few other things. Must have only been 30 seconds and look over and foam running down the side of the kettle...crap! Not too much mess, it didn't get down into the stove, I pulled it to the side just in time and just a bit got on the stove top.

I stirred constantly for the rest of the boil and added the last 10 pellets at 55min. At 60min I pulled it off and carried it to the counter next to the sink. I hooked up my immersion chiller (50' of 3/8" copper tubing that was just poking out of the liquid, perfect size). I was amazed how quickly I went from 210* to 80*. It was only 7min from the time I turned off the timer and burner until I turned off the water to the chiller.

Now, I wasn't sure whether to pitch my yeast in the kettle, or the carboy. I pitched into the kettle and stirred. The carboy was sanitized earlier and the funnel was just done. I sanitized the rim of the kettle and attempted to pour it in. Duh, hops clogged the screen after about a gallon or so. I should have known better. I got my racking cane and sanitized that and the hose. I had to suck on the end to get it flowing, but I ran the first of it in to a mason jar and pinched it off, then re-sanitized the end of the hose where I put my mouth.

I emptied the liquid into the funnel and carboy. There was still a bit of liquid I couldn't get, so I just ended up dumping the hop slurry into the funnel and letting it drain. I don't know if I should have done that or not?

I topped off the carboy to the 5 gal mark (6gal carboy). I already had my air pump going because I was blowing out the Iodopher in the stone and in the tube. I inserted it and then watched for about 30 seconds. Wondering how long to leave it, I came to the internet to look it up. Found about 2 min is enough, go back (probably 3-4min) into the kitchen and find foam coming out the mouth of the carboy, ooops. Good thing I sanitized that again before aerating.

I took my sanitized thief and took a sample and tested. OG came out to be 1.041-1.042. I don't know what it is supposed to be.

Sanitized my air lock and filled with vodka. Placed on the carboy and now here I sit. Time to go clean up.

Let me know if anyone sees a problem with what I've done or has suggestions.

Thanks!
Steve
 
Welcome to the boards. Glad to see you made a starter for your first batch. I think your next step is to get a bigger pot, but everything else looked pretty good.
 
Thanks. The kettle I have is a 5 gal pressure cooker pot. When I boiled it to make sure it had a good AL oxide layer, the stove really struggled. It won't do a violent boil with the lid off at all. So, unless I go with a turkey cooker setup, I'm probably stuck doing partial boils. But yes, a larger secondary pot will be nice. I think somewhere around the 2.5-3 gallon mark would be nice.

Oh, I forgot to add above that I tasted the sample and it has good flavor. A bit hoppy and bitter at first, but leaves a sweet after taste. I'm sure things will change as it ferments.
 
Well things really started going gangbusters last night. At 10pm I checked on it before bed and the foam was about 2" from the air lock and the brew was really moving. Temp was still 72* on the stick-on thermometer.

I had it covered because our house is only 60*.

I uncovered it last night and this morning it was 66* and things had slowed. There was foam in the air lock and I tried rigging a liquid lock deal, but I couldn't get the hose to fit anything. I sterilized a piece of foil and placed it over the top.

Off to work!
 
You are a bit warm on fermentation...most people like to keep their fermentations in the mid 60s to get a cleaner profile, although I'm not familiar with the type of yeast you are using...

It's not a big deal, and I'm sure your beer is gonna be awesome, but in the future, I wouldn't cover it. I'd kill for a constant 60* room to put my fermenters in....I'm building a chamber since I don't have that luxury.
 
The only things I would do different are

1) Don't pitch your yeast in your boil kettle, instead wait and pitch into your fermentor after airation.

2) Take your O.G. reading prior to pitching your yeast, then pitch and airlock.

Happy brewing ;)
 
Cool. If I pitch my yeast into the carboy after aerating, do I need to stir or shake, or is it fine?

Ya, with it at 72*, I left it uncovered all night and had it at 66*. I put the cover back on it, and left it this morning. When I just came home, it's still at 66*. The yeast tube (WLP 320) said to ferment at 70-75*. The recipe calls for 68*.

Our house was built in 1896 (yes 18) and is a 3500 sq/ft Victorian that cost us an arm and a leg to heat, so the heat only comes on during the evening, and just in the morning to take the chill off. During the day and night, thermostat is set for 55*. That's why I covered it, we're reaching Lager temp!

Things are still moving around nicely inside the carboy.

This will be done near xmas; 3 weeks primary, 1 week secondary (adding lemon zest as part of the recipe), then 3 weeks in the bottle. I can't wait, but I'll have to. No rushing this.
 
I left it uncovered from when I got home yesterday at 4:30 to this morning at 7, and the temp had dropped to 62*. I added one layer of insulation to it (an old jacket) and we'll see where it is tonight when I get home.

I have a fermentation box built, but not wired. I think I'll end up playing with the temp inside the box by using a light bulb and thermostat, keep the temp somewhere in the lower 60s in the box.

Steve
 
Thanks for the advise; I brewed another batch today.

When I picked up everything and the ingredients for my first batch, I asked about an amber and they gave me a simple amber kit that consisted of 5lbs liquid amber extract, .5oz bittering hops, and 1oz aroma hops and a package of Nottingham dry yeast.

I wanted to kick this one up a notch, so I altered it a bit (SWMBO's fav beer is Mac and Jacks, so I tried to modify it to get closer to that, but we'll see). I added 1lb amber DME and 1lb light DME. Because of the added malt, I added 1 oz of Cascade at boil along with whatever bittering hops were in the "kit". I did call and ask what hops came in the "kit" and the guy didn't know, he was pretty new and didn't do any of the product division. He figured the bittering was probably some of their 7.5 Amarillo, and the aroma hops were their 4.8 Willamette.

So, recipe is:

5lbs Amber LME
1lb Amber DME
1lb Light DME

.5oz Amarillo Pellet (7.5) @ 60min
1oz Cascade Pellet (5.4) @ 60min
.5oz Willamette Pellet (4.8) @ 30min
.5oz Willamette Pellet (4.8) @ 5min

I used Wyeast 1098 British Ale yeast.

This will get 3 weeks in primary and then 1 week in the secondary with the zest of 1 organic orange added to the secondary.

This is a complete experiment I came up with while expanding the Amber "kit" and playing with Beer Calculus.

If I make it back up to my LHBS, I might pick up some more Willamette and dry hop at 2 weeks which leaves 1 week left in the primary, then it will get racked into the secondary. (sound okay?)

I did not do a starter with this yeast. It was a smack pack, so we'll see how the results go. I would have, but this brew was last minute. I just realized I won't be home the next 3 weekends in a row.

OG ended up at 1.046. A little lower than I thought it should be. Beer Calculus says it should be 1.054. Guess we'll see how it turns out.

I also made my first batch of Apfelwein as well. Used 1lb corn sugar and Wyeast 3638 Bavarian Wheat and Tree Top apple juice. I used the hefe yeast because I want this done by xmas, so I'll be rushing it along and not giving the wine yeast enough time to fully work. Problem is I used my secondary for it, so now I need another 5 gal secondary for the Amber.
 

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